r/VisitingIceland

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Do I have a right to be upset or am I stupid? Maybe both? My fiancé and I are getting married in Lisbon. The flights we booked through Iceland air had a 24 hour layover in Reykjavik, so we took advantage of Iceland air's extend your layover policy so that we could spend our honey moon in Iceland.

I got an email saying that the leg from Lisbon to Reykjavik was canceled and they couldn't rebook us, and that I needed to request a refund. There was a "request refund" link in the email that I received. The email only referenced the one leg of the journey, both in words and visually. There is one line of texts that reads "Please note that all unflown flights will be canceled and refunded in the form of a single travel credit for all passengers in the booking." The "I'm stupid" part: I missed it. I assumed the refund request would apply strictly to that leg. Instead, it canceled my entire itinerary. We we're fully refunded, but to recreate the same itinerary costs essentially 3x, and we just can't afford it after paying for the wedding.

On top of this, I booked a campervan for the whole time we were going to be in Iceland through Campervan Iceland. Their cancellation policy reads:

"With our flexible policy, you can book a camper with confidence! You can now cancel up to 24h before picking up your rental vehicle to receive a full refund.

For motorhomes, Toyota Hilux and Campervan 4x4 Adventure+ model, a cancelation fee of 15% of the total cost will be applied."

I booked the Motorhome Viking which to my American brain is a "camper van" which is how we refer to these types of vehicles. When I called and tried to get a refund, they said Motorhomes are ineligible for any refunds at all. Shouldn't I still be entitled to 85% of the value, or am i reading something wrong?

Anyway, I admitted I missed the fine print print on the flight, but to me it just didn't really make sense that they would cancel our whole multi stop flight plan. We were going to rebook the same itinerary if they we're able to price match but they told us to kick rocks. We we're super excited to visit this beautiful country and have been planning for months. One day

Writing this here with the hope to find people understanding me :)

So, this year for various reasons (one of them being the eclipse madness, with the consequent higher prices) I decided not to go to Iceland as I usually do, but to give Norway a chance instead.

Already visited Norway like 12 years ago (well before going to Iceland), and I remember I loved the country, so for this summer I said "let's go there again and explore more, it will be nice".

Now at the end of the trip, I can really tell that visiting Iceland effectively ruined any other trip of mine to other countries 😄 don't get me wrong, Norway is indeed beautiful. But, every single time I was standing in front of a nice landscape, I couldn't prevent my mind from thinking "this is nice, but Iceland is just something else". I tried to keep an open mind but that thought keep coming back over and over in my mind, every single day.

Don't get me wrong: I still feel lucky and blessed to have the chance to travel to different parts of the world. But really, since my first visit in Iceland in 2023, every trip I made to other destinations felt.. perhaps slightly underwhelming? Especially for someone with passion for landscape photography, Iceland is just otherworldly, while other countries look somehow more "ordinary", despite being still beautiful.

I've seen plenty of countries full of gorgeous sceneries (Norway, Switzerland, Italy, New Zealand, Mongolia, just to name some), but to date none of them has ever made me feel like this as Iceland did.

Therefore, I've came to realize that next time, I won't think it twice - I'll just go to Iceland again, that's all 😄

(luckily no more eclipses in sight over there...)

Anyone else sharing this feeling? Hopefully I'm not alone!

Hey everyone, my fiancé are going to Iceland in December. I know it will be the off season, but are we setting ourselves up for disappointment? We love being out and nature and exploring new towns and cities. Any suggestions you may have for that time of the year would be greatly appreciated!

Hey all! Tomorrow will be day 3 for us in this wonderful country and we have a free day. Wondering what might be the best place for seeing puffins tomorrow if it’s not too late in the season? Going to make it an early day but wondering if the ferry to Vestmannaeyjar might be too expensive if there’s only a small chance! Thank you!!!

