Sparkymart Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 I'm looking a booking a trip to Iceland (not the frozen food shop) at the end of October for the family any advice or recommendation before I book it. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 No, but please share what you do find out, it always seems such a fascinating country, definitely somewhere I'd love to visit! (Ok, ok, I admit, I want a go in one of those insane four wheel drive, V8 powered monsters they play with on the islands "infield". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsechris Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Yes, but not recently. Took the missus there for a surprise birthday treat about 13 years ago. Only a short break but it was pretty good. Stayed in Reykjavik, the Hotel Borg (was owned by Bjork apparently). Really nice place to stay, right on the main square in town, food in the hotel STUPIDLY expensive, booze expensive everywhere. Plenty of reasonably priced restaurants around town though. We stayed B&B which worked out well. Reykjavik is a nice town center to wander round on foot actually. We went in February so it was still pretty wintery, which was great. Did the 'Golden Circle' bus trip (proper sideways in a 30 foot coach - impressive!). The Golden Circle takes in all the top tourist type locations, Geyser, Thingvellir, Gulfoss etc. Next day we did a 'SuperJeep' trip which was excellent. Slight disappointment with that was it turned out to be pretty much the same locations, but we mentioned to the driver we had just done the coach trip so he mixed it up a bit for us. Mind you, he tended to take a very different route to the coach - up a mountain, through very deep snow, full-on 5psi in the tyres type stuff. Pretty excellent really. As a final treat he took us to the top of a steep hill just outside Reykjavic via a 45 degree climb. Great stuff. Had booked for some snowmobile fun as well but there was an overnight thaw so not enough snow. Don't know if you are a Tolkien fan, but the trip from the airport at Keflavik to Reykyavik felt like a day trip to Morodor - amazing landscape. Always fancied going back and heading up towards Akureyri Thought the driving rules were a bit odd......if someone wants to overtake, you get off the road out of their way. Somewhat fraught when there are deep banks of snow but they seem to cope. Overall, a really interesting place to visit and one I'd happily go back to....but probably just for another short break, 3 or 4 nights. HTH, please do ask if you think of anything specific. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Have been several times and pretty much ^^^this^^^, excellent description. The Blue Lagoon is a bit of a tourist trap, but if you're feeling flush, why not? They do know how to drink in the bars and do it well. Take a look at as much green as you can before you go, you'll see precious little of it once you're there, as said the landscape looks almost lunar. Nice people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Algar Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Went for Christmas and New Year and it was amazing! Not cheap, if you want a drink, but we purchased some duty free on the way so that helped. Started off in a log cabin off out past Hella, which was basic but some amazing scenery. Highly recommend getting a hire car, I just hired a small car which was a toyota Aygo I think, all 1.3 but came with studded tyres which I thought was Hilarious as it didn't have enough power to pull the skin off a rice pudding, but you definitely need them! Just driving in the snow over there was an experience in itself. We did the Blue Lagoon on Christmas day and yep bit of a tourist trap, but was great fun and something very different. We then moved into Reykjavik for the rest of our time and tried a boutique hotel which was rubbish and then had an appartment for the rest of the stay. The appartment was really good. Would highly recommend prebooking alot of your tours before going as tended to workout alot cheaper. The only thing we managed to wangle cheaper was snowmobiling as they had a slot to fill. The people are really friendly and totally mad! Fireworks on New years eve would give our Health and Safety people nightmares! Fantastic place and I'd definately love to go back! Oh and you best like seafood as there's plenty of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murraymint Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Hopefully this wont spoil your trip.... http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/iceland-volcano-katla-eruption-ash-cloud-warning-alarm-biggest-tremors-earthquakes-40-years-a7215111.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benedwards64 Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Yes, went in early November last year. It is hands down the best holiday I've ever been on - such a genuinely fascinating place! There's plenty of tourist bus tours and the like, but we elected to hire a car and I think it was the best decision we made. There are loads of hire car companies and they're not cheap - you need additional protection against dust damage etc. We used Blue Car Rentals and hired a Dacia Duster 4x4 (with studded tyres!) and it was bl**** awesome. Many of the main tourist hotspots can fill up with shuffling hoards on coach trips, so having your own car really gives you freedom to explore the best of the country. We stayed in Reykjavik for a week, which is a lovely city, and drove out for day trips etc. At that time of year it was daylight from around 10.30am to 5pm, so we'd tend to leave earlier and travel to/from various places in the dark. The roads (the tarmacked ones at least) are all very good as is the quality of driving, so no issues there once you get used to the slightly weird feeling of studded tyres! The Blue Lagoon near the airport is worth a visit - again, go early doors and you'll miss the American tourists and enjoy the weird sensation of watching the sunrise surrounded by steam! We headed out overnight a couple of times as well, there's a national park near Reykjavik that we drove back through one night and stopped to watch the Northern Lights. I didn't manage to do a Jeep tour unfortunately, but did manage to go ice climbing on a glacier towards the south of the country. If I went again I'd probably stay somewhere around the south for a couple of nights, and use it as a base to explore some of the quieter parts of the south and east. I'll definitely go again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter (Monty) Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 I went on an activity holiday there when I was 17 - camping, cycling, canoeing, etc. It was great, I'd love to go again - it's a really fascinating place. I'd recommending spending as little time in Reykjavik as possible - it's fine, but the countryside is so unique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkymart Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 Wow sounds impressive,I've been looking at an apartment in Reykjavík found some good deals on Air B&B website now trying to sort out flights but I'm tied down to date as the wife is a teacher so only got the half term available (along with the price hike) Im a bit concerned about the link Murraymint has posted about the volcano. I might hang on a week or so before booking as that could spoil things is it blows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhett Turner - Black Country AO Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Yes and it was fantastic. Went over the Easter a couple of years ago. We rented a house on the out skirts of Reykjavik and hired a small 4 wheel drive SUV. guess we did the normal touristy things, Golden Circle (Thingvellir National Park, Geysir and Strokkur hot springs, Gulfoss waterfall, etc), spent a day further north hoping to get to a glacier but the weather did not allow it (scenery was fantastic though), we did the blue lagoon which we all thought was a fantastic experience, (having a pint in a big hot bath in the snow is a little surreal), Reykjavik is fantastic. It is one of the best family holidays we have ever done and both of the children are planning to go back and see more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 What everyone else has said + this place - Jokulsarlon. It's a few hours drive from Reykjavik but it's the most amazing place I have ever been to. Also, be careful with the speed limits. Main roads are fantastic and empty, but national speed limit is 90kph and I got an on the spot fine of 380euro for doing 105kph. Got to sit in the back of an Icelandic police car and use his credit card machine......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingster Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 On holiday so no time for full reply but absolutely loved Iceland last year and looking forward to returning. Amazing place, genuine people and awesome scenery! Not as expensive as I was led to believe neither but guess brexit might have scoobied that now. You must do a tour in a big fek off jeep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkymart Posted September 2, 2016 Author Share Posted September 2, 2016 Thanks guy's the pics look amazing are the trip expensive are you best to book them in advance or book once out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingster Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 The trips in the big jeeps are pricey and we booked out there. http://www.superjeep.is were excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Haven' been but would love to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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