Iceland is all the rage now...maybe it's time it has its own page in the Travel Forum?? It doesn't really fit in the "Beyond Europe" page since it is part of Europe.
We are taking advantage of Icelandair's free layover and are staying in Iceland for three days mid-September on our way to Paris. Any suggestions on transportation, must-see sights, whether to stay all three nights in Reykjavik or one night elsewhere, and/or any other advice is most appreciated!
I have asked a couple of times about getting an Iceland forum, as have others on the Beyond Europe section. The answer is no.
That said, my plan is to go there and ride the Icelandic horses and visit a spa for my 60th birthday. I found tons of information on Trip Advisor and on Fodors about things to see and do. There is also a tour that goes inside a volcano, but it is a bit pricey. Met someone who did this tour and they raved about it, but touring with the horses win out for me.
Tom has a trip report written about Iceland.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/therme-erding-the-austro-hungarian-empire-and-iceland
You pretty much need to rent a car or rely on the tour bus companies to get around in Iceland. I chose the tour bus option, and it was more than adequate. However, I found at least several instances where I wanted to get out off the bus to explore further on my own, but this wasn't possible on the fixed tour schedule.
"Must see" is too subjective, but I would say most tourists include a trip to the Blue Lagoon (get there early or late!), the geysers of Haukadalur, and Gullfoss waterfall (the last two make up part of the "Golden Circle").
With only three days, staying in Reykjavik is probably your best option. Reykjavik isn't the most fabulous city I've ever visited, but it provides a convenient base for day excursions. The only other place where you might consider staying is perhaps at the Blue Lagoon hotel, which is very close to Keflavik airport. I would only stay here for one night, however. Apart from the Blue Lagoon, there's nothing else in the immediate area, except a barren expance of volcanic moonscape.
You'll get excellent info right off their country tourist website, as well as the Reykjavik website (just google it)..in addition to Lonely Planet book and Trip Advisor. Even the Iceland Air website has good ideas. You'll find more info under those sources than this narrow RS site which largely ignores Iceland. I answered this same Q so many times, I need to take a break. Scroll through the Beyond Europe postings on Iceland and you'll find many, many ideas. If you have only 3 days, it makes sense to use Reykjavik (or nearby) as your base - I don't think you have enough time to stay elsewhere.
RS doesn't have an Iceland book, which is why I think it doesn't have its own forum. It's unfortunate because there do seem to be a good number of questions about the country -- and more than some forums on here. Nevertheless, we will hang out in the General/Beyond Europe sections for now. Maybe I should write-up a trip report even though it's been a couple years ago that I was there.
Your options are to rent a car or take the bus. The busses are modern and comfortable. Driving yourself is easy. The country is sparsely populated and you shouldn't have any issues driving within Reykjavík. Obviously having a car gives you more freedom to explore and explore at your own pace.
As far as sights go, the Golden Circle route is popular for a reason: it includes Gulfoss, Þingvellir, and Geysir -- all of which are incredible sights. If you have a car, there are other smaller stops you can make along the way. Reykjavík is worth a day of your time or more. If you enjoy city travel, two days in Reykjavík will be fine -- there's plenty to explore: architecture, history, food. If you prefer to take in more of the Icelandic scenery, you can drive the Ring Road (Highway 1) to the south towards Vík/South Iceland or north towards Borgarnes/West Iceland. Both areas are beautiful and a relatively short drive from Reykjavík. Personally, I loved the tiny little village of Vík with its black sand beaches and puffins nearby, although I don't know how many (if any) puffins you'll see in September. The Blue Lagoon is also popular -- it is close to the airport, so it's good to include at the very beginning or very end of your trip. Doing a trip from Reykjavík to the Blue Lagoon is about 40-minutes one way.
As far as where to stay, you could easily base yourself in Reykjavík and stay there every night, or you could spend one night out in a little town, especially along the Ring Road. Even though Reykjavík is a small city, it's nice to get away for a night and just experience a little, quiet, picturesque village.
The National Museum in Reykjavik is excellent, a short way out of the center of the city. Reykjavik would be your best base. I'd also recommend renting a car for at least one day for the "Golden Circle" route.
Thanks for all the replies!
Yes, I know there is a lot of information out there about things to do and see in Iceland--that of course can become a problem when everything sounds great and we only have three days there. Personal recommendations are so helpful to narrow things down a bit. Thanks!
