We are eyeing a short-ish (11-12 day) trip to Iceland for summer of 2026. I've been there once before, but that was way back in the 1980s(!), on the way home from my first trip to Europe, and long before it became a popular tourist destination (when I came back and told friends, they acted like I had just come back from the moon...). My wife wants to go, and we're looking for the "sweet spot" balancing reasonably decent weather (it's in the middle of the North Atlantic, so my expectations for weather are appropriately calibrated), with the hope of missing the busiest peak summer crowding (such as it is - I expect the most popular places to have some crowds, but I know it's not going to be anything like the Cinque Terre Squeeze), at a time that works for us.
I'm guessing the busiest time for tourism is roughly mid-June to end-of-August (corresponding to school vacations). True?
So I'm looking at going maybe the beginning of June, or maybe the first few days of September. I'm guessing that May to early June, and September, would correspond to what passes for "shoulder season" in Iceland, and while it won't exactly be empty, the heaviest summer crowds probably won't be then. Is that about right?
Note that we are NOT going to Iceland looking for (or expecting to see) the Northern Lights (if we were, I wouldn't consider June, when it won't really be dark enough to see them). So that's not a consideration for us.
When is that sweet spot we seek? Thanks for your insights on when's the best time (for us) to go.