If you loved New Zealand, you will love the unspoilt nature of Iceland, and perhaps even more. Me and my wife came back from an amazing 16 day trip in Aug (2011), a round island ride on their Ring Road, thanks to inspirational documentaries on cable TV. Iceland offers amazing vistas, nothing short of taking my breath away. Some of the most beautiful and yet erratic weather gives both disappointments and opportunities for the landscape photographer, and almost half my trip was spent in cloudy storm clouds and rain. Self drive with much care on the roads is strongly recommended as a means to travel. I rented an automatic transmission 4FWD for travel from: http://iceland.carrentals.is/
Everything including flights / car rentals / lodgings were booked more than eight months prior ( and there were still one or two popular hotels we failed to book ). I took a flight from Singapore to Amsterdam before a transit via Iceland Air to Iceland Keflavik airport. There are plenty of flights to Iceland from Europe.
Upon reaching Keflavik airport, we saw 2 major bus companies that transports tourists from the airport to their place of residence in Reykjavik, easily booked by the bus service counters. We also bought each of us a Simnin and a Vodafone post-paid card. Remember to request the local islandic assistant to activate the Siminn post paid card as the activation requires to walk through a series of icelandic instructions on the phone. My Vodafone post paid card did not require any PIN to use. BTW, you will need to manually set the API settings ( at least on my android phone ) to connect to 3G. Connection is pretty good with wide coverage, and we did not notice significant differences between Vodafone or Siminn. Many of the restaurants and cafe and lodgings offer wifi of sorts and are often free of charge.
Much of the itinerary was referenced with inputs from travel forums like tripadvisor, with lots of reading from icelandic travel books.
My travel goes in a commonly anti-clockwise manner, with visits on the key areas :
- Reykjavik, stayed for 2 nights
- Golden Circle, Stayed at Gullfoss
- Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss, Stay in Vik
- Svartifoss, Cape Ingólfshöfði, Jökulsárlón, Stay in Höfn
- Dujupivour, F939 to stay over Egilsstaoir, Hengifoss
- Dettifoss & Selfoss, Asbyrgi, Hverir , Goðafoss, Krafla, Hverfjall, Stay in Lake Myvatn area for 2 nights
- Akureyri, Glaumbaer, Stay over Varmalid
- Hvitserkur, Illugastaðir farm, Stay at Holmavik
- Litlibaer, Seal watching a little from Litlibaer, Isafjordur, Djandi Falls, Látrabjarg, Stay at Breidavik for 2 nights
- Brjanslaekur, Malarrif and Londrangar,Grundarfjordur, Kirkjufell, Anarstapi, Hellnar, Helgafell, stay at Stykkisholmur x2 nights
- Back to Reykjavik for 2 nights, Landmannalaugar ( Landmannalaugar was a last minute planning that came up after all the rest were booked somewhat. One would probably fit in the route towards Selfoss town )
Food for thought
Food!
