What should I do in Iceland/UK?

[Mgn]

In August, if I can save up the money, I will be attending a wedding in England and stopping in Iceland on the way there and on the way back.

I will only be in Iceland for a couple of days at a time, about 30 minutes away from Reykjavik.

During my time in the UK, I will be in three places for sure: Southport, Hull, and Stirling (which is in Scotland), but plan to travel around a bit if there's something I definitely need to see. I have been to England before but only spent time in Manchester. (Most of that particular trip was spent in Wales.)

Is there any do-not-miss activity in either of these lovely places that I should add to my itinerary?

[Rostov]

Well, it's hard to say really... it depends on how much time you have, what interests you most, and what sort of budget you have....

One recommendation for the UK in August would be the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (http://www.edfringe.com/) The Festival started off as a kind of invitation only high art festival that started after the second world war (when most concert halls etc were in ruins), but although that's still going, there's also a 'Fringe' festival of comedy, theatre, street performances, art, etc and so on. It's on for the first three weeks in August, and it's possible just to go for a single day, or to spend a whole week there going to see different stuff every day. It's huge. It's not cheap to stay in Edinburgh during the festival, but sometimes cheap student accommodation is available, or you can stay outside the city and commute in. You can plan your visit like a military operation and pre-book tickets and plan your route between shows, or you can turn up, read some reviews, talk to people, and see what tickets are left - there's always something good to see. Edinburgh is about an hour (by train or car) from Stirling. As well as the Festival, Edinburgh is well worth a visit in its own right, but it'll be packed. There's Stirling Castle (http://www.stirlingcastle.gov.uk/) that's worth a visit, and there's also the Wallace Monument (http://nationalwallacemonument.com/index.html) if you like your propaganda of the more shameless variety. In general it's a beautiful part of the world, and I'd suggest making some time for some hill walking.

Hull and Southport I know less well/hardly at all....

[dlegros]

Check out the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. It's a geothermal spa and it's fantastic!

[Spooky_Rach]

Southport has beaches and the UK's oldest iron pier (apparently worth a visit according to member of my family). Lifeboat Road in Formby is only 7 miles from Southport, it's an area of pine woods where you can see endangered red squirrels (I want to go there one day).

Southport's also only 20 miles from Liverpool, which has various museums, galleries, music venues and other big city stuff.

[Mgn]

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far! I look forward to doing some exploring

Budget: I'll have money to travel around as well as spare cash to spend on museum entries, tickets, etc but not a lot of money for shopping, so souvenir shops/tourist traps are a no-go.

Time: I'll be in the UK for two weeks, which I assume is plenty of time to get some stuff done

[artorn]

If you are in Hull/ Yorkshire, which imho is just ugly, take a trip to York. With the train it should not take too long. It is a very nice city with Roman history. If you can, you could take a trip to the Dales, in summer it is beautiful there.

[SuperUnison]

+1 for York, it really is a beautiful city, full of history!

Also don't get confused and visit the 'Iceland' shops in the UK, unless you're a fan of frozen christmas dinners for one or chicken nuggets shaped like Kerry Katona.

[Mgn]

Also don't get confused and visit the 'Iceland' shops in the UK, unless you're a fan of frozen christmas dinners for one or chicken nuggets shaped like Kerry Katona.

Hahaha, I have actually been to the UK once before and had a picture of me taken outside of an Iceland shop, since I've "always wanted to go to Iceland"

[KiwiChick]

I have lived both in Iceland and the UK! Iceland is awesome, Im a geologist so it was pretty much volcano-porn for me. If you have money for a tour - go on a golden circle tour (its a day trip from Reykjavik) as it shows you some of the cool scenery Iceland has to offer. In regards to the blue lagoon - its nice but a bit touristy, you can find some amazing natural hot springs which are more my thing. Iceland has some pretty crazy stuff to do, what are you interested in? August is the best time of year to visit, heaps of sunshine hours and not cold.

Im a huge fan of Bath and Oxford in the UK, or pretty much anywhere that involves a train trip - the rail service is my fav way to travel as you get to see lots on the way.

