Help booking Iceland

[youngfreeandnotsingle]

I'm looking to book a few days away in Iceland for the beginning of next year and I'm struggling to find any packages. Wanting to book it as soon as possible so that I can pay lower amounts each month.

It would be easier to book it as a package but I'm open to booking everything separate if that's the best way. Has anyone been to Iceland? Who's the best to book with?

Also wanting to book Northern Lights tour, blue lagoon etc, it's a special birthday so want to make it memorable. Any advice would be really appreciated!

Thank you!

I booked everything separately and it was very easy. I would advise waiting until you get there to book the northern lights tour - they are not visible every night, your hotel reception will be able to tell you if trips are running and book you on one.

Hi OP

I booked separately too it was cheaper than other packages although, holiday pirates often have good deals on Iceland as a package so could we worth looking on there? They had no deals on when I was looking though otherwise I’d have used them.

We flew with Icelandic Air from Manchester, Booked a hotel through booking.com and just arranged a transfer at the airport once there. Although you can easily arrange this online beforehand but there is a desk to do this once landed (I’m not sure if it was cheaper as we went last January!)

I agree on the Northern lights we booked online and luckily it did go ahead and we seen them. A lot of people I know had to keep to re arranging as the visibility was poor. I’d recommend booking the blue lagoon (it was definately my favourite part!) online. We also did a glacier walk which was beautiful, one thing I wish we did was hire a car a few of my friends have since and they got around much easier than we did!

Don't book the northern lights tour until you get there. If the weather is bad they get cancelled. They let you go the next night but that only works if you're there for a long time. They don't give refunds. We were there 4 nights and tours didn't run at all.

Blue lagoon is an absolute must!

Download the appy hour app to find where you can get drinks a bit cheaper!

We booked a lodge with hot tub through bungalo for 8 of us,£400 for 4 nights. It was cheaper to drive to Gatwick than fly from our nearest airport by £150pp (less than half the price) . Cheapest car rental we found was lotus (half the price of other places even with zero excess)

Geysir and blue lagoon are musts. Also recommend horse riding at Laxnes Horse farm who are open year round.

Oh, loads of useful information, thank you! Yeah thought booking it separately might be the best way to go, struggling to find packages but seems straight forward enough. Think you can book transfers through the airport website too

Glad I mentioned Northern Lights, hadn't even thought about booking ahead and the chance of them being cancelled, Groupon had offers for various trips so will definitely look at booking it when we get there!

Yes, I booked sepearely too ... Easyjet and booking.com.
We booked a bus back to the airport that dropped you off at the blue lagoon on the way to the airport for a few hours, as its not so far from the airport. The BL seemed pretty much set up for this with luggage storage etc. But a word of warning, either cover your hair in conditioner or dont let it get wet as it destroyed my hair, it was weeks before it was back to normal!!

I second the conditioner! I also recommend taking your own towel (any other colour than white) as my robe and towel disappeared from the hook.

If time permits, I also recommend eating in the Blue Laggon restaurant - it was pricey (Iceland is anyway to be fair) but the food is absolutely gorgeous & our package included a free glass of processo - I was sold!

Booking separately is easier :) we also took the bus to the airport that stops at the blue lagoon.

We are going at the start of November, 3 nights in Iceland and 3 nights in New York, booked as a package with Hayes Travel Agents.

We booked separately too. It's very easy. You'll have a great time. We loved it so much.
Tips:
Book your northern lights tour for the night of your arrival day. Because if you don't see them, you have time to try another night.
Some of the Golden Circle tours also include a starlit trip to the Secret Lagoon. It's so lovely lying in the steamy water looking up at the sky.

I loved Blue Lagoon. Some people think it's a rip off but I thought it was so relaxing. Spent hours in the water and could have stayed longer.

Resto is a very good restaurant if you like fish.

I'm envious. Would love to go back.

Thank you for all the advice, it's really useful! By myself on booking this as trying to organise it as a suprise for DPs birthday so I can't discuss plans with him haha

Any nice hotel recommendations?

Had a look at the golden circle and that looks really good too!

We stayed in a nice hotel, it was a budget one however, I’d definately go back. I wasn’t too bothered about an amazing hotel in Iceland as I knew we’d be out most of the day (and we were!) we literally just crashed there for the night and was out early morning. We stayed for 3 nights.

It’s called the Capital Inn (it is approx 15 mins away from the main part of Reykjavík) & on booking.com. There are regular buses from outside the hotel too.

I also booked this trip for my DPs birthday last year, I was so excited I struggled not to tell him and told him after I booked the flights and hotel!

We didn’t get chance to do the Golden Circle but a lot of people recommended this to us. We booked a whale watching tour but unfortunately the weather wasn’t great so was cancelled which I was gutted about.

We used get your guide to book the whale watching, glacier walk and northern lights. We booked the Blue Lagoon directly on their site, but as others say you can arrange to go with your transfers.

I can honestly say it’s one my favourite places I’ve ever visited. It was amazing.

a recent thread

Just want to thank everyone for your help, I've booked the flights with IcelandAir (they'd dropped by around £200 within a month or so, glad I didn't book them straight away!) and reserved a room on Booking.com, I've so far managed to keep it a secret for 2 whole days, 9 months to go!! Wish me luck hahah

Sorry, forgot this post was under my old username!!

Also booked all completely separately. We stayed in an Air b&b was in a great location, free parking and meant we could eat in for some meals too which cut down costs.

Agree with downloading 'appy hour'. Please hire a car and drive to see the sights yourself. The tours are very expensive and very restricting, it's so easy to drive in Iceland and you don't have the freedom to explore as much.

Hiring a car sounds like a good idea, haven't drove in a while but plenty of time to get some practice in before we go, i'll have a look at that app! Thank you😊

Is it possible to hire a camper van and self cater? Is supermarket food really expensive? Or just imported food ?

Everything is expensive we found Subway at £10 each was cheapest food, we booked an excellent apartment and lived off frozen Pizza £5 each pizza! Spent the rest on trips etc, hired a car drove to Blue Lagoon Tectonic plate things, northern lights, golden Triangle,Northern lights well drove but didn't see them, We went the week before Christmas, it was good but cold and wet many roads are just ice but studded tyres are fine, just take care
www.bluemountainapartments.is