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Yeah Reykjavik is pretty boring unless you're going to one of the festivals/concerts that take place. There's not a lot of big tourist attractions, museums, etc like you'd see in London or Paris. It's a mostly nondescript European city. All of the fun activities and sightseeing are well away from the city. Golden Circle is a great way to dip your toe into Iceland if you've got limited time, but you need a full day to get it done.
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Aug 4, 2016 02:14
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Comb Your Beard posted:How about an abbreviated Iceland itinerary for a long layover coming or going to Europe? Those cheap Europe flights are pretty tempting plus the opportunity to check out Iceland. Just did this in July, as a stopover on our way to London from Washington DC. We arrived late at night on 6 July (still sunny of course, with the 23 hours of daylight at the moment), and left early morning on 9 July. On our first full day we drove the Golden Circle, which was excellent. On our second we went to the Blue Lagoon in the morning and explored some of Reykjavik in the afternoon. It was a fantastic couple of days and we never would have thought about visiting Iceland if it wasn't for the airline stopover programme. Edit: Our exploration of Reykjavik was limited to going to the top of Hallgrímskirkja for views of the town and walking up and down the street with all the souvenir shops looking for presents for our family members. I wondered if we were missing something crucial at the time, we didn't do a whole lot of research beforehand, but it seems not? Chocolate Milk fucked around with this message at 08:59 on Aug 7, 2016 |
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Aug 7, 2016 08:57
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About souvenirs, be careful to actually buy stuff made in Iceland. There's some clothing manufacturers that try to market themselves as Icelandic when the wool is coming from somewhere else. Alafoss, Vik Wool, or the Handknitting Association of Iceland are a few that come to mind for authentic in-country products that are good quality and support the local economy.
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Aug 7, 2016 21:57
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Also all the wool they sell in Iceland feels like the absolute shittiest quality stuff in the world. I think they might have confused "steel wool" with "wool" and unfortunately used the former to make most of their sweaters. Even in the crazy expensive stores in Reykjavik. I'm sure they're warm but christ they're uncomfortable if they even remotely touch your skin. Also yeah I did hear that most are made in Lithuania then shipped to Iceland, which is why a lot of the sweaters don't have a tag for what country they're made in.
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Aug 8, 2016 08:13
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I've got a sweater and hat from Vik Wool and they're comfortable as hell.
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Aug 8, 2016 17:18
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Hi! So I've read the thread and gotten some ideas, but was wondering what an optimal itinerary would be for a hiking-filled week long trip in October. My girlfriend and I are flying in on October 18th at 6 AM and leaving on the 24th or 25th. We love outdoorsy activities (hiking and the like) and would love to explore Iceland. The downside is that we are both grad students and don't have that much money, so whatever is not super expensive would be optimal. We want to spend a day or two in Reykjavik as well as go to the blue lagoon, but other than that, the schedule is wide open. If it is possible to do this inexpensively, the Westman Island looks nice, http://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/english/hiking/skaftafell/ has some nice hikes it looks like, and i've heard good things about : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sn%C3%A6fellsnes - would it be possible (or practical) to do any/all of these things for a relatively inexpensive trip!? I've been once before a few years ago, and did the ring road and some of the nice sites around the island, but this trip is shorter and our funds are more constricted.
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Aug 8, 2016 21:30
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Chocolate Milk posted:Edit: Our exploration of Reykjavik was limited to going to the top of Hallgrímskirkja for views of the town and walking up and down the street with all the souvenir shops looking for presents for our family members. I wondered if we were missing something crucial at the time, we didn't do a whole lot of research beforehand, but it seems not? You missed the penis museum.
