How would you spend 3 days in Iceland?

[chicago]

This thread could be co-titled 'help the tired pregnant woman plan her trip to Iceland'. I love planning normally, but I don't have it in me at the moment!

We arrive Thanksgiving morning at 6am, depart Sunday night around 5:30. That gives us three full days.

How would you spend that time?

We love to eat and love adventure, but I'll be 6 months pregnant so unfortunately no glacier hikes for us.

We'll for sure do a Northern Lights tour.

For those who have rented a car, thoughts on that - expensive? Easy? Dangerous? Vs taking organized trips?

Thanks for your help!

[chicago]

Thanks, @sfgal530! We found out three days into our SA trip, which totally threw us for a loop. Of course we were thrilled, but we were totally shocked. We had just started trying and expected it to take a while longer. I'm 11 weeks, so I haven't made a ticker or anything like that. Other than posting on Got Pregnant, I haven't mentioned it anywhere!

[frlcb]

I went to Iceland when I was pregnant, so I was bummed I couldn't do some of the stuff I wanted to. I did the Golden Circle stuff (we were staying with friends so we didn't do an official tour) and I did a whale watching tour, which sucked because it had stormed the day before, so the water was choppy and I couldn't take any sea sickness medicine and we didn't see any whales because it was late September. My advice is don't do a whale watching tour after the beginning of September I didn't feel comfortable doing the Blue Lagoon because of the temps. You could do a city tour as well.

[GilliC]

Renting a car is fairly easy but expensive (because tourists are the leading cause of traffic accidents and are notorious for getting rentals stuck/damaged on some of the 4WD roads). If you're just doing the Golden Circle it's pretty straightforward, but if you go exploring, be wary of what kind of roads you're on. GPS doesn't know the difference between unsaved roads and 4WD roads. Also, review the basic traffic laws ahead of time (lights on always, dealing with one-lane bridges, driving from paved to unsaved surfaces, etc).

If you're going in November, I'd consider spending a night or two out of the city to hedge your bets on seeing the Northern Lights. There are some nice farmstays and B&Bs around Reykjavik that specialize in this.

[CloudBee]

Definitely the Golden Circle Tour.

If you're only there for 3 days getting up to see the Northern Lights might actually be a bit of a hike.

I would plan on walking around the city for a half day or two, eating some great meals, and getting yourself out to a glacier. Even though you can't climb it, you can stand on it!

[Deleted]

We're going this weekend and will have 3.5ish days there, and this is our itinerary... I'll let you know how it worked out after we get back

Friday: arrive in KEF at 6.15 am. Drive to Reykjavik, and do city sightseeing (and a nice afternoon nap after our hotel room becomes available) that day

Saturday: Golden Circle.  

Sunday: This south coast drive

Monday: Enjoy our last morning in Reykjavik; stop at the Blue Lagoon on the way to the airport.  Fly out at 5 pm 

(threadjack -- those who have been: how long should we plan to be at the Blue Lagoon?)

[CloudBee]

Aug 27, 2013 12:24:28 GMT -5 v said:

(threadjack -- those who have been: how long should we plan to be at the Blue Lagoon?)

2 hour would be perfect, IMO. 15 mins to change/shower first. (Showering is a requirement before entering.)  An hour soaking, then time to change, dry get dressed, and have a snack in the cafe.

2-3'ish.  Any more than 3 and I would be bored. 

[chicago]

Aug 27, 2013 12:24:28 GMT -5 v said:

We're going this weekend and will have 3.5ish days there, and this is our itinerary... I'll let you know how it worked out after we get back

Friday: arrive in KEF at 6.15 am. Drive to Reykjavik, and do city sightseeing (and a nice afternoon nap after our hotel room becomes available) that day

Saturday: Golden Circle.  

Sunday: This south coast drive

Monday: Enjoy our last morning in Reykjavik; stop at the Blue Lagoon on the way to the airport.  Fly out at 5 pm 

(threadjack -- those who have been: how long should we plan to be at the Blue Lagoon?)

I'm really interested to hear about your South Coast drive.  I would really love to see Jokulsarlon, but it seems really expensive to do as a guided day tour and H is hesitant to drive.  The other concern is that we won't have as much daylight as there is this time of year.  

Have a great time this weekend!

