I had the same idea. ISK/EUR was 0.0032 on monday, so I booked the cheapest flight I could ever get. At least, I thought.

I looked at a currency exchange site which bases it's data upon the data from the European Central Bank (such as finance.yahoo.com). They listed the Icelandic Krona for the last time on Oct 9 and list it as frozen since then.
However, my VISA credit card company charged me more than double ! My transaction took place at 0.0068 conversion. Unbelievable.
Be warned.... credit card exchange rate is bad.

Just returned from Reykjavik a few days ago. Horrible weather (love those Arctic winds!) but still a great trip. Definitely a noticible difference in prices both for eating and shopping! Went to the Kringlan shopping centre for the first time and found good bargains, and ate at some great places (highly recommend both Shalimar and Icelandic Fish & Chips; also B5 if you want to splurge a little). Never get bored of the museums and galleries either. I would try to avoid having too much leftover ISK though as it was very difficult to exchange once I got back to the UK!

But was it easy to exchange into foreign->ISK there?

I didn't need to do that myself as I had bought my ISK before the bank crisis had reached a head, but from what I saw it was not that difficult and banks were welcoming any incoming pounds or euro. However, when I tried to exchange some leftover krona at GLA there was a sign at the counter saying that ISK was no longer accepted. Also annoying: Icelandair is suspending flights to GLA for the winter.

I noticed that some posters were planning trips to Iceland for next summer using United miles. In the winter, only SAS Scandinavian Airlines flies to Reykjavik. But in the summer, Lufthansa and Austrian also fly to Iceland. You may have better chances with awards on them than SAS....

Which routes does LH and OS fly to Iceland in the summer?

Last summer OS flew from Vienna and LH from Hamburg.

Hi there,

In a similar vein, this year I went to Iceland twice. (Loved it so much the first time in February (despite the weather) that we booked a trip to return 3 months later.) The first time around we stayed at Hotel Borg. Great location and excellent service. The second time we stayed at a smaller place near Hallgrimskirka, Odinsve, which was very good.

There are some excellent restaus in Reykjavik. We've been to Austur India twice, which not only has the unique characteristic of being the most northernly Indian restau in the world, bu also serves up some brilliant food. I'd concur on Icelandic Fish and Chips. Great place for lunch (we've been there twice now). Although much-touted, Einar Ben was okay as was the restau in Odinsve, the name of which now escapes me. We tried the puffin (nothing to write home about and generally frozen as puffin season is very short). However, Icelandic lamb and fish are marvellous.

When in Iceland I'd highly recommend taking some tours out of the city. We tried a small Jeep tour to the SW and it was brilliant, full-day excursion with fantastic photo opportunities. We also tackled the Golden Circle tour and finally, a horseback riding adventure that ended with a bum-warming stint in the Blue Lagoon.

Overall, the folks in Iceland are friendly and fun. We'd definitely go back again.

Cheers,
PS

when there's blood in the streets....

visit!

http://news.scotsman.com/world/A-nea...ent.4722970.jp

nothing like a financial crisis to boost tourism.

icelanders are going to view the americans in the same way we viewed europeans when the exchange rate was 1.50.

Not true. On the top of my head, SAS and Air Berlin flies to Iceland (SAS from OSL, Air Berlin from DUS and MUC)

Has the situation in Iceland changed much? I'm going with a couple friends in early January - cold and dark, I know, but I couldn't resist the low airfare.

Given what's happened to the local currency, I wonder what is the best strategy for spending money. Will I receive a better exchange rate if I bring a pile of USD and exchange it at a local bank, or should I stick with my usual strategy of using ATM and credit cards for most of my expenses?

The only rationale for bringing cash would be if there is a black market exchange rate that is meaningfully higher than the official rate. That does not appear to have happened.

Here is the current exchange rates from the Bank of Iceland, and you can see the buy/sell spread is small.

http://www.sedlabanki.is/?PageID=183

I would just use your ATM and credit cards as you usually do.

Thanks for your advice!

BUMPing this old thread up. I'm thinking of visiting Iceland this summer (its a long haul from HKG). Specifically August. Any thoughts on the next month? I'm thinking I'll buy a package out of London and maybe spend a few days driving around and then some days in the capital (I'm not going to try and spell it) partying and meeting locals... This would be in August, but if I can maybe lock in prices in mid-April on a fly-drive-stay package...