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Aug 8, 2016 21:31
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Westman Islands is good for a day, maybe two days. The main island is very small and easily walkable. The ferry leaves from Landeyjahöfn and takes ~45 minutes or so depending on weather. If you're going without your car it's ~$10 round trip. No reason to bring your car unless you or someone with you has mobility issues. If you google Einskip you'll get the info you need about times, reservations, etc. Whip Slagcheek fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Aug 8, 2016 21:57
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So I decided to book a trip to Iceland on a whim, I'll be arriving on a red eye on September 9th and leaving the 13th. My hostel in Reykjavik but I'm not adverse to renting a car for a couple of days to do days trips and the like. How does this itinerary look? Is there anything you would recommend instead of all of this? Day 1: Arrive in Reykjavik, take bus to Blue Lagoon and spend half-3/4 day relaxing and decompressing from flight, come back and check into hostel, check out nightlife in Reykjavik. Day 2: Rent car and drive the Golden Circle Day 3: Drive out to Vik for Southern Coast portion Day 4: Reykjavik day Day 5: Fly out
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Aug 15, 2016 17:21
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Definitely rent a car. It will be way more convenient and it's price-competitive with the public buses — definitely cheaper if you're two people. Alternately if you're on a budget you can hitchhike. Your destinations are all pretty well traveled and I doubt you'd have to wait more than 10 minutes unless you're super sketchy looking. Did you book a hostel in Reyk every night? If not already, IMO book a place in Hella or Hvolsvollur at the end of your Golden Circle day rather than backtracking. It's only ~an hour each way extra, so not a big deal, but you might as well avoid it. Route 1 between Reykjavik and Seljalandfoss Waterfall is not particularly beautiful or striking if you've been anywhere with flat, treeless farmland before. Depending on how you travel, how much jetlag you have, and when you land on Day 1, you may or may not care about Day 4 in Reykjavik. If you like driving you could drive on the F26 towards the interior and get a good impression of the interior desolation (it's paved and no 4WD required until you get to the power station at the turnoff to F208) and on the way back stop at the Gjain oasis (car with good clearance required for the last 3km, but you can just park and hike it too depending on how much time you have). Also, rent the cheapest and smallest 2WD you can, as you won't have time to go on any of the 4WD-required roads unless you are super interested in making Day 4 into Landmannalaugar. Saladman fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Aug 15, 2016 |
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Aug 15, 2016 23:10
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I'm departing Baltimore at 7:00 p.m. and landing at 5:30 a.m. in Reykjavik, it's a true red eye. Unfortunately I booked all nights in a hostel in Reykjavik before I read this thread. For that first day it's probably going to be arrive in Reykjavik, leave my stuff at the hostel, (the only valuables i'm really taking are my phone and possibly a camera which would be taken everywhere, only clothes would be left with the hostel), bus to blue lagoon to take in the sights and recover, go back to hostel and rest a little more, and go out. I probably won't do the few tourist things in Reykjavik until day 4 due to the nature of flight. But I may do that F26 route if you think it's cool! I know nothing about Reykjavik but I like cities, even blah ones. Zikan fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Aug 15, 2016 |
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Aug 15, 2016 23:33
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Yeah I definitely would have stayed closer to the circle if you want to do stuff along the southern coast, that's a decent round trip drive to do in a day. Ah well, still manageable.
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Aug 16, 2016 01:59
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If you like low key cities more than you like long drives through desolate landscapes, then spending the day in Reykjavik is probably better than doing the F26 (or alternately Snaefellsnes peninsula). Take a look at some videos of the drives on YouTube. If you don't like driving a lot and you're a solo driver then it might be too much to do that back to back after your ~6-7 hours of driving on Day 3. I did around 3 hours of driving a day every day for the 9 days I was there (+3 more per day as passenger) and it was fine for me, but YMMV for that kind of thing. I'm not normally a huge fan of long distance drives but it was super cool in Iceland, plus theres no highway so you can easily stop your car and gawk whenever.
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Aug 16, 2016 07:40
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One final question, what is the best car rental company that won't rip me off? According to the internet, all of Iceland's criminals were channeled into the rental car industry and rip people the hell off even when they have gravel insurance, for sand and wind damage. Is there a good company that's not that expensive or do I just have to take lots of pictures, point out everything that's wrong and get it signed before I take it, and buy both gravel and sand/wind insurance?
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Aug 19, 2016 18:56
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I used Sixt and they were great. No issues with them trying to hustle me over gravel damage. Just take the same precautions you would with any rental car company (document damage with employee before leaving, etc).
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Aug 19, 2016 22:17
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I also used Sixt without a problem.
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Aug 20, 2016 05:34
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We used Blue Car Rental on a Tripadvisor recommendation. They were great to deal with and we had no issues.Bubbacub posted:You missed the penis museum. Dang, I guess we have to go back after all. Such hardship!
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Aug 20, 2016 14:55
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About to go to Iceland. Our trips is pretty well planned out, but have a few questions. 1. What's the deal with Vatnajökull national park? It's sort of hard to parse from the guidebook and the main website. It seems to have two distinct areas. One in the Southeast called Skaftafell, and one in the North called Jökulsárgljúfur. Are these the same park? Can they be accessed by the same entrance? Is it possible to do hikes in both parts in one day? Anyone have general recommendations about this national park? 2. One of my friends has got it in their head that they really want to see the Vestmanneyjar Islands. Is there anything to do there?
