Tomorrow evening we should be dining at the Opera Cafe in Reykyavik - leaving tonight from SFO - Icelandic #670. Looks like 8 days of "showers" all over the country, but we are prepared and ready to go.

Everyone's tips and advice helped make Iceland already feel like home - names of towns and places that were so unfamiliar just a few weeks ago now are places we are eager to visit and make our own.

Thanks to all who helped here.

sbagal

The 8 day "Ring Rider" Iceland trip was wonderful. Was sitting by the sea at a light house in the warm sun, with no wind at a little quiet village out past the airport ......JUST A FEW HOURS AGO!!! More details later but I can certainly see why so many of you are in love with this country. Excellent trip.

sbagal

Hi sbagel,

I'm glad to hear that you had a nice time.

I was watching the weather closely, and it looked like you hit a stretch of rain in Iceland. That can make it difficult to enjoy the scenery, so I hope it was only temporary in nature.

I do hope you post your thoughts of your trip here, when you have the chance. What worked, what did not. I'd really like to know if my evaluations of certain places held true with your experience (Cafe Opera for example).

I would also like to ask about your thoughts concerning the flights on Icelandair. Out of SFO, you are on the only 767 they fly. Seats? Comfort rooms? Meals? Service?

Please consider posting your trip thoughts.

Glad you had a great time, and also glad you are back safe.

PS: Do you think you would like go back, or do you find Iceland to be one of those places to be a one-stop wonder?

Hi Donna, I'll start with answering your flight questions and some first day stuff:

Left from SFO to Ryk on Icelandic Air - 11pm departure. fine flight, lousy in flight food from SFO, asked for Vegetarian but did not get it - everyone got the same thing, no choices, but this was also a late night flight so food was not the big issue then as we had eaten a nice Japanese fast food meal at the airport. Service and amenities were basic but adequate. Screens for visuals were limited and did not use any of the inflight entertainment options.

Odd in-flight orientation presentation telling all of us in coach what services the "Saga" class passengers ( a business type class - did not see a true first class option) were getting - arrival drinks, meal choices and free alcohol, which we were pointedly not and would have to pay for. No need to make this announcement since those in Saga Class already knew they were getting these features and no reason to let us know we were not.

The plane was very comfortable, much more leg room than most flights and 2-3-2 seating in a Boeing 757 (or something). All went well until we arrived in Reyk and had to wait an extremely long time for our luggage - another flight from Copenhagen's baggage came and went on our assigned carousel and still no luggage for many of us who checked in early at SFO. As we were grumpily standing in the service desk line, the luggage finally came in. The flights are few and the airport small, so this seemed like an inefficient delay.

(More problems later when we left - place left half hour late with absolutely no information from ground staff about the delay, and a lot of congestion in what appears to be a too small airport with very poor pedestrian traffic flow plans - though there was room later to spread out away from the entrance and check-in areas)

The poor fellow picking us up at the airport for the trip into town was wondering what on earth happened to us and at first I was told by the border guards I could not leave this arrival area to let the driver know we were delayed by the failure of our luggage to arrive, but they let me out after all. Only then to have to be fully searched and bags put through security when we finally did leave the arrival area. But they were friendly about it.

Taken into town for the first of our hotel package nights at the Park Hotel - outside of downtown, but walkable. The varied and austere scenery along the way gave us good clues about what was in store for us. Got there around 5pm, even with the delay over the baggage, just as you predicted.

Weather was brisk but with a little bundling up we did just fine walking into town. Did some shopping for a bird book and some maps and then had dinner at Cafe Opera right in the center of the "old town" to get our first reality check about prices. Charming place upstairs with nice views out the windows.

We ordered the "2 course" meal for 3.9K each - the fish on the hot rock special with apple cake. The gave us some very delicious puff pastry snail appetizers and the hot rock special included veetables and potato along with the fish. The fish is cooked on the very hot volcanic rock that is presented to you at the table and was delicious -salmon and a white fish on skewers which one cooked and turned then slid off for eating. At 8pm, there were very few people in the restaurant but more local people started coming in when we were leaving.