[Deleted]

chicago -- Sorry it took me a long time to get back to you, but the south coast drive was so worth it! (tagging gt7301b too because I know you're going soon).

We were lucky that we had somewhat long days, but we were on the road from about 8:30 am to 8:30 pm.  It was a lot of driving (well, for my husband), but the roads were overwhelmingly flat and easy.  We did not stop for a meal -- we relied on heavy snacks brought in the car and the snack bar at Jokulsarlon. So that cut down on some time. We also did not stop in the towns or Skaftafell -- we went to the two waterfalls and Jokulsarlon and stopped a million times for interesting road scenery.

Skogafoss would be worth stopping at, but as a pregnant person I'd say only walk half way up. I didn't think going all the way to the top was worth it, and it was a LOT of stairs.

We weren't able to take a boat ride in Jokulsarlon because there was too much ice! So cool anyway.

[gt7301b]

v, I'd love it if you could PM me the link to your other photos.

I saw some Jokulsarlon iteniaries on the web that involved getting a hotel closer to Jokulsarlon so you didn't have to do so much driving in one day.  Would you recommend this or just suckign it up and doing the trip in a day?

Also, what about the car, would you recommend renting a car for the whole trip or the few days we will be doing drivign trips.  We are going for 4.5 days, mainly because I found plane tickets for $550.

[Deleted]

Sept 12, 2013 7:03:20 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

v, I'd love it if you could PM me the link to your other photos.

I saw some Jokulsarlon iteniaries on the web that involved getting a hotel closer to Jokulsarlon so you didn't have to do so much driving in one day.  Would you recommend this or just suckign it up and doing the trip in a day?

Also, what about the car, would you recommend renting a car for the whole trip or the few days we will be doing drivign trips.  We are going for 4.5 days, mainly because I found plane tickets for $550.

I'll PM you the bigger set (my name is in the link, which is why I was cagey about it).

We were there for only 3.5 days, but we used the car every day -- to drive from the airport to Reykjavik the first day; to drive the south coast the second day; to drive the Golden Circle the third day; and to drive to the Blue Lagoon and then the airport the fourth day.  If that's your itinerary, I say definitely rent for the whole time because it will only go unused one day.

If you are fairly efficient, don't plan on doing hikes or whatever, don't care about missing some spots along the way, and don't mind sitting in a car for a long time, I say just suck it up and drive out to Jokulsalon.  With the exception of like one quarter mile of twists and turns, the roads were easy peasy, and I liked not having to pack or whatever.  If you want to really delve into that area though, a hotel is the only way to do it.  Either way, it is so worth going out there.

One regret: I didn't know that there was a day trip to Greenland from Iceland, and had I known we would have stayed another day and done that.  www.airiceland.is/action-packed-tours/greenland  

Also, random tip -- the Blue Lagoon will let you pay one transaction in both cash and credit card, so if you go there on the way to the airport, that's a great way to get rid of your leftover currency.  

[Deleted]

Aug 27, 2013 14:34:03 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Aug 27, 2013 12:24:28 GMT -5 v said:

(threadjack -- those who have been: how long should we plan to be at the Blue Lagoon?)

2 hour would be perfect, IMO. 15 mins to change/shower first. (Showering is a requirement before entering.)  An hour soaking, then time to change, dry get dressed, and have a snack in the cafe.

2-3'ish.  Any more than 3 and I would be bored. 

I think it also depends on how much you like this stuff. For me, an hour in the water was too long. I got bored. 

We went the exact same time 2 years ago, but got there the morning before Thanksgiving.

This is the golden circle jeep tour that we took and it was awesome: www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g189970-d2233757-Reviews-Discover_Iceland_4x4_Offroad_SuperJeep_Tours-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html

I had my heart set on seeing the Northern lights there, but the weather never cooperated. You can use this to check to see if you'll have better luck: www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast

We had "Thanksgiving" dinner here (thanks to a rec by @sfgal530!!) and it was so good: www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g189970-d1629861-Reviews-Fiskfelagid_Fish_Company-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html

Reykjavik will be starting to get decked out for the holidays around now, so it was fun to walk around and see that too. They have this thing called the Yule Lads for Christmas and they project the images on the buildings. It was really interesting to see.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Lads

Other places that we ate that I really liked: 

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g189970-d2191582-Reviews-Laundromat_cafe-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html
www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g189970-d983396-Reviews-Tapas_Barinn-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html
www.fishandchips.is/
probably one of the best hot dog's I've ever had: www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189970-d1852122-r105165255-Baejarins_Beztu_Pylsur-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html 

Iceland is amazing! You'll have a great time. 