This sub was so useful when planning our trip, so I wanted to give back a little. We just returned from two weeks in Iceland, with two adults and two kids, coordinated with some other family members who were also going. My big goal was to travel light and to stay busy but NOT over-extend ourselves. This means that we missed out on some "big" attractions, but I have no regrets.

This is a long post, so if you don't really care, the TLDR is: merino wool is amazing; some of the best memories are from the impromptu or unplanned side-tracks, so don't plan too tight of a schedule; give yourself more time in the West than you'd think.

Packing and preparation

We traveled out with four under-seat bags and two overheads, and returned with four under-seats and three overheads (mainly for convenience-- we could have crammed it into two if we'd had to.) I completely hyperfixated on the Icelandair bag sizes and spent way too much time obsessing over our luggage. I ended up buying kids' backpacks from Mountain Warehouse that were almost precisely the right size for underseat, and I actually made our main overhead bag-- IKEA sells a zip-up clothing storage box that's very close to the overhead size, and I sewed a glorified tote bag to hold it (and take advantage of the extra centimeters). This was obviously overkill, but also very satisfying.

I started shifting my sleep schedule about two weeks in advance, because jet lag is terrible for me. On departure day I woke up at 4:45am for an 8pm flight. I think this was VERY helpful. I got an e-sim that included texts and calls because I was worried about a potential emergency scenario, especially with kids. I used the texts and data (about 2.7GB out of 10), but I never had to make a call.

My pack list:

3 bottoms (Carhartts, light hiking pants, long skirt) + wool leggings + PJ pants
3 long-sleeves (2 cotton, 1 silk thermal)
3 short-sleeves (cotton)
2 sleeveless (one stretchy, one "nice" shell)
3 sweaters (synthetic pullover, merino cardigan, oversize button-down)
sun hat, thin gloves, big thin scarf, sunglasses, mix of wool and cotton socks
Kizik hiking boots + backup shoes
nylon rain jacket

This was very close to perfect. I could have removed one cotton short and long sleeve each, but I wanted to be prepared for limited laundry. I never wore my spare shoes. To my surprise, I wore the sleeveless shell a lot-- on a clear day the sun is quite warm, even if the temperature is only 60F. The wool leggings and cardigan were the absolute heroes of the trip, and if I were going again I'd buy thin wool gloves and hat as well. The people wearing rubbery-style raincoats seemed a little drier than I was.

I wished I'd brought a phone tether (or a camera with a tether), and I wished I'd done more to prepare for the language-- even just learning how to properly pronounce the places we were going to.

Itinerary

Tuesday 4 - land at 6:30, eat, drive to the Reykjavik area to hang out at the playground in Heidmork and walk around Raudholar, get groceries, check into lodging, nap. This was planned as a very chill day and we needed that.

Wednesday 5 - Reykjadalur hot river hike, about an hour's drive away. This was planned as a chill half-day but it realistically took us all day. Between jet lag and the fact that one of our kids is less outdoorsy, it took about 90 minutes to hike up, 30-40 minutes soak, and an hour to hike back down. Then dinner at the food court in Hveragerdi, featuring the best fish and chips of my life. Really great second-day activity. It was a bit of a stretch in terms of stamina, but the trail is wide, safe, and well-populated, and the soak was a real treat.

Thursday 6 - Golden Circle day, including tickets for Silfra snorkeling. The weather was very dreary and we cut it short. I heard snorkeling was awesome. I was doing Thingvellir with the kids, and if I did it again, I'd make sure I could join the free guided tour with the park rangers; from what I overheard it was VERY interesting. On our way home from Thingvellir we parked at a random pull-off near a beautiful view, and ended up on an absolutely stunning little trail.

Friday 7 - Left early in the morning, hit the LAVA Centre (absolutely incredible, top-tier educational museum) on the way to the Westman Islands ferry, then got a tour with EyjaTours. Ebbi was great but definitely had a "guy's guy" vibe-- I probably would have enjoyed it more if I'd known to expect that. The puffins were amazingly close to us. Dinner at Gott was very good.

