Anyone ever been to Iceland

Angels

Hey Guys,

We are thinking of going on hols in November this year to Iceland?? Would there season be over at that stage or is it a good month to go there??

Any advice or tips appreciated.

THanks:)

whiskeyman

Great place. How long are you staying?
November would actually be a peak time as it's one of the best times of the year to see the Northern Lights there.
You'll only get a few hours of daylight though.
How do you plan on going? Wallace Travel do package weekend deals for April, Oct and November.
Word of warning - it's very very expensive. A pint will set you back around €8.
The nightlife only kicks off around 12:30and many of the young ones have house parties before hitting the town.
The people are probably the friendliest I've ever met and the place is so clean.

Zebra3

Was there a couple of years ago midweek and it was dead. Thought the place was a dump as well. €8 a pint is sadly spot on.

daiixi

Important thing to remember: local brews are cheaper than imported ones.
We were there this weekend a year ago and had a brilliant time. We could have spent way more than three days there.
We did a glacier tour with a company called Mountain Taxi which I definitely recommend.

the corpo

Iceland is a phenomenal place, though you need to be prepared for it.
It is very quiet at night, until Friday and Saturday when it goes insane. Even then it's quiet until almost midnight. The locals prefer to drink at home or over dinner before hitting the bars, but when they come out they do so in force and its amazing fun. So you might get an impression of it being dead if you've gone to bed before everyone has come out!

Very bizarre sitting in a bar at 2am in the morning and no lights are turned on, cos it's naturally lit.

Ryanair are going to start flying to Iceland from next march (not announced over here yet, but it's been in the Icelandic press this week), so it might be worth waiting a few months. Bear in mind it's currently very expensive and awkward to get there.
Accomodation is also terribly expensive.

Excursions like the Blue Lagoon are incredible though, and worth every penny, you'll not forget it in a hurry.

And despite it being expensive, Dublin has certainly caught up price wise, so it's not as painful feeling as it used to be. First time I was there pints were the equivalent of £10!!
Was over in June and they were about 7 euro, only 2 euro more than you pay in a lot of crappy Irish bars. Plus the bars stay open til 5 or 6.

Angels

Thanks guys & gals for all the info & tips. Definitely hoping to go for 1 week mid november. We've always wanted to go there, we love all that sight-seeing aswell. So those trips look promising.

Thanks again

jdivision

Angels wrote:

Thanks guys & gals for all the info & tips. Definitely hoping to go for 1 week mid november. We've always wanted to go there, we love all that sight-seeing aswell. So those trips look promising.

Thanks again

It's going to be really dark in November - won't be much to see as a result. I've been a few times - if you want recommendations on bars places to eat etc let me know. Don't worry about the e8 a pint thing, nearly everywhere I went the times I've been there is e5.50.

scoot on

Hiya, i'm thinking about bringing my boyfriend to Iceland as his christmas present. We'd probably head over for a few days between Christmas and new years. Can anyone tell me if it'd be too dark then? I know it's an expensive place to get to and also when you're over there so i'd like to make the most of it if we go. If it was too dark to see things I don't think i'd bother going.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

beezkneez

definitly recommend going to iceland - not as expensive as you'd imagine. pints wise it is but get some duty free and drink in the hotel room before you head out - then out for a few scoops and chat to the locals - very friendly indeed. its an incredible place and there is lots to see. there are many tours that you can do but we found the cheapest option was to rent a jeep and spend a day seeing all the sights. roads are very easy to navigate and there are good maps and signposts - well worth it. make sure to see the mad waterfalls and geezers and all that.
id love to go back and defo will some day - lovely lovely place. we went around halloween and it was cold and abit snowy so the place looked well cool so november is grand. wallace travel is your only man for package trips there.

jdivision

scoot on wrote:

Hiya, i'm thinking about bringing my boyfriend to Iceland as his christmas present. We'd probably head over for a few days between Christmas and new years. Can anyone tell me if it'd be too dark then? I know it's an expensive place to get to and also when you're over there so i'd like to make the most of it if we go. If it was too dark to see things I don't think i'd bother going.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

There'd be maybe two or three hours of light. Go in June or July 24 hour sunshine or as near as

jdivision

scoot on wrote:

Hiya, i'm thinking about bringing my boyfriend to Iceland as his christmas present. We'd probably head over for a few days between Christmas and new years. Can anyone tell me if it'd be too dark then? I know it's an expensive place to get to and also when you're over there so i'd like to make the most of it if we go. If it was too dark to see things I don't think i'd bother going.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

There'd be maybe two or three hours of light. Go in June or July 24 hour sunshine or as near as.

scoot on

jdivision wrote:

There'd be maybe two or three hours of light. Go in June or July 24 hour sunshine or as near as

The 24 hours sunshine doesn't really appeal, it must be a nightmare trying to sleep!
Also, we've a different trip booked for July of next year so can't head away in June.
Has anyone been to Iceland over christmas who could tell me whether it's worth going or not?
I've had a look at the tours and the ones we want to go on still run at that time of year. I presume they wouldn't have them on if you weren't going to see anything?

Appolonia

Hi Angels,

yes, I went to Reijkavich in November a couple of years ago, and had a great time!
I didnt notice that it was dark during the day - it felt the same as a winter day at home - bright at 9am until about 5pm.
It was sooooooooooooo cold though. Absolutely freezing - bring good fleeces and hat/scarf/gloves etc.

The scenery is amazing, and there is so much to see - in one day we saw geysers, a frozen waterfall, a volcano, the aurora borealis (northern lights).
The people are very nice and friendly too, and very trusting (outside every restaurant were lots of baby buggies with the babies alseep in the freezing cold!).
Reijkavich itself is small and you can walk around it in a few hours.
It is quite expensive, but if you are only there for a weekend, it's not so bad.

When we went to the northern lights, three couples got engaged while looking at them!

Enjoy the trip!