stockmanjr

Trying to decide on a 2nd day tour for our Iceland trip and was curious on some input between the two above tours.
Cheers
Howie

startpacking

Haven't been to the Snaefellnes Peninsula, so can't help with that.

Have been to the South Shore. Unfortunately, you don't say which place(s) the tour you are looking at will visit. The South Shore tour I'd taken was worthwhile. The tour visited some scenic sights near Vik (black sand beach, rock formations), waterfalls and glaciers (which you will see in the Golden Circle). It is a long day, just be prepared for that.

I'd used Reykjavik Excursions for my day tours and I was happy their service.

philwupdx

My partner and I will be in Iceland in mid-September for 10 days and plan on spending four days on the Snaefellnes Peninsula specifically in the town of Stykkishólmur. Apparently the peninsula is quite beautiful and a foodie destination. The Hotel Budir is reportedly one of the best places to eat in all of Iceland, with prices to match. As a place to stay Hotel Budir seems to get fairly middling ratings. We're staying at the highly rated (in Tripadvisor) B & B called Bænir & brauð. We plan on doing lots of hiking and exploring!

Can't say how this compares to the South Shore.

ksandness

I took Grey Line Iceland Excursions' South Shore tour, which included the Jökulsarlon glacial lagoon.

The scenery was quite different from what I saw on the Golden Circle tour, and the sheer emptiness of the landscape was impressive. The weather was misty (as it was most of the time I was there), but we went past several volcanoes and glaciers. Our lunch stop was a buffet at a hotel in the middle of nowhere, a hotel built out of old cargo containers, or so it seemed. Our dinner stop was, well, in U.S. terms, a truck stop. Neither meal was included.

The turnaround point and highlight of the very long trip was the glacial lagoon. You ride an amphibious boat and are literally among the icebergs.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and showed us areas that had been devastated by volcanic eruptions and told us legends about the various landmarks along the way.

ksandness

Yes, you can get the local currency out of the ATM.

Reykjavik is the smallest of the Scandinavian capitals (the whole country has only 320,000 people), and yes, a city tour of about 1/2 day is enough to see all the sights. Otherwise, it feels kind of like a resort town.

The attraction is in the scenery and natural phenomena (volcanoes, hot springs, glaciers) outside of the city.

Out of my Element

Got two days in Iceland in June. Staying in Reykjavik, definitely spending time at the Blue Lagoon, and am aware of the "Golden Circle Tour".

Is this something we should book through our hotel and do on a bus, or is there a way to find a quality private guide and do it that way instead, for not a ton more money?

ksandness

There are several tour companies that all provide pretty much the same tours and activities. I had 2.5 days there, and I took the city tour plus the abbreviated Golden Circle on the first day, the South Coast tour with the glacial lagoon on the second day, and a Blue Lagoon stop on the way to Keflavik for the flight home.

You can also sign up for outdoor activities such as whale watching, horseback riding, glacier treks, and cave exploration.

Apparently there's also an option to circle the island by intercity bus, with the tour company arranging your lodging, but on the whole, tourist lodgings and restaurants are few and far apart.

For example, on the South Coast tour, we stopped at a motel plus restaurant that was the only such facility for miles around. It looked as if it had been built out of old shipping containers, but the food--soup, salads, and bread--was fine.

You can google Iceland tours and see what some of the options are.

Out of my Element

Thanks.

I'm pretty comfortable on what we need to see, and have a list of the tour companies if I want to go in a bus. I'm hoping someone knows a private guide so I can price out doing it that way and seeing if it's worth the extra cash.

bemusedv

We had a good experience 3 years ago with a company called TourIs. They arrange various types of travel, and might be able to provide what you need. For example

http://www.tour.is/tours/private_tours.php

We had a different type of trip than yours - 2 weeks, and we did our own driving - but TourIs seemed quite flexible. They arranged everything for us, and it all went smoothly. YMMV.

Good luck. I hope you have a great trip. We really enjoyed our time there.

Out of my Element

Nice! That looks really good, especially compared to some options I've seen for private tours. 220 Euros per person here, over 100,000 ISK at other places (which is about $1000/person).

Thanks very much!

Out of my Element

And we're back!

Ended up using Iceland Horizons for our Golden Circle tour. Picked them as they use 16 passenger vans for their tours, so less waiting for everyone to come back and file in/out of the bus, and shorter "rest stops". Worked with David (the owner) for booking the trip, and he was the driver!

Excellent tour for our 8,000 ISK (about $65). Full 8 hours of touring, saw everything we hoped to see and more (the horses are adorable!).

Hope to go back sometime when it actually gets dark at night (who knew that when we asked the hotel "are there good drapes on the windows?" and they said "yes" that we should have also asked about the skylights!), and see some of the wilder parts of the country.

Out of my Element

So now we're looking at going back for a week in late July, renting a car, and doing a lap of the country. Anyone here already done this and have a sample itinerary we can start with?

Peregrine415

Google Iceland Ring Road. You can't go wrong with this one.

Out of my Element

That's where I started. I know it can be done, the question is does anyone have an itinerary that shows where you should stop each night and what to see along the way.

I've got a guidebook, I'm hoping my internet friends can fill in the blanks!

derteilzeitberliner

In May 2010, I went by booking this package: http://www.icelandair.us/offers-and-...land_complete/. It was also possible to stay up to 2 extra nights in Reykjavik, which I chose to.

If I hadn't done the trip alone, I'd have done it with a rental car, but I don't regret having had the chance to see it from a bus and receiving all the information from the guide.

The hotels listed are those we stayed at, except in Vik because the village had just been covered by ash from Eyjafjallajökull and Reykjavik as it was Icelandair Hotel Loftleiðir, and I can definitely recommend them (also, see how Iceland is not very populated, the areas are those where one has to stop to sleep/eat). Food was also excellent.

As for the time in Reykjavik, I read someone up who suggested 1/2 day while I spent a bit of a busy 3 days, so it's all up to your interests, besides I'm a self-confessed anti-tourist nerd - in Reykjavik, I arranged a tour of the parliament and I also spend quite a long time checking out the cemetry where many of Iceland's historical figures are buried.

I'm at your disposal if you need more help planning