Iceland in December - tips please

[CrazyCatLady159]

Hi!
Going Iceland in December for 4 days. Have hired a car so will be doing the golden circle, chasing the northern lights & have booked the blue lagoon for our final day before heading back to the airport.

Does anyone have any tips / food places etc that we haven't thought of
Thanks!

Definitely eat in the Lava restaurant at the Blue Lagoon. It’s the fancy option but the price is still the same as in the restaurants in Reykjavík. It’s amazing food, fresh fish, great lamb and the butter they serve OMG! It’s a mix of Icelandic butter, skyr (the famous Icelandic yogurt) and probably drops from heaven. The look of the place is stunning, the drinks are fantastic and the staff is outstanding.

Haukadalur has a restaurant/gift shop where you can warm up with soup. Also, the traditional Icelandic meat soup that is served inGullfoss café is also delicious, and there's afree refill of it.

Not as well known as the other Golden Circle attractions, Kerid Crater is definitely worth a quick stop if you have the time. Hiking down to the bottom of the crater only takes 5 minutes.

Gjabakkahellir is a lava tube cave in Thingvellir National Park. During the winter, magnificent ice sculptures can often be found in this cave. It’s only a 50 metre walk from the road to the opening of the cave.

@Ricekrispie22 thank you!

I'm going to look into these places lol I'm so excited 😆 probably will only go once so want to squeeze everything in while we're there

I wouldn’t do the blue lagoon. I found it insanely overcrowded. The secret lagoon is meant to be better.

Are you very confident driving in harsh weather conditions in winter? Only reason I ask is my partner grew up in the French alps and honestly wasn’t prepared for the awful conditions. I wish we hadn’t hired a car....

I definitely recommend going for a ride on an Icelandic horse. Doesn't matter if you've never ridden before -- they are rather like friendly chairs. Definitely of the best things I did last time I was in Iceland. There are a few places on the way to the Blue Lagoon from Reykjavik.

Secret lagoon was amazing!!! Also be prepared for rain, we went beginning of Dec a couple of years ago and it rained throughout but no snow 😢 Lastly when in Reykjavik and visiting the hot dog stand - go to the Christmas shop opposite!!! It's really cute!!

Secret lagoon...

If you have an evening in Reykjavik try to go to the Grillmarket (www.grillmarkadurinn.is/en/) the tasting menu is sublime x

We're doing pretty much the same trip!

Are you sure about doing your own tour? Do you have any experience? We booked through a company and they were telling us about the chaos inexperienced tourists cause on those roads after dark. We saw it for ourselves too. Cars just pulled over to the side, and you can't see them until you're almost on top of them. We had to swerve a couple of times.
A guided tour will be able to take you to places that you won't be able to get to, they are knowledgeable and will do everything they can to show you, whereas you could miss them being inexperienced. We used Time Tours and they were incredible.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g189970-d2054736-Reviews-Time_Tours-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html

The hot dog stand will be the cheapest meal you'll get the whole time. We stayed in the Radisson Blu next to it and our room overlooked the stand, we didn't know why there was always a queue and hoardes of mostly Asian tourists taking selfies from multiple angles. Turns out Clinton made it famous. Husband said the hot dogs were amazing.

Go to Dillon's. Awesome whiskey bar.

Budget. And then triple it. We had lunch at the Lebowski bar. Just a veggie burger/fries for me and burger/fries for DH. £50. It's about £10 a pint. £8 for a wrap from the local shop that cost me £2.50 for an identical one in Tesco the next day.

Wrap up warm for your NL tour. I went for thermal underlayer, waterproof/windproof trousers, traditional Icelandic wool jumper and waterproof/windproof coat. Plus gloves, pashmina and Ice Wear hat (bought there) and my Dublin boots.
DO NOT layer your socks or wear tights. Your feet will freeze. Invest in wool socks either there (you can get them everywhere) or before you go. You only need to wear one pair.

Go up Hallgrimskirkja church. Views are incredible.

Go to the Harpa. Feel like you're the size of the ant.

The floor in the centre of Reykjavik has underfloor heating. Amazing as you don't slip, there's no ice. Be careful if you go down to the Viking sculpture. It's not heated down there and is super slippery.

Have an amazing time!

View from Hallgrimskirkja

Whoops. This is the one I meant to upload

I'm so glad I started this now! Thanks everyone 

I'm not going on my own so will be sharing the driving with another adult; my best friend went and hired a car and she said it was fine; it was their first time too - they just followed a tour bus for the NL  and saved themselves the money ha! But they did say it took a few attempts to find the lights.

I was hoping for snow - but just incase I got rain I did buy a new waterproof coat & thermals too.
Also looking to find my timberland boots as they're probably safer than my ugg boots.

