Anyone been to Iceland?

gmac

Looking for a destination to take the Mrs for her birthday. Anyone been there?  If so, thoughts?
Anything you think is a must do or a don't do?  I would like to include some Atlantic salmon fishing on the fly and hit some good restaurants but that's all I want I in mind so far. 
Thanks. 

bgebrent

Paging @DoubleEgger.  I think he's been.

theyolksonyou

@Sea2Ski

berndcrisp

What time of the year?

gmac

Looking at June 19 right now. 

OhioEgger

Iceland  is fantastic and well worth a visit. I've been there twice, once in summer and once in winter. Loved it both times. Be aware that it's expensive (especially restaurants). Take a look at this thread:
http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1201178/ot-a-trip-to-the-land-of-fire-and-ice-this-is-what-i-am-doing-and-eating

DoubleEgger

bgebrent said:

Paging @DoubleEgger.  I think he's been.

Nope not me. Been to the fjords in Norway. Highly recommended 

gmac

@DoubleEgger I drive a fjord F-250. 

Sea2Ski

@gmac Incredible place. If you are into hiking, photography, or just sightseeing, the place is goldmine for those activities. I love fishing, but skipped it on this trip because it was their winter.

As @OhioEgger stated, it is really expensive at the moment.

Must do's:
1) Their "Public swimming pools" - really big outdoor ponds with warm to hot geothermic heated water. Same as the blue lagoon, but free or next to free.
2) Take the free walking tour in Reykjavík - Meets at 10 AM in the center of town.  2 hours well worth taking.
2) Rent a car and head out of town. Easy to drive on "The 1" also known as the "Ring road" that goes around the country. Driving is easy there. Both in difficulty and in speed if you stay on the main roads. Just use common sense and you are 100% fine.
4) *** Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon - google it. It is incredible to see. This might have been my favorite day of the trip.
5) A meal at a hotel that I will get you because I can not remember the name of it right now.  You can stay there, and since you want to fish - the river is literally 100 yards from your room, and depending who you talk to they say is the #1 or #2 Salmon river in Iceland.  That is the picture in my "fire and Ice thread" on the first day there where I had the arctic char. You can see the river in the background.
6) Google Silfra
7) "Into the glacier" - guess what you do?  Really a neat experience.
8) Prepare to eat seafood and more seafood. I love it, so I had no problem. Skip the beef - 100% of it is imported and very expensive for that reason.

We only stayed on the south side of the country as the north side was all snow and ice and we were advised not to go too far north in the winter in a rental car. Not because we did not have 4x4 drive and studded tires (we did), but because we did not have oversized tires and a lift. I would think you would be fine in June except what they call "F" roads.  (Ongoing joke - rentals are not allowed on them, but I headed down one anyway, and only went so far. I said "F this"......) it went to serious offroading FAST!   Not sure that is how they got their name, but that is how they got them in my mind.  Stay off them. Seriously.

If you go to tripadvisor, you will see the same activities over and over. Most tour operators go to the same "must see" places, because there are not that many. You can drive there no problem, and do it for 25% the price of a tour.
The real beauty of the country is the people (they are incredibly nice - not to mention the Scandinavian women with their blond hair and blue eyes.... ) and the scenery. The place is just pure, clean, gorgeous nature all over. It is a land of contrast. Sea and Sky. Black volcanic rock and snow. And again, it is so clean - anywhere you see running water you can dink it. You just have to make sure it is not hot.

Awesome place.

Any questions?  Ask away!

gmac

@Sea2Ski thanks for the info. 

Couple questions, did you arrange everything yourself or use a travel agent?  I'm likely to just find dates, book tickets and then let my wife go from there to arrange what she wants to do too. We are looking at going with another couple so it gets harder to make arrangements but I'm more of the "off the beaten path" sort so I would be happiest outside the city, maybe up north eating puffins and drinking as much local liquor as my liver can stand. 

I I like the idea of renting a cabin, how did you set that up?  Will definitely do a day of hiking and hit some hot springs. 

You keep saying it's expensive but how bad is it really?  Say a nice dinner would cost you??  Not a big issue, I'm not a brave traveler so I prefer places I feel safe which is one reason I'm leaning towards Iceland. Cost would be second to feeling comfortable. 

I assume most folks speak at least some English?  Did you need a translation book at all?  

Thanks, appreciate the reply. 

