Hello!! My husband and I are planning a trip for April 22-30, 2017. Iceland was something we were thinking about. Has anyone been in April and how was it? Should I wait until summer? We want to see black sand beach, snorkel between the plates, drive on the golden ring (not the entire thing), visit the blue lagoon, possibly hike on a glacier, etc...Will these roads be mostly open? We'd love to see the northern lights but I don't think we will at this date. Also, how many days would be a good trip length? Any insight you can give would be appreciated! Thank you in advance!
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Washington DC Region, USA
7049 posts
The weather is very erratic...you can experience all sorts of weather patterns depending on where you are in the country. I went in May and September (and had much better weather in September). If I had to do it all over again, I would go in summer (the downside is that already high prices will be even higher - but you'll get daylight for almost 24 hours). Google the Icelandic and Reykjavik visitor/tourist websites. They have excellent info - the tourist infrastructure in Iceland is top notch. If you want to learn more and get more ideas or itineraries, get a Lonely Planet Iceland book. When you're there, definitely stop by the visitor center...very helpful and you can get really good maps there. There are countless tour groups to take you pretty much anywhere you want to go...they have the right types of vehicles to scale glaciers.
I think the best bang you can get for your buck is to combine Iceland with some other European destination - i.e. a city that Iceland Air flies to (assuming, of course, that you have that option where you are). Iceland Air allows for up to a 7 day stopover without an extra charge. So this would make for a longer vacation, but you'll be getting to see at least two countries. I did one Iceland stopover and then an individual trip a few years later. Obviously, the time you want to give Iceland should depend on your itinerary. I think Reykjavik deserves 2-3 full days easily...it's a great little city.