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Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:17 am
by MrGuarnere
I am going to Iceland in January with my wife for 6 days for holiday and thought I would try to find out some more info before going.

Mainly things like how expensive food and fuel is, so I know how much money to take. And also any recommendations for places to go eat and drink to get an authentic experience :D Being from Poland myself (living in UK) I know that there are tourist places in Poland that everyone goes and then there are the proper nice Polish places that the locals go :P

We are going to the south of the island, staying in Reykjavik for the first two nights and then going as far east as Jokulsarlon.

Re: Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:48 am
by TomoRosso
I'm not from Iceland but I was there last March for 5 days. Fuel is about the same price as the UK, quite a few of the stations are self service i.e. you put your card in the pump to pay, there is no kiosk to pay at. Food is a little more expensive especially in the international chain type places. There are some nice local restaurants in downtown Reykjavik. If you're hiring a car then I'd highly recommend getting something with 4wd, some of the places we went to we would have got well and truly stuck otherwise. Just going round the Golden Circle would have been difficult with 2wd.

Use this site http://www.road.is/ to see what roads are open when planning a trip as even the major roads can temporarily close in winter (Route 1 if you're going east I would imagine), absolutely stunning scenery on that road especially in the highland part.

All of the things we did were pre-booked so we only needed cash for food/fuel/souvenirs etc I think we took around 60,000ISK each which is around £300.

It's an awesome place to go to, definitely going to go again someday.

Re: Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 7:51 am
by Cmdr Ant Kingsmill
I went years ago and woud live to visit again one day :) A very memetable place!

Re: Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 9:55 am
by MrGuarnere
TomoRosso wrote:I'm not from Iceland but I was there last March for 5 days. Fuel is about the same price as the UK, quite a few of the stations are self service i.e. you put your card in the pump to pay, there is no kiosk to pay at. Food is a little more expensive especially in the international chain type places. There are some nice local restaurants in downtown Reykjavik. If you're hiring a car then I'd highly recommend getting something with 4wd, some of the places we went to we would have got well and truly stuck otherwise. Just going round the Golden Circle would have been difficult with 2wd.

Use this site http://www.road.is/ to see what roads are open when planning a trip as even the major roads can temporarily close in winter (Route 1 if you're going east I would imagine), absolutely stunning scenery on that road especially in the highland part.

All of the things we did were pre-booked so we only needed cash for food/fuel/souvenirs etc I think we took around 60,000ISK each which is around £300.

It's an awesome place to go to, definitely going to go again someday.


Cheers bud, that's very useful.

I've also pre-booked everything already, got a 4wd sorted and we're planning to visit the south/south-east parts of the island. I was budgeting about the same to be honest, allow £500 spending cash for both of us with credit card for fuel or whatever we can use it for.

I've been told about a nice little place called Cafe Loki which does traditional food and it looks really good, which is 20min walk from out first hotel so will definitely check that out.

Thank you mate.

Re: Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:57 pm
by TorTorden
I would expect cards both debit and credit are accepted everywhere, maybe not the local bus but wouldn't suprise me if it did. The taxis definitely accept plastic.

Think I remember Loki (but I was rather shitfaced when I was up there), but in the restaurant\bar district you can walk into anyone of them and pretty much be guaranteed a meal to remember, as long as you stick to locally sourced food.
The fish and seafood not to mention the lamb both just melt in your mouth, I personally haven't been to partial to either myself but what they had up there was something else..
If you are looking for beef remember anything cow or the like will be imported so not really good much more expensive, inow do not bother
But if you have the hunkering for a steak that will blow your mind, ask for the mink whale.

Re: Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:14 pm
by MrGuarnere
Mink whale? Interesting.

I do love lamb and fish (our honeymoon was in a small fishing village in Spain :D). I wouldn't travel all that way and go for what I can get at home. I'm especially looking forward to the meat soup :D And local beer too :D :D :D

Re: Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:45 pm
by TomoRosso
You're welcome. We wanted to visit Jökulsárlón but we'll have to wait until we go again as it's a 5 hour drive from Reykjavik.

Re: Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 3:17 pm
by MrGuarnere
Ye that is on my list on day 4. Luckily we are staying in a hotel in Vik on that day which is only 1hr drive.

The package we got was £1200 for 6 days with flights, 4x4 rental and stay at 4 different hotels so you dont have to travel for ages between places.

Re: Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 6:09 pm
by Cmdr Kharma
£1200 that's good......

Well the wife says it is.....She's a travel agent.....

I'd prob spend it on a triple head set up......

Maybe that's why she hates me........

:lol:

Re: Anyone from Iceland?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:18 pm
by MrGuarnere
Cmdr Kharma wrote:£1200 that's good......

Well the wife says it is.....She's a travel agent.....

I'd prob spend it on a triple head set up......

Maybe that's why she hates me........

:lol:


Hahahaha ye you might be onto something there :P

She knows this is like once in a life time sort of thing and I kinda let her down on the holiday front this year, so making up for it. Saying that, we went to Switzerland in January, Fuerteventura in August and going Wales in a month but apparently that's rubbish :mrgreen:

And that's good to know its a good deal, thanks for commenting :)