Anyone been? If you have, how many days and what itinerary? Self drive or Tours? |
For your Iceland questions, please consult Rick Steve's Travel Forum for Iceland, there is a wealth of information available there. My wife and I did not go to Iceland in winter, but we went in September; and the Rick Steves Forum + other resources proved invaluable for our wonderfully amazing trip to Iceland.
You may not want to drive in Iceland outside of the Reykjavik metro area/Reykjanes Peninsula in winter as it will almost certainly be more hazardous and treacherous than driving in the DMV. You will absolutely need vedur.is and safetravel.is regardless of when you visit Iceland. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/iceland |
OP again - Is PLAY airline like Spirit? Never heard of this before |
Yes, it is pretty grim. We went for a few days over New Years and had a great time. The days are short but we had fun. |
Thank you for the link. I will look into it. Been browsing the reddit sub too. The pictures are amazing. If you are short on time - lets say just 7 days, what are the must see from your point of view? From Reddit, I gathered that the Golden Circle, the Waterfalls (Vik??), Diamond Beach, Glacier Hike are must see and the Blue Lagoon is touristy and overhyped? |
In spite of the 6 hours of daylight? What do you with kids if the sight seeing is done in 6 hours? Is it gloomy and dull the rest of the time? |
Well, we are usually pretty low key tourists anyway. We go out in the mornings and see a bunch of stuff, have a late lunch, then a nap, and then head out for a stroll and dinner. So we did pretty much the same there. I have never really wanted to do more than 6 hours sight seeing in a day when I am on vacation.. We did a couple of nights in the countryside in the golden circle area. the hotel had a nice sauna etc that we enjoyed. Then we were in a beautiful air B and B in Reykjavik. For NYE we bought fireworks and set them off from the roof. I made salt lamb. The kids loved it. |
Don’t self drive at that time of year, stay in Reykjavik and do organized tours only. Northern lights. It will be very cold. Some roads inaccessible. |
Any recs for tours and tour companies? |
What's vedur.is safetravel.is? |
Will 6 days total including flying time (2 days), so just 4 days in Iceland be enough if I want to do the Golden Circle tour, glacier lagoon, Diamond beach, kerid crater, katla ice cave or is that wishful thinking? |
We went Thanksgiving week a few years ago, and driving was fine. We base camped at an AirBnB in Reykjavik and went on day trips, then spent a few nights in Vik and did day trips from there.
We did some tours (snorkeling in Sintra - in a dry suit, lava tube - on our way from the airport to our airbnb that we couldn't check into yet, but our favorite was snowmobiling from Skjol) through www.amazingtours.is and drove the rest (lots of different waterfalls, diamond beach, Glacier Lagoon, Blue Lagoon) |
They have dropped their Dulles route and likely cutting BWI soon. Do not assume a future flight booked with them will end up operating. https://crankyflier.com/2024/10/24/play-airlines-plans-to-play-in-the-sand-instead-of-the-states/ |
A friend visits yearly around Christmas. No family or emotional draw... just loves it. I can't quite find the faith to believe him --seems cold! -- but he loves it this time of year. I'm sure you'll agree with one of us (probably the one who's been, regularly returns and knows what he's talking about). |
Websites for weather, volcano, and road conditions. https://en.vedur.is/ https://safetravel.is/ |