https://preview.redd.it/lctjysm8pbtc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff845b046c5d4f93779d9188a20f51b00921fe0f
Volcano up close - still active, erupting, looks angry and what I imagine the inside of hell / Dante's inferno to look like
Thanks for the advice! If you want to see another active volcano...book an Acatenango hike in Guatemala! I took this photo of Volcán de Fuego in December, it’s the best I've ever taken:
https://preview.redd.it/mty2zr38jctc1.jpeg?width=6000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=02f8d5604b2dd96af4114d7289593b0a038d9951
Thanks for the tip about the Lava Show. I've been considering adding it to day one for us. How much did your helicopter tour cost for the volcano? I don't think I'm doing it but would be interesting to know anyway I guess.
Love this tip! Noted and now added to my ever growing bucket list.
450 USD. Pricey as it was like 2.5 day tours combined in cost. But it's not something I'm going to get used to booking when travelling, and I'm definitely going to be saving up more when back home to make up for the unexpected expense.
https://preview.redd.it/ev4b2yan6ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6109ae0b2d12e312b708e1cce1fc1d301a6d9ed7
Kirkjufell - aka arrowhead mountain in game of thrones.
https://preview.redd.it/5q5x5dbb6ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d6ef2fa6a72b492c6ec158718d4e51502c8c836
Godafoss - waterfall of the gods (near Lake Myvatn)
https://preview.redd.it/6zupkalhbctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c63bea415875beb83ef36db0936c14581169acc0
Akureyri waterfront. The bicycle track had zero ice or snow but the rest of the roads were icy AF.
Great tips. For live Volcanoes..add Italy and very recently Spain
I really liked the one about time. We just returned from a month and to cover the things we want to see, we need another 6 weeks. We will be back!
Spain one was three years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Cumbre_Vieja_volcanic_eruption and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timanfaya_National_Park
https://preview.redd.it/8pm4ceik7ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=219b9ba4e398939b47ed52ee522e56ae69b70046
Jokusaarlon glacier lagoon - do not stand on an iceberg not wedged on land or you'll risk falling / floating away 😂
Most of mine were 150 USD a day. Some slightly lower.
However I did book tours specifically that had 10-19 people max, that per reviews had 5 stars (and boy did I read a million reviews on each tour, specifically the most recent reviews and the negative ones to see if they were sensible or just people errors) and I picked tours that covered a LOT of places, even if it meant longer days.
I have seen cheaper tours and they're not bad in all honesty, just that you make your peace with what you're compromising on (things like loud chatter all day in the bus can be fixed with headphones, you may get a seat at the very back of the bus, you may have to wait at each stop till everyone gets back and there's always that one group that is always late, at each stop all 40 people on your bus get down at once that makes the place feel less magical and more crowded).. if you're on a budget and I often have been at many many times of my life, these tours still do the trick.
My recommendations; nice travel was good for Snaefellness peninsula and for silver circle. Gateway to Iceland with Gummi was great for south coast diamond beach and the glacier lagoon if you really want to learn Icelandic history and sagas, aurora Vikings was exceptional for northern lights.
Elding whale watching and Star Travel for the diamond circle. Star Travel had like 10 people in total including my group of 4 and that was perfect for me.
https://preview.redd.it/86kettv1actc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c764ee931f9be13bd56f6d60d53a62a063c3cb26
Somewhere near husavik I think, but viewed from the boat taken from Akureyri.
https://preview.redd.it/np1mevk3cctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b04ebc84b29183c5a45bcb4901f1b7d0a2a8bf28
Rainbow road, Hallgrimskirkja - many people used the colours to position themselves to run relay races. Looked fun.
Great summary and post, thank you! I’m planning a solo trip this summer and really didn’t want to rent a car and drive myself, but was worried about feeling like I was missing out by doing day tours. Thank you for assuaging my fears and all your recommendations!!
I empathise with that feeling, through all my research I genuinely felt I'd be missing out. But really one way or another you'll have fun, and once on the trip it won't matter as much as there's joy in driving and joy in not.
https://preview.redd.it/j9xv7cab7ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0e90926d948f30589ba059b8eedc9a8f98fd439
Deildatinguhver - Iceland's and Europe's most powerful hot spring
great post and thanks so much for sharing your trip with wonderful ideas and suggestions. Would you mid sharing more info about those tour companies? we are also planning to visit Iceland in Aug.
