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Summer vacation to iceland

Before making any final plans for the summer, im collecting information about the country, weather, lodging.Need suggestions regarding Icelang trip during July. If anyone recently visited from Seattle to Iceland, and could share some information that would be great. How many days do we need for iceland? and what are the things we can enjoy over there?
Thank you.

Posted by
620 posts

Here are some YouTube videos/channels that might be a good place to start --

This channel is from Wolter's World. A college professor who is making travel videos.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFr3sz2t3bDp6Cux08B93KQ

Wolter's See & Do Reykjavík
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_SqugSCpyI

5 Things You Will Love & Hate Reykjavík Iceland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EsSXu7_bx4

Top 10 Iceland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt3QjDHpbUQ

Tipping in Iceland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgVatuku6OQ

10 Shocks of Iceland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP7xQqL3iDs

Channel Iceland With a View. American Expat in Iceland making videos on Iceland travel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA3_auv7ls2EnECL3kqqXTw

The prevailing advice is often the suggestion to make a Ring Road tour of Iceland or to book multi-day tours of other regions. So you might want to look into the possibilities of such tours. Personally, my trip to Iceland was 10 nights and I stayed in in Reykjavík the whole time while booking and enjoying day tours from the city.

I did three day tours with GeoIceland covering the Golden Circle, Snæfellsness Peninsula, and the South Coast. One reason I used them was because they offered small group tours as I did not want to stuck on crowded coaches and tours. https://geoiceland.com/

I also used Arctic Adventures for a lava tube carving tour and a whitewater rafting trip -- https://adventures.is/

These are certainly not the only tour companies, just the ones that I booked with.

Another company offering a lava cave tour -- https://insidethevolcano.com/

Hope this is a helpful start.

Posted by
7049 posts

How many days do we need for iceland? and what are the things we can
enjoy over there?

It totally depends on what you want to do and how far you want to travel (and whether you'll have a rental car). Start with a library book (or buy on on Amazon) and some excellent online resources:
https://www.iceland.is
https://visitreykjavik.is

Look into Icelandair layovers (short) and vacation packages to see if they make sense. I would base myself from Reykjavik and spend at least 2 full days there (preferably a bit more). But, keep in mind that the beauty of the country is outdoors (and outside of Reykjavik). There is a multitude of tourist companies that can take you anywhere you want to go for guided day trips if rental car is not a good option.

Posted by
658 posts

Tons of on-line resources about travel to Iceland. I enjoy reading blogs where people describe their daily travels and I can decide what I'd like to see. In addition to this forum, there's also a very informative forum on TripAdvisor. But you really do need to do your own research and decide how much time to spend.

I have been planning my trip for several months. Of special interest to us is all the gorgeous waterfalls. Other people want boat trips or hot tubs or whale watching. The first time we visited it was only for two days as we took advantage of IcelandAir's free layover between Denver and Munich. On that trip we did the Golden Circle tour and also a tour of the Reykjanes Penninsula. For both of these tours, we were based in Reykjavik. This time we are planning a week and will do a self-drive around the island on the Ring Road.

I will caution you that you are late in planning your trip. I made all my reservations in January to make sure I could get accommodations in my price range that had a private bath. If you decide to do the Ring Road, it is very rural so there are not a lot of motels or large places to chose from. Most of our stays are in guesthouses and one is in a hostel.

Posted by
1972 posts

We are in Seattle and have been to Iceland once so far and are returning in August. Our adult daughter has been twice, including last summer.

For a trip in July, you are really late to planning so I would get your initial itinerary set asap. Then book lodging, again, asap. To give you an idea, I booked all of our lodging in November for a late August trip.

As for how many days, it totally depends on what you plan to do. We are renting a car and going for 10 days, which is still shorter than we would prefer, but that is all the time that our adult kids have so we are making it work, and we are doing the ring road.

Iceland With A View is a great tool for planning.