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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. Fly in Sunday and putz around Reykjavik, Golden Circle Monday, stay in Hveragerdi on Monday night, Vestmannaeyjar island and some waterfalls Tuesday, fly out Wednesday. You're welcome. Whip Slagcheek fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Dec 25, 2016 |
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Dec 24, 2016 19:48
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Amazing, thanks both 
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Dec 25, 2016 12:33
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If you want a nice honeymoon dinner take your new wife to Fiskmarkadurinn in Reykjavik. It's right in the middle of downtown and the food is out of this world. A little pricey and you'll need to arrange a reservation, but so worth it. Grillmarkadurinn is also highly recommended if you prefer a beef oriented menu.
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Dec 25, 2016 19:42
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Any recommendations for glacier walks/tours?
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Jan 6, 2017 01:42
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John Cenas Jorts posted:Any recommendations for glacier walks/tours? How advanced are you trying to do? They've got everything from literally taking a walk on a glacier to no poo poo mountaineering with crampons and ice picks.
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Jan 6, 2017 02:52
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I'd say medium-low probably? We're down with hiking at steep mountain grades, but I've never been on a glacier so idk how well that translates to ice. Like, I figure it's a once in a lifetime type thing but any of that vertical climbing/ice axe poo poo would give me a panic attack.
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Jan 6, 2017 17:04
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For what season? In summer for low intensity you can take trips from the F985 near Jokursarlon and they'll drive you up and around on the glacier's top in a superjeep. You can also DIY if you rented a 4x4 and drive up the f985 yourself (a ton of fun) then hike up the glacier on foot until you get bored. Just make sure you follow the jeep path or you might fall into a crevasse and even then it's probably not 100% safe. That said, the top of glaciers is always the most boring part. It's a featureless white expanse that gradually inclines, but I thought it was interesting, since I've only been on alpine glaciers in which cases you can always see the rock mountains. On top of the f985 sometimes it was really just white in all directions with a gradual and unsettling slope upwards.
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Jan 6, 2017 20:10
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My wife is very keen to do an Iceland trip in early-mid December. I've been game if only because seeing the northern lights is on my bucket list and this trip should do it. Is it worth going to Iceland in December?
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Jan 7, 2017 21:01
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It's dark and you will find fewer tourism options as far as tour groups go since it'll be the low season. Roads will be fine provided you use common sense and stick to the ring road. F-Roads will be closed so no driving into the glaciers.John Cenas Jorts posted:I'd say medium-low probably? We're down with hiking at steep mountain grades, but I've never been on a glacier so idk how well that translates to ice. Like, I figure it's a once in a lifetime type thing but any of that vertical climbing/ice axe poo poo would give me a panic attack. Sorry about delay, my wife and I used Arcanum for our glacier walk. We liked it and the prices were reasonable. You can find them at https://www.arcanum.is Whip Slagcheek fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Jan 7, 2017 |
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Jan 7, 2017 22:43
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Im also getting married in late June and we are looking to do a self drive tour over 9 nights. I have a friend who lives in the middle of Reykjavic and is letting us stay in her flat for the first two nights there before we leave for the driving portion. FOr that I have gotten in contact with a travel agency in iceland that is offering us this June 28: receive car – spend the night in Snæfellsnes Peninsula June 29: continue to Skagafjörður and spend the night there June 30: Head to Akureyri and spend the night here – upgrade to Luxury July 1: Head to Lake Mývatn and spend the next two nights in that area July 2: Lake Mývatn area July 3: Head towards Höfn and spend the night in that area July 4: Spend the night in Kirkjubæjarklaustur area July 5: Spend the night in Golden Circle area July 6: explore Reykjanes peninsula, visit the blue lagoon. Spend the night either near the blue lagoon. upgrading to luxury July 7: enjoy the morning and then head to the airport to return the car - Departure The price for this package is = 738008 ISK INCLUDED · Accommodation (comfort) for 9 nights, includes breakfast (including 2x upgrade to luxury accommodation) · Rental car of your choice with unlimited mileage, CDW and VAT for 11 days · Free in-car unlimited wi-fi, use of GPS & two authorized drivers for the duration of the vehicle rental period · Champagne & chocolate upon arrival · Blue Lagoon: Experience Comfort Package · Entrance to Mývatn Nature Baths · Drop car off at Airport on departure · Information meeting with your travel consultant (optional) · Map of Iceland and Detailed Personal Itinerary · Road atlas & Nordic Visitor's Iceland Travel Guide · Driving in Iceland Pamphlet · Temporary use of a mobile phone · 24-hour Emergency Service · Taxes & service fees Anyone think this is a bad idea or that I would be getting ripped off by not booking all of this stuff ourselves? We like the idea of having some backup help if there are problems or issues with any of the accomidations.
