Traveling to Iceland/Reykjavik. Anyone ever been?

This is high on my list of places to visit within the next year, flights are pretty cheap to Reykjavik from here. Will be taking notes

Yes!!! It's an amazing place and Reykjavik is a unique city but the geography around it is something you can't mis.

The Snaefellsness (I'm probably spelling that wrong) peninsula is the most amazing place I've ever been in my life.. it's a few hours outside the city but it looks absolutely otherworldly and you would never forget it.

Blue Lagoon and Geysir comes strongly recommended. Whale safari depends on your luck, but still worth a trip.

Since you're renting a vehicle, consider doing the Golden Circle route!

Been there 3 times. Most beautiful country in the world. Take your time and just enjoy it.

Spent a two week honeymoon backpacking through Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland about 2.5 years ago.

You don't need a car most places, but get a rental for Iceland. The drives are absolutely breathtaking. Just... GO! Just drive and you'll find beautiful vista after gorgeous photo-op.

Most beautiful place i've ever been, seriously can't wait to go back. Can be expensive there.

Iceland is amazing
Reykjavik is a cool city but there is not much to do/see there if you are interested in sightseeing. You can pretty much see everything in an afternoon, so if you haven't booked a hotel yet maybe consider going some place else as well.
Since you have a car do yourself a favor and plan for some daytrips if you stay in Reykjavik, Iceland is a beautiful country
Be prepared to pay like 35$ for a Pizza tho

I would highly recommend visiting the Ice Lagoon tho it's a pretty long drive from Reykjavik (5 hours) so that might be too much

DON'T SPEND A WHOLE WEEK IN REYKJAVIK!

Use the week to drive some of the ring road, staying in different places.

Wanted to hijack and ask a question of my own - when's the best time to visit? I've heard to not go in the summer because the days are too long to catch the northern lights, but that's all I've heard. Is it better in any particular time of year?

shnurgleton said:

Wanted to hijack and ask a question of my own - when's the best time to visit? I've heard to not go in the summer because the days are too long to catch the northern lights, but that's all I've heard. Is it better in any particular time of year?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

IME, October.

Oh, one thing: If you consider visiting the Westfjord area, be prepared for some rough roads.

shnurgleton said:

Wanted to hijack and ask a question of my own - when's the best time to visit? I've heard to not go in the summer because the days are too long to catch the northern lights, but that's all I've heard. Is it better in any particular time of year?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I went there during the summer and I can super recommend it. The days were long so you could do a lot (and drive longer if you want to) and the weather was nice and cool (but not cold. Warm in the sun but never hot, so hiking was super enjoyable). I imagine during winter the days are too short to really go anywhere, plus it's probably really cold as well.

As you said you won't see any northern lights in summer tho.

I want to go - looks fantastic.

I watched a few travel vloggers, and it does seem like it's quite expensive out there though.

I've been twice and I plan on returning.

Highly recommended (spelling might be wrong, I'm doing this based on memory and my lack of Icelandic skills lol):

Hveragerdi: Hike to the hot river! It's a 60-90 minutes one way, kinda steep at first but easy trail. The river is really nice to hang out in and gets hotter the further upstream you go, so it works under any weather condition. And it's FREE.

Glymur: AMAZING hike up to a stunning waterfall (Iceland's highest IIRC). You drive like 60 minutes from Reykjavik, through like a billion traffic circles, but the last leg of the drive is breathtaking and the hike is spectacular (and not too hard, steep in places though). I actually hiked up at 8 pm and returned to my car close to midnight this summer. It was awesome.

Seljalandsfoss: Really cool waterfall that you can walk behind. BUT: keep going along the path to check out a few smaller waterfalls and another that's hidden inside a crevasse. It's super cool in there.
There's another cool waterfall after a 30 minutes drive further east, forgot the name... but worth it. And right after comes a really cool glacier. And then, the black beaches close to Vik!

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see the Iceberg Lagoon thingy yet but it's supposed to be stunning.

The Golden Circle is a cool day trip, too. Strokkur goes off every 7 minutes or so, really nice geyser.