- Pun intended, always have some spare ration while on the roads. We were caught a few times in transit of places where there was not much civilization. Call it poor planning, probably overstayed in certain areas. BTW canned cod livers are fabulous treats. BONUS supermarts offer a more value for money for the frugal shopper. A lunch of a simple burger and fries can often set you back more than 15 SGD easily pax. I managed to try a variety of their local cuisines except the fermented shark ( they told me I went in the wrong season )
Driving
- It often pays to be a little more careful driving in Iceland. We had pretty stormy weather and strong winds in Snaefellsnes that can drift 4WD vehicles on even paved roads like a ballerina on thin ice if you are going too fast. Dry unpaved road corners should be tackled with care and especially so on tall mountain passes – think the Westfjords. Charming but bad drive. I had a great sense of achievement completing the drive around iceland, clocking in excess of 3000 kilometers of distance ( which incidentally is a far cry from the flight distances of the amazing little artic terns ). If the “need” ever arises, rivers should be fjorded with care and probably in groups ( and note that almost in all instances are uncovered by insurance companies ). Sheeps have a tendency to cross roads when you least expect, and not only do the insurance companies not cover the damages, you are expected to pay damages / sheep loss to the owners as well. When i indulge in a nice jug of Viking beer during dinner, my wife takes over the driving. Be a safe driver
Petrol/Gas
- Check what type of gas your car takes (duh)
- Always err on the side of caution on gas. N1 being the largest provider accepts credit cards with PINs ranging 4 digit to 7 digits. It was our most used pump station. In Singapore, UOB credit cards require a 5 digit PIN, and CitiBank credit cards require a 6 digit PIN. Icelandic credit cards only require a 4digit PIN, and the slightly cheaper unmanned Orkan ONLY accepts 4 digit PINS. N1 and apparently Orlis provides fuel cards and they should come handy if you do not have credit cards. ( You will find that the Orkan gas station next to the Keflavik airport car park only accepts 4 digit PIN, and will need to discuss with rental companies on pump issues during car return, but they will usually understand ) We did not use their fuel cards. While gas stations are pretty well studded across the island, places like Westfjords in particular might need abit more planning. Note how much fuel your car consumes while you drive, with luggage or without luggages. Although of course terrains will affect fuel consumption, it did give us a good estimation of fuel and how much we can cover for day trips.
* Local credit cards will be furbished with a PIN code if you request for one. I got mine 2 weeks before the trip. At least for my UOB credit card the PIN will also be the one for cash advancement ( which I rather not use actually )
Photography
- Always bring along some kind of raincoat cover for the camera and lens especially when shooting at waterfalls. Inclement unpredictable weather had me shooting so many times in the rain be it storm or drizzle, ending up with me using my beanie to wrap the camera around. An absorbant microfibre cloth or tissue comes handy as a wiper of sorts for the lens in between shots. Umbrellas come as a hassle as you will soon realize winds in Iceland not only flip them easily, they can blow away your always thought to be stable heavy lens/camera/tripod setup.
-If you are prepared to bring a barrage of heavy equipments, look to know how much walking distance you need to hike to reach certain spots. Places like Hengifoss, Látrabjarg etc will need reasonable fitness. Not all hiking paths are baggage friendly. Hvitserkur for instance needs more free hands and feet and dexterity during the descent down to the beach, and I had bad abrasions as a result of having one hand tied on the tripod.
Everything including flights / car rentals / lodgings were booked more than eight months prior ( and there were still one or two popular hotels we failed to book ). I took a flight from Singapore to Amsterdam before a transit via Iceland Air to Iceland Keflavik airport. There are plenty of flights to Iceland from Europe.
Upon reaching Keflavik airport, we saw 2 major bus companies that transports tourists from the airport to their place of residence in Reykjavik, easily booked by the bus service counters. We also bought each of us a Simnin and a Vodafone post-paid card. Remember to request the local islandic assistant to activate the Siminn post paid card as the activation requires to walk through a series of icelandic instructions on the phone. My Vodafone post paid card did not require any PIN to use. BTW, you will need to manually set the API settings ( at least on my android phone ) to connect to 3G. Connection is pretty good with wide coverage, and we did not notice significant differences between Vodafone or Siminn. Many of the restaurants and cafe and lodgings offer wifi of sorts and are often free of charge.
Much of the itinerary was referenced with inputs from travel forums like tripadvisor, with lots of reading from icelandic travel books.
My travel goes in a commonly anti-clockwise manner, with visits on the key areas :
- Reykjavik, stayed for 2 nights
- Golden Circle, Stayed at Gullfoss
- Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss, Stay in Vik
- Svartifoss, Cape Ingólfshöfði, Jökulsárlón, Stay in Höfn
- Dujupivour, F939 to stay over Egilsstaoir, Hengifoss
- Dettifoss & Selfoss, Asbyrgi, Hverir , Goðafoss, Krafla, Hverfjall, Stay in Lake Myvatn area for 2 nights
- Akureyri, Glaumbaer, Stay over Varmalid
- Hvitserkur, Illugastaðir farm, Stay at Holmavik
- Litlibaer, Seal watching a little from Litlibaer, Isafjordur, Djandi Falls, Látrabjarg, Stay at Breidavik for 2 nights
- Brjanslaekur, Malarrif and Londrangar,Grundarfjordur, Kirkjufell, Anarstapi, Hellnar, Helgafell, stay at Stykkisholmur x2 nights
- Back to Reykjavik for 2 nights, Landmannalaugar ( Landmannalaugar was a last minute planning that came up after all the rest were booked somewhat. One would probably fit in the route towards Selfoss town )
Food for thought
Food!