Because of internet tips we asked for a hotel room on higher floor with a sea view and got a wonderful room on the 6th floor and could watch the sun travel over the sky and blast into our open windows at 3am - we knew we were in Iceland and did not want to miss a moment of this new experience so we did not even want to close the drapes.

We wandered around the town a bit after dinner and found a traveling band concert from a German music club (in costumes) at the City Hall and sat in for a few songs and dances to a small local crowd gathered there. It was a peaceful and interesting walk around the town and we felt we got more for our money in Iceland since it was light for so long - it let us feel we could do so much more and not worry about having to get back before dark.

We went back to the hotel past the water front and the Hofdi House already liking Iceland a lot on just our first day. Clean, accessible, safe and full of natural visual drama.

Breakfast at the hotel was excellent: full hot and cold buffet, so we were soundly fed before we got our little Toyota Yaris rental car and were off for our first day of our Ring Rider driving adventure around this wonderful scenic country.

(Weather over all was fine - yes we had rain and fog, but we also had a lot of sun and it was even up to 20 degrees C (around 68 degrees F) when we were further up north. Some one said the weather in Iceland did not matter because all you had to do is wait a bit and it would change, or drive a bit more and it would change.

We were dressed for it, even over dressed often, so this simply did not slow us down. In fact, in some places the wind and the fierceness of it added to the experience as we felt awe for those first few residents who came to this lonely island back in the 800's - total awe.

One thing we were about to learn is that we used every bit of travel resource we brought and bought: We got the highly detailed road atlas with the rental car which added a lot of surprise detours we would not have known about with precise directions -- after a few frustrating days trying to sort out its system of maps and links.

We also used the Insight Guide and the Lonely Planet as both had different suggestions and different versions and opinions- Lonely Planet was the best and we came away a big fan, but it still needed a lot of supplementations with the more detailed maps. We had a general over view map and then a far more detailed overview map with really tiny print, but this was essential for highway numbers and road conditions, which none of the other maps offered.

So while it was a real juggle being "navigator" going from one resource to the next, it all paid off and we feel we got as much and more out of this short time we had to see both the big picture and some hidden corners as well. But if you want just one book - Lonely Planet is the best.

Then read Insight Guide when you get home to answer all the more in depth questions about history and culture than can come up along the way. Makes more sense then after one sees the country.

One other tip is that most of the books read best for travelling clockwise around the country from Reykyvik - going west first and then north to east and then south. Our package took us the opposite way so it made reading the books route plans cumbersome and I had to start the Route Map book on page 161 and read it backwards which got tricky for those with spatial perception deficiencies!

We also struggled with the Icelandic Sagas before we left and just about gave up on them, but tried to plug away with them as we moved around the country and various parts of the stories would be highlighted at different places. At least some familiarity of the Sagas (Clifff Notes, please!) will help alot to gain more appreciation for those early days on this lonely island and its rough and tumble history.

Iceland has road signs pointing to Saga spots and also special tourist signs with a squarish celtic design on the left hand side for "points of interest", even though they do not tell you at first what those are. There are lots of visual markers and most places have good signs and highway identifications if you have good maps and keys to figure them out.

Again, the large Route Map book helped us out on a lot, but not all, of them. There may be a key from the tourist office that can help more. We did not know to look for this ahead of time.

Back to the Sagas, Lonely Planet put us on to the typcially violent and weird Saga story about the Beserkers and their path through the lava that led to an unexpected side trip out on the "Snafelless) (or groan - can't spell a darn name at all)" which turned out to be one of the more mystical highlights of the entire trip - helped by finding these locations in the Route Map book near Stikkelsholmur. (Sp???) Otherwise these would have been hard to find on one's own with just the too vague directions in Lonely Planet.

