Iceland in late July - early August

i would recommend moving around and seeing more of the island, whether renting a car or taking buses. i spent a week in iceland and stayed only in reykjavik as a home base and took tours but i feel like i missed out on seeing the area to the north (specifically the akureyri and isafjordur regions) and all along the southern coast, where are some amazing natural sights. i think you'd get to experience more of the culture by staying in different places. at least, that's what i'll do next time. good luck!

Since you have that many days, you can rent a car and drive the entire ring road around the island during that time, taking advantage of nearly 24 hours daylight (I believe the length of the ring road is around 830 miles or so, but confirm this). Or you can take in a variety of day tours from Reykjavik - google Reykjavik Excursions (they run bus tours all over the place based on your interests). Reykjavik has plenty of sites itself (great museums, good cafes and restaurants, nice places to stroll), so it seems like a good home base. Tripadvisor will give you the lowdown under "things to do" in Reykjavik, and the Icelandic tourism websites will give you more info than anyone on this board can. Lonely Planet is a great guidebook for Iceland as well - that's what I used when I was there for 5 days.

Bill,
We are in the process of planning a trip to Iceland in May. From what I have researched, it makes sense to rent a car and get out on your own. That is, of course, if you like to do your own thing. With 10 days, you can comfortably do the Ring Road. Another point I have discovered is that if you take your own sleeping bag, you can get a "sleeping bag accommodation" at most B&B's or hotels out in the countryside and save yourself a fair amount of $$. Iceland is an expensive place to visit! Have fun.