Iceland Without a Car?

The_One_Who

I'm in the very, very early stages of researching a trip to Iceland, however, neither of us can drive and I fear this may be a bit of a hurdle. Does anyone know how accessible the country is without being able to drive? Obviously the capital will be fine, but we were hoping to get out and about, at least a bit.

I initially thought of doing one of those tours, but looking at the price made me think twice! Is there a cheap(ish) way to do it?

deepam

You could do the tours from the capital to Gulfoss and the Thinvillier national park but Iceland is much more than that even if you do Route 1 by car. I am sorry I do not know the tour prices so can't comment on that.

Shimrod

Getting from the airport to Reykjavik is quite straightforward - you can catch the flybus which is around £26. There will be several waiting when the plane lands. You can get tickets from an office in the airport or pre-book at https://www.re.is/flybus/

There are a number of excursions you can do directly from Reykjavik - most tour operators will pick you up directly from your hotel. This is one example, http://www.gatewaytoiceland.is/ recommended as they normally use smaller minibuses rather than coaches. Reykjavik Excursions (who run the flybus) are biggest tour operator.

From Reykjavik you can do the golden circle tours, tours to Vik, the blue lagoon and even to Jokulsarlon (although that is a long day).

You can get buses to other areas such as Akureyri, but the costs aren't too different from getting an internal flight, and the flights are much quicker!

You can get superjeep trips from Reykjavik (around £130 each) to the parts normal cars can't reach anyway.

If you are looking at tours in the summer, Iceland is outrageously expensive - we tend to go at the end of September/early October when accomodation is cheaper, there is a chance of seeing the northern lights but the days are still long enough forday time adventures.

The_One_Who

Shimrod wrote: »

Getting from the airport to Reykjavik is quite straightforward - you can catch the flybus which is around £26. There will be several waiting when the plane lands. You can get tickets from an office in the airport or pre-book at https://www.re.is/flybus/

There are a number of excursions you can do directly from Reykjavik - most tour operators will pick you up directly from your hotel. This is one example, http://www.gatewaytoiceland.is/ recommended as they normally use smaller minibuses rather than coaches. Reykjavik Excursions (who run the flybus) are biggest tour operator.

From Reykjavik you can do the golden circle tours, tours to Vik, the blue lagoon and even to Jokulsarlon (although that is a long day).

You can get buses to other areas such as Akureyri, but the costs aren't too different from getting an internal flight, and the flights are much quicker!

You can get superjeep trips from Reykjavik (around £130 each) to the parts normal cars can't reach anyway.

If you are looking at tours in the summer, Iceland is outrageously expensive - we tend to go at the end of September/early October when accomodation is cheaper, there is a chance of seeing the northern lights but the days are still long enough forday time adventures.

Thanks, that's really, really helpful!

If we are to go it would be around this time of year, I think. Nowhere is safe during the summer holiday times!

Can you recommend any 'must do' things? Especially if we are only going to be there for a few days?

Shimrod

If you are only going to be there for a few days, you will want to do activities based out of Reykjavik. The 'standard' tour is the Golden circle, which will take you to Thingvellir national park, Gullfoss (waterfall) and Geysir. The cost of the tour is around £45-50 depending on who you go with. This tour is a full day. It will just give you time to grab some food and prepare to go on a northern lights tour! They cost around £25 and will go out from around 8pm. You could be lucky with some early sightings, or you could be out until 2 or 3am if it is cloudy and/or low auroral activity. The lights ebb and flow, so it can be a bit of a waiting game. If you don't see the lights on a tour, most companies will give you a free trip on the next tour. Unless you can get by on a a few hours sleep, you might want to plan your activities the next day accordingly.

As an alternative to the northern lights tour, you could consider staying further out from Reykjavik - I've stayed at the Hotel Laxnes (which gets very good reviews on tripadvisor). Because you are further out, there is less light pollution and when active, you can see the northern lights from your hotel window! The downside there is a lot less choice in places to eat, and it is a 20 minute bus journey back into Reykjavik. Most tour companies will still pick you up from this hotel though - it is in Mosfellsbaer which is at the start of the Golden Circle route.

You can go whale watching from Reykjavik harbour, that is around £80 each. Here's a link to one company http://www.whalewatching.is/ they have a daily calendar of what they have seen. With only a few days, don't plan a day around this but go down or phone up to see if they are going out the morning you are considering it - if the sea is rough they won't go. Sailing times are normally 1pm in winter.

Reykjavik itself is worthy of half a day walking around. The museum near the university is interesting http://www.visitreykjavik.is/national-museum-iceland as is Reykjavik 871.

Another day trip is a south shore excursion - this will take you as far as Vik, which is rugged part of the coastline and has basalt structures like the giant's causeway. You can also see (stop at) more waterfalls and a glacier along the way. This is a longer trip than the golden circle, and will take around 12 hours.

If you want to splash out you could do a super jeep excursion to the interior - we've not done one, but it is on the list for when we return next year.

daveyjp

Fly up to Akureyri. You will fly over the full width of the country and the approach into the airport is stunning. Akureyri is a small town, but it has everything and you will be able to do trips from there.

We preferred it over Reykjavik.

PeteDoff

Iceland Without a Car?

See link below

http://www.iceland.co.uk/home-delivery

The_One_Who

Shimrod wrote: »

If you are only going to be there for a few days, you will want to do activities based out of Reykjavik. The 'standard' tour is the Golden circle, which will take you to Thingvellir national park, Gullfoss (waterfall) and Geysir. The cost of the tour is around £45-50 depending on who you go with. This tour is a full day. It will just give you time to grab some food and prepare to go on a northern lights tour! They cost around £25 and will go out from around 8pm. You could be lucky with some early sightings, or you could be out until 2 or 3am if it is cloudy and/or low auroral activity. The lights ebb and flow, so it can be a bit of a waiting game. If you don't see the lights on a tour, most companies will give you a free trip on the next tour. Unless you can get by on a a few hours sleep, you might want to plan your activities the next day accordingly.

As an alternative to the northern lights tour, you could consider staying further out from Reykjavik - I've stayed at the Hotel Laxnes (which gets very good reviews on tripadvisor). Because you are further out, there is less light pollution and when active, you can see the northern lights from your hotel window! The downside there is a lot less choice in places to eat, and it is a 20 minute bus journey back into Reykjavik. Most tour companies will still pick you up from this hotel though - it is in Mosfellsbaer which is at the start of the Golden Circle route.

You can go whale watching from Reykjavik harbour, that is around £80 each. Here's a link to one company http://www.whalewatching.is/ they have a daily calendar of what they have seen. With only a few days, don't plan a day around this but go down or phone up to see if they are going out the morning you are considering it - if the sea is rough they won't go. Sailing times are normally 1pm in winter.

Reykjavik itself is worthy of half a day walking around. The museum near the university is interesting http://www.visitreykjavik.is/national-museum-iceland as is Reykjavik 871.

Another day trip is a south shore excursion - this will take you as far as Vik, which is rugged part of the coastline and has basalt structures like the giant's causeway. You can also see (stop at) more waterfalls and a glacier along the way. This is a longer trip than the golden circle, and will take around 12 hours.

If you want to splash out you could do a super jeep excursion to the interior - we've not done one, but it is on the list for when we return next year.

daveyjp wrote: »

Fly up to Akureyri. You will fly over the full width of the country and the approach into the airport is stunning. Akureyri is a small town, but it has everything and you will be able to do trips from there.

We preferred it over Reykjavik.

Many thanks to you both. That was really helpful. Plus, it sounds like most of the excursions are really inexpensive!