[haushinka]

Avoid edinburgh in August unless you are a millionaire- the hotels become the most expensive in the world for that month, and all the shops and restaurants double or triple their prices. york, for sure. Perhaps while you are in Stirling you could take the bus up to Inverness and see loch ness?

[Skakklappi]

I'm Icelandic so if you have any questions, ask away

 

When in August will you be in iceland? During the second weekend of August the Gay Pride Festival (http://www.gaypride.is/Index/English/) is held and on the third weekend there is The Reykjavík Culture Night (http://www.menningarnott.is/) 

 

I agree with Kiwi, the Golden Circle has some pretty awesome things But if you are interested in seeing a more beautiful waterfall than Gullfoss there are plenty others to see, my favorite is Skógarfoss

What are you interested in? nature, partying, culture, museums...?

[Rob__]

I'm Icelandic so if you have any questions, ask away

 

When in August will you be in iceland? During the second weekend of August the Gay Pride Festival (http://www.gaypride.is/Index/English/) is held and on the third weekend there is The Reykjavík Culture Night (http://www.menningarnott.is/) 

 

I agree with Kiwi, the Golden Circle has some pretty awesome things But if you are interested in seeing a more beautiful waterfall than Gullfoss there are plenty others to see, my favorite is Skógarfoss

What are you interested in? nature, partying, culture, museums...?

 

Bakkus. Oh my god Bakkus.

[Mgn]

These are all wonderful ideas! I hadn't even thought of stopping to see Loch Ness or anything like that

 

I'm interested in most things, although I'm not much of a partier -- I'm sort of a cheapskate and don't think I could afford to have as much fun as I should have at parties.

 

Skakklappi, I'll be in Iceland the third week of August but only for a couple of days. That culture thing sounds super interesting!

[Timmy M]

Hull is... well there it get's a bit of a bad rep but is slightly better than what people say there's a pretty good climbing centre there (though it costs £10 for a membership and you can only boulder without lessons which is what i do, dunno what happens if you're foreign and are just going once), there's also The Deep (an aquarium, never been there but heard alright things) but i don't know much else (apart from the university) it's all a bit over the river for me, literally but scunthorpe has even less to offer

[Pookie]

 My Fiancé is from Formby just outside Southport, I can't say Southport is really the most buzzing exciting place to be really, but yes, the squirrels, sand dunes and pine woods are all wonderful in Formby, I loved it there, the beach is beautiful and just further along are some neat art installations of iron people standing in the beach, so as the tide rises they disappear.

 

 The pier in Southport has a free museum (small!) at the end with lots of old penny machines from early arcades, its pretty neat.

[secretlobster]

I spent 10 days in Iceland and it was AMAZING. If you only have a couple of days, you may want to do the Golden Circle tour to see the geysers and waterfalls that are within easy driving distance of Reykjavik. Even though it's a pretty typical touristy thing to do, it's nice to be able to get out and see. There's enough to do in Reykjavik itself though. A bike tour through the city was a lot of fun. We took an entire day to rent a car and drive all the way to the glacial lagoon on the other side of the island, stopping at Vik and Skaftafell national park. It was totally worth it but about 9 hours of driving overall. Best part of the trip was hiking from Landmannalaugar to Thorsmork, but you probably don't have enough time to do that. Definitely go to the public pool and go down the waterslide.

[Turner_prize]

Definitely make the effort to go from Scunthorpe to Liverpool.

 

If you're into sports, and the Premier League has started by then, I'd suggest going to see a Liverpool FC match. Amazing atmosphere at Anfield, best fans in the world (incredibly bias as i'm a Liverpool fan).

 

The city in general is amazing as well, as Spooky Rach mentions it has galleries, museums, etc, and it is of course the home of the Beatles.

 

Also, if you're a beer drinker, I'd recommend trying a pint of real ale, which is quite different to American beers. They do ales at pretty much every pub in the UK, so you won't have any trouble finding it. Timothy Taylor - Landlord is one of my favourites, and a great place to start on the ale!