iceland travel help?

[xjillianpaige]

Hi! I hope this is the right place, I feel like people talk about/get travel tips here, too.

But, my friends and I are planning a trip to Iceland this November and we're looking for some help on figuring out some fun things to do/places to go while we're there!

We have some stuff we know we want to do:
- Northern Lights
- Hot springs
- Ice Caves
- Golden circle
- Glaciers

Any tips, thoughts, things we can't miss?

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I just got back from Iceland last week. Gorgeous country!

In terms of tips, if you haven't booked lodging yet, book it ASAP, especially if you want to stay outside Reykjavik. November might be a little bit easier to find something outside the city, but most of the lodging outside the city books months in advance for the summer. If you are staying inside the city, you will probably be fine. Also, since you are going in November, I would just take tours instead of renting a car. You don't want to be driving on unfamiliar roads in bad conditions. Plus, they are much more likely to charge you for minor damage to a rental car in Iceland than other countries. (Google Iceland car rental horror stories.)

Restaurants are very expensive. If you are budget conscious, consider packing some prepackaged snacks or breakfast foods. We brought peanut butter crackers and granola bars. If you like hot dogs, Baejarins Betzu Pylsur is one of the cheapest meals you can get. You can also do some grocery shopping, which is cheaper than restaurants.

Book the Northern Lights tour early in your trip. If I remember correctly, most companies allow you to tour for free a second night if you don't see the lights the first time. So if you book your tour the first night, you have several other days you could try again.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

[moniqueand2]

I have a fascination with Iceland but have never been. So your post intrigues and inspires me. Off topic but over the weekend I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Ben Stiller. I had no idea but Iceland plays a prominent role in the film. Lots of great scenes. Just passing that along as it may help your group continue to be excited for your trip.

 

[BrianL]

Iceland is AMAZING! I did a trip a couple of years ago and did similar things. I was looking for adventure, so caving, glaciers, etc. I was supposed to do dry-suit snorkeling, but the wind killed that (yes, the wind was so strong it chopped the water too badly for us to enter). Anyway, I organized all my trips through a company called Eskimos Iceland. They were super helpful. They book the excursions through other companies, but they organize it all. I emailed with the girl that worked there so many times before going and she really helped to prepare me. I stayed in Reykjavik and was picked up by the tour companies.

I can recommend a restaurant in Reykjavik called Cafe Loki. I ate there almost every evening and they had great Icelandic food (harder to find than you think) and a great staff. It is right near the big church, and they have an upstairs with a lovely view. Also, get the hot dogs from the stand down near the waterfront (everyone will know what you are talking about). They are so good (made in Iceland with lamb and dressed with something they call ketchup but isn't like ours, mustard, and fried onions).

I hope you have a great trip!

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

You will love Iceland...I visited Iceland during DCL's 11 night Norway/Iceland/Scotland cruise in 2015. We booked our excursions with IceLimo Luxury Travel...Ryan was awesome to work with and he even arranged for us to see some of the Game of Thrones sites...

 

[nkereina]

A friend of mine just got back. They did rent a car, and was very glad she also rented a GPS. She said with all the difficult Icelandic words, it would have been too hard to navigate without it. They stayed at an AirBnB which worked out well for them. Have fun!

 

[Chaitali]

We were in Iceland in May and thought it was amazing! I agree with earlier posts saying it was pretty expensive. We had a hotel with breakfast included, bought snacks and stuff to kind of tide us over through lunch time and splurged on dinners out. No northern lights for us since it was May but we did the golden circle (it was good), a glacier hike on the south coast (amazing) and several hot springs. I thought the Blue Lagoon was a little over rated so check out some other hot springs as well if you can. We went to the Secret Lagoon (still touristy but nice) and Nautholsvik geothermal beach which was mostly locals (I loved it). We stayed at a hotel in Reykjavik and just did day trips out which worked out fine for a first trip but if I go again I would definitely rent a car and explore a bit further afield. I wrote some blog posts about our trip if you want to see more details. http://runningandenjoying.blogspot.com/search/label/Iceland

 

[xjillianpaige]

This is all so helpful!

My friends and I are pretty adventurous. In May of 2015 we rented a car and drove around Ireland for 10 days, but I already told them that I'm not getting into a car with them in Iceland in November, so I've nixed the driving for this time.

We always love to stretch our dollar, so I think we'll buy lots of bread and make sandwiches for lunch most days. We also tend to stay in hostels, so that cuts out some major hotel expenses and usually it means we can eat a free breakfast and take some fruit and extra bread for sandwiches later.

What is Icelandic food like? I don't think it even occurred to me to try Icelandic food.

 

[BrianL]

What is Icelandic food like? I don't think it even occurred to me to try Icelandic food.

I don't know all of it, but I had a few dishes that I believe were pretty traditional:

Pickled Herring on Rye - there are several different flavors of pickling so it may not be the same form place to place
Fish Mash on Rye - it's kind alike potato salad with fish in it
Fish Mash Casserole - like above but baked in a crock with some cheese - hearty and delicious
"Meat Soup" - like a stew with lamb meatballs in it - this was common

There are things like the putrid shark and puffin and such, but I gathered that that stuff was just for the tourists. It's basically a lot of lamb and fish and it all comes with rye bread. I actually had trouble tracking down traditional food which is why I ate at Cafe Loki every night. Reykjavic is just full of Italian/Indian/Chinese, etc. food, but that wasn't what I traveled that far for.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

What is Icelandic food like? I don't think it even occurred to me to try Icelandic food.

We didn't eat a ton of Icelandic specialties, but from what I gather from my research and talking to our local tour guides, Icelandic food consists of a lot of lamb and fish dishes. The most Icelandic thing we probably had was smoked mutton soaked in blueberry syrup, which was a specialty of a local farm we visited. Oh, and Skyr. Skyr is pretty popular from what I gathered.

While we are talking about food, here is one of the best budget-saving tips I can give you. Bring a water bottle, and drink the tap water. It is so good, and supposedly very clean. My husband and I have actually been missing their water since we got back.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I've always wanted to go there to see a Formula Off-Road event:

 

[xjillianpaige]

Lamb, fish, and rye bread. I can work with that!

 

[Chaitali]

I second the information about the water, it was the best tasting water I have ever had! We just filled up our water bottle from the sink in the hotel room every morning. I don't eat meat so I can't vouch for the taste but hot dogs seem really big there. I think they're lamb hot dogs and supposed to be pretty good. There were a lot of little hot dog stands and the locals lined up for them.

 

[BrianL]

One thing I loved about the water there was that it is piped in hot (no water heater) all heated at the geothermal plant. One warning, it can be VERY hot coming out of the tap! I mean boil pasta hot. I love a hot shower though, and I also liked that the faucet (at least at my hotel) has a temperature setting on it so you could actually set an exact temperature in Celcius. One down side is that the hot water smells a little like sulfur; Then again, the whole country smells a little like sulfur and you get used to it very quickly.

 

[Earstou]

I gave some info in another thread here: http://www.disboards.com/threads/2-days-in-iceland.3504504/
I don't see the tour we took from Icelandair listed anymore, but I did see a South Shore and Glacial Lagoon tour. This is a beautiful area, and I think anyone who visits Iceland should see the very stunning glacial lagoon Jökulsárlón.
http://www.icelandair.us/vacations/category/tours-and-add-ons/ The Gulfoss, Geysir and Langjokull Snowmobiling tour looks like fun, too!