Iceland...

[randomguy2014]

Hello everyone! I have posted very little in this forum, but I plan to do it more often. 

 

Today I wanted to ask some questions about something that has been driving me crazy for almost two years now. 

 

I really really want to go to Iceland. I have seen pictures of it and it looks amazing. I have some questions for anyone who is either from there or who has been there, to see if I can actually make this happen in the not so far future.

 

I am a student and I am planning to begin working next year to save some money for travelling in general. I saw in some websites that the cheapest tickets available to Iceland cost around €230 (with a 10-hour stop in London, but I couldn't care less about that), and I see that hostels are quite expensive, around €20-30. So here are my questions, I number them because they are many and that way it will be easier to answer:

 

1. What would be a recommendable budget to consider when planning a trip to Iceland (apart from the €230-300 for the plane ticket)?

2. What are the main places to go in Iceland? I'm thinking of the kind of places you can't not go to when you are there.

3. What other places are nice to go to? Maybe some places that are not very common tourist attractions.

4. What is the best time of the year to go?

5. How can one move around? Is it possible to go around by bike? If so, is it expensive to rent bikes there?

 

I think these are my questions for now. I know, these all seem questions I could search in tourist guides, but they usually only tell the good side of things, the beautiful side. I want to know also what are the cons of going there, what should I keep in mind, what is not recommendable and also some knwoledge that maybe would be lost in a commercial tourist guide.

 

I wish you all a great day and week! 

[bregalad5]

Hey!

 

Enjoy your Iceland adventure! I was in Reykjavik for a 20 hour layover in June and it was amazing. I didn't get to see much, but what I did see made me want to go back ASAP! Just landing there was..... breathtaking.

 

Check Airbnb.com to see if you can find a place to stay cheaper than the hotels/hostels. It's what I use every time I go anywhere. You can sometimes get a great deal, and more privacy (I'm not into the whole partying/loud people thing that hostels provide, and 99.999% of the time I'm on my own...). That's about all the advice I can give since my time there was so brief.

 

[Paisley]

Bugger I had a full reply typed out and lost it all.

In a nut shell - we did a 10 day trip to Iceland last April - it was amazing and I would definitely recommend going there. We did it as a family so some things may not be relevant for you but generally here’s my take on everything.

1 - budget - Its going to depend a lot of what time of year you go so I'll deal with that one first

4. What is the best time of the year to go?
Summer (July and August) is the most expensive and also the most crowded which is why we wanted to avoid those times. We went in April which was probably a bit too early - my main issue was that we never had blue sunny skies - everything looked so much more beautiful when the sun did come out. If I were to do it again I'd probably look at late May or early June - more expensive but hopefully better weather. I imagine September would also be pretty good. That's assuming you don't mind it cold - personally we don't - just wear more clothes.

1. What would be a recommendable budget to consider when planning a trip to Iceland (apart from the €230-300 for the plane ticket)?
So budget - you know plane ticket costs and your right about accommodation - the hostels and guesthouses will probably be your best bet if you're travelling alone. I used booking.com when looking for accommodations and found them good. In general though expect to share a bathroom wherever you go - that was one our biggest limitations with accommodation - everything had shared bathrooms in the price range we were looking at. As far as travel costs we hired a car (about US$1200 for 10 days) as that was most cost effective for 4. Yes you can hire a bike and that would be a lot cheaper - I can definitely see that riding around would be fun. If you want to go longer distances the local bus companies are meant to be pretty good and relatively cheap, but we didn’t try them out so can’t really comment
Food was a lot better than I expected all up we spent just over $1000 US for the 4 of us. Breakfast was either provided by accommodation or we just bought cereal and skyr at the grocery store and ate in our rooms (I assume hostels would have a fridge for you to use). Lunchs again picnic stuff from the grocery store or a hot dog at a service station or local food truck van (these were actually really good - could probably have lived on these hot dogs if we had to). Then dinner at a restaurant or we stayed places where we could buy something simple at the store and cook in the room.
The most expensive things were the extras - going on a horseback riding tour, a snowmobiling tour, walk on a glacier etc. These are all expensive and will add up.