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Jan 18, 2017 16:32
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You're paying about 2x the cost of doing it yourself. 4x4 manual transmission : $1600 for 9 days + $400 gas (not included for you anyway). Add $500 if you need an automatic. Nice hotel room: maybe average $250/night with two luxury ones (let's say $2k total; budget rooms are like $150) Blue lagoon: $80/ea Myvatn baths: like $20/ea 3G full roaming and GPS: like $30/day So I can barely make that cost $4000. Organizing your own hotel rooms a day in advance also lets you change your itinerary if you like one place more than another. I thought Lake Myvatn was pretty boring and awful tbh and I had high hopes. The nature bath there is GREAT and we didn't go to the power station, but eveything else was "eh" (Jon snow sex cave, cindercones, micro crater fields) or "ugh" ("rock cathedral habitrail for 80 year old tourgroups") Also on your itinerary you wont need a 4x4 since youre missing Landmannalaugar which is a big missed point, although there are no comfortable accommodations there so maybe that's why. (It can be a day trip too but it's pretty far) That price seems pretty bad. If it included a private driver and guide it would be reasonable, and is what I thought at first. Saladman fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Jan 18, 2017 |
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Jan 18, 2017 17:44
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Thanks for that, its the main thing I was worried about with the package deals we were looking at. Any advice about the specific itinerary? Like if I just take those locations and dates and try to book rooms on my own does it seem like a nice trip or should I make any replacements? For example if I only spend the one night in the Lake Mytan area then what could I change about it?
Womyn Capote fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Jan 18, 2017 |
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Jan 18, 2017 18:43
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There's a lot of driving in that itinerary, particularly that Lake Myvatn to Hofn leg. Is there something in particular you're looking to see in the north? Vik would make a better stopping point than Kirkjubæjarklaustur and has easier access to the southern destinations. Also, Vik Wool. Blue Lagoon isn't worth devoting an entire day to unless that's something you're really into. After 3-4 hours you start to get bored and the novelty wears off. Quite a few of us have done itineraries focused solely on southern Iceland so it might be beneficial for you to jump back into the beginning of this thread and read through that for ideas on how to tidy up the second half of that trip.
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Jan 18, 2017 20:17
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Whip Slagcheek posted:Is there something in particular you're looking to see in the north? I have no idea! Honestly we have only been going off various travel agency websites with package deals and it seems like "drive the whole way around" was the way to go with the time that we have dedicated to the trip. We don't mind the driving but I didn't expect more than 4 hours straight driving on any particular day, broken up by stopping at whatever sightseeing spots along the way. Am I way off by that estimate? Womyn Capote fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Jan 18, 2017 |
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Jan 18, 2017 20:34
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Myvatn to Hofn is a nearly five hour drive on its own, that's why it raised my eyebrows. Also wait, holy poo poo. You're DRIVING to Snaefellsnes and then to Akureyri? Nope, nope, nope. Snaefellsnes can be a multi day destination for hiking and sightseeing alone. Please don't do this unless you want to live in a car If you want to do a quick run through the north to do Lake Myvatn, see northern lights, etc, that's fine. I didn't see the beginning of your trip, I thought it had you flying to Akureyri from Keflavik and then starting, which is something a lot of people do. Whip Slagcheek fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Jan 18, 2017 |
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Jan 18, 2017 20:38
