Has anyone been to Iceland?

JennyColada

I recently came across ION Hotel (http://www.ioniceland.is) and seeing the Northern Lights has been one of my DREAMS for so long. They're supposed to be very active this year, and I'm thinking of trying to fit a 2-3 night stay there in the beginning of our Hmoon.

So anyone been? How'd you like it? Did you see the Lights?

JoanE2012

I went a couple years ago.  The Northern Lights was a letdown.  We really didn't see much of anything.  It's never guaranteed though, so I wouldn't go JUST for that.  I did LOVE the Blue Lagoon though.....probably my favorite part of the trip.  

@thejucheidea just went too I think as part of her honeymoon....

thejucheidea

We got back from Iceland last Sunday! We were there for four days and it was awesome. We didn't see the Northern Lights in our TWO WEEKS in Norway, Sweden and Iceland, so I wouldn't go 100% expecting to see them.

We didn't stay in any hotels in Iceland -- we stayed at places we found on airbnb and loved it. We rented a car and actually drove from Reykjavik to Kirkjubaejarklaustur and back during our time there. Klaustur was really awesome, and we stayed at a lakeside cabin for two days. We're really looking forward to going back again.

JennyColada

Is it super adventurey? Was it FREEZING? What activities did you do while there? How's the food scene?

thejucheidea

It actually wasn't too bad temperature-wise, but it was WINDY. We just went to see beautiful things, so we didn't do anything adventurey unless you count learning manual for about two hours a month before I actually drove the rental car and having to basically learn traffic stick shift on the fly in a new country where you can't read the road signs.

All we did was seek out waterfalls, and we were not disappointed. We saw dozens of them while driving around. We also hiked into one of the national parks (Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður) to see a nice waterfall that was off of Hringvegurinn. One of the most beautiful things we saw was the glacial lagoon, Jökulsárlón, which is between Skaftafell and Höfn.

We both thought that Reykjavík was kinda lame. It was really touristy. We had pretty good food there at Geysir and OSushi The Train -- we actually went back to OSushi on our last day (Valentine's Day) because it was good and also pretty cheap. There's a tapas restaurant that was recommended to us, but we didn't end up going because we only spent one day in Reykjavík -- we'd already spent a week and a half in cities, so we were looking forward to just spending time alone in the country.

Outside of Reykjavík, there are VERY few places to eat and VERY few places to get fuel, so if you rent a car, make sure you fill up before you leave Reykjavík. The gas prices appear to be state-mandated, so you won't get a better deal on fuel outside of the city limits. We rented our car through Sixt, and it was pretty good, but they require a 300 Euro hold on your credit card (like $407), so plan accordingly. Gas is also about $7.50 a gallon and food is generally pretty expensive like in the rest of the Nordic countries, so go in expecting to spend a shit-ton of money.

We went to the Blue Lagoon on our last day, and it was fun but crazy expensive -- $180 for the entry fee and robe/towel rentals! There are lots of hot pots around the country (like every town has a hot spring), but they usually have shower monitors that watch you shower before you get in the spring while you're naked because they don't want you to make the water unclean. I'm 100% cool with that, but my husband's kind of a never nude, so he liked the Blue Lagoon because they don't have shower monitors.

Here are some pics I took:

Gullfoss:

 

Seljalandsfoss:

Jökulsárlón:

Svartifoss:

Skógafoss:

eivey17316

My mom's from Iceland. Been there many times. Seeing the lights is kind of like seeing constellations, it just depends on the night, the weather, where you are. They are cool but not nearly as cool as the waterfalls, Gullfoss is great but Detifoss will blow you away. (Those photos above are incredible-wow-must be a professional photographer-I've never gotten any that good!)  Shopping and eating are fun, everyone speaks English, but hiking and enjoying the unusual natural scenery are what you really go there for. See the current Secret Life of Walter Mitty and if you like what you see (even the "Afghan" scenes were filmed in Iceland) and want to see it up close, then I would go for it!

thejucheidea

We wanted to see Dettifoss, but the roads in the north were too icy in February! We're planning to go back one year in the late summer or early fall and driving the northern section of the Hringvegurinn. We also want to go the northern route so we can get a picture of us standing in the town called Bifrost because we're huge nerds.