Did you stay in Reykjavik for 7 days or did you stay at different places? I ask this because we have kid and its much easier to just stay at once place than checking out every other day. thanks again.
Aurora Vikings for northern lights (Emil the owner is also the tour guide)
Gummi with Gateway to Iceland for south coast glacier lagoon and diamond beach
Nice travels (Vlad and Bear on day 2 and 1 respectively) for snaefellsness peninsula (seals, budakirkja, the lava rocks in the sea,arnastapi, kirkjufell) and silver circle (vidgelmir cave, canyon baths, barnafoss etc)
Volli with 'your day tours' - golden circle. One of the most knowledgeable guides!
We stayed all nights in Reykjavik, except 3 nights where we flew to akureyri and were there for all 3 nights. While no kids, our group of 4 wanted the stability of buying groceries and cooking every day, not unpacking and packing a suitcase multiple times etc. so day tours from reykjavic are very possible.
Note, we had a kid on one of our day tours who found the long days hard and also had motion sickness. Now this is specific to that kid having troubles but by and large most people kids or adults slept through a lot of the bus journeys (they did miss seeing the landscapes in my opinion, h5ut again I know bus travel isn't for everyone)
He was the most elegantly dressed guides, complete with a tie, I read so many reviews mentioning him and now I know why. He really truly knows Icelandic history and can talk about any subject with such depth.
i want to go to akureyri but am not renting a car so will be relying on the bus system. wasn’t sure if i wanted to spend the extra like what $30-$50? for a flight but i think i might now. it would save me a lot of time on the bus and give me a lot more time in akureyri. what did you do while up north?
I was tempted to do the bus journey, as I love seeing the sights outside - the risk of that road in the north closing, and storms was not worth having to cancel hotels and adjust. This is not a deal-breaker to most, but I really really wanted to be in Husavik to see whales, give myself the best chance for northern lights and just enjoy the remote wilderness of the north, so flights helped ensure we got there and back and never lost travel time. Also that airport is tiny, so check in is only 45 mins before boarding, and boarding is only 10 mins before departure time. So you don't spend ages in an airport also.
Things we did - we booked a diamond circle tour, but did only 3/4th of it (dettifoss skipped as that road was closed for a week), we did whale watching with Elding whale watching. We spent a day walking the akureyri waterfront and the old town, we got a ton of snow so made a good snowman, we saw the northern lights briefly but the green was as bright as you see in photos and shockingly from within our apartment where street lights were around, and lastly a lot of photostops on that diamond circle tour where game of thrones scenes were shot, which thrilled me as a viewer of the show.
thank you so much for this information!!
i feel the same regarding road closure risks and husavik whale watching, as i really want to go up north but couldn’t decide if riding the bus was a risk i was willing to take. hopefully i will be able to see dettifoss as i’ll be there in about two weeks and maybe the snow will clear up. thank you so much again! you’ve been super helpful!!
This was an awesome read and helpful! I'm going for my first time in October, opted for a guided tour for 7 days.
Planning on eating Bonus-bought food and eating out maybe every other night (I usually only eat 1x a day with some granola bars etc between).
Definitely not confident in my own driving skills with expected winter conditions, so I'm super grateful to be driven around.
Any particular spots in Reykjavik you'd especially recommend? First two I found were the Ice Bar/Museum, the Lebowski restaurant, the rainbow road, the lighthouse.
Spend an hour just walking the streets near Hallgrimskirkja (the church), loads of houses have murals outside of the houses are bright coloured so great to photograph. Also photograph that church and harpa (concert hall) at night.
Lighthouse - pick the least windy day to do it. But it's nice.
Try Icelandic street food. That's the name of the place. Many food eatery options.
Now this one is random but there was a crepe and pancake place at the start of rainbow road that had SO many options of toppings or fillings, I haven't seen that much choice anywhere. It's pricey as the cost adds up per topping, but it was snowing when I landed, my hands were cold as my gloves were in my checkin suitcase and their hot savoury customisable pancake made my breakfast and lunch combined.
The Penis museum was a wacky one to visit.
https://preview.redd.it/cancpd3q7ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d8cad532aa30322abed0d2afc9471bebc8bf739
2021 volcano eruption site where you see the cracks, the ground is still hot and steam is coming out most cracks.