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The only particularly big thing they help you with is getting a car; getting hotel rooms is pretty trivial, as is getting a blue lagoon ticket. Just make sure to book Blue Lagoon 48+ hours in advance, and book your next night's hotel the night before (or more if you care about getting a specific place and not just any place). I rented a 4x4 manual Dacia Duster SUV with Reykjavik Cars / Blue Car Rental (http://www.bluecarrental.is/) for 152,000 ISK ($1350) for 8 full days with 2 drivers and with all the extra insurance things selected. They have a office in downtown and at the KEF airport. I just checked your dates and a mid-size automatic SUV is $1850 with all the insurance options checked + 4G car wifi + 1 extra driver, or $1650 for a mid-sized manual SUV with the same options and dates. Big name chains are a miserable ripoff. Hertz wants an appalling $3000 for a mid-sized manual 4x4 SUV for the same dates and the equivalent options :o. It's around $2200 for just the manual 4x4 with no extras or bonus insurance. So, rent your car enough in advance from a local Icelandic company is the takeaway there. Your current itinerary would be fine in a smart car. You'll only need a 4x4 if you decide to do F roads, and the major things on F roads are: • Landmannalaugar [famously scenic interior hiking area + bizarre oasis; 2 hour drive each way from ring road + you'd want to spend time there; also stop by Gjain Oasis on the way in or out] • F985 [drive to the top of a glacier, ±1 hour each way from ringroad + 30 min at top unless you want to do the glacier expedition], • F26 [drive across center of country, 10-12 hours? and may not even be open by the time you're there], • Askja [barren wasteland, ±4 hours each way from ring road? also may ot be open and will require river crossings] Also keep in mind that Thorsmork's access road, F249, is forbidden to ALL rental cars, and if you want to go there you either have to hike in or take a expeditionary trip. As for itinerary suggestions, it depends a lot on what you like doing or that you'd like to see. I thought the ringroad is fun to drive all the way around, and flying from Reykjavik to Akureyri won't really save you any time considering you have to check into the flights etc and it's only like a 5 hour drive in the first place. You'll easily do 25 hours of driving over those 8 days, which is not that bad since you can easily stop at any time and get out of the car and stretch or take photos, and the scenery changes a lot and the driving is not featureless straight roads. The most boring part of the drive (imo) was between Hofn and Egilsstadir, but that's only 3 hours and honestly it's still quite pretty. The north area--immediately to the east of the mountains at Myvatn Nature Baths and all the way until almost Egilsstadir--is a surprisingly incredible barren wasteland that would easily fit in the Sahara. You'll see this from Highway 1, and you can do a short detour to hit Dettifoss on the way (~30 min each way to ring road). If you'd like to be more alone-just-the-two-of-you then I'd recommend spending more time in the north or center. The south is pretty full with people everywhere you go. Even if you go to Seljalandfoss at midnight (which we did, as there's still plenty of light) there will still be 10 other people there, though compared to more like 100 at noon. It's still great and except for the golden circle it's not -overly- crowded during the day, but it might not feel private and super romantic, if that's what you want. Gjain, Landmannalaugar, F985, or anywhere in the northwestern peninsula will feel much more private—if you care. Basically all tour groups cover the coastal area between Blue Lagoon in the southwest to Jokulsarlon in the southeast. Any sites in this area will have > 10x as many people as similar sites elsewhere in the country. YMMV! If I ever go back with someone else who hasn't been, I would personally not go back to Thingvellir unless I'm going with a geologist or someone who cares about seeing plate tectonics in action. I liked Blue Lagoon, but yeah 3-4 hours is definitely enough even for someone who likes spas.
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Jan 19, 2017 00:38
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Þetta er fyndinn þráður
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Feb 12, 2017 16:29
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Saladman posted:You'll only need a 4x4 if you decide to do F roads, and the major things on F roads are: I think you drove on F208 into and out of Landmannalaugar without doubling back (power station all the way to the ring road). I plan to go there in the first few days of July. I know that taking F208 into Landmannalaugar from the north is the usual way to get there, but how was continuing on F208 to the south towards Vik? Also, did you spend the night there or just the day?