We were just there in April, but haven't had the opportunity to post a trip report. We stayed at the Icelandair Marina Hotel in Reyjkavik, which was perfectly located. We're glad we didn't pick the Natura or the Hilton. It's in a former paint factory, but remodeled and is the newest of the Icelandair hotels. They're adding a new wing, so part of the hotel was closed off due to construction. The other part's nice (and they have a fantastic breakfast buffet), but the bar downstairs blasts disco music past midnight--especially on Friday, so if you plan to sleep and not join the late-night party, try to get a room that's not above the bar. We were on the 3rd floor and the thumping bass sounds were annoying at best.
Definitely go on a whale watching tour - we picked Elding, the most experienced company. If you don't see whales/dolphins/porpoises, they'll give you a voucher for another free trip that's good for 2 years. They also offer puffin watching tours in the summer and Northern Lights tours in the winter and early spring. Their trips leave just a few steps from the Marina Hotel, and we spotted a minke whale!
Lots of car rental companies have pick-up/drop-off locations at the Keflavik and/or Reykjavik airports, at the central bus terminal, or at locations in or around Reykjavik, and some offer a pick-up service. We used Sixt, which has a location a short walk from the Marina Hotel. If you take the airport bus to/from Keflavik airport, Sixt was easy for collecting the car and turning it back in. Definitely get a 4-wheel drive model. Economy runabouts are much cheaper, but if you go anywhere outside Reykjavik, even if you drive part of the Highway 1 Ring Road, you'll want to take a side road or two, and having extra clearance and 4WD is worth the expense. We drove south one day, north one day, and east for the Golden Circle a 3rd day.
We didn't arrange for riding horses, but that was clearly a popular activity for many people. You can drive to one of many stables or horse farms, or sign up with a tour company that will collect you and drive you to the riding site. We went to the Fontana baths rather than the Blue Lagoon. You pass thru Þingvellir to reach them from Reyjavik.
We signed up with Icelandic Mountain Guides for a 2-day tour that included a visit to Jokulsarlon glarier lagoon, a 1-night stay in southeast Iceland, and a glacier walk with crampons that included passing through a crevasse! They also offer many one-day activities, are very professional, and are highly recommended. We considered visiting the Heimaey in the Westman Islands, but in early April, many sights were on very limited opening days and/or hours, and the puffins wouldn't be there yet. September may be just outside their High Season, too. We also considered visiting the Snaefullsness peninsula, but with our other activities and just one week, saved that for another trip. With just 3 days, you'd have to really want to see Snaefullsness and make that the focus of your visit. The Westfjords, the island of Grimsey (the only part of Iceland actually north of the Arctic Circle), and the rest of northern and eastern Iceland also will have to wait for another time.
Because of Reykjavik's location on the western edge of the country, many tours that go to destinations elsewhere then deposit you back in Reykjavik spend a lot of time on the road, in a bus or van. Driving yourself may work better, or may not.
One consideration, though, there's a joke that if you don't like the weather in Colorado, wait 10 minutes, and it'll change to something different. In Iceland, it's more like 10 seconds--we saw sun change suddenly to sideways sleet, then calm, then fierce wind. Driving Hwy 35 near Selfoss on a dry road at 32°F, a VW coming towards us suddenly flew off the road, flipping 5-6 times. Black ice had suddenly formed just ahead. We stopped, called "112" and tried to help. Two people were thrown from the car, one died. Buckle up!
On a lighter note, if the one-man show "How To Become Icelandic in 60 Minutes" is on at the Harpa Center, go see it! It's on almost daily throughout the summer, but we caught one of the two April performances. The show was actually about 53 minutes long :-)
We're glad we didn't pick the Natura or the Hilton. As I recall, the Hilton location is a bit outside the pedestrian core of the city. I'm glad I didn't pick it either (not that it was really up for consideration anyway).
Thanks for the details, Cyn. Our biggest decision as I see it now is to rent a car or not. I don't want to spend anymore time driving around then we have to. We're also here in Colorado so certainly know about changing weather. I hadn't considered that we might encounter winter driving conditions in September. At least we have experience with it!
I hadn't considered that we might encounter winter driving conditions in September. I'm led to believe that anything is possible with Icelandic weather. I was unprepared for the rather chilly temperatures I encountered in late May (despite having a decent jacket). The guides kept noting that it was much colder than usual for that time of year, though. I bet the shops that sell all that Icelandic wool clothes to tourists (myself included) made a killing during my visit!