Dressing for Iceland in July meant for me: jeans, hiking boots, water proof wind breaker with attached hood, heavy sweater, wool gloves and "ear pops" which are neat little individual ear covers (look them up on the net) which fit over each ear and look fairly unobtrusive depending on which color you get. Lyering was essential - because then all of this would be just too darn hot just a little while later. But then absolutely essential when the wind would come up or the drizzle would start.

The second day in Vik we both got great Iceland sweaters which were the best priced and best designed and wore them every day - not the hokey snowflake ones that look cheap and mass produced, but much more benignly colored and designed ones that were a great windproof, waterproof and light weight choice for the varieties of weather one encounters in this country.

They were not cheap (over US$100), but it could have saved a lot of suitcase space if we had known how happy we were wearing these every day. So that is one shopping/packing tip - if you are going north-east past Vik be sure to wait until you get there before deciding to buy a sweater - we never saw better selections for the price anywhere else.

Though Akuryeri had some good ones on sale and a lot of more stylish designs which were a lot more expensive. Sure, we looked like tourists but they really were a good flexible wardrobe choice for the always changing Icelandic weather. We always got a laugh when we actually saw an Icelander wearing an Icelandic sweater. A few did, but we thought most of them were missing a Good Thing.

First day (to be continued) - to Pingvillar and the Golden Circle Iceland for Beginner stops - Gyser and Gulfoss. Overnight near Fluoir.

(Does it sound like I am a little wound up and jet-laggy here still?)

sbagal

Wow! What a great trip report so far. Can't wait for the next installment.

I hope there is some way we can save this thread, make it a sticky or a new category. There is a lot of very useful info here, ...links, observations, etc., that will be a big help for those going to Iceland. Like your observation on sweaters in Vik...great stuff to pass on, and keep available for others.


Sorry about the luggage problem, and lack of info from Icelandair (FI).

I've only flown SAS, FI, and NW/KL to Europe. SAS was a long time ago, and only a few times; NW/KL a lot; FI mostly to KEF, but this year I have used them to Europe.

I don't know if is is an Icelandair thing, or a European thing; as I found both FI and KL ground agents to uninformative, uncaring, and difficult to work with.

I can recall one time going from SEA-MSP-AMS-MUC on NW/KL. The NW flt out of MSP was late, so it was a tight connect. I ran to the gate in AMS for my flt on KL to MUC...the plane was there and the jetway still hooked up. Told the KL agent I'm on the flight...I just got in from MSP and ran here...."Sorry, flt is closed". I watched from the terminal for the next 8 min until the jetway was finally disconnected. And then waited 5 hrs for the next KL flt to MUC.

I have had very good service on FI out of MSP. But NW does the ground handeling, and I have been thru there so many times, I know Jessica, the stn mgr. But when things happen, they let you know what is going on.

I flew MSP-KEF-OSL in April. Just about the time the flight inbound from KEF gets to MSP, massive thunderstorms roll thru the airport area, and the flight diverts to Diluth. At least the agents kept all of us informed.

We got to KEF 4 hrs late, so everyone connecting to a FI flt to Europe misconnected. But FI had everyone rebooked for the next day, a bus to take us to the hotel, and paid for the hotel and meals (in the hotel), which I thought was pretty descent for a wx problem.

FI uses a 767 for SFO-KEF, and that plane has palatized cargo. All other FI planes are 757's with belt loading of luggage. It would be my guess that something/someone screwed it up.....and agents could care less about telling you, the passenger.

I'm glad the meal screw-up, and the luggage problem did not cause you to get down on Iceland. A bad begining can make an entire trip seem to go bad.

But, from what you say, you had a good time. I'm glad Cafe Opera worked for you. I hate to make recommendations, as they are so subjective in terms of what is important to you.

Now, give us more of the story.....

I think the luggage problem for arrivals into Reykjavik is that first priority is to get all the connecting passengers bags to their flights so the planes can leave - and then as a second order measure they bring the bags to people actually arriving in KEF.

