Holiday in Iceland - Advice please

[meanmum]

Can anyone tell me what airport I should fly into if we go for a weekend away in Iceland? There are 2 on the website I'm looking at Akureyri or Saudarkrokur. We want something close in to Reyjkavik (sp)

Also, does anyone know any travel agents that do a package deal of flights and accommodation to see if I can get it cheaper. We want to go for four days over the last weekend in June. There will be 4 adults and ds who is under 2.

Advice on where to go would be good too.

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Planning a trip to Iceland? This thread is a pretty old and some of the recommendations are out of date. For a handy round-up of Mumsnetters’ advice on when to go, what to do, where to stay, and how to save a few pennies along the way, take a look at our guide to Iceland holidays. MNHQ.

ive got the lonely planet on iceland ill go and look

keflavik is the reikjavic airport i looked at icelandair and it`s soooooooo expensive over £2000 for 3 of you,i keep on looking on my book

We went to Iceland before ds. It is a fantastic country - can be a bit damp and chilly but the scenery is gorgeous. I would recommend flying into Reykjavik (Akureyri is in the north, haven't heard of the other place you mention!) - the "big" sites can be done as day trips from there or at least make it your first stop. Wouldn't recommend more than a couple of nights (at most)actually sightseeing there though - it is an attractive city but you can walk it comfortably in a day. We booked our trip ourselves by researching stuff on the internet - but Icelandair do shortbreaks and so do Arctic Experience. In fact I would recommend getting an Artic Experience brochure to scour for ideas if you havent got that already. If you walk into a travel agent you might get a bit of help about Reykjavik (now popular city break) - but not I suspect much else... It is a v expensive destination to visit in terms of accommodation and eating out. Supermarkets are well stocked but again expensive as everything is imported with it being an island. However you will be able to get plenty of dairy products for ds as they are big on that (and fish...of all descriptions). For a first trip a visit to Reykjavik and the "Golden Circle" trips you can do from there would be ideal. If you want to know anything else I'll try and help ...we went about 2 years ago.
Have fun!

Thanks, I just did a search and found it expensive too. I think the way to justify it is by flying via there to America. It may have to be another time I'm afraid.

Mum and Dad are here and it's one of the few places they haven't been so thought it would be good. I also really, really want to go there but I doubt we'll have time and for such money.

They're coming to help redecorate our flat so looks like I'll just keep them chained to the flat. Loads of wallpaper stripping, painting and sanding to do so they won't run out of work.

Thanks Nappybrain. I posted without realising you had. I'll investigate Arctic Breaks as Iceland Air are expensive on their website. Mind you I'll call them as sometimes the deals aren't always on the web. Perfect news that a couple of days is good as that is all we really want so will suit us perfectly. I just want to sit in one of their hot springs.

Do you think ds could sit in one. He's 15 months. Likes his water hot like me but I don't want to overheat him and may hold off until he is older so he can join in if it's not adviced for young ones to go in.

British Midland fly there for (for eg going weekend of 23rd May, back 25th) £306 rtn each. Found this on www.deckchair.com

I went to Iceland on a field trip when I was at Uni (advantages of studying Geography) and it only cost me £100 - heavily subsidised obviously.
Worth a visit at this time of year - but to see the midnight sun you have to go to the very north and then climb a mountain as it is just south of the arctic circle. It is expensive but WORTH IT! I spent most of my time there crawling round a glacier in crampons but I liked that!
If you are only going for 4 days then it would have to be Keflavik airport for Rekyjavik. Its a nice city and very trendy these days, and small and compact so easy to manage on foot. I stayed on after the field trip and travelled round (mainly wanted to visit volcanoes - went to the Westmann Islands - that was fab) and also to the North but not feasible if you only have a couple of days.
I dont really know where to start with package deals etc - not usually our thing, but sounds like other people have got some ideas for you.
I'm jealous - Iceland is amazing. Just don't drink too much of the Potato Schnapps!

ps you have to watch children in hot springs if they are likely to try to drink the water. Many hot springs have Giardia in them which can make littlies (and biggies) quite ill, so if he is going to drink the water, best keep him out of there. HTH

not sure what the official line is on hot springs and little ones meanmum - would advise caution as we went in one that would have boiled lobsters! others were cooler though - more like a warm bath. highly recommended!! if you go to the Blue Lagoon nr Reykjavik I believe that that is popular with families - they have a website. I second susanmt about it being worth the extra expense - it really is a fab place.

Thanks all for your advice. I think I'll book it. I want to give mum and dad a treat and it is dh's 30th birthday at the time we want to go. It has always looked so beautiful on those travel shows. I like the idea that loads of tourists don't go there because it is expensive and hard to get to.

So, that's the deal we're off. Just made a joint decision between myself and myself. I suppose I should ask dh but I figure I'll talk him round.

Your posts have made me long to go all over again. The shame is it's only for four days.

Whymummy - can I borrow your Iceland book. It's agreed that we are definitely going and I will be booking tomorrow so would love to have a look at your book before we head off.

hi meanmum,of course you can,its not only iceland is scandinavian & baltic europe lonely planet but is good,why dont you go to lithuania it`s really nice too

I'd LOVE to go to Iceland, it's up there in the top 10 places I HAVE to get to see. Just always been a bit concerned about the food there, can anyone put me right, it isn't all rotted shark meet etc is is???!!!!!
Also, is it all as expensive as I'm led to believe. I've been told that because virtually everything you can buy there has been imported it's all very expensive - ?????

thomcat i don`t know about iceland but we had whale blubber in russia YUCK!!

OH MY GOD!!!!! What made you do it. I mean I'll try most things but Whale Blubber!!! Ha haaaa, You're a brave (if maybe slightly mad!!) woman whymummy!

lol thomcat,weve had a few and ended up in this very dark basement full of mongolians drinking coffee and eating whale blubber,we couldnt see very well and when they offered us this piece of bread with the blubber we just ate it so not to offend them,i really didn`t know or could see what it was ,but honestly it was absolutely revolting!

how funny! I think that's great. I thought I was brave eating, frogs legs, snails, baby eels etc, but you get top prize!!
What's 'lol' by the way?

laughing out loud,although when i started on mumsnet and someone said that to me i thought it meant lots of love and i thought ummmm weird!!

Go to Akureyri, nearly all the really fab sightseeing is near there.

I camped, definitely the only affordable accomodation. I can't recommend Iceland enough, just unlike anywhere else I've ever been. And follow the Lonely Planet's Guide for currency exchange (I didn't, to my cost!).

I lived in Iceland for 2 years - if you have time, go to Akureyri. If you have more time got to Grimsey (the only part of Iceland that is within the Artic Circle).

I never ever never got used to the food - the first time my boss asked me to boil a sheep's head and the first time I had to shop for sheep's testicles go down as two of my worst moments EVER.

But it's a beautiful country and I miss it terribly.