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Feb 13, 2017 21:40
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Oakland Martini posted:I think you drove on F208 into and out of Landmannalaugar without doubling back (power station all the way to the ring road). I plan to go there in the first few days of July. I know that taking F208 into Landmannalaugar from the north is the usual way to get there, but how was continuing on F208 to the south towards Vik? Also, did you spend the night there or just the day? We had to double all the way back, around June 24th, which was the first day -any- road to Landmannalaugar was open last year. We would have definitely continued on the F208 if the road had been opened, since we were driving to Kirkjub anyway, so it was quite a lot of backtracking, but a closed road is a closed road at least if you're a tourist who's unfamiliar with the route and doesn't want any liability and safety problems. We did the entire thing in one day: got up at Hella bright and early, drove to Landmannalaugar, did a 5-6 hour hike, decided at like 6pm we didn't want to pitch a tent there, so we drove all the way back and around and camped near Vik at þakgil (which was by far the coolest campground of our trip). I hear there are a fair number of small rivers to cross if you do continue south from Landmannalaugar towards Vik, so keep that in mind. There are no rivers to cross on the other approach coming from the power station until Landmannalaugar. That part of the road can actually easily be done in a tiny Smart car (although your rental agency won't allow it, so don't do it unless you're borrowing a friend's car or something), while the road south definitely needs a large vehicle. Saladman fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 23:40
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Saladman posted:We had to double all the way back, around June 24th, which was the first day -any- road to Landmannalaugar was open last year. We would have definitely continued on the F208 if the road had been opened, since we were driving to Kirkjub anyway, so it was quite a lot of backtracking, but a closed road is a closed road at least if you're a tourist who's unfamiliar with the route and doesn't want any liability and safety problems. We did the entire thing in one day: got up at Hella bright and early, drove to Landmannalaugar, did a 5-6 hour hike, decided at like 6pm we didn't want to pitch a tent there, so we drove all the way back and around and camped near Vik at þakgil (which was by far the coolest campground of our trip). Awesome, very helpful. Any particular reasons you didn't want to camp at Landmannalaugar (that is our current plan)?
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Feb 14, 2017 15:00
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Oakland Martini posted:Awesome, very helpful. Any particular reasons you didn't want to camp at Landmannalaugar (that is our current plan)? Not really. We thought about it, but after our hike we weren't all that tired and felt good enough to drive for a few more hours. I'm glad we did since the Thakgil camp ground was amazing, but I think we would have camped in Landmannalaugar if the full 208 south had been open. Also make sure to stop at the Gjain oasis a few km off the F-32 road!! It's incredible, truly eye-popping. Stong's farm is close and worth a stop, but Gjain is stunning, especially if you're coming west from the F-32, as you suddenly go from a horrible desolate wasteland or dead, black, grey rocks, then incredibly suddenly, it drops into a large canyon which is an amazing incredible green and blue fairytale. The F-327 is incredibly rocky and if your car has lovely clearance you'll definitely wreck your oil pan, so keep that in mind if you don't have an SUV. It's only 2 or 3 km from the paved road though so you can hike it if you don't have a good enough car (or hitchhike if someone passes your way). Photos of it don't really do it justice, since the most stunning beauty of it is its contrast with the apocalyptic wasteland approach towards it, which requires going from west to east (i.e. direction on F-327 from Gjain towards Stong's farm). If you take the F-327 in the other direction (i.e. you pass stong's farm first) then it's way less interesting... and also it will be slower than taking the F-32 and backtracking a couple km, since the F-32 is paved and the F-327 is kilometers of sharp rock. We went there at like 8pm and we were the only people there (in full daylight). If you go this way, you'll come across a gate at some point: OPEN THE GATE then keep driving. It's not to block you out, it's to keep sheep from escaping! I recommend actually going to as many sites as possible on weird hours. For the Golden Circle it won't really matter, but places like Dettifoss, Gjain, Landmannalaugar, etc, it's way cooler if you're only one of a handful of people in the area. Everything on the south coast will be crowded even at midnight, but the rest of the spots really empty out outside the 11am--4pm times. I think all my favorite spots were the ones we hit at weird hours where almost no one else was there. Saladman fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 17:54
