Iceland-is it any good for a short trip?

hug0

Hello,

Just trying to plan a short trip at midterm around the 13th Feb to either Iceland or skiing in Austria.

Can anyone give us advice, its just myself and my partner going so we are looking for somewhere kinda lively.

Im thinking Iceland now as skiing will probably be too expensive.

Who flies to Iceland as Ryanair and Aerlingus dont seem to, also is the blue lagoon hotel a good place to stay for whole trip?

penexpers

For flights http://www.icelandexpress.com/

Not sure if there are any direct flights from Ireland.

irish_goat

http://www.icelandair.com/

Are the other company that fly there from the UK. Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Manchester are the options. No flights from Ireland as of yet. You could probably pick up a cheap flight to Europe with Ryanair and fly from there too.

I know you can also get a ferry from Scotland via the Faroe Islands as well.

Base

You'll have to fly via the UK (or elsewhere in Europe if you prefer). If you're going in February your UK options are from Gatwick or Stansted with Iceland Express or Heathrow, Manchester, or Glasgow with Icelandair.

Even though Iceland Express market themselves as a low cost airline, Icelandair are sometimes cheaper depending on the dates.

H2G2

I am a huge Iceland fan. Lived there for 9 months and visit regularly. Its cheaper now than ever before due to currency problems.

From Dublin, the easiest route is via UK. There are 2 choices of airlines "Iceland Air" and "Iceland Express". Express is a Ryanair type no frills and Iceland Air is the national flag carrier. http://icelandair.co.uk and http://icelandexpress.co.uk/.
To fly to Iceland, you travel to Keflavik Airport, 40 km outside Reykjavik and not to "Reykjavik Airport" which is a small domestic airport.
The possible routes are:
-Dublin - Heathrow- Keflavik
-Dublin - Stansted - Keflavik (Ice Express only)
-Dublin - Manchester - Keflavik
-Dublin - Glasgow – Keflavik

From the UK http://www.icelandair.co.uk/ do package deals, but IMHO you are better off organising it all yourself. Also you could try Wallace Travel Group, Finglas, who do packages. The only advantage of a package is they organise flight and hotel. A bit on google’ing and you can do that yourself and probably cheaper. There is lots of local tour companies if you want guided tours, but for a family it will be substantially cheaper to rent a car and tour yourself.

hug0

Thank you everybody. H2G2 Would you recomment the blue lagoon hotel or would it get a little boring being there for the whole trip? Would I be better staying in reykjavik?

The flights might end up pricey so, this started as cheapy holiday!

H2G2

hug0 wrote: »

H2G2 Would you recomment the blue lagoon hotel or would it get a little boring being there for the whole trip?

No. Would only recommend for 1 night, as its in the middle of nowhere... literally! Grindavík is the nearest town and its a rather grim fishing town, with no nightlife at all! But the Reykjanes peninsula (that general area) is wonderful. However, if you are talking mid-Feb then serious snow on roads and restricted daylight, so stay in Reykjavík. Its a much better base, plus the nighlife in Reykjavík is totally mad... you would have much more fun.
The Blue Lagoon is well worth a vist, just do it on the way to or from airport... its on the way.

Hearvee

Went to Iceland a couple of years ago at Easter, for 3 nights, and can highly recommend it!

We got a package for direct flights/hotel with Wallace (as H2G2 mentions above). As we only had a few days off we didn't want to waste a day getting there via London, and another day coming back.

I'd definitely suggest staying in Reykjavik, and just do the Blue Lagoon as a trip on your way back to the airport. There really didn't seem to be anything else around there (but the BL itself is unmissable).

Even though we went over as part of a package, we gave their organised tours a miss and booked our own over the web or via local agents. This meant we weren't stuck on huge 60-seater coaches going from point to point. We had mini-busses with 10 people on it so the drivers were able to change the tours depending on what people wanted to do.

Will definitely go back, for a longer stay, and hire a car to do what we want. But can definitely recommend a 3 or 4 night stay.

Slice

Isn't Iceland dark 24-hours a day at this time of year??

H2G2

Slice wrote: »

Isn't Iceland dark 24-hours a day at this time of year??

Ah no. It never gets to 24 hours.
Today there is 5.45 hours daylight and they are gaining daylight at rate of extra 6 minutes per day. The stretch from one day to the next is very noticeable when you are there.
Don't have any daylight worries when visiting at any time. My only issue was sleeping in summer with 24hrs daylight... you need good curtains!

Hearvee

Slice wrote: »

Isn't Iceland dark 24-hours a day at this time of year??

All the better for seeing the Northern Lights though Probably the reason most people would go at this time of year.

Anyhow, as H2G2 says above, it's not 24-hour darkness, just very short days at the moment.

Harpic

Loved Iceland--been there twice--on second time went with Wallace travel..stayed in Loftleider hotel whcih was grand but a bit out of the town..
Dont do the organised trips--we hired a car and saw a lot more this way.Went to Blue Lagoon on our own and stayed for as long as we wanted..great place..if you do the trip with Wallace Travel,you dont spend too much time at the Lagoon.

Would love to go back but maybe do a diy with flights and hotels.

Enjoy

hug0

Thanks everyone for great advice! Will look into booking it but might wait until April to go.