The airport is a zoo now because of large construction projects - apparently enlarging it but seemingly more to turn it into a shopping mall !

The 767 is the oldest aircraft Icelandair uses and they are mainly used on charter flights with the exception of SFO and occasionally BOS. So the single-aisle 757s are actually more comfortable.

I was reading this thread and am now thinking of stopping over in Reyk on my way back from Denmark in December. I will be flying Icelandair out of BWI and so will take advantage of their free stopovers.
Does anyone know if it is extremely cold there in December? I mean so cold that you can't do anything kind of thing? From reading online it seems it's only 35 degrees F which should not be so bad, that's like the East Coast in the US basically!
Any info?

I wouldn't worry too much about it being cold. It's normally alright around the coastline due to the warming effect of the Gulf Stream that (still) runs up the Atlantic Ocean and up to Iceland. Actually, I would not be surprised if it were colder in Scandinavia around that time of the year. It might be an idea to bring something windproof to wear as it can get a bit windy --- and you might even get a bit of snow if you're lucky!

I have to agree that actual temperature is not that much of a problem in Dec. The main problem is when a storm blows in from the North Atlantic and brings precipitation and very, very strong winds, it can make being outside a less than enjoyable experience. Also, there is very limited daylight...sunrise about 11am and sunset about 3:30pm, tho you get an hour of twilight on both sides.

In Dec, downtown Reykjavik is really decked out in holiday colors and lights, so if you have never been there before, it is worth seeing. Check on hotels, as Christmas has become a quite popular time to visit, and rooms can be hard to find near the 25th.

I don't know if you are a fan of sunsets.....but I have flown from KEF-MSP several times in Dec, and you get about 2 or 3 beautiful sunsets viewable on the left side. As you fly southwest from Iceland, you cross the daylight/darkness terminator several times as the flight progresses.

Here is a link to the wx history page for Reykjavik for Dec 10, 2005....you can get a good idea of what the weather was like by changing the dates.

http://www.weatherunderground.com/hi...q_statename=NA

IMHO, it is worth it to see Reykjavik all decked out for the holidays.

Did Icelandic decide to no longer offer a SFO flight?

They are no longer flying KEF-SFO. It probably wasn't the best idea to offer an old and quite tired 767 on that long-haul route and it turned out not to be very popular. As far as I know they decided to concentrate on offering more European destinations. They may try again once they get their new dreamliners though...

Thanks for the update. I booked a flight through JFK for mid-June, and will now line up a connection from SFO. Icelandic's other North American gateway cities, other than Halifax, seemed busier and more expensive.

Here's another question...in these days of alliances, why is it that Icelandic doesn't appear to be a partner in any programs other than its own?

Yes, they've ended SFO flights. Concentrating more on Europe apparently - the Euro tops the Dollar...

Add me to the list of born-again Icelandophiles. I was there a few months ago and am already planning my next trip. Totally recommended! Since it was my first time there I mostly hung around Reykjavik, Keflavik and the Golden Circle (and let me add that when they suggest that you don't stand downwind of the Strokkur Geysir, they mean it!). Since I was there before high tourist season the prices weren't as harsh as I was expecting, and although the weather was really rainy it detracted not one bit from the beauty (can't complain about the nightlife either).

I'd like to go back at a time when I can add on a day trip to Greenland and hopefully look around further outside of the capital (thinking of Jokulsarlon or Akureyri).

As for food, the hotdogs (pylsur) at Baejarins Bestu are legend, and the local yoghurt (skyr) is worth a try as well.

Great thread! I'm going at the end of May 2008. FI is offering some very cheap fares ($459) from Orlando (Sanford). I got an award flight PHX-MCO on Delta, and will take a short stopover there. Lowest fares from other cities for that time are about $600-$800.

I'm still trying to decide on where to stay and whether to spend some nights outside Reykjavik.