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Aug 25, 2016 00:07
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Go to Vestmannaeyjar. The ferry is cheap, fast, and runs throughout the day. Eldfell is a great hike and gives you a great overall view of the surrounding area. The golf course is accessible to the public and the cart trail provides a good opportunity to look for seabirds (puffins) up in the cliffs. Slippurinn is one of the restaurants in the town and I thought it was one of the best meals we had while we were in Iceland. Refrain from the whale meat though, it's not a "local" dish and the majority of it is consumed by tourists that don't know better.
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Aug 25, 2016 22:29
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Whip Slagcheek posted:Slippurinn is one of the restaurants in the town and I thought it was one of the best meals we had while we were in Iceland. Refrain from the whale meat though, it's not a "local" dish and the majority of it is consumed by tourists that don't know better. One dish that is local and kind of exotic is foal, but oddly, we never came across a restaurant serving it. If you've just got to eat something unusual, I'd recommend that over puffin or whale or hakarl though. Apparently the puffin population of Iceland has been in a nosedive the past few years for unclear (?) reasons.
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Aug 26, 2016 10:28
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Whip Slagcheek posted:Go to Vestmannaeyjar. The ferry is cheap, fast, and runs throughout the day. Eldfell is a great hike and gives you a great overall view of the surrounding area. The golf course is accessible to the public and the cart trail provides a good opportunity to look for seabirds (puffins) up in the cliffs. Back in 2013, the largest concentration of puffins we saw the whole trip was an Heimaklettur down at the harbor. According to this site (http://www.summitpost.org/heimaklettur-home-rock/855652) the Westmans account for 20% of the world's puffin population.
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Aug 26, 2016 12:38
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transient posted:Back in 2013, the largest concentration of puffins we saw the whole trip was an Heimaklettur down at the harbor. According to this site (http://www.summitpost.org/heimaklettur-home-rock/855652) the Westmans account for 20% of the world's puffin population. Holy poo poo, I had no idea people climbed up there.
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Aug 26, 2016 18:35
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I really liked the dried fish you could buy in any supermarket. Great with beer.
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Aug 27, 2016 21:39
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When I was in Iceland we went to the only Taco Bell on the whole island, in Hafnarfjordur. Turns out mixing hakarl with Taco Bell makes it more palatable. Taco Bell by Jason the Hutt, on Flickr
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Aug 30, 2016 23:12
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Hey All, Company is tossing me on a last minute flight to go to Iceland tomorrow night. I'll be there from Friday Morning Until Monday Morning, the only thing I really know about in Iceland is puffins and the Blue Lagoon. Blue lagoon appears to be booked full for this late of notice, any other similar hot springs to check out in the Reyjavik area? I'm most likely going to rent a car and have some good points taken from this thread, I've heard theres a crashed C-30 plane somewhere nearby. Anyone can point me in the direction, as well as where I can see some puffins
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Sep 21, 2016 21:26
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NigelsPoppet posted:Hey All, Just looked at the blue lagoon website. Interesting that they're building a lux hotel there, surprised it took this long. There's a few openings in the evening but I can totally understand not wanting to go that late when it's starting to get into the dark months (though sun doesn't generally set until 8ish this time of year). Blue Lagoon is, as far as I'm aware, the end all and be all for hydrothermal spa experiences. However there's a ton of thermal pools if you just want to sit in naturally warm water and relax in nature. My favorite one is probably Seljavallalaug. It's not far off of the main road and the scenery is gorgeous. It'll take a couple hours to get there but it's worth it in my opinion just to get out there as you get to see some of the dramatic landscapes the country is known for.
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Sep 22, 2016 00:36
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NigelsPoppet posted:Hey All, The crashed C-30 is pretty far--near Skogafoss (90 min each way? from Reykjavik) and it's about a 40 min walk each way from the parking area to the plane. You can't drive right up to it anymore like a lot of guides online will tell you. Still, it's reasonable within a day and there are two cool stops just off the road: Skogafoss and Seljalandfoss. For Seljalandfoss there are two waterfalls: the big obvious one you see, and then one that's in a cave a 5-8 min walk up an obvious path. Make sure to also do the cave one, it's super cool and a lot of people miss it because they just see the Seljalandfoss sign. Unfortunately the scenery is pretty unremarkable for the entire drive from Rekjavik to Seljalandfoss unless you've never seen a farm and are impressed by cows. We went to several hot springs but the only other particularly impressive one besides Blue Lagoon was way the hell up in Myvatn. The other two we went to were utterly unremarkable municipal hot pools. Puffins, don't know. We tried at Vik and also at Snaefellsnes peninsula and we saw one single loving puffin. A single puffin in a huge colony of Auks. No idea what he was doing nesting there. Supposedly both places are okay for puffin spotting. Unfortunately the best places are islands off the coast (grimsey, westman) or really super remote (latrabjarg).
