Gift Help: Who has been to Iceland?

[VillainV]

My sister and BIL are about to pull the trigger on a trip to Iceland in early spring, and she suggested maybe some kind of vacation "add-on" as a Christmas present.  I'll know more about their actual itinerary when they pull the trigger and book, but for those who have been, what might be a good vacation "add-on"?  What is something you took with you, or did while you were there, that made your vacation special?   Budget is $150-250 (I could combine with their upcoming birthdays and go a tad higher for a great gift).   

[devonpow]

We did a boat puffin tour that was fun www.puffintours.is

[devonpow]

To take with them - solid rain gear (although we were lucky and had no rain but that’s unusual). Good base layers, hats, gloves. A camera? The Blue Lagoon has a nice restaurant called Lava that you could look into a gift card for.

[Captain Serious]

Horseback riding or glacier hike if they are outdoorsy.

[devonpow]

My good friends did a tour that took you into a volcano that she said was the best thing they had ever done...but it was $400 per person 😳

[minionkevin]

My CW, who just to Iceland went over Thanksgiving, said her favorite thing was a snowmobile trip/tour. Not sure how expensive that is, but it’s something.

[suzubell]

We took a bus tour of the south coast that was amazing.

[sunshinedaydreams]

Hands down, snorkeling in Silfra. It was amazing!

They put you in a buoyant down suit, and then a dry suit, and then you snorkel in freezing water between two tectonic plates in the clearest water I've ever seen in my life.

We also really enjoyed our day trip with Iceland Rovers.  It went right up to the volcano that erupted in 2010.  We did some hiking, some river fording, saw a lot of gorgeous waterfalls.

[rupertpenny]

Um, I was going to say really warm wool socks but that is quite a bit under your budget.

This might not be helpful if they already live somewhere cold, but maybe a gift card to somewhere like LL Bean so they can stock up on some cold weather essentials.

[VillainV]

Dec 6, 2018 21:38:42 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Um, I was going to say really warm wool socks but that is quite a bit under your budget.

This might not be helpful if they already live somewhere cold, but maybe a gift card to somewhere like LL Bean so they can stock up on some cold weather essentials.

Warm wool socks could be a fun thing for them to "unwrap", with the big part of the gift being something mentioned above.  I like the LL Bean idea, too!

[erbear]

Horseback riding on the Snaefellsnes (I did not spell that right) was my favorite experience in Iceland.

[joy]

Dec 6, 2018 21:24:14 GMT -5 Captain Serious said:

Horseback riding or glacier hike if they are outdoorsy.

Horseback ridibg! Zero experience necessary. We went with Solhestar..

[Moe]

Really depends on their itinerary. I echo the whine gift card to REI cause we all purchased an ungodly amount in preparation because we’re not remarkably outdoorsy and needed cold rainy wear; all the things we purchased were well worth it. Including those warm socks they Rupert suggests, which were absolutely needed (and I live in MN!).

Or that at least could cover meals for 1 meals worth that isn’t hot dogs or fish and chips. Which is 60% of what we ate. Ha.

[CheeringCharm]

The coolest thing we did by far was the Into the Glacier tour. I think it’s on the pricer side so maybe you can go in on it with some other family members? I’m not sure what their itinerary looks like but we also really enjoyed the Secret Iceland tour of Fjadrargljufur Canyon and a boat tour through the glacier lagoon in Jokulsarlon.

[goldengirlz]

Ditto on horseback riding for that budget. We did one where the itinerary included horseback riding, lunch and a dip in the hot springs.

[lo]

Dec 6, 2018 21:37:10 GMT -5 sunshinedaydreams said:

Hands down, snorkeling in Silfra. It was amazing!

They put you in a buoyant down suit, and then a dry suit, and then you snorkel in freezing water between two tectonic plates in the clearest water I've ever seen in my life.

We also really enjoyed our day trip with Iceland Rovers.  It went right up to the volcano that erupted in 2010.  We did some hiking, some river fording, saw a lot of gorgeous waterfalls.

Lol, this was the least favorite thing I did in Iceland! I asked for my money back. To be fair, they ran out of wetsuits so they gave me an instructor’s spare one ( I’m 5’6 size 8 and he was over 6ft dude) and it was so uncomfortable and actually painful in spots. I couldn’t swim and kept rolling onto my back. Everything else, I loved! Highly recommend a glacier tour. My friends did horseback riding and loved that, as well.