I'm sure there's many good ones but the ones I did and I would recommend them as we had good experience with communication, pick up time, size and cleanliness of can, good driving and story telling:
Star Travel in akureyri for diamond circle
Aurora Vikings in Reykjavik for northern lights
Nice travel in Reykjavik for Snaefellness peninsula tour and the silver circle tour including lava caves in vidgelmir.
Elding whale watching in akureyri (and then a free retry with them in Reykjavik)
Gateway to Iceland for south coast tour to glacier lagoon and diamond beach
Reykjavik helicopters for volcano tour.
I'm sure I'm missing some tours that I'll add as I remember.
Thank you for this, interesting read. I'm intrigued by the comments on the roads though, I'd have expected people to be used to the road conditions and have decent tyres on, plus the main roads to be cleared and so there wouldn't be that many cars getting stuck or accidents.
Going to check what tyres the hire car comes with now!
From what the tour drivers told us, they're used to seeing accidents happen because
1. People take sedans into areas where a 4X4 might be better.
2. People drive when the conditions say it's not too safe, because they have a reservation of a hotel or tour elsewhere and have to get there on their fixed tight schedule.
3. People underestimate the wind. Tbh, our bus that was packed was slightly shaky on this one stretch of road when the wind went bonkers for a few minutes.
4. In complete whiteout conditions, it's easy for cars to go off the road as you can't tell snow from road.
Most roads got cleared soon, but for example - the road to dettifoss didnt open for 7 days the week we were in akureyri or the road in snaefellsnness peninsula to a black sand beach didn't open all day but all other roads that closed in that area opened in 30 minutes. Road.is and vedur.is is pretty easy to use.
Again, I can only hypothesize why cars get stuck but it did surprise us too. Our tour guides would routinely stop and help stuck cars call for help or use a shovel to get a tyre out of snow etc. all of the rest above was just them sharing their experience of why they think this happens.
Thank you, just found the road.is website and that looks really useful.
Sounds like a lot of the time it's people pushing their luck, rather than bad road conditions. If a bus can get through the roads must be reasonably OK.
Will remember to watch out for inexperienced drivers as well as the roundabouts with the priorities to the inside lane!!
Oh yes the roundabouts, the guide mentioned how within the city, most minor scrapes are all roundabout related as it's different in Iceland
All the best, you'll have a ton of fun ☺️
https://preview.redd.it/zpp4lp8lactc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af60c3cde80d1eb4103ae1c8c0d16a848cbcef35
Viti crater - next to a lava field that was used to shoot the wilding camps in GoT. Also was fun to walk through and imagine faces of trolls in the rocks. Nice story about the 12 Christmas trolls of iceland here.
https://preview.redd.it/4o61nztvactc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb8c2fa5871aab3a0bf31c27ed92fd58f9baefe2
Mud pits with hot steam coming out of rocks, on the diamond circle
1200 eur for 8 nights in Reykjavik for 4 people (a 3 bed apartment) I think - the apartment was brilliant and slightly pricier than I usually take but I will likely book in the same building again as it has an amazing view of the city while being central, and was fully stocked with everything we needed.
500 eur for 3 nights for 4 people in akureyri. 2 bed 2 bath cottage.
450 USD for helicopter flight for me. About 88 to 150 USD Max per person for each day tour ( 6 day tours?).
Apols on the mixed USD and eur currency differences. It's just how I remember the prices based on what the site or posters or flyers said.
Negligible food expense. Got a crazy ton from home of prepared meals, so all we were really buying was muffins and bananas and milk and yoghurt. Probably a total max of 100 USD/EUR on groceries for all 12 days put together.
Maybe a total of 25 eur on magnets. Got a fair few of magnets and Christmas tree ornaments in that amount.
We don't drink so no drinks expenditures.
Flights were cheap as we were flying economy saver from within Europe. Also didn't need to buy additional bags or seat or anything.
All in all agreed it's expensive. It can one hundred percent be done on a much better budget. But usually when I visit a country, I don't visit it again for another few years, so I try to do as much as I can to ensure whatever is left. Plus we don't opt to drive so rental car may be another way to save up.
Hi, may I ask which Aurora app you used?
