ICELAND

WHEN: May 2017
WHERE: Golden Circle

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where to stay

Golden Circle
Hotel Lambafell

Location
The location was perfect. It was actually stunning. Its located inbetween Seljalandsfoss waterfall and Vik. Very short drive to Skogafoss and a nice hike to a natural hot spring.

Likes
Location/Setting (right in the mountains), free breakfast, comfortable, unique, hot tub

Dislikes
Hot tub kinda looks dirty & the shower isn't located in your room and can be busy

Price
C$121.26/night

Keflavik
BGB Guesthouse

Location
Perfect location for early flights

Likes
Clean, comfortable, cheap (compared to other options), full kitchen

Dislikes
Can be far walk to closest bathroom depending on where your room is, noisy, nothing special

Price
€80.10 /night (C$223.62 for 2)

What/Where to eat

I can honestly say we hardly ate on this trip. Food is exceptionally pricey in Iceland - so much so that it made me dislike the country. We bought peanut butter and a loaf of bread and had sandwiches every day. For an example of prices we got 2 6" subs from subway and it came out to $36.... so I don't have much food recommendations except to say its best to go to a grocery store and save money eating out.

What to see/do

1. Waterfalls

- most popular: Skogafoss, Seljalandsfoss, Gullfoss
- can see them all up close and walk behind some or right on top of some
- most popular thing in Iceland
- bring extra clothes because you will get wet
- all within 2 hours drive from each other (roughly)

2. Pingvellir National Park

- drive through it and it's absolutely gorgeous
- stop at lakes, waterfalls and great look outs
- you can hike through if you wanted to as well
- free to enter

3. Blue Lagoon

- a lot of people say not to waste your time and to go to a natural hot spring, but honestly, I loved the lagoon
- highlight of my trip
- multiple different packages you can purchase
- it is expensive but well worth it
- perfectly blue waters

tours to take

We chose to tour around ourselves by renting a car but they have day tours to the lagoon straight from the airport as well as tours that do the entire golden circle but I personally would rent a car and do it all on your own time!

when we went

I went in May for 3 nights, 4 days. As per weather I would not recommend not going at this time of the year. It was exceptionally windy which made it very cold and hard to be outside - by windy I mean, I could hardly walk! It also wasn't as green as I would have liked to have seen & not cold enough to see the caves. As per crowds, it was perfect timing. Yes, there was people but it wasn't nearly as busy as it would be in summer time.

general tips/tricks

Iceland is a very pretty country - respect the land you're walk on and don't litter
I recommend driving
if you're someone who is comfortable camping, you can easily save money by camping
go when its warm - its much prettier and more enjoyable
bring a rain coat, no matter when you go
visit the blue lagoon AND a natural hot spring
be prepared to do a lot of walking
bring food to save a lot of money!!! Its very very very expensive
honestly and personally I would skip Vik and the geysirs. Its not overly worth it to drive out there
I would only spend 2 days there (IF that)
I wouldn't go to Iceland as an alone trip - flights are cheaper to book Iceland as a "stop over" - book with Iceland air and you can add Iceland as a stopover. We had a roundtrip flight to Paris for C$600 per person and was free to add a 3 day stop over in Iceland
I recommend going to to the place where you can stand between Europe and North America - there's lots of stops along the way that are stunning

Final thoughts

Honestly, Iceland has so much hype and it is over played. I was very disappointed in Iceland. It is of course absolutely stunning but the weather, crowds and prices ruined the trip for me.
Would I recommend going?
Not really TBH - i'd save your money - only go if it was a quick layover
Would I go back?
I wouldn't plan to go back myself no.
Total Cost:
Around $500 a person

(please note: this was included in a 3 week, 5 country trip - the trip in full was around $1500-$2000 per person so this is just an estimate)

1/1

ICELAND

WHEN: May 2017 WHERE: Golden Circle

where to stay

Golden Circle Hotel Lambafell

Keflavik BGB Guesthouse

Location Perfect location for early flights Likes Clean, comfortable, cheap (compared to other options), full kitchen Dislikes Can be far walk to closest bathroom depending on where your room is, noisy, nothing special Price €80.10 /night (C$223.62 for 2)

What/Where to eat

What to see/do

1. Waterfalls

- most popular: Skogafoss, Seljalandsfoss, Gullfoss - can see them all up close and walk behind some or right on top of some - most popular thing in Iceland - bring extra clothes because you will get wet - all within 2 hours drive from each other (roughly)

2. Pingvellir National Park

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​

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- drive through it and it's absolutely gorgeous - stop at lakes, waterfalls and great look outs - you can hike through if you wanted to as well - free to enter

3. Blue Lagoon

​

​

- a lot of people say not to waste your time and to go to a natural hot spring, but honestly, I loved the lagoon - highlight of my trip - multiple different packages you can purchase - it is expensive but well worth it - perfectly blue waters

tours to take

We chose to tour around ourselves by renting a car but they have day tours to the lagoon straight from the airport as well as tours that do the entire golden circle but I personally would rent a car and do it all on your own time!

when we went

general tips/tricks

Iceland is a very pretty country - respect the land you're walk on and don't litter

I recommend driving

if you're someone who is comfortable camping, you can easily save money by camping

go when its warm - its much prettier and more enjoyable

bring a rain coat, no matter when you go

visit the blue lagoon AND a natural hot spring

be prepared to do a lot of walking

bring food to save a lot of money!!! Its very very very expensive

honestly and personally I would skip Vik and the geysirs. Its not overly worth it to drive out there

I would only spend 2 days there (IF that)

I wouldn't go to Iceland as an alone trip - flights are cheaper to book Iceland as a "stop over" - book with Iceland air and you can add Iceland as a stopover. We had a roundtrip flight to Paris for C$600 per person and was free to add a 3 day stop over in Iceland

I recommend going to to the place where you can stand between Europe and North America - there's lots of stops along the way that are stunning

Final thoughts

(please note: this was included in a 3 week, 5 country trip - the trip in full was around $1500-$2000 per person so this is just an estimate)

WHEN: May 2017
WHERE: Golden Circle

Golden Circle
Hotel Lambafell

Keflavik
BGB Guesthouse

Location
Perfect location for early flights

Likes
Clean, comfortable, cheap (compared to other options), full kitchen

Dislikes
Can be far walk to closest bathroom depending on where your room is, noisy, nothing special

Price
€80.10 /night (C$223.62 for 2)

- most popular: Skogafoss, Seljalandsfoss, Gullfoss
- can see them all up close and walk behind some or right on top of some
- most popular thing in Iceland
- bring extra clothes because you will get wet
- all within 2 hours drive from each other (roughly)

- drive through it and it's absolutely gorgeous
- stop at lakes, waterfalls and great look outs
- you can hike through if you wanted to as well
- free to enter

- a lot of people say not to waste your time and to go to a natural hot spring, but honestly, I loved the lagoon
- highlight of my trip
- multiple different packages you can purchase
- it is expensive but well worth it
- perfectly blue waters