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Camping at Landmannalaugar is fine but the place floods sometimes and you miss out on the big hike (i.e. Landmannalaugur -> Þórsmörk -> Seljalandsfoss/Skógar) which is pretty baller. Not seeing Þórsmörk while going through the South is a mite sad, though I guess to outlanders trees and green aren't that interestin' To do that, btw, you can park your car at either Skógar (this has more hassles and less options) or more ideally in Hella (Hvolsvöllur can work as well but why would you do that?) The trails are super well marked and even amateur hikers can do them. Practically no-one dies there, it's great. Saladman posted:I recommend actually going to as many sites as possible on weird hours. For the Golden Circle it won't really matter, but places like Dettifoss, Gjain, Landmannalaugar, etc, it's way cooler if you're only one of a handful of people in the area. Everything on the south coast will be crowded even at midnight, but the rest of the spots really empty out outside the 11am--4pm times. I think all my favorite spots were the ones we hit at weird hours where almost no one else was there. If you go for this option, be prepared to only get at most 2 hot decent meals you don't make yourself tho (although you should ideally not be eating out that much in Iceland if you don't want to go bankrupt)
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Feb 14, 2017 18:22
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Saladman posted:Not really. We thought about it, but after our hike we weren't all that tired and felt good enough to drive for a few more hours. I'm glad we did since the Thakgil camp ground was amazing, but I think we would have camped in Landmannalaugar if the full 208 south had been open. Gotcha. Any other campgrounds you recommend? We are not going much further than Vik after Landmannalaugar, though.. we are heading back up to the Westfjiords area to see the bird cliffs and then spend a night in Hornstrandir.
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Feb 14, 2017 20:24
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Oakland Martini posted:Gotcha. Any other campgrounds you recommend? We are not going much further than Vik after Landmannalaugar, though.. we are heading back up to the Westfjiords area to see the bird cliffs and then spend a night in Hornstrandir. We only camped 4 times out of 11 days--half the time we were able to find hotels/hostels to book in the town we were in when it was 8pm and we wanted to go to sleep. The Thakgil campground was awesome but not worth driving way out of your way for; I'd only go there if you were planning anyway on spending a night in Vik. The Reykjahalid (Myvatn) and Landmannalaugar campgrounds were really crowded and unremarkable, while Thakgil and wild camping in the Berserkjahraun were great. If you want to wild camp in the Snæfellsnes peninsula, I'd recommend just driving on the Berserkjahraun until you see a grassy spot and then stopping there. There are a couple spots on it that are clearly used for parties every now and then, most likely by locals, but when we camped for the night there, I don't think even a single car passed us the entire night, and we camped right next to the 'road'. If you wild camp, just hope you don't need to take a poo poo during the night or first thing in the morning. Yeah, it's true that nothing local will be open between like 8pm and 8am, even gas stations, but only a couple major attractions in Iceland have visiting hours (e.g. Myvatn Nature Baths, which is super cool and also open until midnight or so) and it's sunny most of the day even in mid July. If you're doing hotels it's a problem, but if you're camping it's almost irrelevant since you can pitch a tent whenever even at official camping spots.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:52
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Super useful information in here, thanks! I'll be headed to Iceland for 10 days in the middle of May and it just so happens that my travel buddy's birthday will be in Iceland. Looking for recommendations for a good-to-excellent seafood restaurant in or close to Selfoss. The actual day of birthday we'll be driving out to the Golden Circle from Selfoss so Reykjavik won't be too far, and I don't mind the drive if the food is fresh and tasty. Price point doesn't really matter because how often do you get to celebrate someone's birthday in Iceland? (yeah, yeah- locals, people who go for birthdays, etc.)
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Feb 22, 2017 13:54
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germskr posted:Super useful information in here, thanks! You're in luck: Tryggvaskali is in Selfoss. We ate out a bunch with no budget concerns, and that was our best restaurant in Iceland for a mixture of atmosphere + food quality reasons. They have a great selection of beers too. Book in advance or expect to wait 60+ minutes to get seated. It'll run you about $50 each, so it's not that bad considering Iceland. Saladman fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 16:05
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Saladman posted:You're in luck: Tryggvaskali is in Selfoss. We ate out a bunch with no budget concerns, and that was our best restaurant in Iceland for a mixture of atmosphere + food quality reasons. They have a great selection of beers too. Book in advance or expect to wait 60+ minutes to get seated. It'll run you about $50 each, so it's not that bad considering Iceland. Thanks. Any other recommendations? I'm looking for the freshest seafood I can get, think cod, salmon, etc. which I saw the menu for Tryggvaskali and it seems to be 50/50.