And I just love taking photos! I actually hate taking pics of landscapes, but that's kinda all we wanted to take pictures of on vacation. I like taking pictures of humans.

JennyColada

The glacier parks sound awesome and hot springs are right up my alley. The hotel that I've been reading about does a three day honeymoon package, which is probably all I want (I really just want to cross it off my bucket list!).

I looked up flights for fun, and I was kind of amazed that they're generally as much as any other international flights, so the travel isn't too off-putting.

@thejucheidea, Was there a lot of light when you went? I can never remember when their summer/winter is and how it affects the sun.

thejucheidea

The sun rose at about 9-9:30 and set at about 16:30, so we had a fair amount of light. There are points in the winter where there's very little sun, but as you get closer to summer, the days get significantly longer.

WinstonsGirl

This thread makes me so happy.  We're going there this summer and we're super pumped.  Jenny - look into IcelandAir, as we got a super cheap deal through them.  We're lucky enough to get Northern Lights in my city, so I'm not worried about seeing them (especially not in the summer), but they are beautiful to watch.  They are dependant on solar condition though, so if the sun isn't flaring properly you may miss them all together.  

@thejucheidea, I may be sending you some PM's later with questions

thejucheidea

@WinstonsGirl, feel free to PM! I probably won't be on here tomorrow because it's my day off, so errands, but husband is beta testing Elder Scrolls this weekend, so I'm a video game widow all weekend and will be dicking around on the Internet the whole time.

JoanE2012

Jennycolada said:

The glacier parks sound awesome and hot springs are right up my alley. The hotel that I've been reading about does a three day honeymoon package, which is probably all I want (I really just want to cross it off my bucket list!). I looked up flights for fun, and I was kind of amazed that they're generally as much as any other international flights, so the travel isn't too off-putting. @thejucheidea, Was there a lot of light when you went? I can never remember when their summer/winter is and how it affects the sun.

We were there at the end of November.  Sunrise was around 10:30am and by 3:30pm it was starting to get dark.  It made getting up in the mornings very hard.  I don't usually suffer too much from jet lag whenever we travel, but this trip was the most awful and miserable to adjust to, and I really think  the daylight (or lack thereof) played a big part.

thejucheidea

@Jennycolada, depending on where you're flying from, look at Norwegian's website. Our flight to Oslo from JFK was $250 a person and the flight from there to Reykjavik was $67 each. With all travel and accommodations, our two week honeymoon was $4400, and we were able to go to three different countries.

JennyColada

Awesome, thanks!

We're LAX based, and were originally thinking of doing our October honeymoon in Bali, but we could always break it up and do Iceland > London > Bali. Hrm.

Ideas ideas.

thejucheidea

Yeah, we don't have a whole lot of money, so we had to make the honeymoon pretty cheap :x. Have fun on a really cool, extensive honeymoon though!

JennyColada

I think it might be too much traveling for Fi, but it's something I want to bring up as an option.

CamiSelene

I've been there and would go back in a heartbeat! I loved it. It's not your typical tourist destination but there are lots of activities you can do. MY bestie and I went for 3 days and went to the Blue Lagoon, saw the gulfoss waterfalls, the geysirs (sp?), the tectonic divide, and went snowmobiling in uninhabitable territory. I wish we could have spent more time there. I plan to take the FH one day. They offer horseback riding on the lava fields, lava caving, whale watching... ahhh, I miss it! Lol, not to mention that I found it so ruggedly beautiful and interesting! I could care less about the northern lights though (I see them all the time, where I am and when I moved to England for a year, we flew over Greenland at night and I got an unforgettable look at them in the air!)

JennyColada

@CamiSelene, I just want to steal your life right now. Tradsies?

JoanE2012

Jennycolada said:

@CamiSelene, I just want to steal your life right now. Tradsies?

I feel like I'm back in high school.  I must be getting old.

loro929

@Jennycolada I am going to Iceland in May. I am based in Europe so the ticket was quite affordable but if you happen to fly from the US into Europe there is an Iceland airline called WOW air that has direct low cost flights from the main European cities to Reykjavik. I will be based in Reykjavik but will be travelling around for a few days in a car. We have found some great offers for apartments to stay in along the route (Golden Circle, as well as from Hofn and back down to Reykjavik). Feel feel to PM me if you want any more specific suggestions