Anyone been to Reykjavik?

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markbmcfc

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Minding the gap
Off in December to see the Northern Lights (hopefully).

There for a few days, wondered if anyone had been and had any recommendations of places to go, things to do, places to eat etc.

Cheers.
 
I went last November, didn't do the northern lights as wasn't there long enough but may be going back again this year for that reason.

booked a tour where we took in the waterfall at gulfoss which will prob have a bit of frosting in December and look awesome i'd have thought, did the geo thermal power plant and the geiser on this tour too.

There was a restaurant there too which had something to do with Gordon Ramsay, we had a little sample of Icelandic food there: Whale, Puffin, Dried fish and decomposed/fermented shark (which is absolutely horrible).

Blue Lagoon is a must.

They do Whale watching tours too I think but that may be seasonal.

It's a very small town/city mind probably smaller than Swansea. Beer isn't cheap either.

how many days you going for?
 
It's going to be freezing and dark (4 hours sun) while you're there. Would strongly recommend Blue Lagoon but don't know what you'd see. Tourist Info are great.

The National Gallery near the Parliament buildings was worth a visit; there's quite a lot of modern art about. Some good cafe/restaurants close to main harbour road north-west of small centre - one called 'Fish & Chips' stood out.

Enjoy the Lights.
 
tweetstreet said:
I went last November, didn't do the northern lights as wasn't there long enough but may be going back again this year for that reason.

booked a tour where we took in the waterfall at gulfoss which will prob have a bit of frosting in December and look awesome i'd have thought, did the geo thermal power plant and the geiser on this tour too.

There was a restaurant there too which had something to do with Gordon Ramsay, we had a little sample of Icelandic food there: Whale, Puffin, Dried fish and decomposed/fermented shark (which is absolutely horrible).

Blue Lagoon is a must.

They do Whale watching tours too I think but that may be seasonal.

It's a very small town/city mind probably smaller than Swansea. Beer isn't cheap either.

how many days you going for?
Click to expand...

Cheers for this. The tour you mention, is that the golden circle floating tour from here: http://www.floatingtours.com/golden-circle-classic-winter/

Going Monday to Saturday. Got a Northern Lights tour booked for the Tuesday and Whale Watching on Thursday so looking to fill the Wednesday and Friday during the day and pretty much every evening. Flight home on Saturday.


unicorn said:
It's going to be freezing and dark (4 hours sun) while you're there. Would strongly recommend Blue Lagoon but don't know what you'd see. Tourist Info are great.

The National Gallery near the Parliament buildings was worth a visit; there's quite a lot of modern art about. Some good cafe/restaurants close to main harbour road north-west of small centre - one called 'Fish & Chips' stood out.

Enjoy the Lights.
Click to expand...

Cheers for the above mate.
 
It's very similar to the tour we did but we didn't do that floating lagoon and the sampling of Icelandic foods within the tour.

keep the Wednesday night free or something that can be cancelled if I was you as most of the northern lights tours will take you again the next night for free if you don't see them the first night I believe.

couldn't hurt to take grab some booze in duty free on your way too as it's quite expensive in the bars. me and my mate got a couple of bottles of vodka on the way and had a few pre-drinks on the hotel balcony before hitting town.
 
I've been a couple of times so I'll add to the suggestions.
Duty Free at Keflavik is after passport control so is good to grab a couple of bottles after the flight.
Most bars do a happy hour , two for one , between 6 and 8 although the locals tend to come out a fair bit later.
Eating in Reykjavik is brilliant. Go on tripadvisor and book the top ones, probably the Grillmarkt and or Fishmarkt. They all tend to do a seven course taster which might consist of puffin, whale, shark etc. . Some of the best food I've ever eaten was in Iceland. There's also the hotdog stand near the seafront which is absolutely brilliant. Hotdogs for a quid or so and they are very good.
I wouldn't bother with the Blue Lagoon, there's a smaller place a little further North which is less touristy , cheaper and much better . You could also try the local outdoor swimming pool(free) which is thermally warmed and very good.
I did the tours first, which were very good but it's very very simple to hire a car and do it all yourself. You could weigh up the cost of the tours, airport transfers etc against the cost of car hire.
The Gulfoss waterfall has a cafe that serves Lamb stew which , besides being very good, also has as many refills as you can handle.
If there's anything else I can recall I'll post again.
Stunning place
 
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