Reykjavik ICELAND Feb Half Term hints anyone?

[thesugarbumfairy]

Will be me (middle aged fat lady with a replacement hip) 16 nearly 17 year old couch potato and 14 year old up for anything
I was looking at Easter but the flights are way more affordable in Feb so I think thats a better option
Cant do more than 3-4 nights realistically.
Wont be driving so will probably have to take day trips from the hotel.
Any hints before I book flights?
TIA

Taxis are v expensive from airport! Over £100. Everything is expensive really.

If planning to see northern lights book it for first night of your stay as if no lights they allow you rebook (dependent on tour operator). This way you get a couple of tries!

I think blue lagoon has just reopened and whilst we didn't go as it was closed it is supposed to be great although lots of people also say there are less commercialised ones.

Really recommend
www.icelandicfoods.com/ for a really hearty lunch of soup in a bread bowl. Free refills and free waffles!

You do know they're expecting a massive seismic event imminently, yes?

I'd love to go but I doubt you'll get insurance and the lagoon is still not fully repiened, it's on my bucket list but won't be risking anything (least of all money if we can't go) in the near future!

Iceland is always expecting and experiencing seismic activity. The risk of an imminent eruption in reykjanes peninsula is generally being considered to be reducing. Even IF an eruption takes place it js unlikely to cause significant disruption to tourists.
Iceland is open for business and there is no reason not to go or for travel insurance not to be valid.

You can get a bus from the airport to most of the hotels, don’t think you need to do the taxi. The bus trips from Reykjavik are good, and the capital has lovely buildings.

We went at October hand term - me (50s), dh (40s), ds(15) and dd(15). Ee eevtbti the Blue Lagoon 5 days before it closed!

We grew on Iceland Air and they sold bus tickets into Reykavik on the plane. The bus was waiting outside the airport and it was about 45 mins to Reykavik. (It was slightly convoluted in that the bus took us to a central depot, then directed us onto smaller buses that took people to their hotels). The dc were half price, and it was about £90 for all of us. We booked a taxi to go back to the airport a few days later (very early start) which was about £120.

We booked all our excursions via our travel agent before we went, but our details were lost/not passed on in a few cases, so I'd get busy on Google and book direct. There are only actually a few tour providers "on the ground" . Nice Tours seem to be popular!

We stayed centrally in Reykavik and walked everywhere we needed to go in the city,

The excursions we did - Golden Circje tour, Northern Lights evening cruise, whale watching cruise and the Blue Lagoon. We had a day of pottering too.

We didn't find earring out too bad at all:

Street Food Station - About £15/head for meal and drink. Really tasty fish stew - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083399562338

Hippy little cafe on the Rainbow Street, good for cakes and hot chocolates! https://www.babalu.is/menu.html

Reykavik Fish - massive fish and chips, also burgers etc, about £23/head - several branches around Reykavik https://reykjavikfish.is/

Food hall, The Tacos from Fuego Fuego were awesone https://www.hlemmurmatholl.is/english. Was £25/head ish for meal and drink

Lebowski Bar was right next to where we were staying. We didn’t eat there, but it looked fun and reasonably and they do a Happy Hour 4-7 pm https://lebowskibar.is/en/

Braginn - chips, Tacos, burgers etc - in car park for geothermal beach at Nautholic Beach where I went for a swim. About 30 mins walk out of time.

The biggest price shock was £55 for 4 Subway meal deals!

We were self catering, and shopped at "Bonus" - a budget supermarket similar to Lidl etc which was maybe 20% more expensive than the UK.

By the time we left in early Nov, daylight was about 9am/4pm and average temp was about 0degrees C. The travel advice we got was that, if we had to stick to school holidays, then the best balance of dark/light/seeing nothern lights/cold, was the go at October or Easter. I'd Google sunrise/sunset times and temperature before commiting to Feb half term. Even in November, we only just made it round the sights of the Golden Circle in daylight. We definitely wouldn't have seen the whales we did in darkness either. There a reason why February is cheaper than Easter.

But, as a geologist married to a geologist, we had a great time, and even the grumpy teens were reasonably impressed.

Everyone spoke English too. The tourism and hospitality industries are very international - the only Icelander we met was the pilot of the whale watching boat.