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Sep 22, 2016 09:17
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Yeah puffins are tough because they spend a lot of time at sea, or hiding in cliff faces. Westman Islands is probably your best bet, though we didn't see any there, and can be done in a day trip.
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Sep 23, 2016 02:28
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Latrabjarg is the best puffin place, but it's definitely not day-trip territory.
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Sep 23, 2016 04:41
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Puffins leave in late august and you won't be able to see any at this time of year.
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Sep 23, 2016 09:15
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The puffins are nearly 100% gone by the 3rd week of August. We went last month for 8 days and they were all gone. However, we did catch the beginning of the Northern Lights, and it was awesome (all of our first time seeing them). We saw them on the plane coming in, while walking back to our AirBnB in Akureyri, and then making a trip out to Kirkjufell at midnight one night. Two of our group went a week early to hike and they were able to get a table at Grill Market in Reykjavick, and we never heard the end of how awesome it was. So if you can make a reservation there, do it! Our last night in Iceland we ate at The Gallery in the Hotel Holt, and it was very good. We were all dressed like homeless people in comparison to everyone else, but they still treated us extremely well. Our first full day in Reykjavick we couldn't get in the Laundromat for lunch so stopped in the Cafe Paris. AVOID AVOID AVOID. Just bad and horrific service for $40USD+. If you are going to be in Akureyri, you have to have a meal at Rub23, it was the best meal I have had in my entire life. Blue Lagoon is pretty lame and personally I would skip if you are short on time. I mean, I guess I am glad we did it just to say we did, but that is the only reason. Stopping at random waterfalls and other natural wonders is far greater than Blue Lagoon in my opinion. We did 2 nights in Reykjavick (only so long so we could do Golden Circle and have a place to crash before...), ring road staying 1 night in Vik, 1 night in Hofn, 2 nights in Akureyri, 1 night in Stikkysholmer, and then 1 more night in Reykjavick on our trip. We busted our asses getting around, but stopped at everything and had an AWESOME time.
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Sep 24, 2016 02:41
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Laundromat is fine, it's a cafe. Very busy though. Grillmarkadurinn and Fiskmarkadurinn are both fantastic restaurants in Reykjavik, but be prepared to spend money in both.
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Sep 24, 2016 08:48
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Whip Slagcheek posted:Laundromat is fine, it's a cafe. Very busy though. Grillmarkadurinn and Fiskmarkadurinn are both fantastic restaurants in Reykjavik, but be prepared to spend money in both. I didn't spend less than $60 at any meal, Grill Market and Fish Market are between $60 and $100. Any good meal is $60-$110 in Iceland. We mostly just cheap'ed out for breakfast and lunch and grabbed premade sandwiches from the gas stations or bought lunch meat from the Drunk Pig (Bonus). I mean even the lunch meats were ludicrously expensive making your own sandwiches, so really gas stations are your best bet if you are trying to save money. Oh, and I loved the hot dogs. Around $3-$4 and I could eat those suckers all day. I think I was the only one in our group with that opinion however, haha.
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Sep 24, 2016 15:36
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Whip Slagcheek posted:Laundromat is fine, it's a cafe. Very busy though. Grillmarkadurinn and Fiskmarkadurinn are both fantastic restaurants in Reykjavik, but be prepared to spend money in both. That laundromat is really expensive to do laundry at. Holy moly. If anyone reading this is a diver and is debating doing the Silfra fissure I am here to tell you to not worry about the money and do it. Easily one of the coolest, most unique dives I've ever done.
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Oct 4, 2016 16:04
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Not doing Silfra is my #1 regret about my time in Iceland. Oh well, gives me reason to go back.
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Oct 4, 2016 21:43
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I already booked my trip and included a trip to the lagoon so hearing all this is kinda disappointing, although I came for the music festival anyway. Unfortunately it doesn't leave any time for taking a car around the country.
