Iceland, who's been?

[Winder]

Originally Posted by Sv650lee

basic rules are :
1) never ever insult Iceland
2) never ever insult Iceland

I'll keep my opinions of Bjork to myself then!

[Drew Carey]

Haven't posted in eons but here's my thoughts on our trip to Iceland.

Lily and I went there a couple of years ago. We spent 4nights staying at a city centre hotel in Reykjavik called "City Center Hotel" (original name I know!!!). It was ideal as its right next to the majority of restaurants, cafe's (plus an Irish pub!!) etc.

The food whilst very expensive is amazing. We ate at a number of more reasonably priced restaurants - best of which was "Icelandic Fish and Chips" which was far from what we get in the UK and the food was amazing!!

We also ate at a very expensive restaurant called www.sjavargrillid.com which was some of the best food we have ever eaten whilst travelling. It is comparable with most Michelin starred food in the UK.

In terms of excursions, we booked everything through the main tour operator who are based at the bus station. Depending on the time of year you go will depend what you get to see. We went at Easter, which enabled us to see;

1. Nothern Lights bus trip. Easter is about the latest that you can see the NLs due to the near permanent daylight they have setting in from spring. Some others in the hotel had gone three nights in a row (as if you don't see any they allow you to return again at no extra cost). However, on our first night there we witnessed some brilliant displays.

100% you MUST take a DSLR and learn how to setup it up for taking pictures of them in advance. To the human eye they are very hard to see - but what looked like a whispery cloud to the human eye - magically turned into green shapes accross the night sky when taken on a DSLR.

2. Whale watching, again seasonal as they are rarely visible in winter. Most of the time you would see Minky whales. However, we were again very lucky, we witnessed a family of Humpback whales which had returned for spring. They were eating fish that were harbouring in and around our boat.

One word of caution the boat trip consists of a trip by coach first to one pininsular, with a boat trip then back to the capital - its long and can be very rough!!!!

One of the key things I learnt on the whale trip is around the culling of whales for whale meat. Everyone believes its a regular staple of the Icelandic diet - it no longer is and hasnt been for sometime now. The trade is now approx 90% entirely to satisfy the tourism that comes to the island. Hence for us we are pleased we did not try any of the icelandic specialist dishes in restaurants etc - especially having seen whales in the sea so close by!!.

3. Our third trip was the "Golden Circle" tour. Which encompasses a brilliant trip by coach to see many of the best sites in Iceland, wont list them all, can see them here;

http://www.icelandexcursions.is/tour...our/Iceland.is

The highlight on the Golden Circle Tour was the national park at Þingvellir. Natural water and lakes filtered through volcanic rock that is incredibly deep - yet feels like you could touch the bottom it is that clear.

The people are amazing and we would 100% go back again, in fact I would like to go back for 2 reasons. 1. To hire a car and do as much of a circle of the island as possible. 2. To go back in the depths of Winter and do some of the Extreme Glacial walks etc that they do.

The people are lovely and when you put aside the cost to shop etc its an amazing place. If based in Reykjavik you really don't need a car. The entire city centre can be walked in about 30mins.

Hope you enjoy no matter when you go and what you do. Stunning place.

[Winder]

Cheers Drew, loads of really useful info in there. The more info you guys send my way and the more research I do on line the more I look forward to it. The flights are now booked but everything else is just ideas on paper.
Thanks again

[NTECUK]

Yes Sarah loved the golden circle tour.

[Matt-EUC]

Originally Posted by NTECUK

Yes Sarah loved the golden circle tour.

Tehehe.