I have been to Iceland twice. Once in the summer during the constant daylight, and once in the winter during the 20 hour days of darkness. Both seasons have their charms, but if you only have the opportunity to go once, i prefer summer. You’ll miss the northern lights, but sometimes people visit iceland 4 or 5 times and never get to see them anyway, so don’t base your trip to iceland just on seeing this phenomenon.
Iceland is Expensive! Especially the food! Honestly i’m not a foodie, but i wouldn’t say the food is anything super special. there are some good restraints but again you will pay more then you can imagine to eat. I want to reiterate how expensive food is. Just as an example, expect to pay around $27 for a fast food hamburger. You will not get out of any restaurant for under $50 if you buy only one item and a drink. The cheapest place you can eat is their famous hot dog stand and each hot dog costs about $9. Seafood is aparently pretty good in iceland, but i can’t stress enough how expensive eating will cost you. i would budget at least $100 per day just for food!
The Blue Lagoon. This is cool but its also a huge tourist trap. It is very expensive also. You will pay around $80 for admission and it will be crowded! There are tons of tourist here. The lagoon is massive so there is plenty of space, but just keep in mind its not a low key romantic spot by any means. It’s a spa. It’s man made, and just basically a huge public pool. The water is warm and nice, its opaque and you can get mud for your face and hang out as long as you like. Everyone going to iceland will obviously go here, but I would suggest going to other more private or secluded real natural hot springs on your trip. The island has tons of real hot springs and with a little research you can find some great ones to visit.
Reykjavík is a very small city. You can basically walk the whole downtown area in about 30 minutes.
It is a cute town and has lots of shops and places to eat. Spend a day checking it out, but i wouldn’t schedule more then that amount of time in this “city”
The biggest difference about Iceland in the summer is that it is always daytime! The sun it out basically 24/7. There is a part of the day when it get low and dusk like, but its still bright. You will get confused as to what time it is, but it is great for travel productivity! I saw so many things each day because you just power through.
I would suggest renting a car. I have both done ice lend tour bus style and renting a car and doing things on your own style and I highly recommend doing it on your own. you can’t really get lost since there is bassicly just one road to everywhere. the ring road will take you all around the island and to so many places. All the basic tours you can take just drive you to the same spots you can research for yourself and the tours usually feel rushed and don’t give much more information then you can find out on your own. Rent a car and take your time.
Do the golden circle. It’s the most basic and common tour in iceland. It consists of Thingvellir National Park, The Geysir Geothermal Area, and Gullfoss Waterfall.
The national park is where you will see the continental divide! This is awesome! It’s where the Euroaisa and American content plates meet. You will see the giant split in the earth and its quite a site to see! Take your time and wander around, you can hang down into it and along it as well. It has become a major tourust attraction and they have now built walkways and platforms to take photos from.
The Geyser is also neat to see, but you won’t spend much time here. It’s a small attraction, you’ll watch the geyser shoot about once every five minutes and its pretty cool, but thats all there is to see here. They have a restaurant, gift shop and restroom here also, so it’s a good middle stop to regroup and realax.
Winter is Iceland is cold. Make sure you have appropriate attire or you’ll be miserable.
I think that winter in iceland is for doing activities more then tours.
I would recommend going to their small domestic airport and flying the 45 minutes to the north part of the island and doing some fun winter activities!
I went snowmobiling and dog sledding in the north and it was wonderful! I also saw the northern lights and they are pretty amazing.
I went to a town called Akureyri. It is small but lovely.
It was snowing and cold, but I took some tours here that were a lot of fun.
Once tour was to the Mývatn lake area. It was a lovely drive and some very cool sights. You could probably rent a car and do this on your own as well.
Make sure to go to the “Mývatn Nature Baths” this is a natural hot springs that is absolutely beautiful!
The other tours were as i mentioned dogsledding and snowmobiling. They were both on the near bay mountain and tons of fun. I would recommend these if you are into fun.
The northern lights is something you DO NOT NEED A TOUR FOR! There are tons of tours that will try to get you to take them saying they know the best spot or whatever. No need to do this. All you have to do it drive to a spot without clouds and wait! Thats it! The key is finding a spot without clouds and also being patient. You may wait a few hours before you see them. Your camera will pick up on the lights before your eyes will, so a tip would be to take some photos of the sky to see if the area is good. Look for a greenish wisp the looks just like clouds. Set your camera ISO on at least 800 or higher and a minimum of a 2 second shutter. You’ll get some great photos if you see it. Just drive out of the downtown area where there is no light pollution and pull over and look up. If there is a clear sky then you will most likely see it.
When back in Reykjavik, I also enjoyed the Super Jeep tour! They take you all over for a full 10 hour day of sightseeing and they let you spend a bit more time exploring then a tourbus would. The best part of this super jeep tour is at the end when they take you off roading right onto the black sand beaches of Vik. It’s a lot of fun!
I went to Iceland in the summer of 2013. It was less touristy back then. This was before the cheap $99 WOW airline flights from NYC and before the Iceland tourism board did a major marketing push, so things were less crowded and low key. I also went in the winter of 2017, it is must more crowded with tourists now.
▪ Nautholsvik Hot Beach
▪ Fisherman Museum
▪ Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur Hot dog
▪ Drive Golden Circle
▪ Geysir
▪ Thingvellir National Park
▪ Gullfoss Waterfall
▪ Hrunalaug hot springs!
▪ Harpa Concert Hall
▪ Walk Reykjavik
▪ National Gallery
▪ The Pearl
▪ Silly viking museum
▪ Vegamót - Bistro/Bar
▪ Cave tour
▪ Selfoss Volcano Crater
▪ Skógafoss - Seljavallalaug Pool
▪ Glacier Walk
▪ Vik Black Sand Beach
▪ Skaftafell National Park (4hrs)
▪ Jökulsárlón - Glacier lake (4hrs)
▪ Blue Lagoon
▪ Snæfellsjökull National Park