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Feb 22, 2017 20:23
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germskr posted:Thanks. Any other recommendations? I'm looking for the freshest seafood I can get, think cod, salmon, etc. which I saw the menu for Tryggvaskali and it seems to be 50/50. There are really not that many restaurants to pick from outside of the southwest around Reykjavik and Akureyri, so you can feasibly check every single restaurant on tripadvisor in your area in about 20 minutes. Generally there seemed to be max 1 or 2 gourmet or gourmet-ish places per region, and everything else just sells hotdogs or your standard dry steak of some sort, mashed potatoes, and carrots. We went to at least 15 restaurants in our 11 days there, which come to think of it was a lot of time spent in restaurants, especially since we camped 5 nights and we weren't exactly doing a fancy-pants trip. In Höfn, we liked Humarhöfnin quite a bit which is largely a seafood place. In Akureyri, 1862 Nordic Bistro was also quite good. It looks and feels just like some random museum cafe where you'd get a cappuccino and a croissant, but they actually serve meals like you'd get in a fancy restaurant (at fancy restaurant prices). Hraun in Olafsvik (Snaefellsnes peninsula) was unremarkable but if you want a burger it's decent and it's not like you have a lot of choice. Rain in Keflavik was terrible. Saeta Svinid in Reykavik was quite good and had fancy pub-style food. Everywhere else we ate I can't even remember as it was all your average, forgettable, roadside diner cuisine. Saeta Svinid also served puffin, but you shouldn't really eat puffin as the puffin population has been dropped by 2/3rds in the last decade (though due to starvation and not due to overhunting; http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140827-seabird-puffin-tern-iceland-ocean-climate-change-science-winged-warning/). Surprisingly, we did not see foal on the menu anywhere, even though Iceland is the foal meat per capita king of the world. Maybe they keep it off menu so as not to offend tourists. We didn't see whale on the menu anywhere, but we weren't looking either. Also Icelandic hot dogs are just American hotdogs in American hotdog buns. I have no idea wtf everyone is talking about when they rave about Icelandic hotdogs, but I can only assume it's some groupthink/emperor's new clothes style thing. In any case, you will certainly eat a few hotdogs since they're sold at every gas station. There's a super hipster hotdog place in Reykjavik, Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, that we didn't go to since it had a massive line, but maybe if we had waited 20 minutes in the rain I would have been wowed.
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Feb 22, 2017 23:21
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Yeah, most English language menus skip them, same as with whale. If you ask your waiter you can often request it. The hotdogs are just high quality American style dogs. If you've never had that I suppose it would be interesting
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Feb 23, 2017 00:24
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germskr posted:Super useful information in here, thanks! Drive back to Reykjavik and go to Fiskmarkaðurinn. Get a reservation.
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Feb 23, 2017 02:13
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Saladman posted:Also Icelandic hot dogs are just American hotdogs in American hotdog buns. I have no idea wtf everyone is talking about when they rave about Icelandic hotdogs, but I can only assume it's some groupthink/emperor's new clothes style thing. In any case, you will certainly eat a few hotdogs since they're sold at every gas station. There's a super hipster hotdog place in Reykjavik, Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, that we didn't go to since it had a massive line, but maybe if we had waited 20 minutes in the rain I would have been wowed. They really just tasted like any other american hot dog. I don't know what all the fuss is about.
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Feb 23, 2017 03:50
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Whip Slagcheek posted:Drive back to Reykjavik and go to Fiskmarkaðurinn. Get a reservation. Menu looks diverse, is it worth it? We'll be coming from Oxara after bumming around Thingvellir (with a snorkel excursion in Silfra) earlier in the day, and still have to drive back to Selfoss where lodging is. I guess if I'm driving though, passenger can't really complain about the added drive time.
