I have the opportunity to stop over in Iceland for 1 day or 2 days. Is it worth it?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I wouldn’t stay near the airport. It’s pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, about a half hour or more from Reykjavik itself. Staying out there is pretty much only good if you want to hang out at the Blue Lagoon. We took the shuttle to and from the airport and it was just fine. They take you to the main bus depot and then transfer you to where you need to go from there.

Yeah, no way can you get to the glacial lagoon for a two day trip, though. It’s about an 6-7 hour drive just to get there. Even Snaefellsnes is pretty far for a trip that short, particularly if you don’t really know where you’re going.

And yeah, there are definitely parts of Iceland that do smell a bit of sulphur. But they’re more like tiny little pockets depending where you are - you’ll notice it when you’re doing your Golden Circle tour in Geysir. Just look for the tourists walking around that suddenly make a “Ewwww!” face. :slight_smile: But walking around cities or the wilderness? Nah, it’s like any other place. You’ll smell it more in the shower (which, admittedly, took a day or two to get used to for me).

22

And a better chance to see the Aurora Borealis. (on my bucket list)

23

Way cool!
I think you will have a great time and, as others have mentioned, why not stop somewhere new and different and just explore?!

When I went there, it was spur of the moment…agreed to the stop over one day before flight left. Had no idea what to expect and that made the trip even more fun. I forgot to mention they do have the world-famous Icelandic sweaters - never go out of style and are made of quality, natural materials and really, really keep you warm! You might want to pick up one or two while you are there!

In any case, please do come back to this thread after your trip and give us an update on how this adventure pans out!

24

I will try to remember to do that. We’ll be there in late September, returning home mid October.

25

Apologies for the bump. We leave a week from tomorrow, and will be in Reykjavik all of Saturday and half of Sunday.

We’ve booked a Golden Circle half-day tour, because we really couldn’t go to Iceland and not see some of the geographic/geologic features that make it awesome.

The rest of the time we’ll be wandering around Reykjavik. I have a list of museums and things to stop into if we come across them. The main place we will absolutely not miss is Baejarins Beztu Pylsur for a hot dog with everything. Other than that we’ll eat anything that looks good wherever we see it.

I hope to stop in at Kirsuberjatréð and look at crafts, and we’ll try to bring back some Brennevin.

We’ll be back home in October, and I will update everyone then.

26

I just spent 2 weeks backpacking/camping/hosteling/hitchhiking around Iceland and it was the best trip I’ve ever been on. I don’t know your age or interests, but if you’re the type to stay up late partying, the party scene in Reykjavik on Saturday nights is wild.

27

I gathered that from some of the guidebooks and forums I consulted. Sounds like they know how to have a raucous good time. We’ll be in bed by 10 tho with earplugs in if necessary. Just don’t have the energy for that anymore. :smiley:

28

We’re headed to Iceland next summer for 10 days, with a similar backpacking/camping vacation in mind. We had thoughts of heading there between Christmas and New Years but the 4 hours of daylight pretty much put that discussion to an end. Flights from Boston are non-stop and fairly inexpensive, so it is an appealing getaway.

29

I must have found this thread awfully convincing back in May, because I’m pretty sure my brother and I are booked on the exact same damn flight to Iceland as the OP. Small world.

30

Glad you’ve booked now, but just wanted to comment on the daylight thing. We went to Iceland in January 2004 for our honeymoon. Obviously minimum daylight at that time of year. However, it wasn’t dark most of the time like I’d expected - more like perpetual dusk. It was actually quite lovely and surprisingly easy to get used to.

31

Interesting, it would have been our honeymoon as well, but we wanted to go to Iceland when we could do that hiking trip so we decided to postpone it. Friends went at Thanksgiving and enjoyed it, but also said the lack of daylight was limiting.

32

Yes, Reykjavik can fill a day plenty. Go to museums, go for a swim in the sulphur-pool, eat some fish, shop, and if you get bored, they do “bite-size iceland” one-day buss tours (you know, see some water shoot straight up, see a viking excavation, pet some horses, than home for supper).

