PLAY Airlines

We always fly Icelandair and are actually on a fight home right now from Iceland with them. That is a good price! I would book asap since October is high season for northern lights.

Do you know that August will be extremely busy in August 2026? It will be prime viewing for the solar eclipse. I would not only grab that fare, but also lock in lodging and rental car.

Thanks for the replies. After upgrading so that we can select seats (traveling with my kids so sitting together would be important for us), the price turned out to be a little over $900. We are going specifically for the solar eclipse, so given that, I went ahead and booked. On to lodging and car rental now.

Well I read that wrong, sorry. I had October stuck in my mind. Yes, for the eclipse timing that is a great deal!

No worries @mikliz97, as I know what you meant. Booking lodging has proven a real challenge! I was rejected by 5 Airbnb hosts, and the one that I was able to book, well, I have a terrible feeling that I will be cancelled upon as the date draws nearer. Here’s fingers crossed that they will be honorable about keeping the booking. I must have tried over a dozen different hotels, and they all indicated no availability (further research has suggested that tour groups have booked up the entirety of the western part of the country for eclipse tours to be sold). I’m thinking a fun idea for a trip on my part has turned into a terrible idea! We will be in Iceland the entirety of the week prior to the eclipse date, and plan to enjoy it. I just hope we don't have to sleep in our rental car at some point.

Maryam--Did you book via Airbnb or use that at a catch all for like booking.com etc? I don't use Airbnb in Iceland, but almost always use booking.com . They have many places on there that do not have their own websites, and you can find cottages as well as hotels. Another platform that is highly regarded is www.bungalo.com . Just an FYI, you would not be allowed to pull over to sleep, you would need to be in a designated campground. Have you thought about a camper van? That way you would be totally flexible. We have done that on one trip and are planning that for next summer, but AfTER the eclipse, lol. Yes, everything is getting booked so far ahead for the eclipse. We are trying to avoid it, lol.

I used both booking.com and Airbnb for my search. Nothing worth considering came up on booking.com. Some better options existed with Airbnb. I was completely kidding about sleeping in the car (and the campers were definitely cost prohibitive when I looked them up and not for us on this trip). If worse the worse happens, I’ll cancel it all and rebook our flights for another date.
:(

I wondered if you were kidding;) When you are looking, do not just look for places in a certain town. Most lodgings are spread out, so if you limit the search to the actual town, you will be missing a lot. If you look at google maps, you can put in say Vik, and then click on hotels at the top, and then you can see more than what is just in town, and of course you can zoom in and out. Due to the timing though you may be best off changing the dates. If you can, September is a beautiful time to go there. The aurora season has begun weather is usually not bad, and there are far fewer people. Fall in Iceland is my favorite time there.

I definitely have been widening the search (our current rental is in a town one over from Reykjavik). I am satisfied with what I found. Just worry that they will cancel on me. I have high school aged kids, so finding a time in the fall may be tougher. They usually have a long weekend depending on the religious holidays in the fall, so that may be an option.

How long are you planning to be there?

5 nights. Hoping to spend 2 night on the South Coast, and the remainder in and around Reykjavik.

If I may, have you considered Snaefellsness? At least one night there is good as there is SO much to see there. You could do 2 nights on the south coast, one in the Golden Circle, one on Snaefellsness and one in Reykjavik. That would allow you to see quite a bit.

That is definitely a bit more bed hopping than I would prefer to do. But, you have given me some good suggestions for places to visit. While in Reykjavik, the Golden Circle is definitely on the agenda as a day trip. Would love to go whale watching on another day. And another day would be devoted to the solstice. We got a wonder puffin experience while in Ireland last year (thousands of them diving, perching, and flying around on a trip out to sea from Dingle), so really hoping to focus on whales this time around especially since it is August. While I would love to go to Snæfellsnes, that may be for my return trip.

I know most people are used to trips where you can stay in ap lace for a few nights to explore. Iceland is different though and staying in one location doesn't work well for maximizing your time. The drives are long, so there is substantial backtracking when doing that.