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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

Iceland

12 replies

zafferana · 21/04/2022 08:03

Vaguely starting to think about next summer and wondering if a family trip to Iceland might be good, but I'd love to hear from anyone who's been there in summer with DC. Mine will be 12 and 15 and they like outdoorsy stuff, although the older one gets arsey when he can't get access to the internet as his preferred way of listening to music is via Spotify ...

My vague idea is to have a couple of nights in Reykjavik, then either hire a car and drive in a big loop around Iceland or do a 7 or 10-day guided tour. I'd love us to see a bit of everything - volcanoes, geysers, waterfalls, hot pools, rugged landscapes. We'd be up for hiking, although nothing more strenuous than moderate ones as we're city dwellers and not terribly rugged.

Can anyone recommend a tour operator or a tour that they've done and loved with teens/tweens and tell me whether they enjoyed it? I'd say my kids are easily bored, so is Iceland a good idea or actually not?

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OctopusSay · 21/04/2022 08:06

I'd love to know too. DS2 has wanted to go for years but it was too expensive for us to go as a family. This year we could feasibly go just he and I...

I generally find you're better off with a guide than self drive, or you don't really know what you're looking at, but of course that also increases cost.

Original poster
zafferana · 21/04/2022 09:08

OctopusSay · 21/04/2022 08:06

I'd love to know too. DS2 has wanted to go for years but it was too expensive for us to go as a family. This year we could feasibly go just he and I...

I generally find you're better off with a guide than self drive, or you don't really know what you're looking at, but of course that also increases cost.

Yes, I'm looking at a few itineraries at the moment and it seems the cost is roughly double if you do a guided tour. I do think my kids would enjoy a group tour more though than just the four of us traipsing around on our own. Also, my DH can be a bit of a grump, so if we're just doing our own thing he'll decide at the last minute that he doesn't want to do something, which is really shit, because then I'm trying to find something else to do that he will agree to, which is often not as good.

We had that last summer, when I had researched loads of fun stuff to do and several times he got the arse about the cost or claimed he was tired and so we didn't do it. With a guide, he wouldn't get the choice and so we'd do it, and my experience is that you nearly always enjoy something that's been specially chosen as worth visiting.

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emmathedilemma · 21/04/2022 09:16

I went a few years ago with some friends. Amazing country but soooooo expensive! We went west first and did a few nights in Selfoss from which we did day trips to Vestmannaeyjar island and to Geysir and the big waterfall nearby (name escapes me!). Then we took a day driving north via Þingvellir where the tectonic plates meet, then a couple of days in Reykjavik. We didn't enjoy Reykjavik as much as the countryside so in hindsight we perhaps should have spent more time on the road. I didn't do a thermal baths, although some of the group who arrived a couple of days earlier did (I wasn't too fussed about this as the ones in Budapest brought me out in a head to toe rash!!). Driving was easy once you're out of Reykjavik - big open roads and not many of them so it's easy to navigate.
if you're going with kids I would plan your own trip so you can go at your own pace and they can have some input to the planning. I'm trying to imagine anything worse than a grumpy teenager on a coach tour!! 😬
I'd recommend self-catering as the price of food is eye watering. We took some basics such as a bag of pasta, some cereal, snacks etc in our luggage. We rented the Selfoss property through this site Bungalo - The Largest Selection of Cottages in Iceland and i think the Reykjavik apartment was through booking.com.

futuremoneyinbank · 21/04/2022 09:19

I'd second a guide. You want to enjoy the experience too and as much as reading up on the area is useful in advance, trying to enjoy it/ explain it/get good pictures/ keep kids entertained as well as driving there yourself, is a big ask to do every day without issue. Simple for couples with no responsibilities but with families you're better off with the camaraderie of a group with other people around to take pictures of the family/better stories than in the guide book from a local, IMO.

OctopusSay · 21/04/2022 09:19

I'm not sure if fancy it, but one option is a cruise. You sleep and eat (mostly) on the ship and do excursions to Iceland itself, so it seems more affordable.

Original poster
zafferana · 21/04/2022 09:24

OctopusSay · 21/04/2022 09:19

I'm not sure if fancy it, but one option is a cruise. You sleep and eat (mostly) on the ship and do excursions to Iceland itself, so it seems more affordable.

I definitely don't want to do a cruise. I get seasick and I want to see the landscape, not the sea!

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Gowithme · 21/04/2022 09:59

Unless you want to see 100 different waterfalls I wouldn't bother going all round the country. We did a day tour to the Blue Lagoon which I loved, a day tour round the golden circle (waterfalls and geyser) and a day tour to Jokulsarlon which was amazing - all from Reykjavik.

I haven't hiked in Iceland but there are plenty of amazing places in the west to hike. There's public transport from Reykjavik to Mount Esja for a day hike I believe, but my choice for more involved hiking would be the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, Laugavegur or Landmannalaugar which are all out west.

Gowithme · 21/04/2022 10:00

Oh is an amazing place to visit and I'd highly recommend!

Rugbycomet · 21/04/2022 10:11

Amazing country to visit. Everyone is so friendly. I’d recommend a guide too. I wouldn’t fancy breaking down in a car in the middle of nowhere. Just bear in mind that during the summer, the sun sets and rises within a few minutes and so ensure the hotel has blackout curtains if you want to sleep!
I would love to return. Enjoy!

TizerorFizz · 21/04/2022 23:08

I think DC would love a Superjeep tour. They are not cheap but are really good fun. Also book a trip to see the whales. Best places are in the north coast but you can go from Reykjavik. We also went to an open air museum and did the golden ring. I’m not certain it’s ideal for teens who get bored but if they are doing Geography GCSE it’s brilliant! Volcanoes, geysers, waterfalls, sea life etc.

If isn’t a cheep place. It has lots of hiking opportunities and fantastic scenery. My DD went as a teen when she was at school. I would not go all the way round. A guide book such as Lonely Planet will help you plan. We liked being in our own car but we didn’t rush around. Driving is very easy. If you want company get a tour. Not sure if teens will be on a tour though.

PuggyMum · 21/04/2022 23:22

I know you said no to a cruise but honestly it's the only way I would do Iceland again.
We did 3 stops and went on the bus tours which were amazing. We didn't do the hiking tours as dd was only 4.
We definitely will go back and I would hire a camper-van to explore under our own steam but in the meantime I'd cruise there again in a heartbeat as it's mega expensive.
Sunbathing on the deck with Iceland in the background was heavenly and we saw the northern lights once away from Reykjavik.

Original poster
zafferana · 22/04/2022 08:54

Thanks for all the info everyone - it's really helpful - but I think actually it's convinced me that Iceland probably isn't the place to take our DC for a week or 10 days. I would love it, because I'm a geography/natural science nerd, but I think the DC would be bored after a day or two. So I think if we are going to go it would need to just be for a long weekend, hit the Blue Lagoon, see a couple of waterfalls, a geyser or two, and we will have to go to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, because Jules Verne's 'A Journey to the Centre of the Earth' was my favourite book as a child! So again, thank you. MNers rock 🤩

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