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Oct 28, 2016 00:28
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Gin and Juche posted:I already booked my trip and included a trip to the lagoon so hearing all this is kinda disappointing, although I came for the music festival anyway. Unfortunately it doesn't leave any time for taking a car around the country. The lagoon is great, just go there and relax for half a day or whatever.
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Oct 28, 2016 00:31
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Whip Slagcheek posted:Woof. Short itinerary. Yeah don't stay in Retkjavik, you can do that on your last afternoon/night. Get out to the Golden Circle for your first full day (Tuesday) and then I'd say head out to Jokulsarlon and Skaftafell for that second full day. It'll be a bit rushed but it gives you a taste of a bit of everything. This one goes waaaaay back, but I wanted to give a trip report (we went back at the end of September, but hadn't though to post here) It was amazing, and somehow the schedule wasn't rushed! Day One: Landed, Blue Lagoon, wandering around Reykjavik - saw the church, but otherwise was just walking around going into stores (no museums etc) Day Two: Scuba diving Silfra, followed by Horseback riding outside of Reykjavik; then did the Golden Circle, and drove to Vik where our Airbnb was.  SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS Day Three: Lots of things around Vik - the black sand beaches, Vik itself, various waterfalls, various museums, various random stops on the side of the road to see churches and pretty buildings SAW NORTHERN LIGHTS BUT THE AIRBNB'S NEIGHBOR'S DOG KEPT HUMPING OUR LEGS FORCEFULLY WHEN WE WERE OUTSIDE SO WE HAD TO WATCH THEM FROM INSIDE Day Four: Went to the "Secret Pool" near Vik which was amazing; drove back to the airport, and stopped by the giant Crater place on its way. We actually could have done more stuff on Day three, but we didn't want to try to push it going too far East. Overall, god drat it was a wonderful time and I need to move to Iceland somehow
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Nov 14, 2016 03:58
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I'm getting married June and was thinking of taking a mini-honeymoon with my wife to Iceland (taking a proper one in November), flying out from the UK in the afternoon on Sunday and returning Wednesday afternoon. I imagine we'd stay in Reykjavik and rent a car, so would Golden Circle on Monday and some of the south coast on Tuesday be doable? Not bothered about the Blue Lagoon, so we'd need to find something else to do Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning. We'll be too early for the solstice but the midnight sun will be interesting.
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Dec 24, 2016 10:40
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Lady Gaza posted:I'm getting married June and was thinking of taking a mini-honeymoon with my wife to Iceland (taking a proper one in November), flying out from the UK in the afternoon on Sunday and returning Wednesday afternoon. I imagine we'd stay in Reykjavik and rent a car, so would Golden Circle on Monday and some of the south coast on Tuesday be doable? Not bothered about the Blue Lagoon, so we'd need to find something else to do Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning. We'll be too early for the solstice but the midnight sun will be interesting. Yes, Golden Circle is easily doable in one day. South coast you could easily all the way to Vik, and check out the major two waterfall stops on the way, check out the basalt columns near Vik, and maybe even the crashed plane (~90 minutes round-trip since you have to walk from the road). This is all made much more convenient since there is sun up until 11:30pm or so, so driving back at midnight to Reykjavik seems quite reasonable. Thanks to the light, it really feels quite fine to do an 18 hour day of driving + tourist stuff. You could also do Snaefellsnes peninsula as a similarly-long-but-reasonable daytrip from Reykjavik. When I went there, it was incredibly cloudy and rainy the entire day so I didn't get a great impression of it. I was the only day we had in Iceland with rain, but the west side of the island is also by far the rainiest so it wasn't like we were particularly unlucky. There was an incredible slot canyon near Arnarstapi that made the drive worth it, but tbh I'd keep it as a backup and skip it if it's rainy and do something else instead. Landmannalaugar will unfortunately almost certainly still be closed* by the time you're there. We got there the first day it was open this year, which was something like 23 June. (* to drivers; you can still hike in but that's like a two day trip). You won't need a 4x4 by the way since you don't have enough time to do any of the F-Roads, unless you want to go to Gjain on F-327, which is amazing, but it's also only like a 45 minute hike from the paved road so it's reasonable even with a small car + short hike. And someone might drive by that you can hitchhike with if you're lucky. Even if Landmannalaugar is closed, driving highway 32 and then the F26 as far as the power station (which will be open) is pretty interesting and gives you a great idea of the desolation of interior Iceland. Saladman fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Dec 24, 2016 |
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Dec 24, 2016 14:06
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