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We have been to Iceland twice, one trip was a 2+ week self drive of entire Ring Road and ancillary roads, with 2nd trip a circumnavigation of the country with ~8 'port' stops of the usual coastal towns; 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Icelandair out of EWR both trips, Saga class (sort of 1990s domestic biz class like), all flights were fine and no prob with Rez/communication with airline, etc. All Pre-Covid in terms of airline 'experience'.
A week in Reykjavik is maybe a day or two more than one needs, but YMMV.
Several of the coastal towns around the entire perimeter are worth seeing; Akureyri is the 'capitol of the North', for example.
Cold is relative and difficult to predict weather there in any of S,S,Autumn months; it was snowing last week in the northern sections and yesterday there was a v high wind warning in those sections with a few self drive rental camper vans flipped over.
We were there in late August and in October on our trips: I wore golf shorts/sweatshirt, sneakers every day with an occasional wind/rain breaker, and wind/rain pants a couple of times.
Generally, weather is milder but with potential for more rain in Reykjavik and SE coast, vs north/north west areas your possible time of travel.
Nearly every town has a community pool, some are 'driven' by the warm(er) underground water system. Nearly every motel, joint we stayed at had access to a pool or a small pond like 'warm spring' on or a short hike from motel.
All of Iceland is as pricey as Tokyo or more, from a beer to a pizza, to whatever. Is what it is.
We preferred the self drive vs the small ship cruise: we could do/see what we wanted to, no time frame, but the Windstar small ship did have advantage of slight personal travel and no unpacking/packing, and food on ship was outstanding and part of the cruise cost. Camping, camper vans, couch surfing, hostels are not our sleep mode.
Everyone in the country speaks v good English, though some elders like me, 75, may not be as adept in their 2nd or 3rd language as the younger people.
Remarkable scenery, sights/sites, country and people, in our experience.
My 50Cts opin...
GL, mD
If the OP is on FiscalBook there are several 'Iceland' groups there, most allow reading before 'joining a group', and most groups have a plethora of good info & opins vs TA, et al.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences there. Exactly what I wanted to hear. I know it's pricey, but so what. Only going to be there a couple weeks. I think TA is useless and not on FB, but I am learning a lot right here! Plus, I have a friend there who can fill us in.
I would only be in the capital a couple days, the rest of the time on a tour.
How fun you got to go on a small ship! I'd like to work a cruise into it somehow....like fly to Rome and get the repositioning cruise back to Miami. It's so much hassle to travel, we like to make it LAST....over a month or 2, at least.
We go in May, staying about a week in Reykjavik. We have booked a short cruise to watch puffins, a food tour of Reykjavik, a lava tube tour and an all day mini-bus trip along the coast.
I went to Iceland by myself for 10 days and drove from Reykjavik to various towns along the southeast coast.
Nope, I didn't see any hot springs other than the Blue Lagoon, which is man-made. They might be around but you'd have to hike to them or drive a back road in a 4X4 to get to them. They aren't simply popping up everywhere as the tourism industry hypes. If you are with a tour group, you'll probably go to the Blue Lagoon.
Iceland is very rural and the few towns that I stayed in didn't have much to see or do. I booked 2 tours--one to see puffins and a hiking/4x4 tour.
Also, I encountered heavy rain almost every day in Iceland and it was cold. You are not going to be sitting in hot springs when it's raining heavily.
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