Also, while driving, pay attention to the signs with the little "circle squares" (no idea what to call them, but they are this universal symbol for cool shit). Just follow them and you're bound to see some cool stuff at the end of the road, be it cliffs, hot pods, or whatever.

Enjoy dude, Iceland is a very special place!

EDIT: Oh, and as for food: Bonus is the cheapest supermarket you can get. And their mascot is this weird little pig, love that guy. Don't eat out unless you have lots of disposable income I guess.

My friend just spent two weeks there. He loved it and has said multiple times how gorgeous it is. But the main point he made was how expensive it was. So be prepared for that I guess.

Wow air is a great deal but be aware they kinda cheat you on the carry on. I had a layover at that airport and they were very accommodating, honestly I plan to stay there at some point.

Ok, this is the first destination on my traveling bucket list. Saving up now.

Spinluck said:

Ok, this is the first destination on my traveling bucket list. Saving up now.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Get saving, we've been twice, and it's hands down the most expensive place we've ever been.

Went last October and absolutely loved it. It's a beautiful country.

The Blue Lagoon and the Golden Circle tour are the most popular 'touristy' attractions, but with good reason. They're both amazing. Golden Circle is a full day tour, and takes you to places like Gulfoss and Geysir - totally worth it.

Not much else to add other than to say enjoy exploring. Reykjavik is pretty small, so you can walk just about everywhere and it's a pleasure to do so. Only other thing I'd say is don't worry about Northern Lights if the forecast doesn't favour it. It'd be the icing on the cake, but the country has plenty to offer if the weather rules that out.

Try not to eat whale or shark there - they're endangered species and the locals tend to avoid eating them. There's plenty else to enjoy food-wise that you don't need the novelty of that.

Reverse Giraffe said:

The Snaefellsness

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

on pictures, it looks like a zone out of an MMORPG, heh

going to consider Iceland for a short trip next Summer

theaface said:

Went last October and absolutely loved it. It's a beautiful country.

The Blue Lagoon and the Golden Circle tour are the most popular 'touristy' attractions, but with good reason. They're both amazing. Golden Circle is a full day tour, and takes you to places like Gulfoss and Geysir - totally worth it.

Not much else to add other than to say enjoy exploring. Reykjavik is pretty small, so you can walk just about everywhere and it's a pleasure to do so. Only other thing I'd say is don't worry about Northern Lights if the forecast doesn't favour it. It'd be the icing on the cake, but the country has plenty to offer if the weather rules that out.

Try not to eat whale or shark there - they're endangered species and the locals tend to avoid eating them. There's plenty else to enjoy food-wise that you don't need the novelty of that.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

In terms of the Blue Lagoon, personally, I prefered the lowkey nature of the secret lagoon at Fludir, we've also been to the nature baths at Myvatn, but they are pretty similar to the blue lagoon.

As for the golden circle, it's so busy these days, but Gulfoss and Geysir are unmissable, there is also a much lower key waterfall nearby, Faxi, that's worth a visit IMO

The diamond circle is much less busy, as it takes much more time to get too, but Dettifoss is absolutely stunning, one of the few places that have literally left me speechless.

Yup, was there in march. Blue lagoon is overrated though. We did East and West iceland. Rent a car, its summer time so can actually complete the whole circle. Also there isnti much in Rekjavik, so I would limit my time there, find cabins from airbnb. Load up alcohol from duty-free when you land.

It's really really really really really expensive over there.

Rent a car and do the Golden Circle.

It's really expensive.

Partner and I went there this year and we did the Ring Road. The country is beautiful, serene, the people are lovely.
I guess since you have an airbnb in the city though you'll mostly be travelling around Reyjkavik but there's still plenty to see.

oh yeah, don't drink in pubs / restaurants.

Alcohol is absurdly expensive in most places.

It's very cheap at the airport though, so get your self some and take it to your air bnb or hotel.

is camping in a tent a viable option in Summer to keep the costs down?

I went there a few years ago. It's a beautiful country once you get out of the cities, so don't stay in Reykjavik more than you have to.