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Feb 23, 2017 13:43
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germskr posted:Menu looks diverse, is it worth it? We'll be coming from Oxara after bumming around Thingvellir (with a snorkel excursion in Silfra) earlier in the day, and still have to drive back to Selfoss where lodging is. I guess if I'm driving though, passenger can't really complain about the added drive time. Yes. It's an extremely good restaurant, probably my favorite in Reykjavik.
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Feb 23, 2017 17:20
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I have read through the thread, great info. I have received a fellowship  to study in Paris at the end of May, and am going to fly through Iceland for a stopover. I am thinking hitting the south part of the island via a rental car for 3/4 nights, is that doable?
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Feb 23, 2017 21:42
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kri kri posted:I have read through the thread, great info. I have received a fellowship Yea. Easily to Vik and covering everything inbetween. If you super love driving you could go to Snaefellsnes -or- Jokulsarlon but I'd recommend just the Reykjavik golden circle vik route in your timing. All the F roads will still be closed so just get the cheapest rental car you can, no need at all for a 4x4. Google driving times were, IME, maybe 10-20% slower than we actually drove. But that's if you drive without stopping, and one of the joys of self driving is so you can stop and go "wow" every now and then. Saladman fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Feb 23, 2017 |
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Feb 23, 2017 22:53
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Saladman posted:Yea. Easily to Vik and covering everything inbetween. If you super love driving you could go to Snaefellsnes -or- Jokulsarlon but I'd recommend just the Reykjavik golden circle vik route in your timing. All the F roads will still be closed so just get the cheapest rental car you can, no need at all for a 4x4. Awesome, thanks. Reykjavik we will do on our layover on the way back home.
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Feb 23, 2017 23:06
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Saladman posted:Yea. Easily to Vik and covering everything inbetween. If you super love driving you could go to Snaefellsnes -or- Jokulsarlon but I'd recommend just the Reykjavik golden circle vik route in your timing. All the F roads will still be closed so just get the cheapest rental car you can, no need at all for a 4x4. With four days Skatafell and Jokulsarlon are definitely doable, and worthwhile, just gotta be prepared for that drive. Staying in Selfoss, Hella, or Vik for the night would cut down on travel.
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Feb 24, 2017 02:52
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I just booked June 17 to 26 roundtrip to Iceland and have also reserved my car rental. Hopefully weather is good and Solstice doesn't make things too crazy, this was the best time that I could take a week off work. My plan is maybe attempt the ring road (totally skipping Reykjavik) or if I can convince some friends to join me do a more leisurely circuit and also some mountain biking tours.
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Mar 21, 2017 22:55
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So I and some friends were looking to do the Laugavegur hike from Landmannalaugar to Thorsmork. Then we saw the big solstice concert and thought that would be a fun thing to do as well, but that won't work at all will it? It sounds like we won't be able to start the hike til late June, well after the solstice, and we're hoping to do this over one week (weekend to weekend, so about 9 days). I guess we could arrive on the morning of June 17th, party and tour and then try and start the hike 21st? But that seems risky and going out and then not being able to actually do the hike would be a bummer. Maybe as a backup we could do the hike in reverse? Does the other end open up earlier?
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Mar 22, 2017 03:17
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Aquila posted:I just booked June 17 to 26 roundtrip to Iceland and have also reserved my car rental. Hopefully weather is good and Solstice doesn't make things too crazy, this was the best time that I could take a week off work. My plan is maybe attempt the ring road (totally skipping Reykjavik) or if I can convince some friends to join me do a more leisurely circuit and also some mountain biking tours. If you're traveling with some people, renting a car and doing the southern half of the ring road (out to Skaftafell ) might be a good compromise; the full Ring is a lot of driving and there isn't much past there that you can't see on the lower half of the loop. I also enjoyed renting a lifted 4x4 for a day and driving out in the highlands to the hot springs in Landmannalaugar. I also enjoyed day-hiking as a novice hiker. Also, stay in hostels instead of hotels; with a few exceptions I wasn't impressed with the hotels outside of Reykjavik.
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Mar 22, 2017 04:02
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