Iceland Tips

[Duffman]

Any mags have any experience in Iceland? Had to push a planned summer trip back to August due to Mrs Duff recovering from knee scope, but she should be good to go in August and wants to take the kids (will be 11 and almost 7) to Iceland for a week . Flights from the EC are short and easy and the country looks gorgeous, but there are so many places to check out I don't know where to start. Anyone been?

[406]

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...mp-MTB-Iceland

Hopefully photos load for you.

[cspringsposer]

The wife and I went to Iceland about 20 years ago. We did a few tours and went to the usual places around Reykjavik.

The tours were really cool in that you loaded up in jacked up 4X4 vans and drove right up to glaciers and waterfalls before doing some pretty cool and fairly strenuous hikes. I'm not a tour person but I would do these again.

Don't remember much about exactly where we went. I think I just looked up some local tour companies before we visited. I know they had some tough economic times about a decade ago so things might be different now, but food and alcohol were insanely expensive when we were there.

We were there in March and the weather wasn't bad at all. We have talked about going back for years but just never made it happen. I will be curious to hear how things are now versus 20 years ago.

[tgapp]

Ex-wife and I went in 2019. Spent 3 weeks, highlights of the trip were the Laugavegar (45ish mile backpacking trip through the highlands), Westfjord Islands, and a lot of the northern coast line (less crowded and further away then the southern coast which Reykjavik is close to). Would strongly recommend doing the Laugavegar if your kids are into it. Hut supported if you want it; supplies available along the entire route. Considered by many to be one of the best backpacking trips on the planet.

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[evdog]

Buy all the booze for your trip at the duty free before you leave the airport.

Don't get a speeding ticket. Thankfully not from personal experience, but was told speeding tickets are in the $6-700 range.

Rental cars aren't allowed in the highlands / F roads. Maybe if you get 4x4 rental you can go further out. The main tourist sites are paved or accessible by normal rental though.

[dan_pdx]

Anyone been out there in the winter? We're kicking the tires on an aurora trip. It'll be hard to beat the display we saw earlier this month, but it's a bucket list trip for Mrs. PDX

[406]

I fixed the photos on my trip report. I would recommend most of the sight seeing we did. x2 on getting booze at duty free.

Winter might be pretty brutal weather and lack of sun, unless you got lucky with high pressure. I've wanted to do a spring backcountry skiing trip. Figure we got aurora on our mtb trip in summer, so chance they would be in the spring too.

[dan_pdx]

Winter might be pretty brutal weather and lack of sun, unless you got lucky with high pressure. I've wanted to do a spring backcountry skiing trip. Figure we got aurora on our mtb trip in summer, so chance they would be in the spring too.

Thanks, that's good advice - we'll look at springtime vs. dead of winter

[The Reverend Floater]

I believe Conundrum and his much better/shorter half did a rad adventure there. Maybe send him or Rontele a PM.

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[sharcsplean]

Plan in advance. Book places to stay. Bring good hiking boots and a goretex jacket.
We were staying at one hotel and it was booked out for 6 weeks. A family rolled up and was turned away. Next hotel was 45 min away,

The thermal baths are amazing. There are a few natural thermal springs, and they are worth the hike up to them. I think the hike was 5km.
You can surf at the black sands beach. I regret that I did not rent a board and wetsuit,.
Reykjavík is cool town, I only got to spend 1 day there. Food is good and check out the Big Lebowski Bar.

[Duffman]

Good shit all. Thanks. Given the knee surgery recovery for Mrs Duff and the presence of a 6 year old , will need to defer on the big backpacking stuff for easier day hikes. Laugavegar looks amazing, not sure if even the beginning part of it is in the cards for this trip though.

Note to anyone else considering fairly late planning with a group of more than 2. Lodging on the South Coast is hard to come by especially as you get farther out toward Vik and Jokulsarlun Glacier for 4 and what's left is $$$$ with the idiot tax of late booking. If it was just the 2 of us , a camper van would be the way to go, but instead we will have to suck it up

[tgapp]

Not sure if it will help but you might be able to find a cheap place on either AirBnB (we did our whole trip ultra last minute - booking Airbnbs the night before) - or you might find that going out to Westman island is cheaper - that's what we ended up doing, originally to save money compared to expensive south coast hotels, and it was one of the highlights of our trip. Good luck dude, enjoy!!

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[Duffman]

Not sure if it will help but you might be able to find a cheap place on either AirBnB (we did our whole trip ultra last minute - booking Airbnbs the night before) - or you might find that going out to Westman island is cheaper - that's what we ended up doing, originally to save money compared to expensive south coast hotels, and it was one of the highlights of our trip. Good luck dude, enjoy!!

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We were going to Westman Island for a day trip for sure, kids want to find Puffins and the volcano hike looked fun. Didnt think about staying over there, I'll check that out. You thought it was worth spending a night on the island?

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[tgapp]

We were going to Westman Island for a day trip for sure, kids want to find Puffins and the volcano hike looked fun. Didnt think about staying over there, I'll check that out. You thought it was worth spending a night on the island?

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Yeah we really enjoyed it. The volcano museum is great, there's a fantastic local brewery there, and the puffins are super cute. Worth a night, probably not more than that though.



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[Cruiser]

Our crew really enjoyed the lava show in Vik

edit to add that the secret lagoon was my favorite pool but the kids def preferred the big public pool in Akureyri. And Seljalandsfoss was my favorite waterfall.

[The AD]

Anyone been out there in the winter? We're kicking the tires on an aurora trip. It'll be hard to beat the display we saw earlier this month, but it's a bucket list trip for Mrs. PDX

Wife and I were there in February a few years back. We got pretty lucky with the weather. Not super cold and sunny days. I think wind storms are the primary concern rather than extreme cold.