fao anyone who's been to Iceland

[fataddick]

There was an ice bar last time I was there. Essentially a walk in freezer in a restaurant off the main square (like the ones in Stockholm, London etc, sponsored by Absolut vodka I think).

 

[Steve Foster]

Went to Iceland last month. Check my thread history & you will find plenty of tips. Enjoy.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

Sigur ros are playing in November there - be good to say you saw them there

 

[u'vebeenamexed]

I went on a day trip to Reykjavik about eleven years ago - the only thing I can remember about it was sitting in a library looking at my watch killing time. Suggest you get someone to organise things for you as not a lot to do there.

 

[Kneon Light]

Am a geography teacher and am taking a group to Iceland at start of November.
This is the 4th time I've been and it's been great every time.
Most hotels run northern lights tours - although sightings are not guaranteed it is the best time of year to try.
As has already been said the Blue Lagoon is a must - as is a trip to Geysir.
If you have time can I also suggest a drive along the coast to the Solheimjokull glacier. You can pre-book walks onto the glacier which are incredible (although bloody scary when you are walking on ice between 10ft+ crevasses!) - they provide the ice shoes, axes etc. Near Solheimjokull there is also a glacial lake which you can get boat trips on between the icebergs. Only takes an hour or so but is very cheap and you pay at the lake. This is the lake that one of the more recent bond films was filmed on.

 

[Lethargic]

Loved Iceland but it can be bloody cold especially the wind as it blows straight off the Atlantic and there are no trees - Friday nights are wild in Reykjavik and it the girls that are the real wild ones.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Shocking stuff NSC - not one joke about cheap pizzas

 

[Mileoakman]

I'm going last week in November and staying a week. Flight from Gatwick, hotel b&b and 2 full day excursions + a visit to the Blue Lagoon comes out at just over £500. One of the day trips is the glacier walk and Northern Lights, the other the Golden Circle tour.

This is my 3rd visit in 5 years so I obviously like it. Mind you it might be my last visit because I read that there shoving up there Vat rate from the current modest 7% to an eyewatering 25% in January!

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

Stopped over on the way back from New York. Really good deal with Icelandic Air at one of their own hotels in Reykjavik. Bloody freezing waiting to see the Northern Lights, also did the Golden Circle waterfalls and geysers. Would definitely recommend it. Also one of the least polluted places on earth as all their power and heating is geothermal so the light is incredibly clear

 

[fataddick]

Blue Lagoon is the best place on Earth. The bar next to Vegamot is ace for lock-ins (not needed Fri & Sat when places open until 5am but places shut 1am other days except that place which usually pulls the blinds and carries on). Probably too late for football - season finishes around now and the national stadium is no booze. The pavements are heated. Hot water smells of farts. Best place in the world.

 

[Stainsey]

I went a couple of weeks ago. Most bars have a happy hour or two, where prices are not that much different to Brighton or London. Blue Lagoon as mentioned before is a must (costs about £25) but you can spend hours there. They have a web cam there so you can arrange a time for folks in the UK to look at you with your face covered in silica mud. Geysir again is a must, and if you have your own transport, you can get to Seltun which is quite near Blue Lagoon, where there is constantly boiling mud and gasses. On the road to Geysir from Reykjavik you pass the place where the American and European Tectonic plates are visibly pulling apart. The airport also has a duty free shop on arrival, and you can load up with beers to preload before you go out. Seems very popular with the locals who wheel out crates of beer ! If you have even a slight interest in geology, it is a fantastic place. But make sure you take some warm clothes and a woolly hat as the wind chill is biting.

 

[HalifaxSeagull]

I'm well up for this now. Been costing it up. Can get flights from Manc for £250 each for dates I can do early next year or £130 each from Luton, but would have to get a hotel on night of departure and factor in petrol / parking costs etc.
I can use my Avios points for a hotel....

Or I could pay about £550 each and get a package that includes, flights, transfers, hotels and a trip...

