Iceland

Lizzie I have a seen a short break to Iceland at the beginning of June, can you give me some info.

Er, so much I could tell you ... but first, a couple of top tips....

If you like to relax with a drink, bring your duty free allowance INTO the country!!! And despite what the posters say in English, the allowance is one litre of spirits and three bottles of wine (or at least, that's what they say in the Icelandic translation).

It is true, beer is #5 a pint.

The cheapest way to spend money is on your Visa card - the exchange rate is better than for cash. And everywhere takes cards (using cash implies you are too poor to get credit!!!!)


Er,lots I can tell you - what does the break include?

Basically..... Reykjavik (where I assume you are staying) isn't up to much, but the countryside around is. There are lots of trips that you can take (if there's a group of you it is cheaper to hire a car), there's a list of excursions on http://www.re.is/tripsList.asp?cid=1

Any questions, just ask away ....

www.visitreykjavik.is has loads of useful info as well.

Cheers Lizzy, the break is 4 days, staying in The Viking Village at Keflavik, with whale watching trips on the 2 middle days, the cost is £800 which seemed a bit steep, its with a company called wildlifeworldwide.com, I've been whalewatching a few times and just thought this would be different from a city break.

Also will we see many whales at this time of the year.

I've been in May before and seen whales, and when I went in early July saw lots of baby dolphins!

Apparently, the best chance you have of seeing whales is in the north of Iceland in a place called Husavik. I've been quite a few times from there, always seen whales, I guess you'll also see them from Keflavik ... does the whale watching company publish sucess statistics? (In Husavik the successful trip rate is about 96%).

Keflavik is a bit like one of those very remote and modern Scottish fishing villages - bleak!. If you get an Icelandic film called The Sea (or Hafið in Icelandic) out on DVD, that will give you an idea what Keflvik is like.

#800 does seem a bit steep, but if it includes all your food its not so bad as a meal for two with a couple of beers in Icelnd will set you back #50+.

And if you stay in Keflavik you must go to the Blue Lagoon...!

I had a similar thread a few months ago, WW. I've boinged it on the General forum.

So Muttley, did they have a good trip...?

Aaah, just looked at the website. The Viing village is actually in a 'burb of Reykjavik called Hafnafjörður - quite pretty.

My one suspicion is that they do take you on an awful lot of sailings, which makes me think that they don´t expect to see a whale on every trip.

Oooh... just seen on the Icelandair website - an 85% chance of seeing a whale if you sail from Reykjavik. So there you go.

They did have a good trip, Lizzy. Muttley Jnr was highly impressed. Coming from a 10-year-old it was all a bit jumbled, but I gather that the highlights were a visit to the Blue Lagoon and eating a reindeer steak in a restaurant. Not sure they have reindeers in Iceland, but that's what he said. As I explained to him, Christmas had gone so might as well make the most of Rudolph!