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Belfast to Iceland from £31 one way
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I'd say the hot springs will be full of pasty feckers next year!
The Icelanders are part Gaelic, part Nordic and are generally pasty themselves and there are loads of gingers who need factor 70 in the winter too so you'll be grand
Weather's very similar to Ireland in summer on the coastal areas anyway (very rainy!)
It's absolutely bucketing down here at the moment with nice horizontal windy-rain at 8ºC
So, basically pack for an Irish autumn if you're coming - lots of layers. If you're going to colder places, or arriving in winter you'd want to be prepared for cold weather though.
http://en.vedur.is
Rain gear is 100% essential. Do not even consider coming to Iceland unless you've packed a decent raincoat at the very least. Think arran islands on a wet day!
It can be stunningly nice when the weather's nice but it can just turn sunny to wet in minutes much like Ireland.
Also, you ABSOLUTELY need a car. There's limited public transport around Reykjavik which is like a small town with a sprawl of suburbs. It has good busses and that's it. It's quite a nice spot with really amazing nightlife and it's super-friendly but just beware that you can't really get anywhere without driving and its city centre is really only the size of Galway, even if the suburbs are a bit more developed.
Outside of Reykjavik there's only really very small towns and they're very far apart. So, driving is pretty essential.
When I say *small* I really mean it though. You're often talking about 1 very quirky café and a church and that's literally it. There's always a local hot tub though so that's kinda where they all hang out on a cool day.
Other tip: They don't have very many ATMs but cards are literally accepted everywhere.
So, do not arrive thinking you can use cash.
Also be VERY aware that Irish banks are a bit ridiculous and AIB for example will stop your card after 10 debit transactions! So, make sure you've a credit card handy (you'll need it for hiring a car anyway).
They have a good sense of humour and they don't take themselves too seriously (unlike some parts of the Nordic region in my experience). In general they're EXTREMELY friendly, chatty and very good craic.
While you can camp, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're very hardy. It's like Donegal on a wet day quite a lot of the time. So, bear that in mind!
Also, one word of warning : they get natural hot water and heat their homes directly from the hot springs. Unfortunately, in some areas this can mean that is smells a little whiffy. So, emm... be prepared for a shower that may smell a little like boiled eggs. It's no big deal, but some people are a bit weirded out by it at first. It's not unhealthy and the smell doesn't stay on your skin.
I'd highly recommend a trip though. It's like the West of Ireland or Scotland's scenery on steroids with volcanoes. Absolutely mind-blowingly spectacular most of the time!
The people are also just so friendly that it makes all the difference too. I didn't meet a single person anywhere who wasn't prepared to chat and tell you all about where to go and what to check out and just generally be really welcoming.
The driving's fine too, it's similar to the West of Ireland - A few dual carriageways around Reykjavik including one to Keflavik (the international airport) but other than that it's basically the same as the N17 on the main roads and some of the smaller ones are unpaved. If you want to get deep into the landscape you do need a 4x4 but for most of the tourist routes it's no more difficult than the Ring of Kerry and you'd be fine in a normal car.
Absolutely definitely take out the gravel / windshield insurance though as the surfaces are quite poor in spots and loose chippings are very normal. So, you can quite easily get damage to the windscreen.
If you're planning to head to South Iceland you need to ensure you've volcanic ash / sand insurance too. You also need to carefully check the forecasts on http://en.vedur.is as you can get periods of sand and ash storms that will literally remove the paint from the car and scour the windows!
For the most part though, it's not that extreme at all and a really pleasant place to drive around.0 -
And I bet there'll be some 6 foot 6 Icelandic Vikings walking the streets of Belfast and Dublin too, they'll stick a mile out !
Hate to disappoint but they're our long-lost North-western cousins with a bit of a Nordic influence! They'd blend in perfectly in Ireland and probably need the Factor 50+ on a sunny day too and have loads of people with ginger hair! Mostly not that tall either. It's not like Sweden/Norway etc.
Although, I'm a 6'4" pasty Irish fecker and I'm blending in well. People walking up and speaking Icelandic to me and stuff lol
I think this IcelandicAir promo is a very good overview of Iceland - quite realistic impression of what to expect:
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A few final tips:
1) GPS and mobiles:
Tomtom does not work in Iceland at all. Either use a Garmin or Google maps. If you get a local Icelandic SIM and have an unlocked smartphone this can workout best. Just bring the window mount for your phone. I paid about €15 for 5GB of data on Síminn which is the main Icelandic network and it had pretty decent 3G coverage in most areas and 4G in towns although it did drop to 2G in a few spots.
2) Roads - They're OK, but they're not wonderful.
Iceland's very sparsely populated and the roads are quite small once you get outside Reykjavik. They'd be very like Irish secondary roads in terms of width but the surfaces are more gravelly than Irish roads but they're generally fairly free of potholes (there is the odd big one though so don't go too mad driving fast).
