My first visit to Iceland and my first time abroad in nearly 3 years. Hoping to go to Iceland for a trek in August, I thought it would beneficial to go out and recce the essentials and it would make a great post-covid break with my husband James. We had a great time - somewhere completely different and yet relatively close. I have written quite honestly about our trip so, if you are planning a trip you can learn from what we could have done better. Getting out there - Flight BA 0815 LHR. We booked the Thistle Hotel for the night before the flight at T5 and arranged the 'Meet and Greet' parking services with Heathrow. After a frustrating start – the M54 completely shut and a huge diversion, we still arrived at my sister’s house, 30 mins away from LHR, in good time for dinner before the last bit of the journey. While we were there we had a notification from BA that our flight was delayed until 1400 (6hrs later) because of very bad weather - no one can do anything about the weather. To cut a very long story short - after frustrations with buses, mono rails not working, Hotel Hoppa apps not meaning anything, paying for bus tickets we didn’t need, hotel staff not being helpful, buses being full, coffee machines not working, under cooked eggs, a grotty hotel room….. some good news - we were allowed into the BA lounge because our flight was delayed. Free champagne for the next few hours and a good range of snacks/light meals. It was absolutely pouring down on arrival at Reykjavik but I was extremely glad to get both feet on the ground after the most scary flight I’ve ever been on. The turbulence was so bad all I could do was pray and think of my children – really bad. A nice clean, small airport and helpful staff. On picking up the hire car I asked for an upgrade to a 4x4 but they’d run out – bad weather forecast all week. Finding the cabin, which was south of Reykjavik, was very straight forward using Apple maps, that was after we drove round looking for a supermarket... It was dark and we ended up driving right into the city looking for provisions. In Iceland I think they have a rule about not advertising food so quite it's tricky to find. After being there a few days we realised that there was a couple of supermarkets on the outskirts. The best day, weather wise was Tuesday so we planned to drive the Golden Circle and tick a few of the sights off.
Taking Route 1 north out of Reykjavik and then Route 36 to Pingvellir. The weather deteriorated at this point, we couldn’t actually see the road yet several ‘Happy Days Tours’ minibuses confidently overtook us. There wasn’t a chance of turning round, far too dangerous so we just had to carry on. As we approached Pingvellir the weather improved and on arrival there was some blue sky. Taking the right turn just before the Café (info centre) with the flag flying, takes you to the parking for the walks. Then on to Geyser – minibuses on mass it seemed. The hot springs are amazingly accessible, just a short track from the parking area. There is a huge shop and busy café. It wasn’t too crowded but we did get there quite early. Next stop Gullfoss. Great to come here when everything is snow covered but I’d like to see it looking colourful too. The nearest viewing point was closed off and the paths down to the viewing areas were extremely slippery after many feet on compacted snow. It’s huge and amazing, like nothing I’d seen before. Food planned next. We found a nice restaurant, quiet and not touristy. They had a strange USP of serving chocolate mixed with langoustines. Friendly service and delicious food.
Everything costs a bit more than in the UK. Here are some examples: Coffee eg Cappuccino ISK 650 £3.87 Toasted sandwich ISK 1390 £8.29 Pizza 10" ISK 2.590 £15.46 Burger and fries ISK 2890 £17.25 Fish of the day ISK 2095 £12.50 Lamb steak sandwich and fries ISK 2500 £14.92 Main Icelandic dishes are lamb and fish. If you are looking for something familiar, they seem to like Subway, Dominos and burger joints but not McDonald’s. Supermarkets take the form of modern industrial looking places on the outskirts of town. Supermarkets don’t sell alcohol but Vinbudin (government run) is a shop that does and is usually next to or near the other supermarkets. Wine box ISK 3798 £22.67. Apart from Reykjavik there isn’t much else at other towns in southwest Iceland, there might be a diner/grill by a fuel station and some tourist information boards but don’t expect a wealth of little independent shops – there aren’t any. You have to have the confidence to go in and find out what's the other side of the door because of the lack of advertising. It makes you realise how much food is promoted in the UK.... quite refreshing.
A live volcano Rarely has an eruption been as accessible in Iceland as this ongoing eruption in Fagradalsfjall active volcano. Route 43 to Grindavik then east on Route 427. This was great, one of the best activities we did. I would advise only to do it when it’s good weather even though you are only going up to about 280m but it all looks volcanic and all looks the same when you’re up there. There is a parking area on the side of the road Route 427 and online parking payment. The route up to the viewing area was about 4km and an obvious vehicle width track for most of the way but then it stops, as does the signage - we followed footsteps in the snow up to the viewing point - we had good weather. There were very few people about. The steaming/smoking lava fields were absolutely amazing. LINK Coordinates for parking 63.85478, -22.30918 Hot springs Selton, Krysuvik. Geothermal energy in Krysuvik is primarily spread over an oblong area around 1.5km long and 500m wide. Steam dominates the area and warms up the surface water. Steam vents, sulphur mounds and boiling hot springs can be found. Coordinates 63.88700, -22.05789 Lake Kleifaratn Completely frozen over when we were there but fantastic scenery. The road was marked as unpaved on the map but was in fact tarmacked. We encountered a snow plough with a friendly operator who advised us to ‘get up some speed’ to pass the bad bit just beyond his massive machine (see photo further on). Coordinates 63.92917, -21.97201
Car hire from Avis at the airport – very helpful and simple. Booked through BA holidays when booking flight. The car was a smart 2 wheel drive Hyundai but I would have felt much safer in a bigger car ie a 4x4. We had winter studded tyres so we could get about but I'm sure on the absolute limit on some of the roads. The weather changes extremely quickly and a clear road can very soon become white over. We saw a number of vehicles abandoned after having left the roads. Roads that are impassable generally have a barrier across but checking in advance using this app was excellent, it seems to be ‘real time’ – very useful and accurate, updated constantly. Road.is App Fuel price - ISK 281.8/ltr. £1.67/ltr Petrol
Reykjavik is a very smart, modern, colourful and clean city. There are a few cafes but there isn’t really a ‘café and cake’ culture, there are a few pubs but not little licensed cafe bars like on the continent. The church tower, Hallgrimskirkja, gives a fantastic view of the town and on a clear day, of the mountains I don’t doubt. To go up the tower - ISK 1200 £7.14 per person. In the Old Harbour there is a really nice food hall with a choice of food providers with a shared eating area, very relaxed and a nice atmosphere. We chose Icelandic lamb. There is also the Maritime museum and plenty of tours available to see puffins and whales. There are lots of museums and galleries but if that’s not your thing then there is plenty of art to see around the streets. Nearly every shop has a resident cat which is great but I’m not sure a café in the UK with 2 cats roaming about would get its hygiene rating. It’s getting to be an unusual tourist trademark in the city.
THE END
3 Comments
James
31/3/2022 19:06:05
Great blog Hel, looking forward to the next trip!
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Thanks Helen, for sharing your Icelandic travel experiences with us. You certainly had a wintery experience, as I did there in February with Yolande.
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