- Pun intended, always have some spare ration while on the roads. We were caught a few times in transit of places where there was not much civilization. Call it poor planning, probably overstayed in certain areas. BTW canned cod livers are fabulous treats. BONUS supermarts offer a more value for money for the frugal shopper. A lunch of a simple burger and fries can often set you back more than 15 SGD easily pax. I managed to try a variety of their local cuisines except the fermented shark ( they told me I went in the wrong season )
Driving
- It often pays to be a little more careful driving in Iceland. We had pretty stormy weather and strong winds in Snaefellsnes that can drift 4WD vehicles on even paved roads like a ballerina on thin ice if you are going too fast. Dry unpaved road corners should be tackled with care and especially so on tall mountain passes – think the Westfjords. Charming but bad drive. I had a great sense of achievement completing the drive around iceland, clocking in excess of 3000 kilometers of distance ( which incidentally is a far cry from the flight distances of the amazing little artic terns ). If the “need” ever arises, rivers should be fjorded with care and probably in groups ( and note that almost in all instances are uncovered by insurance companies ). Sheeps have a tendency to cross roads when you least expect, and not only do the insurance companies not cover the damages, you are expected to pay damages / sheep loss to the owners as well. When i indulge in a nice jug of Viking beer during dinner, my wife takes over the driving. Be a safe driver
Petrol/Gas
- Check what type of gas your car takes (duh)
- Always err on the side of caution on gas. N1 being the largest provider accepts credit cards with PINs ranging 4 digit to 7 digits. It was our most used pump station. In Singapore, UOB credit cards require a 5 digit PIN, and CitiBank credit cards require a 6 digit PIN. Icelandic credit cards only require a 4digit PIN, and the slightly cheaper unmanned Orkan ONLY accepts 4 digit PINS. N1 and apparently Orlis provides fuel cards and they should come handy if you do not have credit cards. ( You will find that the Orkan gas station next to the Keflavik airport car park only accepts 4 digit PIN, and will need to discuss with rental companies on pump issues during car return, but they will usually understand ) We did not use their fuel cards. While gas stations are pretty well studded across the island, places like Westfjords in particular might need abit more planning. Note how much fuel your car consumes while you drive, with luggage or without luggages. Although of course terrains will affect fuel consumption, it did give us a good estimation of fuel and how much we can cover for day trips.
* Local credit cards will be furbished with a PIN code if you request for one. I got mine 2 weeks before the trip. At least for my UOB credit card the PIN will also be the one for cash advancement ( which I rather not use actually )
Photography
- Always bring along some kind of raincoat cover for the camera and lens especially when shooting at waterfalls. Inclement unpredictable weather had me shooting so many times in the rain be it storm or drizzle, ending up with me using my beanie to wrap the camera around. An absorbant microfibre cloth or tissue comes handy as a wiper of sorts for the lens in between shots. Umbrellas come as a hassle as you will soon realize winds in Iceland not only flip them easily, they can blow away your always thought to be stable heavy lens/camera/tripod setup.
-If you are prepared to bring a barrage of heavy equipments, look to know how much walking distance you need to hike to reach certain spots. Places like Hengifoss, Látrabjarg etc will need reasonable fitness. Not all hiking paths are baggage friendly. Hvitserkur for instance needs more free hands and feet and dexterity during the descent down to the beach, and I had bad abrasions as a result of having one hand tied on the tripod.
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