Going to Iceland - clothes?

[40andlovelife]

I'm off to Reikyavik in Iceland in between Christmas and new year. It's going to be freezing I know! What do I need? I have gloves, ear muffs, hat and scarf. In terms of clothes and shoes I don't have a clue what to get! I also have a 12 year old boy who will need stuff too.

Touch screen thermal gloves so you can still operate your phone without taking your gloves off, plus an extra pair of waterproof ones for snow related activities.
When we went, we wore walking boots and re-waterproofed them beforehand.
Good thermal base layers are essential.

Waterproof walking trousers. A waterproof jacket and lots of layers.
I took a big puffy coat the first time but found it less useful than my waterproof walking jacket outside of the city. Lots of warm layers and a waterproof and windproof jacket over it was the key to not freezing.

I took craghopper walking trousers and they were great. They were waterproof and windproof with a cosy lining. I then wore thermal leggings underneath.

Around the city when you’re in and out of museums and churches jeans with thermals underneath were fine but out by the waterfalls where there’s a constant fine mist that gets everywhere. There, or when there’s snow or sideways rain, keeping dry is the most important part of staying warm.

Layers. I’d get thermal under armour type, thin enough and really good for layering heat.

Buy heattech from Uniqlo. The trick is layers. When we went to Antarctica we wore liners inside our gloves, thermals and a high quality fleece under our waterprooof jackets. You can buy waterproof insulated trousers. Don’t forget your feet!

Absolutely thermal leggings and tops to wear under clothes.

I went in a November. It was -10 at the golden circle tour and never been so cold in my life.

Layers! Pick up some good base layers and wear them - layers will keep you warmer than just one big coat.
Iceland can be quite wet and windy so something waterproof and wind proof is ideal (so eg a puffer may not be best as often they are designed for cold but dry conditions).
If you’re going to do northern lights tours or spend lots of time outdoors you could look at the heated pads you can get for hands, back etc.

Mountain warehouse has good base layers. Get those gloves you can operate your phone in. Hiking trousers are a good option, better than jeans because if they do get wet they can be dried quickly. Take waterproof over trousers if doing outdoor activities.

Check the forecasts before you go though. The weather is often pretty much the same in Iceland as the uk. Today it’s 1° colder than where I am in se England.

I agree keeping dry is really important to keeping warm though. And layers. The wind can be biting.

I basically wore ski stuff with thermals underneath and that worked well. You need it to be dry as well as warm because it can be very damp with the cold!

I've just been recently. It's going to be a lot colder in Jan though I should think.

Definately get a neck gaiter. One that is tight. We had that up and a hat over it and our coats hoods up at Gulfoss. It was effing freezing!

Bottom half I had M&S thermal leggings under their walking trousers then waterproof over trousers for waterfalls. I'd get their fleece lined leggings for Jan. Top half icebreaker merino, then a Uniqlo fleece top, wool jumper and Berghuas fleece then Didriksons Parker. I had 5 layers one day!! Obviously once I started moving I overheated! So take a rucksack to put the peeled off layers.

Rest of the family who had a wind proof and waterproof thin coat over a down jacket seemed to do better although my Didrikson is supposed to be windproof.

As mentioned thermal gadget gloves but make sure they fit well. I still had to pull my gloves off because the fingers weren't at the end so didn't work properly.

I found some good blog posts about what to pack.

Anyone else at firts thought it was Iceland the supermarket and went Oh! do they sell clothes now?!

Iceland doesn't get extremely cold. It's quite a mild country really considering its latitude. I'm from the north of Sweden and it's waaaay colder there in the winters but also warmer in the summer. Just dress as if you are going to Scotland or something, that's roughly their winter temperature.

Lava suit. Keep an eye on the foreign office travel advice.

Yeah I wouldn't necessarily assume you'll be able to go to Iceland in 6 weeks. Make sure you keep the receipts for the clothes!

It’s highly unlikely that OP would be unable to travel to Iceland in 6 weeks. Volcanic eruptions are pretty routine in Iceland and most would only restrict travel to the area of the eruption not the country. This eruption would not be an explosive one and I don’t think anyone is really expecting travel to Iceland as a whole to be prevented. They can’t rule it out entirely but it’s not a likely scenario. In fact the last effusive eruption in that peninsula led to increased tourism to the area to view the eruption.

Make sure you take swimming costumes as well as warm weather gear.

But warn your dd that he'll have to shower completely naked before putting his swimming trunks back on before going into the public pools . They're great value though

The Blue Lagoon might still be shut though but the public pools are brilliant.

I would get cheap ski stuff from Lidl. The most important things dd and I took were: waterproof snowboots (i got the cheapest ones off amazon), properly waterproof coats, waterproof over trousers and then Thermals etc. Our favourite bit of the whole trip was the South Shore tour we did which involved walking behind huge waterfalls and plodging through pools..we'd have been lost without waterproof everything! Also remember a swimsuit!

I would say pack for all weathers - and layers is key to this. When we went, admittedly it was in march, but one minute it was like a blizzard, but just a mile or so down the road the sun was out and felt very mild! Have a lovely time

We went about 10 years ago and they had about three feet of snow which our guide said was really unusual. Even the airport was closed. I was very glad to have taken my wellies ❄

Warm boots and decent socks, my feet got really cold.