Or we could go to New York... Decisions decisions!!

 

[Mileoakman]

I'm well up for this now. Been costing it up. Can get flights from Manc for £250 each for dates I can do early next year or £130 each from Luton, but would have to get a hotel on night of departure and factor in petrol / parking costs etc.
I can use my Avios points for a hotel....

Or I could pay about £550 each and get a package that includes, flights, transfers, hotels and a trip...

Or we could go to New York... Decisions decisions!!

Just be aware that like I said in my earlier post their shoving up their VAT rate from 7% to 25% in January so prices might rise for accomodation, booze and trips out. Depends what deal you can get.

I'm going 29th November till the 6th December so I don't miss a home game!

 

[HalifaxSeagull]

Cheers, but ive used up all my leave so will have to lump the cost rise. It should still be cheaper than Norway / Sweden etc?

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Or we could go to New York... Decisions decisions!!

Or you could do both...Icelandair fly to New York via Reykjavik, plenty of people do it as a stopover en route.

I went last month: fabulous country. Stayed in Reykjavik, and booked various excursions as I went along.

-the air temperature might not be as cold as you'd expect, but the wind blows straight down from the Arctic Ocean and makes it feel like about minus 15, so take windproof jackets, gloves and a hat. If you belatedly realise you have to buy weatherproof clothing out there, the cost will horrify you.

-the Blue Lagoon is an incredible experience. I went one evening, and sitting there in the hot water, looking out as the sun set over the black lava fields all around, with a glass of wine in my hand, was one of my all time most memorable holiday experiences. Top tip: you have to shower naked before you can go in to any geothermal pool in Iceland, it's a local tradition. Strip off, take your swimming gear with you, plaster your hair with super strength conditioner (the minerals in the lagoon play HAVOC with your do ), shower properly, then kit up and go in. Not for the terminally shy. There is a bar in the lagoon itself, where your drinks are charged to the wristband you get on entry, then you pay for them on leaving the complex. Very easy to let the bill mount up, but it is worth it. You can do the Blue Lagoon en route to or from the airport at Keflavik- many tourists do it before they fly home.

I went up on the Solheimsjokull glacier, as another NSCer has mentioned, that's a pretty good trip. They give you all the kit, and you can do a bit of ice climbing into the bargain if you want to.

Also booked a trip to one of the volcano fields, and ended up swimming in a mountain river. Geothermally heated, it's like being in a hot bath, only with a setting a million times more impressive.

The Golden Circle- Gullfoss, Geysir and Thingvellir are usually done as part of one day trip, and all well worth seeing. It utterly pissed down all day when I did that, but was still impressive. You will get absolutely soaked at Gullfoss, regardless of the weather, so take your Withdean poncho.

White water rafting is brilliant if you get the chance too, especially when they make you get out of the raft, climb a 30ft cliff and hurl yourself into the glacial (ie bloody freezing) river half way down.

The only thing I missed out on that I really wanted to do- timing and weather got in the way- was whale watching. And the northern lights I guess, but then again I wasn't expecting to see them in September anyway. I booked the excursions mostly through these guys: Adventure day trips & multi day tours from Reykjavik in Iceland, river rafting, snorkeling, glacier tours & more! / Adventure Tours - they were very good and will pick you up from most city hotels. It's arguably the most beautiful country I've ever been to. It's not cheap, but beer isn't really that much more expensive than you'd find in Brighton, and certainly not London, these days. Do it, you'll love it.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Arguably the best thing about going there, of course, is that you can learn how to pronounce the name of that volcano, Eyjafjallajokull. Icelanders were relatively unaffected by it all, and find it quite amusing that the rest of Europe was grounded by it.

 

[fruitnveg]

Shocking stuff NSC - not one joke about cheap pizzas

ahem

Went there 2 weeks ago....sod the northern lights, their party food and frozen pizzas were well cheap !!!!