Also, prepare yourself to smell sulphur for almost every hour of the day while you're there. It didn't help in my case that the hot water at my hotel reeked of it, so I ended up stinking of sulphur myself. I smelled it from the moment I stepped off the plane.

I'm going in September and was going to start the same thread so thank you OP and everyone who contributed!

I have a question, I've seen conflicting statements, is sleeping in your car legal there or not?

I've only been there for business, but Iceland is great. Beautiful nature and lots of cool things to do,see, and eat. A little tidbit i picked up when speaking with an employee at one of the food research institutes there: the natural filtration system at the Blue Lagoon can't handle the amount of people that visit it each year. I didn't get specifics on the water tests (still probably well within safety limits), but their general concern was tourism was already past peak capacity for many of the more popular sites. Unsurprisingly there was a lot of construction in Reykjavik when I was there.

I want to go back for holiday, but then I'd probably just follow their advice and rent a car and go exploring the island.

Been in Reykjavik once with the work. The city is nice, but I have a feeling that you will have seen most of it pretty quickly.

The nature is the best thing with Iceland, so look for hiking and other trips. We rented four wheelers, with guides, and took a long trip up in the mountains near Reykjavik, which was pretty awesome.

The Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa is something most people tell you to visit, but our friends there warned us that it's very expensive and crowded, so we didn't go there on our trip.

Cecil said:

The Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa is something most people tell you to visit, but our friends there warned us that it's very expensive and crowded, so we didn't go there on our trip.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I went there with my travel group and enjoyed it a lot. Sure, it's crowded and commercial, but it's still a really unique experience.

For a local non-touristy activity I recommend Sundhöllin. It's simply a local public pool, but I enjoyed the soak much more than Blue Lagoon as some of their hot tubs reached 108 degrees.

Just be respectful of the rules like showering nude and not wearing outside shoes in the locker rooms.

I found Reykjavik to be pretty boring. It was definitely the low point of an otherwise amazing road trip around the ring road and west fjords.

In other words: get out of the city!

KingK said:

So my girlfriend and I got cheap tickets to Reykjavik a while back and are going to spend the first week of October there. We got an air bnb in the city for the duration of the trip and I'm renting a vehicle.

Anyone on ERA ever been and have any tips or recommendations for the trip? Best places to see and things to do?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

My wife and I went to Iceland about 2 years ago. Here would be my suggestions:

- Avoid the Blue Lagoon. It is an overpriced, crowded tourist trap. Reykjavik has tons of public hot springs all over the city and they are far better / cheaper!
- Don't bother taking out cash from an ATM, you can use credit cards 99.99% of the time.
- Your rental car company will offer you a mobile wifi hotspot as an upgrade. GET IT, then just use your phone for everything.
- Use a different hot springs in Reykjavik as destinations to check out different parts of the city.
- You can save yourself some money by buying groceries, and cooking some meals at home.
- Go here one night for dinner and try the multi-corse sample menu. You will get to try: Whale, Puffin, Horse, and a bunch of other local dishes.
- Check out the golden circle it is really cool.
- Do not pay for a Northern Lights Tour. The best night of viewing we had was on our own.
- Plan a few day trips to other regions outside of Reykjavik.
- Get ready for how expensive things are there.

KingK said:

So my girlfriend and I got cheap tickets to Reykjavik a while back and are going to spend the first week of October there. We got an air bnb in the city for the duration of the trip and I'm renting a vehicle.

Anyone on ERA ever been and have any tips or recommendations for the trip? Best places to see and things to do?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

If you can avoid it, dont stay in the city.
Nothing is wrong with the City. But the country side is so beautiful and driving is so easy. It might make sense to stay outside the city a bit. That was my one regret while i stayed there.
Things to note: The Cheap tickets are bait to get you in the country.
Everything else in Iceland is super expensive.