The main problem is that because the surfaces are quite gravelly you can get loose chipings being flung up. So, don't drive close to cars and also take out the windscreen and underbody insurance. It's not that much more expensive.
3) Weather - it varies BIG time from coastal to central locations. The coastal weather in summer is like an Irish autumn. However, if you go inland or up mountains it can really get quite chilly very quickly. So, bring lots of layers of clothes.
4) Camping - I really wouldn't advise it. It's too wet/cold a lot of the time. If you're going to do that, use a camper van. The camping facilities are top notch though in most locations and often have hot tubs and everything.
5) Road signage - honestly, it's not great. The signs for major destinations are fine, but they're often quite small. The signs for minor towns and tourist sites are often way way too small and only on the junction. So, you can sometimes miss a sign driving along at 70-90 km/h.
6) Turning around - not easy! The roads are like the roads through the Burren in Ireland or though bog lands. They're narrow and raised above the rock or peat surfaces. So, they've quite steep fall offs to either side and often no hard shoulders, or very narrow ones.
The distances between towns is also vast, so sometimes if you miss a turn you could be driving quite a long while before you can turn back. That's why I think bringing a good GPS is really, really important.
You'd have a hard job actually getting lost in Iceland though as it doesn't have all that many roads. It's more just finding things along those roads that's an issue.
Other things:
Most major natural tourist destinations are free to visit. They usually have an interpretative centre type setup much like in Ireland. There's usually a decent cafe, toilets, gift shop etc. All very pleasant and relaxing.
Basically, if you're visiting Iceland think of it much like the way you'd drive around Ireland. You kind of tend to drive along, wander into some little village or find some amazing scenic location and just check it out for a while and then continue on driving to your next destination.
The towns are absolutely tiny though in a lot of cases.
The other thing to be aware of is that sometimes the exterior of buildings doesn't reveal what's inside. You'll often find really amazing coffee shops that look like houses. Just do a lot of Googling and a lot of asking people questions. They're incredibly friendly and most people will speak reasonable English or attempt to! Just learn a few phrases in Icelandic for the sake of politeness.
They're so friendly that we even had the car hire company giving us free Ice cream and driving us to our hotel and making sure that we were all tucked up safely with maps and great advice on where to go.
Overall, I'm extremely impressed with the place and would probably do a second (longer) trip sometime in the future. It's just like driving through Lord of the Rings. It's just like you're standing there feeling the power of raw nature! Never been anywhere quite like it and it's completely different from visiting natural scenes in the US where everything's all roped off and guided-tour. In Iceland you can be quite literally standing next to a huge geyser.
Basically, throw a bit of Bjork and Sigur Ros on in the car... and off you go!
(I know I sound like I'm working for the Icelandic tourist board, but honestly I am just extremely impressed and inspired by the place and I think that it deserves a glowing review).
It's definitely not the kind of place you'd go for a sun holiday though
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Maybe not a bargain but just wow air just announced an all year round, direct dublin - iceland service from next year!
http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/1001/649173-wow-air/
Iceland has never been so accessible 0 -
JustAddWater wrote: »Maybe not a bargain but just wow air just announced an all year round, direct dublin - iceland service from next year!
http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/1001/649173-wow-air/
Iceland has never been so accessible
sweet!0 -
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JustAddWater wrote: »Maybe not a bargain but just wow air just announced an all year round, direct dublin - iceland service from next year!
http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/1001/649173-wow-air/
Iceland has never been so accessible
Excellent!0 -
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Hey, don't be ashamed of that! Embrace it; see all the positives. :pac:Being from a slightly secular or limited gene pool...
I haven't been there, but I have met a good few people from there. I was surprised that they looked very like us. We were probably distant cousins either way - a bit like here. :eek:
One should only prorogue when asked beforehand - unless one is not a gentleman. :P... so I can assess suitability for prorogation..
If on a tight budget, go in summer and camp close to town/village etc. (Thermorest and a 3-season sleeping bag, in case you actually have to sleep in the tent). Rent a moped rather than a car. Do not go alone onto any glacier. Bring all relevant meds, and a good insect repellent.
Might see you there yet! Not your ornery onager
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On a Subaru Forester (2.0, 4WD, auto) from geysir.isThanks for the pics Greg81, some superb shots there. Just wondering how you would rank those roads if you rented a car rather than 4wd? Do-able but uncomfortable or completely out of the question? The other worry I suppose is chippings from the gravel scratching the paint work, any ideas is this par for the course in Iceland given the roads or do rental companies go charging when the inevitable happens ?
Super CDW (€ 15/day)
Sand and ash protection (€ 10/day)
Gravel Protection (€ 10/day)
Two people could sleep comfortably in the back.... Not your ornery onager
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vylAqx4Qjk
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