messiah

Always fancied going to Iceland so I'm gonna do something about it and book to go next year.

Anyone else been? Need advice on best time of year to go, and what to do. Always wanted to have a go in theose hot springs and do a volcano / geyser tour.

Recommendations appreciated.

OllyK

I've always been under the impression (probably incorrectly) there is F All to do there except appreciate the scenery (which my include birds of the twin breasted variety )

messiah

I'll be taking my own twin-breasted bird with me.

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

i hear they do great deals on frozen foods

messiah

I was wondering how long it would take...

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

Had to be done sorry mate

i hear reycavic (**** spelling) is cool

messiah

I was prepared for it - I could have asked in the Travel Agents and still got a comment about fish fingers.

Reykjavic (sp) is supposed to have a very good nightlife but is quite expensive from what I can gather.

unclebuck

Mums been

She said it was monsterously expensive, so be prepared....

Brit_in_Japan

If you like natural beauty then Iceland has lots to offer. Glaciers (including the biggest in Europe). Highest waterfalls in Europe. Most powerful waterfalls in Europe. Geysers. Hot springs. Bubbling pools of mud. Volcanoes. You can also go whale watching.

If you want to drive some serious 4x4 roads then go no earlier than say mid July, they don't open the interior roads until the snows have melted.

It is expensive, especially if you want to hire a 4x4 with real off road capability (and you won't make it through the interior with a little Suzuki Vitara - tried and failed !!)

Snowmobile trips on a glacier also memorable but not cheap.

Most people do the "golden triangle", Pingvaltir (old capital of Iceland situated on visable geological fault), Gullfoss (big waterfall) and Geysir (the original from which all others get their name) and then back to Reykjavik and don't see much of the rest of Iceland. If you are into big scenery then there's lots more to see. If you are minted then take internal flights to get around, there are lots of little landing strips all over Iceland and there are regular flights to most of them.

Reykjavik has a reputation for being a real party town, I'm sure some others will be able to tell you more about that side of things.

RussBoy

I went there last August and it was actually bloody hot that weekend!

Reykjavic is fantastic - women are mostly gorgeous (and don't even realise it!) No worries about getting your heads kicked in at 4am as they are all a gentle breed but there is a big drinking problem. Two actually. It's very expensive (£6-£8 a pint) and because it is so expensive they don't tend to even go out until about midnight, having already got drunk at home on cheaper booze first. Streets are therefore quite loud during the night.

Great place though, lovely scenery (even in the so called City) and some great bars. Try Damon Alburns bar (can't remember the name but everyone knows it there) on a Saturday night - great 'old skool' DJ and good atmosphere. You MUST also visit the Lagoon - quite near the airport so you can go on the way back.

I'd definately go back - maybe even with the missus as it is so safe Need to start saving up though...


Russ

yoza

http://www.icelandadventure.com/

I love Iceland, wheel nut smugglers everywhere....

messiah

Good clicky - quite fancy the white water rafting too...

hades

Went for a month expedition about 14 years ago now. 1 day in Reykjavic, bus trip to Skoga on the South coast. Walk from there up the mountains, going via various scenic areas with cross country ski-ing and crampons to summit of an ice cap (I can remember how to pronounce but not spell - eyjafleyjaklajokull or somthing!), bathing in natural hot-springs etc, eventually met a bus 28 days later up in Lanmanalauger, (spelling probably wrong again, my icelandic is rusty!). Then spent a couple of days doing the tourist route of Golden Circle etc. Awesome place, loved almost every minute of it. Not exactly civilised away from Reykjavik (we passed one place where you could buy food between the start and finish of the 28 days, saw no tarmac at all), but beautiful and quite diverse scenery.

mart360

One of my qual techs is icelandic,, and from his g/f who went out there last year, she reckons is fantastic..

bit cold at the mo..

Mart

Jye

Shark urine soup, sluuurp!! Lovely!

System-G

I went a couple of years ago to work, but when we got their the gig promoters hadn't organised (finalised) the venue. So they had to entertain us for a couple of days before everything was sorted.

Free guided tours around the place
Free snow-mobiling accross the glaciers, hotsprings, geazers, waterfalls etc...

A few things that come to mind:
The women out there are stunning
Little to no sense of humour.
Expensive as everything is imported.
Stay away from the shark nibbles (raw preserved shark) unless you have a very strong stomach and no sense of smell.
Summer is best time to go unless you like it really cold and the sun never sets in July.
In winter it gets to something like -30 degC and the sun never rises - highest suicide rate in the West as a result.
Nightlife is really good in Reykjavik.
The town is so clean it's almost sterile. The country had 0% unemployment when I was there - so no homeless or beggars on the streets.
Most people can speak a bit of english as many are eduacted in the UK or USA.

I'd definately go back, but wouldn't be able to stay longer than a week.

mad_dr

Went there for a week last August and had a great time! They had a week of solidly beautiful weather! Some of the most consistantly warm and sunny weather on record! No rain at all and bright sunny days! This was taken at about 10pm on one of the days but they were all like this:

http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/sunset.jpg

It IS very expensive so don't expect to spend less than about £40 a day just on your food and drink (more if you plan on getting hammered much!).