Saturday 8 - Impromptu hike to a historically important bathtub (Gudlaugssund), and up the side of Helgafell. Most of the path to the bathtub was along a road shoulder, which I didn't love, but the mountain trail was lovely. Quick trip to the Eldheimar museum about the 1973 eruption, then back onto the ferry. We had about an extra hour so we walked behind the waterfall at Seljalandsfoss, but I didn't realize it was so close to Glufrabui, the narrow cave with a "secret" waterfall at the end. Because it was a Saturday, there was a line to go in and we didn't have time, but we enjoyed all the smaller caves and waterfalls in between. Then we had to get going for our tour with the Caves at Hella, a walk-through of caves that were inhabited since before Viking settlement, which was VERY cool. Then back to Reykjavik.

Sunday 9 - Plan was to sleep in and then activate 72-hour City Cards in the afternoon, so they would be valid through the morning of eclipse day. But it was gorgeous weather and we got convinced to do the Golden Circle again. It was fine. I think I'm not a waterfall person.

Monday 10 - Activated 48-hour City Cards at the Arbaer Open-Air museum, which I thought was good but not amazing. Reconstructed historical houses aren't really my thing. The playground was very popular with the younger set. Then we hit the Settlement Exhibition, which has an excavated Viking long-house on display in situ. Cool, but probably more engaging when you don't have extremely tired kids with you.

Tuesday 11 - I took the bus to downtown on my own and hit two art museums: the House of Collections and the Hafnarhus location of the Reykjavik art museum (their contemporary art location). Both were outstanding. Based on what others did, I wish I'd also gone to the Kjarvalsstadir location (modern painting, focused on Kjarval) and the National Museum for those sweet sweet artifacts. Partner and kids were chilling and enjoying the amazing playgrounds and pools.

Wednesday 12 - We used our last few hours of the City Card to go to the Reykjavik Park and Zoo, to burn off some kid energy. The animals were less compelling than the carnival rides. The City Card was VERY worth it, especially for a museum lover, but I think 48 hours was plenty. We had a very overcast view of the eclipse from near the Grotta lighthouse in Reykjavik, but it was still extremely magical.

Thursday 13 - Silver Circle day! We had tours booked with Into the Glacier (good, but not a standout memory for me, wool socks REALLY came in handy because I stepped in a deep glacial puddle), and then the lava cave at Vidgelmir (incredible, amazing, definitely one of the coolest things we did). Apparently I like caves. We were able to squeeze in a trip to Snorri Sturluson's personal hot tub in the morning, and after Vidgelmir we made an impromptu stop at Surtsuhellir, a very long lava cave that is open to explore (at your own risk). Even though we didn't go that far in, this was definitely a stretch for our kids in terms of responsibility, but it was one of the most rewarding things we did. Then another impromptu stop at the Settlement Museum in Borgarnes, sadly not enough time to see the whole thing. We opted for the walkthrough of Egilssaga, which was exactly freaky and gross enough for the kids to love it. If I were to do this trip again, I'd maybe treat Husafell (near Vidgelmir) as a home base for a couple of days and do day trips to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and possibly even the Westfjords.

Friday 14 - recovery and family hang-out day; my partner took some solo time in the city.

Saturday 15 - more recovery and family, plus doing some weekend-only activities in the city-- the flea market (only OK, but an antiques hound without kids might enjoy it more) and the mini gallery of the Icelandic Printmakers Association (very cool contemporary art).

Sunday 16 - Our flight out was at 5pm. We had originally planned to see the Seltun Geothermal area on the Reykjanes peninsula, but that ultimately felt like a full-day outing, not a "be at the airport at 2pm" outing, so we checked out some lighthouses and called it a day.

