Advice - trip to Iceland

The GF and I are planning to go to Iceland next February for four or five days (leaving from London). It has to be February because it’s half-term, but we have a little flexibility because we can go for any five days within the ten days of half term.

Does anyone have any advice about where to go, what not to miss, where to stay, eat, etc?

How mobility-accessible is Iceland? The Northern Lights tours and the geysers look fairly accessible, but certain other places not so much.

We’ll probably go by plane; I would consider a cruise, but my last exerience of a cruise (in the Baltic) was pretty horrible, so I’m wary.

I recommend:

  1. A Golden Circle tour. This can be guided or done on your own with a rental car. I’m not sure about the accessibility of the various sites off-hand - I know Gulfoss has a lot of uneven ground if you want to get anywhere near it. Þingvellir is pretty amazing, but it’s also not all that accessible if you want to get into down into it.

  2. The Blue Lagoon spa near the airport. It’s the #1 tourist attraction in Iceland, but that only equals 365K visitors a year. Very accessible.

  3. Reykjavik has some nice restaurants and sites. I liked: the view from the top of Hallgrímskirkja, a quick self-tour of Harpa Concert Hall, a walk through the National Museum of Iceland (historical museum), and just wandering around the downtown area. I’m not a huge food guy, but I did enjoy Icelandic Fish & Chips down near the water. Central Reykjavik is a great place to just wander and enjoy (depending on the weather!).

  4. For a far out journey, a drive down the southern coast on the Ring Road will take you to Skógafoss, Seljalandsfoss, Skaftafell National Park (where you can see some sites from Game of Thrones), Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, and any number of other amazing sites. I did all of the above, plus more, in a single day, though that day was about 20 hours long.

There’s tons more to see, this is just a list of the things I enjoyed.

Bookmarking this because I’ve just decided that Iceland is on my bucket list. :slight_smile:

We spent 11 days there this summer so have some recent experience. Keep in mind that in Feb there’s only going to be about 8 hours of daylight, and some of that will be pretty dim so plan your days accordingly. It will also be pretty cold so dress warm and bring good footwear.

Reykyavik is a nice town, not huge but it has some nice restaurants. There are a few good museums (including the Penis Museum, a must-see) and the main church. HARPA is great for a show while you’re in town if you are interested. We visited the local neighborhood thermal pools and really enjoyed the experience. Not sure what it will be like in winter but we felt it was a great experience. We visited the municipal pools in several towns.

The Golden Circle is a good day trip, but I found it somewhat underwhelming. Gulfoss is well worth it, but I found Þingvellir somewhat underwhelming. Geyser is nice but having been to Yellowstone I wasn’t really overwhelmed. We drove ourselves and made a few stops along the way and set our own pace. Not sure if that’s an option for you.

Blue Lagoon is kind of like a Disney experience - very touristy and a bit over the top but still worth the trip. You’ll be there with all tourists but so what. It’s not cheep but not too bad.

Reykjavik is expensive - food especially. We rented an apartment right by the center of town and had our own breakfasts in room - much less expensive. Are you renting a car? A drive along the south coast to Selfoss and Skogafoss is worth it but neither are especially accessible. You can get close but not up to either. The Black Beaches along the south coast are amazing and with a car you should be able to drive right on them.

Plan your daylight carefully, and keep an eye on the weather for your travel days.

Thanks for the info so far - am passing it on to my GF too. These threads ae always very handy when you actually get to a place too, for things like the fish and chip place.

Thought I’d better add that we definitely won’t be driving.

We were in Iceland this September - supposed to have 3 stops on our cruise, but one had to be canceled because of weather. However, I loved the Akureyriarea. We had some rugged walks, so it might not be a good choice for mobility issues.

I also enjoyed the tours we took from Reykjavik. Heck, I just loved Iceland. My husband and I are hoping to go for a couple of weeks in 2016.