It’s soo worth it.

33

This is when I wish the SDMB had a secret handshake or some kind of unmistakable tell so we could silently identify each other in a crowd.

34

“Are you by any chance a friend of Cecil?”.

35

Oh, and they’re not kidding about the sausages. Bure bliss in a bun. Although the line can be long, but don’t give up.

(and I feel silly for not noting the time of OP. Oh well.)

If you’re still taking suggestions, this place blew my mind (although I am a history-geek and museum-fiend). And the gift-shop is all sorts of awesome.

36

I have that in my list of possibilities. I’ll give it a bit more weight when we’re deciding, thanks!

37

I’ll be in Reykjavik from October 10-16. Dopefest at Micro Bar, anyone?

38

I hope this thread isn’t old enough for my bump to qualify as zombifying. But I am willing to risk it because I have been totally remiss in checking back in to let people know how their recommendations went. Which is typical of me Follow through is not my strong suit. :frowning:
We arrived at 6:30am on Saturday Sept 21 and took the shuttle into the city.
When we arrived at Hotel Fron around 8ish we expected to just drop our luggage and go but they had a room available for us so we checked in, had a quick shower to wake up and went down for the free breakfast. We just had a small snack and some coffee, because we wanted to stay alert.

Then we wandered around downtown. Funny thing about Reykjavik - very little opens on Saturday and Sunday before 11am. We had a Golden Circle half day tour booked which departed at 12, so all we could really do the first morning was walk around and absorb the ambience. Took some great photos and just enjoyed the day. We looked for but didn’t find Baejarins Beztu Pylsur but we did find a cute café that served us terrific lattes and sold us a Snudur for later. We hadn’t had a snudur in more than 10 years, since Carberry’s closed. The Settlement Exhibit opened at 10:30 so we were able to spend about an hour there. It was fascinating, glad Septima pointed it out to us!

We spent a little time browsing in a small grocery and picked up funky candy for the people back home, then hit the Golden Circle tour. Since it was half day they took us to Gullfoss, Pingvellir and Geysir but we didn’t get to Blue Lagoon. Well worth setting aside the majority of our time in Iceland. Gullfoss is breathtaking and a bit mind boggling. One of the best parts of the bus tour was just watching the countryside go by. Our tour guide was funny and informative. Did you know there is one horse for every four people in Iceland? She also regaled us with tales of elves and highway projects.

We arrived back in Reykjavik around 7pm. We had originally intended to get a nice dinner of local foods, but we were fading FAST after being awake for a couple of days, so we hit the casual Café Loki and had a repast of many bits of Icelandic foods. Loved plokkfiskur, whatever they called their rutabaga mash, sheeps head jelly. Hakarl was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be, but the Brennevin chaser probably helped in that regard. I was really looking forward to hardfiskur but found it kind of bland. Loved loved loved the butter they put on everything and of course we already knew and loved rugbrod. Ate and drank beer ‘til 9:30 then crashed.

Up not very early on Sunday because we already knew nothing would be open ‘til 11, and our airport shuttle left at 12:00. Se we drank coffee and ate our snudur. Drool. Then we set out with a better idea of how to find Baejarins Beztu Pylsur and found it! We had walked right past it the previous day. Doh! We ate 4 hot dogs with everything and cursed ourselves for not having found it yesterday. Then we did a little souvenir shopping and walked along the waterfront.

We wish we’d timed our arrival and departure differently so we could have seen more museums, but had a great time anyway.

BTW the hot water does smell like sulphur, since it’s taken directly from the hot springs, but unless you’re actively running the hot water Reykjavik smells fine.

We are currently seeking a way to get SS pylsur into Boston - you can’t mail order them but you can bring them in personally, so we’re in the market for a hot dog mule.

We brought home a bottle of Brennevin and a handful of what we think are salmiakki flavored nips. None of which we’ve opened yet.

39

Yay! Glad you had a good time.

40

We did have a great time - in no small part due to the advice of dopers such as yourself. I’m so glad we didn’t pass up the opportunity. And we still dream of those hot dogs.