Probably you have heard about the Scandinavian island already, probably it was in the media in connection with the eruption of a volcano, most likely the Eyafjallajökull. And probably you have seen beautiful photographs of green hills, white mountains, the blue ocean, colorful rainbows and waterfalls, black calderas, and huge ice rocks in a light turquoise color. Yes, I am talking about Iceland. It is the country with the northernmost golf course and of course the northernmost capital city, Reykjavík. The Icelandic language is a very special one, including a runic letter as well. If you are curious, you can learn the Icelandic alphabet here: YouTube link.

But back to the stunning Icelandic nature! In case you have watched the film „The secret life of Walter Mitty“, you might also remember the beautiful scene when he rides his longboard down on a road in such a typical Icelandic scenery (YouTube link). And despite the fact that filmmakers and photographers still use filters and might manipulate any visual material: Iceland really is that beautiful. Period.

But Iceland is not only about nice pictures and sceneries to look at. You can really dive into nature with all its treasures – and roughness as well. This means that experiencing it by hiking, biking, running, photographing, camping, simply sitting and observing, etc. as close as possible will bring you the most out of it. But it also means that it could harm you if you are not careful, for example crevasses or hollows beneath wide flats of loose snow. But depending on how you plan and organize you stay, you can simply adjust how extreme it will be.

You can travel and explore Iceland in very different ways. Longer distances can be made by a rental car, buses, or bike. I even saw people going around by hitchhiking. My husband and I did it by rental car for the longer distances and day tours of hiking. I can really recommend this, and I would like to tell a bit about the experiences and give some tips that could be useful for your holidays in Iceland!

Please note: My experiences refer to the month of May in 2016! So if you choose another time of the year for your tip to Iceland, things related to or dependent on the weather or information related to prices might be totally different! Anyway, I can really recommend you to travel Iceland during May, because it is the month when it is least likely to rain or snow, the temperatures are quite pleasant already, and the tourist masses of the summertime are not yet there. In fact, we had almost nonstop sunshine and between four and 13 degrees Celsius.

Traveling all around Iceland in 16 days

Going around the very edge of the island and making dips into the inner parts during day trips, is a good way to see the best of Iceland. We made the whole round in 12 days plus three days in Reykjavík, and half a day for the Golden Circle, which includes a place to watch the tectonic plates of America and Eurasia drifting apart, the area of Geyser, and a beautiful waterfall (Gullfoss). We started in Reykjavík (3 nights stay), and continued clockwise around the island on the Hringvegur (ring road) with major stops in Grundarfjörður, Akureyri, Seyðisfjörður, and Höfn/Skaftafell (3 nights stay each). We ended our trip with one overnight stay in Reykjavík again. On the way back to Keflavík airport, we still had time (~3 hrs) to bath in the Blue Lagoon, the famous geothermal nature open air bath.

Choose a suitable vehicle for your trip, and pany attention to the road conditions

Traveling to Iceland is easy nowadays. A lot of companies operate flights to Reykjavík. We took Airberlin from Stuttgart, Germany. For people coming from or traveling to America, it might be sensible to have a look at Icelandair, because the company offers extended stopovers in Iceland. I’ve heard that even a stopover of one week causes no additional charging.

We decided not to choose the backpacker way of traveling by bus or hitchhiking, but to rent a car from AVIS Budget which was a good choice (we booked it via Sunny Cars including all important insurances which I would highly recommend). We got a Hyundai i30 (normal gasoline, two wheel drive) and even the gravel road worked fine. However, if you also want to drive rougher and steeper roads, which are marked for instance with an A, you should rather go for an off-road model with four wheel drive. We drove 2,900 kilometers and spent roughly 250 Euros for gas. Albeit it was May already, we booked a winter package along with the rental car, including winter tires with spikes, with no extra charging. It is still possible that snow occurs at that time. Be prepared! The Icelandic weather is said to change within five minutes …

Equipment and clothing for your holidays and hiking trips

There are four things that I found particularly helpful during my trip through Iceland, where life happens outdoors:

1. Wear different layers of clothes one above the other: functional, i. e. windproof, fast-drying clothes in combination with woolen stuff such as pullover or scarf are highly recommended, as well as waterproof shoes for hiking. We even had to walk through a flat river.
2. Always have both sunglasses and a windproof hat that covers your ears, as well as additional rainwear with you.
3. Bring own drinking bottles and packaging material (boxes or bags) for lunch and snacks with you. The Icelandic tap water is very good, and together with self-made lunch packages, this saves you a lot of valuable Icelandic crowns!
4. Carry a little bag with the most important health and beauty products with you, such as lipbalm and hand lotion (the cool wind dries out the skin fast), individual medicaments (e. g. against headache), zinc ointment, different kinds of plasters and dressing material, deodorant and mouth spray (if you really love to stay fresh during day, haha). I used one of these transparent one-liter-bags suitable for in-flight hand luggage so I did not have to repack, and stayed fresh at the airport and on the airplane.

But honestly: Besides these four basic things, the most important gadget you should always have at hand is a good camera including a spacious memory card!

To save some money regarding flight and accommodations, we started to plan and book in January already. You better book a rental car well in advance, because the number of your vehicle of choice is limited. Do not forget: Iceland is still not that huge and the number of tourists is increasing.

Highlights: selected places to stay and relax

If you are looking for an accommodation in Akureyri, the major town in the very North of Iceland, I highly recommend you to check out Alma’s Apartment. We rented it via Airbnb. If you want to save some money (accommodations are rather expensive in comparison to other European countries), look for (youth) hostels. The positive side effect is that you can prepare own meals instead of going out for breakfast and dinner, because most hostels have a shared kitchen, where you might meet interesting co-travelers as well! We tried and liked the following two: HI Hostel Grundarfjörður and Hafaldan HI Hostel in Seyðisfjörður.

For a coffee and snack in Reykjavík, you should try „Iða Zimsen – Book Café Grófin“, an old fashioned coffeehouse, and „Micro Roast – Té & Kaffi“.

For a delicious dinner based on fresh and healthy ingredients such as kale, salad, carrots, potatoes and other vegetables, I can recommend „Gló“. Tasty pizza and Icelandic beers in rustic and comfy surroundings can be found at „Pizza with no name“.

Have you had some special experiences in Iceland you would like to share? I am happy to read your comments and receive links to other likeminded blogs 🙂