We're benefiting from an overnight layover in Iceland this July. I have a few specific questions:
1. We're pretty much just going to explore in the City Center. Should we stay by the airport? Or should we stay in City Center? I understand it's the better part of an hour to get into the City Center from the airport.
TIA fellow travelers!! :-)
Stay in central Reykjavik. Take the Flybus to/from airport (it should take about 45 min or so). The tourist infrastructure, including buses, is excellent. Check out the Reykjavik and Iceland websites - plenty of info there on just about everything.
If you are arriving early in the morning in Iceland, you might consider doing a tour of the Reykjanes peninsula. This is the area surrounding the airport. There are a few infrequent group tours that might fit your schedule on the way to or from the airport. They will pick you up or drop you off at the airport and/or Reykjavik. We did a private tour which was about $300-400 but worth it. They picked us up directly from the airport, we went to VikingWorld for a bite to eat and a quick look around the museum and then spent about 4 hours touring the peninsula, stopped briefly at the Blue Lagoon to check it out, and then dropped us off at our hotel in Reykjavik. I really enjoyed the stark beauty of the Reykjanes peninsula.
If you prefer, there are also some express Golden Circle tours which only take 6 hours from Reykjavik. I did an evening one in July which was very nice as the crowds were fewer and we had a smaller tour group.
In Reykjavik, I really enjoyed the tour of the Harpa concert hall. If you like history, both the Settlement Museum and National Museum are worth visiting.
In my opinion I would stay in Keflavik and rent a car. Depending on how much time you actually have for sightseeing I would spend a few hours in the city and a few hours at the Blue Lagoon. The Golden Circle tour is nice too but its really a long road trip to see the sights. I would save that for another time.
I did something similar. I arrived in the afternoon and took a bus from the airport to my hotel in Reykjavik. I explored Reykjavik by foot, went up to the top of the tower of the Hallgrims Church, and had dinner. The next day, I took the bus to the Blue Lagoon and spent a couple of hours there before taking the bus to the airport to fly back to the U.S.
I booked the flybus to get from the airport to my hotel:
https://www.re.is/flybus/#Schedule
I booked a Blue Lagoon transfer package to get from my hotel to the Blue Lagoon and the on to the airport:
https://www.re.is/day-tours/experience-comfort
I stayed at the Hotel Fron ... great central location, basic, clean hotel.
http://www.hotelfron.is
We took the bus and stayed in the city center. The time you arrive will partially determine if you’ll be able to do anything outside the city.
I just returned from iceland and it was incredible!! If you want to take a tour (which I highly recommend because the weather changes within minutes, we went from rain, to hail, to sun to snow within a 45 minute snorkeling tour) you will want to stay in the city of Reykjavik because that is were tours pick up from. There is great van transportation from the airport into the city and its about a 45 minute ride. If you have a day I would recommend the golden circle tour which takes you to some of the most beautiful spots in Iceland. The town is cute to have dinner and walk around but the real beauty of Iceland is the countryside, IMHO.
Have a great trip and let me know if you need more help!
Janet
www.travelbta.com/blog