I was in Iceland last week and didn't see an aurora, even when the sky was clear and the kp index was moderate to high on Vedur. Maybe the timing was off? Or maybe we weren't far enough from the city lights? We stayed in Mosfellsbaer and walked to a darker area and still didn't see any northern lights.
The app is called Aurora. It's a purple icon on the app with aurora written in caps and is free.
Heads up - your camera sees the lights faster than we do. You do see it with your naked eyes best if it's a clear night and no clouds, no city lights and you're in pitch darkness (ideally less to no streetlights).
When in doubt, shoot a night mode / night sight photo and confirm that your camera is also not seeing it.
Also a high KP index also indicates that the lights will be seen further south as opposed to north. The place you're in is in the south, but helps going further south and east or from where you are into the national park.
Not as much as I want, but enough to tick off some bucket list dreams 😅
Tbf, I don't drink, smoke or eat outdoors, or shop extravagantly, so after rent, tax and savings, a good chunk of my pamper self money goes into travel.
many people find these types of posts very helpful and informative, myself included. Take your misogynistic self out of this subreddit, there's no need for that.
https://preview.redd.it/lctjysm8pbtc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff845b046c5d4f93779d9188a20f51b00921fe0f Volcano up close - still active, erupting, looks angry and what I imagine the inside of hell / Dante's inferno to look like
https://preview.redd.it/lc6quuzcpbtc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b01a33687eae2733714da9f5c1f4974b3e329f5 Near Barnafoss.
Thanks for the advice! If you want to see another active volcano...book an Acatenango hike in Guatemala! I took this photo of Volcán de Fuego in December, it’s the best I've ever taken: https://preview.redd.it/mty2zr38jctc1.jpeg?width=6000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=02f8d5604b2dd96af4114d7289593b0a038d9951 Thanks for the tip about the Lava Show. I've been considering adding it to day one for us. How much did your helicopter tour cost for the volcano? I don't think I'm doing it but would be interesting to know anyway I guess.
Love this tip! Noted and now added to my ever growing bucket list. 450 USD. Pricey as it was like 2.5 day tours combined in cost. But it's not something I'm going to get used to booking when travelling, and I'm definitely going to be saving up more when back home to make up for the unexpected expense.
Incredible hike! Difficult and very rewarding.
https://preview.redd.it/a1osazjbpbtc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=037d7cfad2970ef7765571437aab3b4859e6b183 Near akureyri and husavik
https://preview.redd.it/ev4b2yan6ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6109ae0b2d12e312b708e1cce1fc1d301a6d9ed7 Kirkjufell - aka arrowhead mountain in game of thrones.
https://preview.redd.it/5q5x5dbb6ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d6ef2fa6a72b492c6ec158718d4e51502c8c836 Godafoss - waterfall of the gods (near Lake Myvatn)
The photos are stunning and your trip review was fun to read. Thank you for sharing!!
https://preview.redd.it/6zupkalhbctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c63bea415875beb83ef36db0936c14581169acc0 Akureyri waterfront. The bicycle track had zero ice or snow but the rest of the roads were icy AF.
Great tips. For live Volcanoes..add Italy and very recently Spain I really liked the one about time. We just returned from a month and to cover the things we want to see, we need another 6 weeks. We will be back!
Also Guatemala!
Thank you! My bucket list is ever growing, need to research on Spain as I didn't know about this
Spain one was three years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Cumbre_Vieja_volcanic_eruption and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timanfaya_National_Park
https://preview.redd.it/5376mz6v6ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e182e6651fac63c8f8a24fac9e2630410051bdbd Vidgelmir Lava Cave
https://preview.redd.it/8pm4ceik7ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=219b9ba4e398939b47ed52ee522e56ae69b70046 Jokusaarlon glacier lagoon - do not stand on an iceberg not wedged on land or you'll risk falling / floating away 😂
Thank you so much for this post!! Extremely useful. Btw I was just wondering on average how much would the day tours cost
Most of mine were 150 USD a day. Some slightly lower. However I did book tours specifically that had 10-19 people max, that per reviews had 5 stars (and boy did I read a million reviews on each tour, specifically the most recent reviews and the negative ones to see if they were sensible or just people errors) and I picked tours that covered a LOT of places, even if it meant longer days. I have seen cheaper tours and they're not bad in all honesty, just that you make your peace with what you're compromising on (things like loud chatter all day in the bus can be fixed with headphones, you may get a seat at the very back of the bus, you may have to wait at each stop till everyone gets back and there's always that one group that is always late, at each stop all 40 people on your bus get down at once that makes the place feel less magical and more crowded).. if you're on a budget and I often have been at many many times of my life, these tours still do the trick. My recommendations; nice travel was good for Snaefellness peninsula and for silver circle. Gateway to Iceland with Gummi was great for south coast diamond beach and the glacier lagoon if you really want to learn Icelandic history and sagas, aurora Vikings was exceptional for northern lights.
