Is 3 nights in Reykjavik long enough?

Gaaraz

Thanks all, they rang yesterday (a day after I booked it) and really put me on the spot, ie they wanted to know exactly what tours I wanted to go on and I stupidly picked the whale tour... really regretting it now after reading these posts!

I think we're doing Northern Lights the day we arrive, and the whale tour on the last day, meaning we should have a free day in between, so I'll try to book something with http://www.gatewaytoiceland.is/tours

Gaaraz

Damn, just realised that leaves no time at all for a blue lagoon trip...

Tuesday 2pm - Arrive in Iceland
Tuesday 8pm to 1am - Northern Lights Tour

Wednesday - Free Day

Thursday 12pm to 6pm - Whale Tour

Friday 3pm - Fly home

Is it worth me trying to move the Northern Lights tour to Wednesday night, and going to Blue Lagoon directly from the airport? Then trying to get a bus to Reykjavik

anika

The blue lagoon is the one thing we missed but if you get a bus from the airport it will take you on to your hotel after,look on trip advisor as the local bus runs there frequently as well. Also if you don't see the lights, most trips take you again for free! but I wouldn't leave that until later because if the weather is bad on the Wednesday you may not get to go! So most people go earlier rather than later.

marky_p

The Blue Lagoon is alright but it's rather over-rated, gimmicky and expensive in my opinion. Make of that what you will.

Gaaraz

Thank you... unfortunately we'd still really like to do it though, even though it'll cost close to £100 for the two of us!

(damn, the cost of this trip has almost doubled already from the original Groupon price)

Going to the Blue Lagoon right after the airport sounds good thank you, but my worry is that we arrive at 3pm, but then need to be back at the hotel for 8pm for the Northern Lights tour pickup... allowing 3 hours for travel and eating, that's 2 hours at the Blue Lagoon but that's cutting it fine, especially considering the time it'll take to shower etc....

Gavin83

Gaaraz wrote: »

Thanks all, they rang yesterday (a day after I booked it) and really put me on the spot, ie they wanted to know exactly what tours I wanted to go on and I stupidly picked the whale tour... really regretting it now after reading these posts!

I think we're doing Northern Lights the day we arrive, and the whale tour on the last day, meaning we should have a free day in between, so I'll try to book something with http://www.gatewaytoiceland.is/tours

It was a while ago I went but from what I remember it was impossible to do the Northern Lights and Whale watching on the same trip. Northern Lights is a winter activity while the Whales are only around Spring/Summer if I remember correctly.

Iceland is very expensive. I'd budget a lot for food as well. We were easily spending 80 quid a night for dinner, although you could do it cheaper than this if you wanted to. Even so, expect food to be considerably more costly than London prices.

Shimrod

Gavin83 wrote: »

It was a while ago I went but from what I remember it was impossible to do the Northern Lights and Whale watching on the same trip. Northern Lights is a winter activity while the Whales are only around Spring/Summer if I remember correctly.

There is at least one company that does year round whale watching - see link in post 6. The problem it is much more likely to be cancelled due to rough seas in autumn/winter.

For the OP, if you are really doing this trip because you want to see the Northern Lights, then do that on the Tuesday you arrive. That gives you Wednesday and Thursday evenings to go out as well if the weather is bad on the Tuesday. Most Northern lights trips pick you up between 8 and 9pm (depending on hotel) so you'll have time after both the golden circle and whale watching trips if you don't mind busy days and fast food!

Gaaraz

Thank you!

That's the problem though... we arrive on Tuesday at 2pm and like you said, do the Northern Lights on the first night at 8pm

Wednesday we'll do the Golden Circle tour

Thursday we'll do the whale watching tour

Leaving each night open incase the Northern Lights tour is cancelled, but leaving no room at all for the Blue Lagoon

I think we have two options:

1) Try to cram in Blue Lagoon between arriving at the airport at 2pm and leaving for the Northern Lights tour at 8pm (realistically we'd get 2 hours there at the very most)

2) Try to cancel the whale tour, and do the golden circle tour instead, and have a day at the Blue Lagoon

Shimrod

Reykjavik excursions run the Flybus service, which is the airport-Reykjavik shuttle bus. They also offer trips direct from the airport to the blue lagoon, then on to Reykjavik. You can find the timetable here http://www.re.is/DayTours/BlueLagoon/Schedule/ Depends on how long you want to spend there - alternatively, you could get an early bus out and stop there on your way home. In a country with landscape like Iceland's, sitting in a mucky pool of water with hundreds of other people comes pretty low on the list of things to do for me, but each to their own!

Gaaraz

Thank you!

I think both trips to the airport are out of the question for the Blue Lagoon - arriving at the airport at 2:15pm, and then having to get to the Blue Lagoon, and checked into the hotel, and ready for the Northern Lights tour by 8pm is going to be a huge rush, likewise our flight leaves at 11am on the Friday so that's out of the question too.

The whale tour runs from mid day to 4pm, and the Blue Lagoon doesn't close until 8pm officially but also says that it stays open for an additional 45 minutes after that... leaving us with around 4 hours to get to, and enjoy the Blue Lagoon - hopefully plenty, but we can be flexible and just go if we get a chance.