Managing kids

So many car picnics. So much deli ham and PB&Js. Bribery with chocolate chips. I think the best thing we did was plan a light schedule. One kid is pretty outdoorsy but the other is less so, and both of them were pretty tired and overwhelmed a lot of the time. I had gone out of my way to plan events around their interests, some of which ended up being some of my favorite experiences. And I think they grew a lot over the two weeks. Still, I'm glad we didn't take them at a younger age-- I think that under ~7 there's a lot more limitations to what you can ask of kids. But through the power of setting clear expectations, having deli ham in the car, and chocolate-chip bribery, everyone maintained a good attitude 90% of the time. I'm really grateful that they were old enough to remember it, too.

In conclusion

My top experiences were probably the Reykjadalur river hike, the LAVA Centre, the Caves at Hella tour, the Vidgelmir tour, the Reykjavik museums, and especially all the random impromptu trails (and caves) we wandered into. Most businesses and tours run from about 10am-5pm, which made scheduling weirdly tricky, but we ended up doing a lot of chill hikes in the mornings and evenings.

I'm really glad I planned a super easy couple of days at the beginning for jet lag, and it really helped to alternate more scheduled days and then more chill days. I think this trip inspired a greater love for hiking in all of us, and if we go again, we'll probably plan for more challenging or serious hikes. We skipped a lot of "classic" experiences, especially on the South coast, but the flipside is that this trip was extremely realistic about what we could happily handle. And that was really worth it for us.

I want to preface this by saying I’m American too and this is exactly the kind of traveler who makes me embarrassed to be one sometimes.

She’s sitting behind me on the plane. We’re still at KEF, and her volume was so loud that it was impossible not to hear her. She mentioned she was from LA, then proceeded to casually list two Icelandic laws she had broken and complain about being yelled at by Icelanders. (Cut off a cyclist / horse back tour + parked too close to a safety line when she said herself there were plenty of other spots available - because she was upset the Icelandic woman that yelled at her did not park in one of those other spots either. The hypocrisy???? Entitlement???? Anyways)

Then, in the same breath, she said, “It’s obvious there are no wolves here, only sheep. They need to be punched in the face,” clearly referring to Icelanders as the “sheep.”

I couldn’t help myself. I turned around and said, “Shame on you. They welcome us into their country, YOU break their laws, and then you say they deserve to be punched? How disgusting.”

She responded, “That’s funny, I wasn’t talking to you.”
I told her, “The entire plane can hear you.”

Although she’s behaving more like a hyena.
If you’re a blonde woman in your mid-40s from LA and this is the kind of thing you were saying on a plane full of people who could hear you: shame on you. Icelanders deserve better than being treated with that level of arrogance and disrespect by visitors to their country. And frankly, you should be embarrassed to call yourself a traveler at all.

This was shocking. I experienced a lot of other disgusting traveler behavior while I was here, so that probably contributed to my desire to confront her. Either way - I hope she learned something today

Edit to add: If anyone reads this post as anything other than calling out and recognizing the behavior described above as abhorrent PERIOD - not “victimizing” Icelanders, attacking Iceland/USA, or painting an entire nationality with the same brush… I genuinely can’t help you. Calling out ugly behavior is necessary. And don’t be ugly. Simple.

My budget is ideally around 4000 IKR for the day, maximum 11000 IKR.

If you're wondering why I'm in Iceland with such a low budget, the cheapest flight from the US to Europe went through Iceland...

However, I'd still love to make the most of my 16 hours (arriving 0930, departing 0100), and would love your advice or recommendations!

Activities: car rental looks expensive, and I couldn't find any cheap tours of the peninsula the airport is on. So I'm thinking of trying to hitchhike into Reykjavik, and exploring the city and coastal areas, which look to be largely free. And then try to hitchike back to the airport in the evening (with bus as a backup to avoid missing my flight...). Any recommendations for where to hitchike from?

Food: how cheap are supermarkets? Eating out is probably too expensive, but is it worth bringing food from the US? Also, Iceland Air serves no food even on their long haul as far as I can tell? So I will need to buy food for the flight anyway.

Baggage storage: I've flying with a carry-on, so thinking of bringing it to the city with me and finding some cheap storage there.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!