Sea2Ski

My wife is the travel agent. Not really one, but we plan all our trips ourselves. Like I said, if you go to trip advisor, read the reviews and book things on your own through email.  Iceland is easy to get around in, and there is very little traffic - remember, only 11% of the country is developed and 4 out of 5 live in Reykjavík. What I am saying is that if you book with someone to take you on a "waterfall tour" you are paying for a very expensive taxi. Having been there, I would hire an extreme offroad trip. I think that would be a blast there. I am sure you could find one to fit fishing in to it as well.  Actually a damn good idea.

Drinking... we bought our alcohol in duty free at the airport based on advise found on the web, and friends that went there last year twice. At a bar, the minimum price that I saw for a beer was about $10, and a bottle of wine out a dinner was $85, mixed drink $23. No thanks.  Buy it getting off the plane and pay "normal" prices.  At least that is our style.

A "good" meal at a restaurant you will pay about $100 for two people with each getting a main. We stopped and had soup in a breadbowl. 2 of those with water was $36.  A fleece was about $60. Box of cereal $8, Soda $4, average appetizer $15-$25. Box of 3 donuts $7.

Finding a cabin: interesting fact - 90% of housing is on airB2B. Local students have a hard time finding housing for this reason. Just do a google search, and you will find plenty of places. Everything I saw there was modern and up-kept. Everything. They live clean and simple. 
As long as you are not in downtown Reykjavík, you will be remote. Even their town "Vic" (which means city in Icelandic) is considered a major town. I think there may be 3000-5000 people living there if I had to guess.   One word of caution, many towns (really "areas" not a town per say) there may be 2 of. When we went on the "into the glacier" we plugged it into navigation and was actually headed to the "East" town name not the "West".  (Similar to Portland - Portland Main or Oregon??) but these areas may only be an hour away from each other. Just pay a bit of attention, and you are good.

Feeling safe there - no worries. They told us a fact and I may not have it 100% correct. They do have a small jail - I think they said 11 people were in it, and 9 were bankers. Most assaults start over women or sheep. There are no guns. There is no need. The largest animal is reindeer up north and arctic fox. You can not hunt. You can trap - but not hunt with a firearm.  (Not sure how they control the reindeer population - maybe they do not have to?) They trap fox. Police: we only saw them on a car accident scene on the "One". Other than that, never saw another cop. They do not carry any handguns.  I felt 100% safe. Not once did I feel "out of place" or unsafe.

100% of Icelandic people speak Icelandic to each other, and at the age of 4 they start to learn English. !00% of them speak English. Most also speak Dutch. Communication should not be the slightest bit of a concern.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. Or if you want, PM me, and I will be happy to speak to you on the phone.

northGAcock

Only vicariously through @Sea2Ski

gmac

@Sea2Ski. Thanks yet again. I will PM you after the holidays and perhaps pick your brain a bit more. We were supposed to get a hot tub last year for her birthday and haven't done it yet so I feel a bit of pressure to come through this year with something nice and I think this is gonna be it. 

OhioEgger

One comment on @Sea2Ski's great summary above.

Where he says "A "good" meal at a restaurant you will pay about $100 for two people with each getting a main" I would modify that a bit. In Reykjavik at least, that would only be true at what I would call a moderately priced restaurant. For anything special or at a higher end restaurant, the cost will be at least 50% more.

Still, I love the place and would encourage anyone to visit if they can.

Sea2Ski

Thanks for the clarification @OhioEgger I appreciate it.  Every time I ate, I was surprised at how much food was or simple things were.  Maybe I have just become accustomed  to living in this country where many of us live with and expect excess in every way. 

ziggypop

mac, enjoy Iceland. I highly recommend hiking, especially if you can hike to the top of the active volcano. How many days do you have to spend in Iceland?

gmac

ziggypop said:

mac, enjoy Iceland. I highly recommend hiking, especially if you can hike to the top of the active volcano. How many days do you have to spend in Iceland?

Not sure yet. Sat to Fri.  Definitely hiking is in order. My wife went to Vegas recently and hardly drank or gambled because they were so busy hiking. 

I live in Canada and although the prices mentioned above are a bit higher than here for some things I suspect I will see less difference than our friends who are coming from Minnnesota (we are gonna tell people they are Canadian so people are nicer to us

gmac

Tickets are booked so I guess this is gonna happen. 

Ozzie_Isaac

On my bucket list!

Btw, they have the best names.  Here is one of their volcano names:

Eyjafjallajökull

Sea2Ski

@gmac congrats.  It is a beautiful place.  If she likes hiking, she is going to love it there! If you like fishing you will too!