Iceland during inauguration week?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Horrible for the environment to fly that far for only 4-5 days.

Oh good lord, shut up. OP, definitely go! The plane is going with or without you, so please ignore this damn troll, and GO! You'll be lounging in the blue lagoon while the rest of us are crying our eyes out.

I'm not a troll. It's seriously bad for the environment.

Guess what? Whether or not OP is on that flight, it's going. There's nothing wrong with her taking advantage of a great deal to get out of town while the orange imbecile takes over. You're just being a hater for absolutely no useful reason.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Yeah, OP, swim to Iceland!

Only on DCUM will a bunch of washed up milk monitor types hijack a thread about lifes pleasures/travel advice and lecture others about not being PC enough.

Hall monitors, not milk monitors! And it was hijacking the thread to lecture the person about not being environmentally conscious enough!

kidding!

[Anonymous]

What's a good itinerary for 3 days in January? What's it like with so little daylight? Still fun?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's a good itinerary for 3 days in January? What's it like with so little daylight? Still fun?

One day for golden circle, one day to walk around Reykjavik, visit the Blue Lagoon (if you want to) on the way back to the airport (or from it).

[Anonymous]

I would be tempted too, OP. We have layovers there regularly, and every time I think about staying on...

[Anonymous]

It will be cold damp and dark, like temps near freezing all the time (ocean moderates the temps so it will not be frigid), but ocean also mean damp. And there will only be 5 hours of daylight per day. That will make it hard to see the scenery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never been but dying to go and deals as low as $270 on Wow seem so tempting to escape the madness in DC in late January. Tips on good activities for someone in their late 20s on a reasonable budget? 4-5 full days is the target. I know daylight is limited but seems like a great time to catch the Northern lights and maybe some hiking or cross country skiing without paying high season prices.

Flights are cheap, but everything else about Iceland is expensive. Check out Reykjavik Excursions. Purchase as much as you can in advance, especially the transport from the airport to your hotel. Certain of the excursions will be cancelled if the weather does not cooperate - the snowmobile ones and the cave hiking ones. Also, the Blue Lagoon fills up very quickly and it might be too late to get a reservation.

In order to save money, purchase any wine, beer or liquor and take it with you or buy it at the duty free shop in the Airport because it's really expensive when you buy it out. If you take excursions that go over the lunch hour, most stop at convenience stores where you can buy food for lunch. It's a great option - on one of our excursions, we paid over $26 for a small bowl of soup.

On your arrival day, you likely won't be able to get into your hotel room for many hours. One of the few things to do that you can guarantee to make even if your flight gets somewhat delayed is a Golden Circle tour. And, if the northern lights are important to you, try to see them every day because they can be hard to catch. Our best sighting was on a boat way out of Reykjavik, but it was totally freezing so dress warm.

It's a great place to visit and cheap to get there, but it is not an inexpensive trip under any circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never been but dying to go and deals as low as $270 on Wow seem so tempting to escape the madness in DC in late January. Tips on good activities for someone in their late 20s on a reasonable budget? 4-5 full days is the target. I know daylight is limited but seems like a great time to catch the Northern lights and maybe some hiking or cross country skiing without paying high season prices.

Flights are cheap, but everything else about Iceland is expensive. Check out Reykjavik Excursions. Purchase as much as you can in advance, especially the transport from the airport to your hotel. Certain of the excursions will be cancelled if the weather does not cooperate - the snowmobile ones and the cave hiking ones. Also, the Blue Lagoon fills up very quickly and it might be too late to get a reservation.

In order to save money, purchase any wine, beer or liquor and take it with you or buy it at the duty free shop in the Airport because it's really expensive when you buy it out. If you take excursions that go over the lunch hour, most stop at convenience stores where you can buy food for lunch. It's a great option - on one of our excursions, we paid over $26 for a small bowl of soup.

On your arrival day, you likely won't be able to get into your hotel room for many hours. One of the few things to do that you can guarantee to make even if your flight gets somewhat delayed is a Golden Circle tour. And, if the northern lights are important to you, try to see them every day because they can be hard to catch. Our best sighting was on a boat way out of Reykjavik, but it was totally freezing so dress warm.

It's a great place to visit and cheap to get there, but it is not an inexpensive trip under any circumstances.

All good advice. We just came back and as long as you are willing to accept LONG delays -WOW airlines is a flight where you get what you pay for. I would plan nothing that is time specific on day of arrival - so that could be a good day to explore Reykjavik on foot. Daylight was sunrise 11:35 am sunset 3:30 pm. Great for sleeping in. The tours we did we drove to the first location in the pitch dark with a pick up at 8:30-9:00 am and the sky was getting "brighter" at 10:40. By January the days will be longer than December. We loved the Golden circle tour - its a full day so do that at a time you have enough time. We brought some food with us and stayed in a place with a kitchenette so we could cooks simple but cheaper meals. It was an easy way to save money, we purchased the tours ahead of time and WOW airlines did offer some discounts on tours. It is not a cheap place - simple meal of fish and chips was $20- but if you plan accordingly you can make it work. We purchased sandwich materials and breakfast at the house, only ate out once for dinner and brought alcohol with us.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't go in Jan due to the short days and potential for miserable weather

[Anonymous]

Just returned. AMAZING. Even in late December.

Things to consider:

WOW airlines is a disaster. We had a 4 hour delay on the way out and several hours on return. Be sure to purchase your luggage tags BEFORE heading to the airport in Iceland. Lines are long and unorganized.

Yes, days are short but it's not as bad as I thought. Definitely do a Golden Circle Tour and Blue Lagoon. We did the 3 day tour through

goecco.com

but they also have a 2 day - highly recommend.

I also recommend WAKE UP REYKJAVIK food tour. It was one of the best and a great tour of the city. It's a beautiful city - I fell in love. However,
food is so expensive. Just be ready for that.

Have a great trip!

[Anonymous]

Weather will be atrocious.

[Anonymous]

I miss the mjolk. The spoon kind.