Reykjavik has loads to offer and is a really attractive city just to wander around. It spraws a lot but you can cover the tourist centre fairly easily in a day or two.

Make sure you check out the church in downtown Reykjavik (Hallgrimskirkja)

http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/church4.jpg
http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/church5.jpg
http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/church6.jpg

It's an amazing building and well worth spending the couple of quid to go to the lookout at the top:

http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/top1.jpg
http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/top2.jpg

I was lucky enough to go there whilst Iceland played Italy and won 2-0! Result!

The girls are a mixture of FIT blonde birds who are stunningly gorgeous and then the rest are Bjork lookalikes. All of them are incredibly friendly though and will always go out of their way to help you.

Shopping in the city centre is pretty good but check out some of the larger out-of-town shopping malls such as Smáralind which is the biggest one in Iceland and only a few minutes from the city centre by car.

Make sure you rent a car if you plan on going anywhere. I'm sure the public transport system is pretty reliable but in a place like Iceland you want the freedom to do things at your own pace!

Especially if you want to visit the Blue Lagoon. It opens at 10 and the tour busses arrive at about 11, so if you have a hire car like we did - you can be the first one to bomb into the water!

http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/lagoon.jpg

Make sure you check out the sculpture of the viking boat in Reykjavik harbour - it's about 20' tall and is simply stunning!

http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/boat1.jpg
http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/boat3.jpg
http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/boat4.jpg

Skogafoss is the tallest waterfall in europe and is breathtaking - absolutely huge! AND you can climb about 300 steps right to the top if the mood takes you!

http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/skogafoss.jpg

If you set off early enough, you'll have time to go all the way to Vik which is on the Sout Coast of Iceland - Black Sand beach, anyone?

http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/vik.jpg

Gullfoss is another HUGE waterfall that is well worth a visit and Stori Geyser is on the way there - a day trip to see both really, but a day very well spent!

http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/stori.jpg
http://www.lensflair.org/iceland/gullfoss.jpg

All in all: an amazing week and I'm hoping to go back there this winter - want to see what it's like to spend a week in the dark!

Ted Maul

also, 1% of the population are members of the Icelandic Arsenal supporters Group

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

I go on business on occassion and can recommend it. Yes, it is expensive, but also that depends on where you stay. Avoid the hotels and stay in hostels and the prices are bareable - just. Food is expensive and beer is typically £6 for a pint(ish) sized glass. The nightlife starts late and goes on until early. The whole countries population is only 250,000 and half live in Reykjavik.......... so that's the place to base yourself. You can get cheap flights on Icelland Express - much cheaper than Iceland Air or BA etc. Unfortunately, I've not done the touristy bits so can't advise, but there is lots to see and do - especially if you like the great out doors - whale watching, glaciers (driving on, snowmobiles etc), the Blue Lagoon, etc. The people are friendly and most speak very good English (Amercian influence) - remember that the island is half on the American plate and half on the European. Go, I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

Dazzler

Fantastic pictures Mad Dr.

Anyone got pictures of the so called stunning ladies out there ???

mad_dr

Thanks mate - I'll have a look through my photos (got LOADS while I was out there) and will see if any are decent shots of the ladies. Of course - if they ARE - it'll only be because a blonde beauty happened to wander into frame when I was trying to take a perfectly innocent, out of focus photograph of that bin...

Brit_in_Japan

[anorak]
Sorry mad_dr but Skogafoss is not the tallest. It's *only* 62m high. I agree it is stunning though.

The highest is called Glymur and is 3 times taller (190m).

The tallest in Europe is actually in Norway at about 800m !!

Dettifoss is Europe's most powerful.
[/anorak]

Leslie

We used to refuel at Keflavik on the way back from Western Canada. All I remember was that stepping out of the aircraft in winter was like walkng into a deep freeze with gale force winds!

Nice people and I think there are a good many things to do and see in the summer. I'd like to be able to try a bit of salmon fishing there

Les

hades

Yeah, there's quite a lot of decent waterfalls there, impressive in different ways (can't remember the name of the one with the arch over it, which was defintely good). Skogafoss is not really that tall, but makes a lot of spray to the nearby campsite - IIRC the tallest unbroken falls in Europe (definitely the tallest I've visited) is the Staubach (sp?) near Lauterbrunnen (sp?) in Switzerland, over 1000ft without touching the rocks.

Strokkur (the one that works regularly at Geysir) is fun. When I went, health and safety hadn't reached Iceland, so you could stand and look down the throat of it as it was about to erupt.

Serious advice - when we did the "golden circle", it was in a Land-Rover, and we left Reykjavik before 6am; well worth doing the same. Geysir, Gullfoss and Thingvellir are all a lot more impressive when you don't have to share them with 4 coach parties, and queue up to get close.

doppelganger

i would go again tomorrow ,if you go whale watching and they dont think you saw enough ,you go again for free.if you take an under 11yr old (we did)everything for them is free.