Iceland is a wonderful country full of unspoiled nature and friendly people. They call it land of fire and ice, and it´s totally true, even during summer. If you want to visit though, there are some things that could surprise you. Here are some tips and tricks, some of which would have made our holiday even more wonderful have we known them before.
www.road.is
The most important website you absolutely need if you want to drive in Iceland. It gives up-to-date information on road conditions and whether or not a road is open. If you don´t know that, you can find yourself returning to ringroad and loosing a few hours of your trip. Road conditions can change from one hour to another on Iceland, even during summer.
What really surprised us was that most of the roads were closed during June and opened only in last days of June, all of them got open something like mid-July (2016).
Friday night out in Reykjavik is not a must
Most websites and guides claim this, but it is not true. It´s interesting going out in a plain daylight at midnight, but otherwise there is just a few fully packed clubs which are ok, but nothing special.
You need to go to Westfjords
Westfjords, on the other hand, are a must. We didn´t include it in our itinerary and regretted it. At least we´ve got a reason to come back :-). However it is most isolated and barely inhabited part of country, so even squeeze it to say two weeks itinerary may be hard.
Don´t plan too much
Just go wherever you like it and stay there for a while, get to know the locals, relax and enjoy.
Laidback North coast
The best midnight sun, hotpots everywhere, only “cool” tourists, VERY friendly locals and cheaper rates – do I have to say more? 🙂
Unpredictable weather
Always count with the fact that the weather in Iceland can change dramatically from one hour to the other. Take waterproof clothing with you even if you set off on a sunny morning with no cloud in the sight.
Everybody speaks English
Everybody. Even small children. Better then you 😃, most of the time as well.
Vinbúðin
This is the word you need to know if you want to buy some beer or wine. It´s the only place where they sell it, usually located in bigger towns with unpredictable and short opening hours. So be sure to make supplies. It´s very easy to get drunk with the all-present sunlight, though, so take that into consideration as well. You can’t get any real alcohol in supermarkets/gas stations. Only thing they got is weak 2% beer which you don’t want to drink, even at desperate times. You can get beer in pubs, but it´s quite expensive, about 1000 ISK for half liter.
Touristic South
You should see the South Coast. The mightiest volcanoes are there, some beautiful waterfalls as well, along with some (scarce) historical sites. But we suggest you don´t stay for too long, because it´s packed with tourists in tourist buses, therefore more expensive and locals are not that friendly.
Drinkable water
There are two types of water on Iceland. The one that comes from springs is full of sulfur and other stuff, usually you can smell it or at least taste it. This water is usually also used in houses, so tap water is usually not drinkable. The other one comes directly from snow, this one is ok to drink and to replenish your water supplies on a trek. It´s plenty in the North during summer, but almost not at all in the South, where the water from icebergs is usually dirty from volcanic debris.
Where to sleep
In fact, you have only three sensible options, no matter how low or high your planned daily budget is. You should absolutely disregard any normal hotel, which are both insanely expensive and subpar quality in Iceland. So this leaves you with:
Your own tent
Well this is obviously the cheapest, often most romantic, but also often very uncomfortable option. With notoriously unpredictable weather, meaning lot of rain and wind, night temperatures close to zero even in summer, you need to really know what you are doing and have quality tent, good mattress and warm sleeping bag. Believe me, I spent two nights in my very light cycling summer bag, and even wearing half of my clothes I had a long, long cold night.
You can stay at campsites, which are quite reasonably priced, and usually have warm showers, and often thermal hotpot. There also usually is a big warm common room, where you can dry off and warm your bones. As well equipped with all cooking gear and stoves, so you don’t have to cook and eat out in the rain. If you really want to save, you can camp basically anywhere in the wild, if you are not too close to roads or buildings.
Campervan
Second option is to hire a camper van. Do not worry, I do not mean those huge monstrosities you can see in the USA and Dutchmen use to live in and cruise Europe. Those are small vans/estates. Most common example here is Dacia Dokker, which is cheap and reliable. There is a double mattress in the back, gas stove and full cooking gear, independent heating and lot of the times mobile wifi hotspot onboard. I would say that is good middle option.
AirBnB
There is huge AirBnB boom here as anywhere. This is not only great option for you to find cheap roof to sleep under, but to meet great people, get good local tips and just get to know Iceland in different then most touristic angle.