Iceland....all your info please!

[bramblina]

Planning it for next Easter hols, me, dh and the dcs (11, 8 and 4)

Where to stay- near Reykyavic or not? Best and worst bits?

Surely someone has been to Iceland??

I have :) stayed in Reyjakic, did Golden Circle tour, northern lights chasing, blue lagoon visit. Totally amazing place, scenery was mesmerising. I went pre children about 5 years ago, my eldest is 3 and probs wouldn't take him as he wouldn't like what we did but someone may be along with kiddy friendly stuff. It is pricey there as with all northern countries but food is good.

What do you like to do? How long for? Why are you going to Iceland?

P.s. There are lots of threads already about Iceland with lots of great responses.

I more need to know where to stay, we have decided on our activities on the whole. We don't mind travelling so not necessary to stay near one attraction, as we will be visiting several, so I would like to know if staying near the city is good for a base (evening sights, shops, etc) or actually makes no difference.
We are going for a week, will do the waterfall, geysers, blue lagoon, horse riding, harbour and museums of Reykjavic. We are going because we have always wanted to, and while we spent 2 weeks in Spain this summer in 33 degrees of heat, ds1 (11) was thoroughly miserable, he hates the heat. It will be different. We will definitely have a house with a hot tub.

I would split your time between Reykjavik and then somewhere on the South Coast. If you want a house with a hot tub then the area around Selfoss would be a good idea as it will have lots of options as many Icelandics have summer houses there or if you do consider to do the South Coast as a whole consider somewhere further along towards Hella / Vik. In my eyes what you listed isn't enough for a week. Blue Lagoon - Half a day, Horse Riding - Half a day, Sites of Reykjavik can do in a day, what museums do you want to do? They aren't as big as anything we have over here so could do a few in a day. Golden Circle - Day. Consider adding the South Coast as far as Vik or Hofn if you can make it.

I went there cycling i the summer. It was very cold and very expensive but beautiful. I didn't really like Reykjavik but everything else was worth the trip. I don't think I would go again though as we had to skip meals because we couldn't afford them!

Thanks both.

nmg, what else would you suggest? We're quite a lazy bunch and don't usually get anywhere until about lunchtime! We're never in a desperate hurry to cram much in so one activity per day will probably be fine. You reckon Vik and Hofn are worth the drive?

We might only go for 6 days, we'll choose the best flight times to suit, easyjet's aren't released until October.

Definitely would recommend getting an apartment over staying in a hotel - as above its stupidly expensive to eat out and self catering will make it cheaper. An old school friend of mine rents her flat out on Air BNB and apparently quite a few people are doing this so you might be able to pick up a good deal. Take lots of warm clothes as it'll still be bloody cold! The open air heated pools in Reykavik are ok, horse riding was good and the Blue Lagoon was interesting (the water turns your hair to straw though, sensible people had swimming caps, I didn't!).

I would try and make it to Vik at least. 3 different waterfalls along the way, black volcanic sandy beaches with cool rock formations etc.

We stayed in a log cabin outside Selfoss with a hot tub with DD who was 3. Very quiet, lovely area and we hired a 4x4. Mostly self catered, with the odd meal out. We did Reykavik in a day but went back do to whale watching. The swimming pools are lovely and cheap we went to the ones in Selfoss and the Laugardalslaug in Reykjavik. (Much better than Blue Lagoon.) We also went dog sledding which was a real highlight.
We flew with Wow Air as it worked out cheaper than EasyJet.
Lovely holiday and definitely not hot!! We went at Easter and needed thermals!