Recommendations - Iceland Adventure

[Witchhunted]

Hi looking to do a 4-5 day Iceland adventure break including horseriding, geysers etc in October...with 2 adults and 2 teens. Ideally we'd really like all inclusive food (or half board) since food and drink costs are crazy there!

There seem to be a lot of companies around but a number have clearly fake reviews or are a very USA clientele (we are UK). Would really appreciate any recommendations from anyone you've used for similar.

I booked stuff separately as worked out cheaper. Me and DD stayed at the storm hotel, and had Bed & Breakfast. We then used local buses to do Perlan museum (highly recommended), walked to the penis museum (actually family friendly and weirdly fun!) and then used bus travel.is to book both northern lights tour and the big golden circle with blue lagoon tour.

I booked a fantastic package on Iceland Air. Tbey often have discounts. It was a reasonable price. It included coach tours which I thought might be a bit crap but actually they were brilliant because the guides were so knowledgeable.

We did actually find some reasonably priced and good cafes and restaurants in Reykjavik- we went to some places at aimed at backpackers. But yeah, you can very easily spend an arm a leg. The Blue Lagoon is brilliant but so expensive.

The local swimming pools have slides and spa areas and cost hardly anything. That's another good way to have a good holiday without spending an arm and a leg.

We actually found food and drink out wasn't that expensive compared with the UK, but we don't generally eat red meat or drink wine, which was what was most expensive compared with the UK. Lunches in coffee shops were cheaper and better quality than UK chains like Costa. We were also happy to self cater and get easy food for breakfast and occasional dinners from the supermarket - although if you went B&B and had a decent late breakfast, you could probably do without much for lunch.

DBB and AI doesn't necessarily make it cheaper, it's just that it's all paid for up front. Wherever we've been, it's always looked either expensive and poor quality, or very expensive for comparable quality to just buying what we want as and when. Plus there's always the risk you don't like what's on offer but feel like you have to eat it because it's already paid for.

We booked a package with Iceland air and stayed at the borg, then booked our trips on get your guide. I wouldn't go half board, or even bed and breakfast because we found many trips involved being out before breakfast was served, and you'll end up rushing back to the hotel for your dinner each day when you'd rather be out and about. We bought croissants and yogurt etc for breakfast, and slices of pizza or some bread and ham for lunch from the supermarket, then just ate dinner out. There was loads of places near our hotel, a main course cost £15-£20 per person on average, which to be honest isn't much more than here. Alcohol though!!!! Wow! that was pricey.

Highly recommend going to fly over Iceland in Reykjavik, it was bloody brilliant.

Interestingly @Aposterhasnoname, I thought fly Iceland was a bit rubbish for the money, and was over too quick. Great idea but very expensive.

loved Perlan though :)

I don't think All Inclusive would work somewhere like this as you'll be out all day sightseeing. If you really want to keep costs down then I'd go self catering so you don't have to eat out all the time and can take some snacks and basics with you.
Don't underestimate how huge the country is, there's no way you can see it all in a few days. Once you're out of Reykjavik the driving is very easy on big wide open roads. We did a couple of nights near Selfoss with local sightseeing and day trips to Westmannaeyjaber, Gulfoss and Geysir. Then we did a day of driving to Reykjavik via the park where the North American and European plates meet and a couple of nights in Reykjavik. Personally, I could have spent all the time in the countryside as Reykjavik itself didn't do much for me.
Note if you go to any of the hot spring baths there's usually a requirement to shower (communal) naked before you put your swimming cossie on to enter the pools.....just so your teenagers are aware ;)

Another who booked with Icelandair. I checked booking all the constituent elements independently and it was significantly cheaper. We went hotel & breakfast and a couple of trips which worked well. The Golden Circle tour guide was fabulous. A retired professor of history. The blue rinse brigade were under 30 and mainly solo travellers.
There are cheaper eating options available like soup for lunch (a big thing over there), we went to a great place by the harbour for fish soup. Also like any other capital city it has international options. We went to a noodle bar one evening. Loved the trip.

I’ve previously used Icelandic company Troll, they were excellent, would recommend, not cheap but worth the money for me not to have to do the organising. They do all sorts from day excursions to multi day ringroad tours.
Iceland is fabulous, make time to travel all around and not just Reykjavik and the golden circle.

We honestly didn’t spend loads on food. Pizza one night about £18 each - so more than here maybe but not loads. Another amazing fish place maybe £35 each. One day when we were out on a day trip we just grabbed sandwiches from the supermarket.

Is there all inclusive available? We hired a car and found lunch spots that were not too bad. The “high” costs there are not that obvious now unless you do cheap rubbish meals here! Plus nowhere near as bad as USA with their tax and tipping regime! Hiring a car means you get breakfast! It’s easy to drive and parking never an issue but weather might be iffy in October! We had high winds and snow in September.

Thanks everyone this is super helpful. Ok you've persuaded me to ditch AI. For everyone who used Icelandair, what are the flights like? Im a really really nervous flyer and usually only ever fly BA so that's v important to me

And has anyone tried the horseriding excursion through IcelandAir's packages?

Thank you!

we flew IcelandAir and it were really nice. Even though it's a relatively short flight it was more like a long haul flight with blankets and pillows provided. BA aren't that great if that's who you set your levels by!

@Witchhunted We have been with both. There’s really no big difference! We like BA as it’s T5 at Heathrow which is our closest terminal. For 3 hours it’s fine and both are safe! The last trip to Iceland was last summer and we didn’t book the flight and it was Gatwick. They then flew East and we went over the Thames estuary! Then circled round and flew over Bristol and South Wales. It felt as if we avoided West London and areas west of London. So I’d choose your nearest airport but BA have a much bigger fleet if they need to sub an aircraft.