Here are larger tips
Tours -
Go to the blue lagoon for sure - If you want to be a tourist and say that you've done something cool. I wanted the experience and the pictures, So i went blue lagoon and did not regret it. Add to the fact that it was snowing while i was there... it was a magical experience, I felt like i was in a Disney Movie.
If you actually want to relaxxx at a hot spring, avoid the blue lagoon at all costs.
Do not bother paying for a bus tour around the golden circle. as far as i know there aren't really many fees to see the stuff on the golden circle, and the places where there is a fee, its not expensive. If you rent a car you can for sure do this yourself as driving is super simple/easy, there is no traffic at all.
Do not pay to see the northern Lights. The only thing you need in order to see them is darkness e.g. little/no light polution. I paid for a tour and the driver drove us outside the city and just pulled of to the side of the road and that was the whole tour... The lights were still amazing.. but ya not worth it.

If you want to drink, buy your alcohol at the airport at the arrival hall. It will be cheaper than the rest of the city.
Icelandic food isn't really what i would say "great". You will not get your money's worth in terms of taste/dollar. If you are on a budget go to the grocery store and cook yourself.

If you have other questions PM me and I'll give you some more details :)

Do they have hire car companies directly in the airport?

holygeesus said:

Do they have hire car companies directly in the airport?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Yes they do. Beware though, if you book online, either be 100% sure that your insurance covers everything or do not use online insurance at all.

Car tires have like nails or studs in them for driving on the Ice. so they kick up lots of gravel, and i believe that you need to have extra insurance just for the gravel damages or something.
When i went I bought the insurance from the online website but ended up having to pay for extra insurance at the counter.

methane47 said:

Yes they do. Beware though, if you book online, either be 100% sure that your insurance covers everything or do not use online insurance at all.

Car tires have like nails or studs in them for driving on the Ice. so they kick up lots of gravel, and i believe that you need to have extra insurance just for the gravel damages or something.
When i went I bought the insurance from the online website but ended up having to pay for extra insurance at the counter.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Super helpful. Thank you.

Eat some hotdogs. Delicious and cheap!!

Cocksman said:

Eat some hotdogs. Delicious and cheap!!

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I'm going there myself with a bunch of friends for one of their birthdays in late September. I've never been but I hear it's really nice. I am very much looking forward to it. I do hear that while food and drinks are expensive, it's mostly comparable to dining out in New York City.

I have been.

It was winter.

I didn't have the correct shoes.

:(

I am probably moving there if this summer is an indication of things to come.

I was just there in May! I'd say just don't try to spend the whole trip in the city itself. It's not quite as large as capital cities you may be used to. Take a day or two to check out all the cool museums, cafe's, and awesome churches you want, but also see the areas around too. One of Iceland's biggest draws is the natural beauty of the country.

If you want a short hop out of the city and over to one of the more beautiful spots I've ever hiked you should try taking a bus to Mt. Esja! It's a great hike (with a couple different potential trails depending on skill level) and the view from the top is just... utterly spectacular.

Went there a couple years ago. Really nice place. 100% highly recommend Blue Lagoon, incredibly relaxing there. And check out some of the more well-known waterfalls, a number of them have paths around them that you can explore.

I'm leaving next week for two weeks in Iceland. Going with my mom so we booked bed and breakfasts at stops throughout the whole island. Driving into the westfjords people said I won't need a 4 wheeler, is this accurate? Also, with a mobile WiFi hotspot is it easy to just use google maps to guide me to where I want to go?

Breakfast is covered by each place we're staying at but some locations are way out there with not much nearby so I'm guessing the best bet is to stock up on stuff from grocery stores right?

MDSVeritas said:

I was just there in May! I'd say just don't try to spend the whole trip in the city itself. It's not quite as large as capital cities you may be used to. Take a day or two to check out all the cool museums, cafe's, and awesome churches you want, but also see the areas around too. One of Iceland's biggest draws is the natural beauty of the country.

If you want a short hop out of the city and over to one of the more beautiful spots I've ever hiked you should try taking a bus to Mt. Esja! It's a great hike (with a couple different potential trails depending on skill level) and the view from the top is just... utterly spectacular.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

How far out are you talking, in terms of traveling time? Did you stay every night in the city and do day trips or different hotels every night?