I'm going to Iceland for a week in June. Itinerary is pretty non-existant so far. Can anyone recommend any good places for walking, scenery and natural wonders?
Any things that I should definitely do or see? Thanks.
I went there for ten weeks last summer and saw plenty of places. Then again, I was aware of all the places in-between the places I walked, so I want to go back for another ten weeks and check out all those bits. After that, I should be in a position to comment!
Basically... you can go anywhere... do anything... and it's all absolutely brilliant!
(Sounds like I'm a happy customer of theirs eh?)
By the time I'm through with spending all my hard-earned cash there, they'll have enough to pay back the UK and Netherlands, no problem!
Haha, did you find it pretty expensive to live out there? I think I'll be hostelling so do you think I could manage to self-cater and see a few tourist spots without breaking the bank?
A friend of mine wants to go whale watching, but I'm not sure. I'd like it if there was a really good chance of seeing some big whales.
Paddy, can you name some of the places you went hiking. I'll be looking a Southern/ South-West Iceland.
South... South/West... Well... you could spend a great week on the Reykjanes peninsula, walking straight from the airport without the need for a bus, taxi or hire car, and have a great time. The whole peninsula is criss-crossed with trails that link a few villages, give access to a couple of hills, get you close to the Blue Lagoon, and lots of geothermal sites. In other words, it would be the cheapest bit of exploration you could do in the country, especially if you took a pack-full of food with you.
Hengill is an excellent little hilly area that's reasonably close to Reykjavik. There's a hut out there that hardly anyone uses, and a waymarked trail system (with map) that you just can't fault.
Once you start travelling, it gets expensive very quickly. The bus from the airport to Reykjavik is £20, and then onward travel gets even more expensive. For cheap food, go to the Bonus supermarkets, which are much more expensive than our supermarkets, but still the cheapest option in Iceland. If you want more choice of food, then you go to the Samkaup supermarkets and pay a bit more. Little shops in out-of-the-way places charge eye-watering amounts of money for even the most basic provisions. The little garage shop/cafe near the Skaftafell National Park is, according to local guides, the most expensive in Iceland. The notion of 'taking your custom elsewhere' involves either an hour's drive in a fast car, or two days walking!
I guess you'll also want to walk from Landmannalaugar to Þorsmork, which is the 'classic' four-day trail, but there are no buses to the trail-heads until the middle of June.
I spent 12 days there 6 years ago. Paddy's right - it is brilliant.
because it was only 2 weeks, and I knew I wouldn't be going back for a long time if ever, I did a fair bit of prior research so as to get a good overview of the place.
If you buy a guide, the rough guide was much better then than loneley planet IMO.
Whale watching in the SW? - I'd not bother - the chances of seeing humpbacks are fairly low, and Minke whales aren't that interesting .
We hired a 4wdcar and camped and self catered (spent all our money on the car!)- most campsites have a kitchen area under cover.
If you have only a week, I'd seriously consider hiring a car/using the buses and getting about a bit.
The trans-interior roads only open in mid june
Skaftafjell National park is well worth a visit, Kristinatindar is an afternoons walk up a mini mountain which gets you up above the glacier to outstanding views.
- The peak in the photo below (not my photo)
Jokulsarlon is just down the road - not to be missed
Myvatn in the North is wonderful - lots to see all around- spent 3 days walking around there. All sorts of volcanic action.
Jokulsarglufur has Europes largest waterfall and great gorge walking.
We also drove out to Askja and camped.
the journeys themself all through the interior roads are amazing
I looked at the SW 'touristy' bits (Geysir/Gulfoss etc) at the end of the trip, and found it tamer than the rest, though still pretty impressive.
I would love to go back and look at the rest! though
Captain - I got more than enough for a guidebook last summer, but as the deadline is still a long way off, I might as well go back and cover a whole lot more ground. There are tracks and trails all over the place that don't get a mention anywhere in print, and Icelanders kept pointing me in the direction of truly astounding places. I realised I wouldn't get round all their recommendations last summer, so before leaving the country I was already planning to return.
Mole - There's no need for either a Rough Guide or a Lonely Planet guide if you just want a heap of listings, facilities and attractions around Iceland. There's a free book you can pick up, and it's updated every year, and it basically contains all you need to know. If it included walking trails... I'd be out of a job!
Marooned - How about this for getting properly marooned... If your budget can stretch beyond the flight to and from Iceland, to included a return flight from Reykjavik to Isafjordur, then you could enjoy a fantastic week in a remote area with absolutely no facilities beyond a cafe/hut with basic bunk accommodation. In other words, take a tent and don't even stay at the hut, but make the most of walking around that extreme north-western peninsula. There's a ferry to it from Isafjordur, which MUST be booked in advance, and you really don't want to miss the boat, or I have no idea what happens. I met four French guys who were booked out and back on the same boat as me, but they never showed for the return trip. The woman with the passenger list called out their names once... twice... then just crossed them off the list. The peninsula is called Hornstrandir... so... Stranded in Hornstrandir!
I went there in May 2008 and I was surprised how cheap some things were, with the notable exception of car hire. Things may have changed with the banking crisis.
For example for £15/night I had a self catering place, bedroom, lounge, kitchen and bathroom. You wouldn't get such a bargain in the UK or many other developed countries. Top tip would be take a sleeping bag to get cheaper rates in self catering places. You can get free coffee in some petrol stations. Food in supermarkets and petrol were about the same price as in the UK.
The most interesting place I went to was Myvatn, definitely worth a few days. Elsewhere, the waterfalls were the most memorable features for me. Also good to walk to hot spring, have a long soak then walk back, e.g. from Hverddegerddi where they grow bananas in greenhouses. A good place if interested in geology or landscapes. There is an interesting youth hostel, an old farmhouse, on the other side of the valley fron Thorsmork and Eyjafjalljokul, the volcano that erupted last spring and caused all the disruption to air travel. It might be interesting to go and see the changes around there.
The spellings are wrong but I can't be bothered to check them or find the thorns and eths.
Mr E - the moment their currency crashed and it became a cheap destination, prices rose sharply so that it became expensive again. Well... the more foreign currency they can earn, the quicker they can pay what they owe... I guess that's how it works!
Yeah, 'sleeping bag accommodation' is such a brilliant thing that I wish more places had it... like Britain for example!
I've been right up to, and a little bit into, some of the new craters around Eyafjallajokull, and all the white bits (glaciers) are now black. I'll be finding out soon enough what the effect of snow on top of ash on top of ice is going to be like to walk on. Unstable and a little bit unsafe I guess. A whole lake got filled with ash up there. I walked through that part in a howling gale that would have bowled me over if I'd been any lighter, and I was absolutely choking on the dust. Never mind how to pronounce Eyafjallajokull, I feared I might have to see the doctor and ask if I was likely to contract Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!
Oh... and you mentioned the hostel in the old farmhouse... that'll be Fljótsdalur Youth Hostel.
That's Dick Phillips' place... and he's a legend in his own lifetime. He was cycling and trekking around Iceland long before it was fashionable, and has been running tours there for over 50 years. He lives in Nenthead and when I wanted to pick his brains a couple of winters back, I tried to arrange a meeting. He told me not to come, as he was snowed in, so I went away for a month to somewhere much warmer. When I got back home I checked again, and the snow was only two feet deep, so he said it was OK to visit!
Dick keeps a stash of Icelandic maps at his house, if anyone's in the market for them.
Thank you guys you've been very helpful. Quite right, who needs a guide book. Personal experience is always best. I'm getting quite excited now....just need to get my tongue around some of the names!
.JPG)