[PinkSquirrel]

v I would love a PM of the link to the pictures too. I'm heading to Iceland for 10 days at the end of the month.

[Deleted]

Sept 12, 2013 11:58:55 GMT -5 PinkSquirrel said:

v I would love a PM of the link to the pictures too. I'm heading to Iceland for 10 days at the end of the month.

Everybody's going to Iceland!  

Sent!

(though note: I was only there for the weekend so you'll cover a LOT more territory!!!)

[osumelissa]

It's fun to see your pictures v with grass...we went to Skogafoss and our pictures are snow and the waterfall. At one point we were just praying we were walking on solid ground

I definitely need/want to go back to see the landscape in a totally different way.

Just a note for those in this thread going in November, we went last year in mid-November and rented a car for a few days. Be careful when opening the car doors - when we stopped at the first stop on the Golden Circle, there was crazy wind and it blew the drivers door and semi-ish broke it but not really (it made awful sounds opening and closing it). Also plan on starting your days early especially if you want to go really far out on the southern coast. Even though you will drive a bit in the dark to start, it's totally worth it since there is not a ton to see immediately outside of Reykjavik.

[PinkSquirrel]

Sept 12, 2013 12:03:48 GMT -5 v said:

Sept 12, 2013 11:58:55 GMT -5 PinkSquirrel said:

v I would love a PM of the link to the pictures too. I'm heading to Iceland for 10 days at the end of the month.

Everybody's going to Iceland!  

Sent!

(though note: I was only there for the weekend so you'll cover a LOT more territory!!!)

Everyone really is.  Pretty much as soon as I booked my trip I started seeing people all over the place with trips to Iceland planned.  Based on our current itinerary, we're going to try to see the bulk of the southern half of Iceland (Snaefellsnes and Rekijanes Peninsula, and then south eat to Jokulsarlon and a bit into the interior) with a couple days built in to not do much/do random things we find, so hopefully, we're able to see a ton. I just want the end of the month to hurry up and get here so I can be on my way.   

[egishere]

This looks awesome! Direct flights from Denver-I want to go now!

[Moe]

Sept 11, 2013 20:59:02 GMT -5 v said:

chicago -- Sorry it took me a long time to get back to you, but the south coast drive was so worth it! (tagging gt7301b too because I know you're going soon).

We were lucky that we had somewhat long days, but we were on the road from about 8:30 am to 8:30 pm.  It was a lot of driving (well, for my husband), but the roads were overwhelmingly flat and easy.  We did not stop for a meal -- we relied on heavy snacks brought in the car and the snack bar at Jokulsarlon. So that cut down on some time. We also did not stop in the towns or Skaftafell -- we went to the two waterfalls and Jokulsarlon and stopped a million times for interesting road scenery.

Skogafoss would be worth stopping at, but as a pregnant person I'd say only walk half way up. I didn't think going all the way to the top was worth it, and it was a LOT of stairs.

We weren't able to take a boat ride in Jokulsarlon because there was too much ice! So cool anyway.

I will AW a few photos here (If you want to see more/bigger I can PM you a link to my 30 favorites):

These are breathtaking and spectacular.  You just singlehandedly pushed Iceland way up in the too long travel list.

WOW.

WOW!!!!

[chicago]

Oh, v, these are amazing. I would love the link to the others if you don't mind.

I am so tempted to rent a car now. Did you find a good price with any particular company? Not sure if H will go for this, but flat and open roads is convincing.

Wow. I am seriously one million times more excited after seeing your pictures! Thank you!

[SJ]

Thanks to the TravelZoo link, Iceland is now at the top of our next girls trip. We'd probably want to do 4-5 days (definitely less than a week), probably in February.

I'm glad to see so many others who did & loved short trips!

[chicago]

Oct 2, 2013 14:37:46 GMT -5 SJ said:

Thanks to the TravelZoo link, Iceland is now at the top of our next girls trip. We'd probably want to do 4-5 days (definitely less than a week), probably in February.

I'm glad to see so many others who did & loved short trips!

I saw that - great deal!