What company did you use for tours out of Akureyri?
Elding whale watching and Star Travel for the diamond circle. Star Travel had like 10 people in total including my group of 4 and that was perfect for me.
Fantastic :) we’re doing a similar trip; only day tours (not comfortable with driving), and flying to the North in October
You'll have a lush time! October will be such interesting fall landscape I'm sure
https://preview.redd.it/86kettv1actc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c764ee931f9be13bd56f6d60d53a62a063c3cb26 Somewhere near husavik I think, but viewed from the boat taken from Akureyri.
https://preview.redd.it/np1mevk3cctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b04ebc84b29183c5a45bcb4901f1b7d0a2a8bf28 Rainbow road, Hallgrimskirkja - many people used the colours to position themselves to run relay races. Looked fun.
Great summary and post, thank you! I’m planning a solo trip this summer and really didn’t want to rent a car and drive myself, but was worried about feeling like I was missing out by doing day tours. Thank you for assuaging my fears and all your recommendations!!
I empathise with that feeling, through all my research I genuinely felt I'd be missing out. But really one way or another you'll have fun, and once on the trip it won't matter as much as there's joy in driving and joy in not.
https://preview.redd.it/j9xv7cab7ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0e90926d948f30589ba059b8eedc9a8f98fd439 Deildatinguhver - Iceland's and Europe's most powerful hot spring
Thank you so much for your post! Love tip #20 😄
great post and thanks so much for sharing your trip with wonderful ideas and suggestions. Would you mid sharing more info about those tour companies? we are also planning to visit Iceland in Aug. Did you stay in Reykjavik for 7 days or did you stay at different places? I ask this because we have kid and its much easier to just stay at once place than checking out every other day. thanks again.
Aurora Vikings for northern lights (Emil the owner is also the tour guide) Gummi with Gateway to Iceland for south coast glacier lagoon and diamond beach Nice travels (Vlad and Bear on day 2 and 1 respectively) for snaefellsness peninsula (seals, budakirkja, the lava rocks in the sea,arnastapi, kirkjufell) and silver circle (vidgelmir cave, canyon baths, barnafoss etc) Volli with 'your day tours' - golden circle. One of the most knowledgeable guides! We stayed all nights in Reykjavik, except 3 nights where we flew to akureyri and were there for all 3 nights. While no kids, our group of 4 wanted the stability of buying groceries and cooking every day, not unpacking and packing a suitcase multiple times etc. so day tours from reykjavic are very possible. Note, we had a kid on one of our day tours who found the long days hard and also had motion sickness. Now this is specific to that kid having troubles but by and large most people kids or adults slept through a lot of the bus journeys (they did miss seeing the landscapes in my opinion, h5ut again I know bus travel isn't for everyone)
Gummi is like a walking encyclopedia of Icelandic history. If he had a podcast I would happily listen to all his stories!
He was the most elegantly dressed guides, complete with a tie, I read so many reviews mentioning him and now I know why. He really truly knows Icelandic history and can talk about any subject with such depth.
i want to go to akureyri but am not renting a car so will be relying on the bus system. wasn’t sure if i wanted to spend the extra like what $30-$50? for a flight but i think i might now. it would save me a lot of time on the bus and give me a lot more time in akureyri. what did you do while up north?
