Backroads tour in Iceland?

Can you share a link for this? I have been to Iceland many times and never heard of Backroads there. We have used Troll for many excursions that needed guides, but otherwise we self drive there. I have heard good things about Nice Travel as well. So just a few to look at.

FWW, Iceland its very expensive, and that is probably why the cost is a bit of a shock to you.

Are you opposed to self driving, or just starting to take a look at everything? Self driving is very easy there and allows you to choose exactly what you want to do, of course.

Backroads is a high-end adventure travel company, well-regarded but expensive. They started with cycling, but have expanded to include other active adventure options, such as walking/hiking. They tend to choose very nice hotels, which inn part accounts for the higher cost.

Are you looking at this one?

https://www.backroads.com/trips/WIEI/iceland-walking-hiking-tour

Around $7,000. That appears to be comparable with other adventure travel companies; actually it is less than the Iceland tour offered by MT Sobek, which is the company we often use for guided hiking. Iceland is a pricy destination in any case; food and lodging are considerably more costly than most of the rest of Europe.

I had not heard of Backroads in years, and honestly, in all of our Iceland trips have never seen them even advertised there. I looked at the link and frankly, that is insane for the trip and the cost. We have done significant hiking in Iceland and this trip doesn't even touch on the best areas.

If you are wanting to hike, head up to the Westfjords, do the Laugarvatn trail, or head to Thorsmark, etc.

Iceland CAN be expensive, but it does not have to be. Last summer we had 17 nights there, and for two of us we paid just over 7k for our flights from SEA, a camper van for 10 nights, a car for 7 nights, huts and hotels for the other 7 nights, a guided hiking excursion at Hornstrandir, and other excursions, plus food and everything else. Total, just over 7k.

This tour has you only seeing a teeny tiny area of Iceland, which is a shame, IMO. I really hate to put a damper on this, but I would not recommend a trip like this at all based on our experiences there.

Thanks for your advice. I love to hike and since I would be traveling solo, I like the comfort of traveling in a group, but the cost of the trip without including airfare and the expectation to tip on top of that seemed high to me. I was looking at this one: https://www.backroads.com/trips/MIEI/icelands-glaciers-coast-multi-adventure-tour, but they’re all of similar duration, cover slightly different areas, and cost between $6499-$9000, if you include the cost of a single supplement, too. I did think about a campervan, but wasn’t sure how that would go since I do like certain creature comforts, like an attached bathroom. Did you rent from Cozy campers? If so, would you recommend them?

Gypsy—that tour covers better areas but it still insanely priced for what they are providing. Their descriptions are a bit embellished in my experience. I understand how a group would be nice for you, but think you can get all your wants for at least half that price and to make it a fantastic trip. We used Happy Campers and had a 4x4. We were very pleased with that. The vans are not as comfy as a hotel of course, but all the pros outweighed that. The bed was a bit hard, but we had brought our backpacking gear so had our pads and were comfy. There was no toilet but the campgrounds have those and every one we were at was very clean. You could do a small motor home, , but the roads in Iceland are narrow with no shoulders. So a camper is easier to drive. Ours was a VW. I am out of town now and only have my phone, but I’ll elaborate more tomorrow.

Hi, thanks again for your advice. I found a few websites, Guide to Iceland, Nordic Visitor and Iceland Unlimited, that do part of the legwork for self-driving tours by booking your lodging and renting a car for you. For example, https://guidetoiceland.is/book-holiday-trips/13-day-self-drive-tour-circle-of-iceland. Any thoughts on these?

You might try Gate 1. They have a variety of tours in Iceland of varying lengths and costs, as well as independent packages.

That looks much better! Still a few thoughts. There is no way I would have a Toyota Yaris for the Westfjords. You need something with more clearance as the roads are rough there. Also, if you can add a night in the Westfjords, on the west side around Holmavik or so, that would make for a much nicer time up there. To give you an idea, we had 10 days for the Westfjords alone, and still missed things. Another thought, if you can add another night to Isafjordur, you could do a day hiking trip to Hornstrandir which is excellent!

Even if you kept everything as is, except the car, that is still much better than the other trip. You will get to see so much more of the country.

I meant to add that those 3 companies you listed are all reputable. You could still easily book all this yourself and save money though.

I’ve already added a couple of days and I can’t take any more at this time off at this time due to work. I’m more looking at the last link I attached as a guide versus booking through them, and while they sound absolutely amazing, I think I’ll probably cut the Westfjords section of that trip and focus on the ring road. As for the car, the Toyota Yaris was preselected, I’m actually looking at a RAV4 like vehicle. Thanks again for your encouragement and advice. I’ve never driven anywhere outside of the US or Canada, but I’m looking forward to exploring Iceland on my own and not as part of a tour.

Gypsy--That sounds so much better! We have had a RAV 4 on several of our trips to Iceland and that is what awe have booked again for September. They are the perfect size etc for there. I agree, taking off the Westfjords would make the most sense and glad to hear that you would just use this plan as a roadmap and book it all yourself. I have planned al of our trips myself and I get a better handle on the area by doing that, FWIW. We have driven in several countries within Europe, and opposite side of the road, the autobahn, etc but Iceland is just really easy to drive. Do do a quick rules of the road search though so you are familiar with one lane bridges, etc.

Just want to add that self-driving in Iceland is no big deal. They drive on the same side of the road as we do. The speed limit on the ring road is 50 mph, so you aren't just flying around. If you stick to the Ring Road, you won't hit any crazy spots where you feel like you are off-roading.

I am not a person that is comfortable driving in unfamiliar areas, but I'd have no problem driving alone in Iceland (assuming it was summer). I'm not a camper, so I'd just get hotels.

I have done 2 Backroads trips -- one in Tuscany with just my husband, and one in Normandy and Brittany with our family of 4 (our kids were 11 and 7 at the time). They are expensive, but fantastic, especially if you like the idea of biking -- but with excellent support, which, I suspect is really important given the weather in Iceland. If there's a stiff headwind -- they'll load your bike and you can jump in the van to the next stop. If you don't want to ride in the rain -- same. Big hill, they'll take you to the top. They port your stuff from place to place -- you just get to ride, and they do all the work of getting bikes ready, loading and unloading. The local experiences on both trips were amazing, and I would expect it to be the same in Iceland.

I should add that with both of our Backroads trips, we, of course, tacked on our own "Rick Steves" trip using his guide books. So we love the do it yourself style of travel Rick Steves' style, but really did love being taken care of for 6 days or so out of our 2 week vacation.