2. What are the main places to go in Iceland? I'm thinking of the kind of places you can't not go to when you are there.
The biggest ones are the golden circle tour and the blue Lagoon. The golden circle tour takes in Thingvellir – the location of the first parliament, Geysir – the first geyser, and Gulfoss a magnificent waterfall. This is usually done as a day trip out of Reykjavik, but might take a bit longer if you’re on a bike . These are a good starting point, but personally I didn’t think they were the best things to see – just the most accessible. The Blue lagoon – a geothermal pool that’s a beautiful blue colour is quite touristy but it’s really a must – it was very fun (though very expensive). Combined with Reykjavik these are the main things that everyone has to see.

3. What other places are nice to go to? Maybe some places that are not very common tourist attractions.
If you look at my signature there’s a link to my blog that has all my photos and a basic journal of what we saw and did, have a look through for some ideas on other places to go and things to see.

 

If you have any more questions I'm more than happy to try and answer them.

[randomguy2014]

Wow this is great!! Sorry I took so long to answer... I've been off my laptop for over a month... both responses are amazing!! so detailed! I feel more and more excited. My main concern now is to gather the money (I am a student and I will also have to work from next year onwards to help pay for my living costs, but still I hope I can save money little by little). 

In general, I don't mind cold weather, I can live with it, just maybe will require a little more budget to get proper clothing for it. 

If I have more questions I will definitely ask...

Thank you so much again for the answers! And bregalad5 that's an amazing picture

[RedPandaOne]

MLP pretty much covered everything you need to know. But here is my two cents if you still want it:

 

Biking - I saw a lot of people biking on the roads, so I think it is doable. Would I recommend it? I don't know. It may take a long time to get to places, but if you have the time, then go for it. You may be able to access some places that rental cars are not allowed to go. On that note: yes, if you rent a car, and depending on the type, there will be places you are not allowed to take the car because the terrain is so rough. But it's mainly in the interior I believe, and the rental places give a map of where to avoid.

 

When to go - Weather wise the best time to go is July and August. But those will be the peak tourist season. Since you don't mind the cold, I'd say check out pricing outside of those two months. Hotels and such may be cheaper since peak "tourist season" is over.

 

If you want inspiration, here are my pictures: https://christinaslifeinphotos.shutterfly.com/pictures/4423

the password to access is: thepassword2014

Iceland is pictures 1-96. The rest of the album is Sweden.

[LessGrainMoreLamb]

Thought I'll give my 2 cents as well. I did a car trip to Iceland in June this year. Weather wise, it was surprisingly good. Quite clear and rainy for only 2 days out of 12. Regarding accommodation, I would definitely suggest you to consider camping sites if you're going in the summer, even for Reykjavik (or maybe especially for Reykjavik). They tend to be cheaper than hotels and most of the ones we stayed at had good amenities - indoor toilet, hot showers, kitchen, common room ranging from a table and benches in the outdoor kitchen to a full-on large hostel-style common room with computers. Most, if not all camping sites also had wifi. If you plan to take the ring road around the island, do really consider the timeline. We ended up doing the ring road plus the Snaefellsnes Peninsula roughly in 8 days (as someone=me managed to leave their driving license at home being the only person in the group with one) and at least I gelt that it was a bit too rushed. Also, I heard from some guys at one of the camping sites that they got to fly their bikes to Iceland for free, so check that out as well. I believe they said they flew Icelandair.

 

[Falcon Lovejoy]

I know this is an older post but for whoever is concerned...

 

Check out WOW airline. Super cheap flights although they probably get you with baggage fees and other stuff. FLights from the U.S. (Boston and Washington D.C. only) are ~$100US. The airline is based in Reykjavik so all flights go through there. I was thinking of booking a flight to Amsterdam or Paris for ~$200US and having my layover be for a week or so.