I concur; I think the OP needs to have a rethink and be a bit more flexible about their travel style to get the best of the UK.
“exclusively car based”: - In many UK cities, especially ones interesting to tourists, a car is not necessary and is an inconvenience. You neither need nor want a car in places like Edinburgh, London, York, Bath etc. Also, trains can be an excellent way to travel in the UK. You have the high speed efficient train from London to Edinburgh taking under 4.5 hours for a journey that would take double that to drive. You also have the likes of the West Highland Line in Scotland, where the journey is part of the sightseeing trip rather than a means of getting from A to B.
“long distance driving”: - There are constant arguments on TripAdvisor about this. Roads in the UK can be a lot more challenging to drive on than the OP may be used to. Roads are narrow and twisty, driving is tiring and requires concentration. In the Scottish Highlands you need to allow much, much longer to travel relatively short distances.
“staying in Holiday Inns by the Interstate Exit”: - This kind of thing does exist in some parts of the country, but are a really dull alternative to staying in a B&B in the countryside, or a historic Inn in a village. Again, if you are considering Scotland as part of your itinerary, the motorway network doesn’t cover the Highlands, and chain hotels are a rarity.
“chain restaurants”: - Here are some which don’t exist in the UK: Olive Garden, Applebee’s, Red Lobster, Cracker Barrel, Arby’s, Chili’s, Cheesecake Factory, Ihop, Outback Steakhouse… just off the top of my head. For inexpensive, predictable food, the British head to the pub. This is where it gets confusing - some pubs are part of a chain, but each pub will have its own name. The biggest is the Wetherspoons chain, but the names usually reflect the building or heritage of the area. Wetherspoons in Edinburgh include “The Standing Order” (in an old bank) and “The Caley Picture House” (in an old cinema) and “The Alexander Graham Bell” (close to his birthplace. So even “chain restaurants” has a different meaning in the UK.
My husband and I did three years ago. It was absolutely fabulous! We did a 14-day tour–no glitches whatsoever. If you want to travel in the interior you need a car that can cross rivers without bridges. Otherwise, bear in mind that many roads aren’t paved and some are pretty rough so consider getting a car with 4-wheel drive. Consider farm stays.
Midcastle, you aren’t going to find anything like a Holiday Inn outside of Reykjavik. We found hotels to be perfectly adequate, but on the pricy side and the rooms were small. Chain restaurants aren’t really a thing either. But hotels serve wonderful, mammoth breakfasts.
I’m aware that you don’t want a car in dense major cities and have adapted to that; when we went to San Francisco we stayed at a Holiday Inn in Walnut Creek, then drove the car to a park and ride and took the train in. Boston we stayed at a hotel in North Attleboro and again drove to the park and ride and took the train in. London and Edinburgh least it does look like there are a lot of chain hotels on the outskirts of town near the highway.
The thought of an AirBNB never occurred to me, but it seems interesting since American chain hotels don’t exist in Iceland so I’d have to figure out something different anyway. I looked up a few places in the Reykjavik area and it looks like you can rent an apartment with a separate bedroom (that would be a huge plus for us) for $100 a night.
I’m a big fan of booking.com, we use it a lot and have never had any trouble.
This may be a personal choice but I find that apartments on the whole give you more room and better facilities, often for less than a hotel ever charges. Buying and cooking your own food saves a fortune as well which is useful when you are a skinflint like me. In Iceland we were able to prep sandwiches and other lunch items for our explorations which again, saved a fortune.
You’ll see in the apartment I linked to there were big picture windows, I have an abiding memory of sitting and having a leisurely breakfast with the family and watching the frozen landscape slowy turn orange as the sun rose in the east, eerie it was and rather beautiful. It is such a wierd and wonderful place. I can’t wait to go back.
I stayed at an AirBnB in Reykjavik 2 years ago with the spousal unit and kids. It’s much more economical than a hotel at saved a ton of money by having breakfast in. We were about 2 block off the main drag and parking on the street was reasonable (for Iceland).
Airbnb is my default accommodation choice and 3 days is about the max I’ll stay in a hotel. And if you find a place with in-unit laundry you can do all of your dirty laundry at once after a day out.
I’ve stayed at an AirBnB in Reykjavik and loved it. We stayed at a small hotel on the Sneffles peninsula which was just adequate. The AirBnBs and Inns in Iceland are the way to go for sure. The neighborhoods in Reykjavik all have their own public pool complexes. Seek them out for a uniquely Icelandic experiences, and a great soak.
Having a kitchen isn’t an advantage for us. Neither of us have any inclination to spend time grocery shopping and cooking when we could be out seeing the sights. I’m assuming that if we stay in an AirBNB there’s any number of restaurants around?
My thought would be to spend about 4 days in the country, goals would be to see Reykjavik, the blue lagoon, the northern lights, and take a drive through the countryside. Oh, and my sister wants to drop into a crossfit gym for some reason.
Depending on when you are going, the Northern Lights are not a given. It basically doesn’t even get dark in summer so good luck with that!
I know of a few people who went to Iceland and tried their hardest to see them, including special trips several nights running but no dice.
We saw them just as we stepped out of the Blue Lagoon on the evening of my Wife’s birthday…poof! there they were. dumb luck.
As for the kitchen and cooking, fair enough if that isn’t your thing but a fairly standard meal for 4 with drinks will run you near $200 each time. I was willing to spend a little time in the supermarket and kitchen to avoid that (plus, I admit, I quite enjoy foreign food shopping and cooking)
Sorry, I didn’t get back earlier, but yes, this absolutely. I admit I haven’t been everywhere in the U.K. but the 2019 American type road trip with exits off the freeway with 4-5 chain hotels, a few fast food places and a Chili’s and an Olive Garden don’t really exist anyplace I’ve been to in the U.K. The physical distance between places in the U.K. isn’t like that in the USA, there are very few empty motorways when you can just crank up the tunes and jam out without a care in the world.
In Reykjavik, yes. Everywhere else things are quite limited as there isn’t much population to support it. And we found it nearly impossible to find breakfast out anywhere besides the one hotel we stayed in. When we were in our AirBnB in Reykjavik we made our own simple breakfasts.
IMO, Reykjavik is more than a single day, but unless you plan on doing a huge amount of stuff 2 days is probably sufficient. Definitely visit the Penis Museum, if only for the gift shop.
For a drive through the countryside the standard is the Golden Circle loop, which is a busy but rewarding day. You’ll be with people the whole time, but that’s what it is. Alternatively you could drive the southern road to Vik, visiting waterfalls and the black sand beaches along the way. Not as many sights but still spectacular and fewer tourists.
The Blue Lagoon is a not really that interesting, IMO. It was built as a tourist attraction, sort of the Disneyworld of hot tubs. It’s expensive and fun, but going to natural hot springs is a more authentic and cultural experience.
Mrs G and I went a couple years ago for a week. We stayed at a shoebox-sized hotel down by the piers in Reykjavik, which was a short 15 minute walk to most everything else downtown. We spent the days driving and day-tripping so hotel amenities were mostly irrelevant since we ate out or packed picnic meals. Driving was easy, and a good way to miss the tour-bus traffic.
We did the Golden Circle, and most of the south shore. We skipped the blue lagoon because it seemed to touristy and artificial. I loved it and wouldn’t hesitate to go back again.