Take proper windproof and waterproof clothing. It will be very very cold. And windy. Iceland wind even in summer can be absolutely blasting.
Its a nice small city, walkable, very clean, everyone speaks immaculate English, and VERY expensive. Various museums to see.
Easy to get the bus from the airport, it’s a 45mins or so drive.
The weather will determine what trips, if any, you can do from the city. There’s various local tour companies that all do similar trips, such as Troll and Artic Adventures. If the weather allows, try and do an ice cave tour, great fun. Whale watching boat trips, again weather dependent.
The Snaefellsnes peninsula is not too far a drive from the city, I’d recommend getting a day tour up there, great scenery.
If any of you are Game of Thrones fans, many scenes were filmed in Iceland.

Perlan museum is fab and easy to get to. a great half day out.
The penis museum is actually very family friendly and me and my 9 year old had a right laugh there.
There is a pizza place close to the bus station. Cost around £24 for a large (huge!) pizza which was the cheapest I ate over there.
go to the church and and get the lift to the top.

busiceland.is are awesome for tours. Book Northern lights for the first night. You'll get to go again if you don't see them.
we also did golden circle tour which was fab and had blue lagoon in that.

book an airport transfer with a bus company.

Everyobe speaks perfect English and are fabulously lovely.

We went in Feb half term a few years ago. We took the bus from the airport.

We booked tours before we went and the advice above about Northern Lights on your first night is a good one as they do rebook. We saw the in the first night.
We booked tours before we went and did the standard golden circle and a glacier tour.

If you stand facing the cathedral and turn left down the nearest street there is a fabulous cinnamon bun shop! Make sure you go up the cathedral tower as the views are stunning.

Top tip - buy the ice grips for your shoes before you go - we had loads of snow and ice and really needed them. Lots of people falling over. They are really expensive out there.

We went October half term.
Definitely stay in central Rejkavik.
We did and enjoyed:
Cathedral Tower - there is a lift. Great panorama views
An escape room - in english
The lava show - really good and near to a delicious ice cream place
Book restaurants you really want to go to. Lots of places are full in the evening and don’t take walk ins.
The Perlan museum is easily a half day if not more if you do it all.
We also did the lava tunnel - we had a car but there are shuttle buses.
We went to the secret lagoon - it was really nice. The add in ritual is not worth the extra money imo.
Agree about the northern light tip.
It’s so very cold. Don’t plan to walk long distances - use Public transport or pop in an out of shops to warm up.

Breaking news of a volcanic eruption

The risk of an imminent eruption in reykjanes peninsula is generally being considered to be reducing.

Spoke too soon 😂

I know 😂🤣😂 volcanoes are nothing if not unpredictable! It had all gone quiet - reduced total number of earthquakes and those earthquakes being smaller in magnitude.

But I stand by the rest of what I said. Iceland is and is likely to remain open for business. The road to and from the airport is currently closed but is likely to be reopened soon. Lava is not headed in that direction and the airport remains open.
I would cross Blue Lagoon off the list of destinations though. I suspect this may well be the end of both the lagoon and the power plant.

Thoughts are with all those who live in the local area

Thanks for the information all. Very helpful. But my timing is terrible as usual. I very much still would like to visit but the kids are now a bit reluctant having seen the news. Understandably. So may postpone this one.

I'd still consider it. I'm looking to go between Xmas and NY because of the eruption. It would be awesome to see it.

It's completely safe to go to Iceland, don't be alarmed by the volcano.

It can't hurt you unless you go up to it and jump in. Or go up to it and stand in the gas cloud and breathe in all the sulphur dioxide. This will be hard because you will have to sneak past the police (because it is not allowed to approach it unless you're a scientist or journalist or something) and then hike 10 km over extremely rough and unfamiliar terrain. If you don't die you'll have to hike 10 km back again. It would be quite a feat.

And it's pretty unlikely to last until February anyway.

Thats reassuring @Puffinshop thank you. I'm due to fly out later this week and stay until the new year and I've been swinging between wanting to come anyway and being a nervous about it.

Aaah @Puffinshop , thank you for this. I've been looking at how accessible it is currently and I'd seen the police were still keeping it out of bounds. If it settles down I'd still love to come and see it.

I fell utterly in love with Iceland when I came in January. And I regret not buying something I saw out there, so keep telling myself I need to return to treat myself :)

In February they do have a lovely winter lights festival in Reykjavik, but I think it's the start of the month usually and I haven't got as far as checking when half term is 😂.

We have hired a car at that time of year and got along fine, drove a short way out of town, sat in a parking spot and caught the Northern lights ourselves without a tour. Lots of others around doing the same.

Sorry just reread and saw you won't be driving!

@thesugarbumfairy I would advise not going in Feb. It will be really cold and not many hours of daylight every day (maybe 6-7)