@samlovesdilys that looks AMAZING! Going to squeeze that in too probably just going to spend all my time in lagoons and chasing lights! Ha

It was amazing. Much less commercial than blue lagoon I think, we also had lunch at gulfoss which was lovely. Have to say our guide was also fab, took us a completely different route through the national park, saw pingvellir and lots of other little things which emphasised how strikingly different the country is, it was booked through trip advisor...if you are there a couple of Sats are you going to make it down to the southern black beaches?? Also stunning. There is a waterfall you can walk behind and we booked a morning walking on the glacier which the kids LOVED!!

I took this on my phone on our tour. The photos that the guides emailed us are much better as they have higher quality cameras. They also took the photos so that we could concentrate on watching.

You won't find this spot without a tour guide. If you're planning to follow a coach, you'll end up with crowds. We went for a minibus tour and had all the spots to ourselves. At this spot our guide (the owner of the company) gave out hot chocolate and marshmallows too as part of the tour. We were on the minibus with three other couple.

Please have a look at the link I posted. I'd really encourage you to book with them rather than try to do it yourself. You could wind up missing the lights, or worse get hurt. Having been in that minibus on those roads at night, there is no way I would have wanted to drive it and I'm a confident, experienced driver.

In the picture, you can sort of see the road leading to the farm. It was completely covered in snow and ice.

Will it even get light in Iceland in December?

I have driven in some bad conditions Iceland was the worst, make sure you have a sat nav and charge in your phone, take your time and plan the journey. We did the Blue lagoon, then drove to the nearest town can't remember the name only one has a stadium? Then drove a desolate road towards the airport Geysers and tectonic plates on the way
Golden triangle is excellent Bonus supermarkets are cheap, we lived on £5 pizza left more cash for other stuff

Umm. Have you really thought about car hire carefully? Apart from anything else ( we went in the summer even then hanging in the side of a cliff on the main ring road is pretty terrifying in the driving rain ).

Please make a huge note that your hire car will not be insured if you go off the main road anyway ! That’s huge. Not just the car but damage to other car or people etc not covered.

I'm flying there for a week on Wed.

All my research said do NOT consider self driving in winter unless you've a great deal of extreme weather driving experience.

Unfortunately for me, the Northern Light forecast for the next 7 days is v low and rain all week. Boo

There’s a discount coupon book available for free in most hotels. We ate at Kol by the church - was fabulous! With the coupon, we got 20% off our meal and had the wine to go with it.

We also did a food walking tour with Wake Up Reykjavík. Highly recommend.

Buffet lunch in the hotel at the geyser was great.

Leave plenty of time for the blue lagoon, you don’t want to be rushed, you need time to shower/dress too. also second eating there at the Lava restaurant.

Also advise against car hire here too. Or at least budget to be able to dump the car and jump on some tours.

In winter that terrain can be treacherous. If it snows you may not even be able to see the road.

There are so many amazing places that you probably need local knowledge to find especially if you are only going for a few days.

Expect to spend a huge amount more money than you think you will.

Secret lagoon is amazing at night, we sat in the lagoon in the dark, drinking a glass of wine with snow falling on our heads.

The Iceland museum in Reykjavik is worth a visit.

The Perlan is great with the glacia museum.

There is a shopping centre just outside Reykjavik where you can see down into the earth following an earth quake.

The most awesome place on earth. I've been twice and am desperate to go again.

@thatmustbenigelwiththebrie (which is the best user name I've seen on here by the way).

Yes, it does get light for a few hours. We went in January of this year and it was light from roughly 11am to 4pm. Though it wasn't pitch black either side either. It gets light and dark gradually.

@CrazyCatLady159
You need to be right away from the light pollution of Reykjavik to see the lights. Which means you literally end up in the arse end of nowhere. You plan to 'just follow the tour bus' is flawed. What if you lose them at a junction on the way out of Reykjavik? What if they go off-road (they will)? Your insurance is then invalidated. What if they leave the viewing spot before you do?

Our tour (linked above) was £90 for the two of us. We were picked up outside our hotel at 9pm and returned back at 1am. It was excellent value for money.

If you are going to Iceland, you are going to hemorrhage money. Don't skimp on £45 each. Out there it's the equivalent of 4.5 pints. It's the best value money you will spend the whole trip.

PS. I'm not on commission for Time Tours by the way. I just believe in sharing excellent service when I get it. Also 5 stars with over 800 reviews on TA is quite something. It's rare to see that rating. That's the main reason we booked through them.

The agree with PP, definitely eat at the restaurant at the Blue Lagoon, we had a lovely meal and agree about THAT butter!!

We did both the blue lagoon and secret lagoon, both very enjoyable but not comparable as very different experiences. (One slick fancy spa type place, other natural hot pool with the locals)

I would seriously consider not driving the golden circle. We went in the summer and self drove and even then when the weather changed it was pretty scary at times. There are some v cool tours on 4x4 mini bus things that looked v cool and much better than the standard coaches. Expensive I'm sure but would be much more fun and less stressful!

In Reykjavik I'd recommend Braud and Co (amazing bakery), ROK near the church for dinner. The cafe at the geyser on circle had delicious food. Nothing is cheap so accept it'll cost a fair amount, but it is a fab place!