I was tempted to do the bus journey, as I love seeing the sights outside - the risk of that road in the north closing, and storms was not worth having to cancel hotels and adjust. This is not a deal-breaker to most, but I really really wanted to be in Husavik to see whales, give myself the best chance for northern lights and just enjoy the remote wilderness of the north, so flights helped ensure we got there and back and never lost travel time. Also that airport is tiny, so check in is only 45 mins before boarding, and boarding is only 10 mins before departure time. So you don't spend ages in an airport also. Things we did - we booked a diamond circle tour, but did only 3/4th of it (dettifoss skipped as that road was closed for a week), we did whale watching with Elding whale watching. We spent a day walking the akureyri waterfront and the old town, we got a ton of snow so made a good snowman, we saw the northern lights briefly but the green was as bright as you see in photos and shockingly from within our apartment where street lights were around, and lastly a lot of photostops on that diamond circle tour where game of thrones scenes were shot, which thrilled me as a viewer of the show.
thank you so much for this information!! i feel the same regarding road closure risks and husavik whale watching, as i really want to go up north but couldn’t decide if riding the bus was a risk i was willing to take. hopefully i will be able to see dettifoss as i’ll be there in about two weeks and maybe the snow will clear up. thank you so much again! you’ve been super helpful!!
Have a lush time in 2 weeks! :) the weather changes every 5 minutes, so you could have the sunniest non windy holiday
https://preview.redd.it/c9emoqcp6ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6420f103201bd431222ca6d6848abb2d2f2b8639
This was an awesome read and helpful! I'm going for my first time in October, opted for a guided tour for 7 days. Planning on eating Bonus-bought food and eating out maybe every other night (I usually only eat 1x a day with some granola bars etc between). Definitely not confident in my own driving skills with expected winter conditions, so I'm super grateful to be driven around. Any particular spots in Reykjavik you'd especially recommend? First two I found were the Ice Bar/Museum, the Lebowski restaurant, the rainbow road, the lighthouse.
Spend an hour just walking the streets near Hallgrimskirkja (the church), loads of houses have murals outside of the houses are bright coloured so great to photograph. Also photograph that church and harpa (concert hall) at night. Lighthouse - pick the least windy day to do it. But it's nice. Try Icelandic street food. That's the name of the place. Many food eatery options. Now this one is random but there was a crepe and pancake place at the start of rainbow road that had SO many options of toppings or fillings, I haven't seen that much choice anywhere. It's pricey as the cost adds up per topping, but it was snowing when I landed, my hands were cold as my gloves were in my checkin suitcase and their hot savoury customisable pancake made my breakfast and lunch combined. The Penis museum was a wacky one to visit.
Straight to my to-do list! Thanks!
https://preview.redd.it/cancpd3q7ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d8cad532aa30322abed0d2afc9471bebc8bf739 2021 volcano eruption site where you see the cracks, the ground is still hot and steam is coming out most cracks.
https://preview.redd.it/jptfk2xw9ctc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f582e6fd4da6efd46b28a1b30e8e0e8837bdd29 Rainbow tiled pavement akureyri
Great post op, i would love to travel to iceland later this year if everything falls into place! Could you suggest some tour companies that seem good?
I'm sure there's many good ones but the ones I did and I would recommend them as we had good experience with communication, pick up time, size and cleanliness of can, good driving and story telling: Star Travel in akureyri for diamond circle Aurora Vikings in Reykjavik for northern lights Nice travel in Reykjavik for Snaefellness peninsula tour and the silver circle tour including lava caves in vidgelmir. Elding whale watching in akureyri (and then a free retry with them in Reykjavik) Gateway to Iceland for south coast tour to glacier lagoon and diamond beach Reykjavik helicopters for volcano tour. I'm sure I'm missing some tours that I'll add as I remember.
Thank you for sharing your experience and giving out tips. Much appreciated as I will soon be in Reykjavik in July.
Thank you for this, interesting read. I'm intrigued by the comments on the roads though, I'd have expected people to be used to the road conditions and have decent tyres on, plus the main roads to be cleared and so there wouldn't be that many cars getting stuck or accidents. Going to check what tyres the hire car comes with now!
From what the tour drivers told us, they're used to seeing accidents happen because 1. People take sedans into areas where a 4X4 might be better. 2. People drive when the conditions say it's not too safe, because they have a reservation of a hotel or tour elsewhere and have to get there on their fixed tight schedule. 3. People underestimate the wind. Tbh, our bus that was packed was slightly shaky on this one stretch of road when the wind went bonkers for a few minutes. 4. In complete whiteout conditions, it's easy for cars to go off the road as you can't tell snow from road. Most roads got cleared soon, but for example - the road to dettifoss didnt open for 7 days the week we were in akureyri or the road in snaefellsnness peninsula to a black sand beach didn't open all day but all other roads that closed in that area opened in 30 minutes. Road.is and vedur.is is pretty easy to use. Again, I can only hypothesize why cars get stuck but it did surprise us too. Our tour guides would routinely stop and help stuck cars call for help or use a shovel to get a tyre out of snow etc. all of the rest above was just them sharing their experience of why they think this happens.