Ellen, Iceland and Colorado are almost exactly the same size in area - 104,000 square miles, but Iceland's population is far smaller. Their location between 2 ocean currents, along with volcanoes and other mountains that create their own weather, can make for predictably unpredictable weather. The highways even come with digital signs showing the temperature, current wind speed, and highest wind gust speed in the past 10 minutes up ahead. Our glacier guide told us that gusts of more than 20 meters per second (about 45 MPH) are considered high, but much more than that can close a road. With a car, truck, or crossover vehicle, you can go quite far if you commit to driving and driving, but it's 2-lane highways (think Hwy 285 between Denver and Buena Vista), and getting back to Reykjavik each night can require some effort if you travel very far. Tours arranged thru Icelandair or one of the many tour organizers can handle the logistics and transportation (including pick-up and drop-off at your hotel), but you're strictly on their schedule and paying their prices.
Our drive to the south, investigating the Reykjanes peninsula, took us past the impressive Kleifarvatn lake, still iced-over in many places in April, to a hike in the Krisuvik geothermal area with bubbling mud pots, craters, and boiling-water springs, to bird cliffs and an abandoned stone settlement along the south coast (huge waves!), and a great late lunch in the town of Grindavik.
Our drive north (although you still have to drive east some distance from Reykjavik before you can swing north) took in the Hvalfjörður whale fjord, then to waterfalls and a farm that grows strawberries with the help of geothermal heat. We got some great berries and homemade jam from their buy-what-you-like-and-leave-your-money-in-the-box stand by the side of the road! An organized tour might not offer the same experiences.
We're glad we didn't pick the Natura or the Hilton.
Was this only because of the location? We stayed at the Hilton for a couple nights and enjoyed the hotel. The walk to downtown was about 25 minutes. And there were several interesting spots along the way.
Hi Ellen
We did the same thing last Aug-Sept. On our way to France, we stayed in Iceland for 3 days (all 3 nights in Reykjavik). We decided not to rent a car because of the short time period and also because we weren't sure about the weather or what shape we would be in after flying from Seattle. I highly recommend the Iceland Horizon tour company to see some of the surrounding countryside without having to rent a car. They only do small groups in minivans, which was wonderful compared to all the large bus tours we saw. We chose the .Golden Circle Tour as an introduction to Iceland, but they have several others. I liked the small size (I think we had 8 people in our group). It is a small business, locally owned. We had a wonderful driver/guide who freely shared her experiences growing up in Iceland and how it has changed over the years. We saw magnificent sights. The weather was rainy, with some sun breaks. I remember feeling that Iceland in the summer was kind of like Seattle in the winter! Be prepared for sticker shock when buying anything. We picnicked and bought groceries - still very expensive. Here's how we did our 3 days: On arrival, a walking tour of Reykjavik (on our own, with help from the Lonely Planet guidebook). Day 2: Golden Circle Tour. Day 3: Reykjavik again, this time museums, the Harpa and waterfront walk. Hope that helps! Feel free to PM me is you would like more details. Have a wonderful time!
Hi Mike W.- with the Marina Hotel, we were a 2 to 10 minute walk (or less) to everything that didn't require driving, they offered a free parking lot close by (but it was dirt/mud/ice and very potholed -- another reason for a 4WD like our Chevy Captiva from Sixt), and the breakfasts were outstanding. Several folks at breakfast said they were staying somewhere else, but they came to the Marina for breakfast!
Hiltons are usually quite nice, and we didn't go into the one in Reykjavik, although the van taking us from the Keflavik airport into Reykjavik dropped off some other visitors there, and the bus taking us out to Fontana stopped to pick up some other clients. From what we saw, the harbor area is the "happening" place in Reykjavik, and the Marina is right in the midst. There's a great Thai place a block away, plus it's very close to the Volcano House (which shows 2 interesting documentaries about eruptions in the 1970's and the more recent ones that affected air travel), the TI, Elding's Whale Tour dock, and lots of bars and restaurants very close. We didn't go pub crawling, although Lonely Planet makes it sound as if that's the #1 reason to go there! For what it's worth, they also listed the Marina as their Top Choice, although we discovered that after we'd already booked our stay. The rooms are small but they work and are almost brand-new, the service at the front desk can be slow even at non-busy times, and the Marina could use a bit more sound insulation for the guests who needed to get some sleep rather than party with the locals, but it was nearly perfect!
Good to know. I'm already making notes for when we get to go back some day. Typically we stay away from hotels right in the middle of everything because we are not the type to stay up late, go drinking, pub crawling, etc. We'd rather be somewhere quiet and a little removed from the action so we can get up early and get going on the next adventure.