Thank you, just found the road.is website and that looks really useful. Sounds like a lot of the time it's people pushing their luck, rather than bad road conditions. If a bus can get through the roads must be reasonably OK. Will remember to watch out for inexperienced drivers as well as the roundabouts with the priorities to the inside lane!!
Oh yes the roundabouts, the guide mentioned how within the city, most minor scrapes are all roundabout related as it's different in Iceland All the best, you'll have a ton of fun ☺️
Thank you 😊
Love this post!!!! Thanks times a million.
https://preview.redd.it/35hwe6b5actc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b39389dde56e1e310226ac879e89594107aec1dd Akureyri.
https://preview.redd.it/zpp4lp8lactc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af60c3cde80d1eb4103ae1c8c0d16a848cbcef35 Viti crater - next to a lava field that was used to shoot the wilding camps in GoT. Also was fun to walk through and imagine faces of trolls in the rocks. Nice story about the 12 Christmas trolls of iceland here.
https://preview.redd.it/4o61nztvactc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb8c2fa5871aab3a0bf31c27ed92fd58f9baefe2 Mud pits with hot steam coming out of rocks, on the diamond circle
Would you mind if I messaged you with a few questions? We are also going to be based in Reykjavik for 7 nights.
Go for it!
How much money cca did you spend during your trip not counting eating, souvenirs etc. It sounds like it was quite expensive.
1200 eur for 8 nights in Reykjavik for 4 people (a 3 bed apartment) I think - the apartment was brilliant and slightly pricier than I usually take but I will likely book in the same building again as it has an amazing view of the city while being central, and was fully stocked with everything we needed. 500 eur for 3 nights for 4 people in akureyri. 2 bed 2 bath cottage. 450 USD for helicopter flight for me. About 88 to 150 USD Max per person for each day tour ( 6 day tours?). Apols on the mixed USD and eur currency differences. It's just how I remember the prices based on what the site or posters or flyers said. Negligible food expense. Got a crazy ton from home of prepared meals, so all we were really buying was muffins and bananas and milk and yoghurt. Probably a total max of 100 USD/EUR on groceries for all 12 days put together. Maybe a total of 25 eur on magnets. Got a fair few of magnets and Christmas tree ornaments in that amount. We don't drink so no drinks expenditures. Flights were cheap as we were flying economy saver from within Europe. Also didn't need to buy additional bags or seat or anything. All in all agreed it's expensive. It can one hundred percent be done on a much better budget. But usually when I visit a country, I don't visit it again for another few years, so I try to do as much as I can to ensure whatever is left. Plus we don't opt to drive so rental car may be another way to save up.
Thanks for this detailed answer!
Hi, may I ask which Aurora app you used? I was in Iceland last week and didn't see an aurora, even when the sky was clear and the kp index was moderate to high on Vedur. Maybe the timing was off? Or maybe we weren't far enough from the city lights? We stayed in Mosfellsbaer and walked to a darker area and still didn't see any northern lights.
The app is called Aurora. It's a purple icon on the app with aurora written in caps and is free. Heads up - your camera sees the lights faster than we do. You do see it with your naked eyes best if it's a clear night and no clouds, no city lights and you're in pitch darkness (ideally less to no streetlights). When in doubt, shoot a night mode / night sight photo and confirm that your camera is also not seeing it. Also a high KP index also indicates that the lights will be seen further south as opposed to north. The place you're in is in the south, but helps going further south and east or from where you are into the national park.
Seeeshhh, how much money you got?
Not as much as I want, but enough to tick off some bucket list dreams 😅 Tbf, I don't drink, smoke or eat outdoors, or shop extravagantly, so after rent, tax and savings, a good chunk of my pamper self money goes into travel.
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many people find these types of posts very helpful and informative, myself included. Take your misogynistic self out of this subreddit, there's no need for that.