With intense rugged natural beauty, Iceland has always been on our bucket list, but not necessarily as a destination in the winter. After doing a fair bit of research, I had convinced myself it would be great---- after all, we abhor crowded places and Iceland has become a destination of choice lately, so the seeming advantage of winter travel to Iceland is limited crowds and lower prices, right? We’re hardy Minnesotans that don’t fear a little snow, cold, or wind--- who else would travel to this artic location during the coldest time of the year with hardly any daylight? Actually, it turns out, a whole lot of people travel to Iceland between Christmas and New Year’s---and it really caught us off guard.
In our opinion, an ideal itinerary for Iceland would be to travel the Ring Road all the way around the island and have at least 10 days to do that (AND do this in the summer). Staying in multiple locations in the winter holds risk, as the weather can change instantly, and you may not make it to the next destination. You must be very flexible in your plans and let the weather be your guide---so because of that (and the discount for a week’s Airbnb stay), we decided on staying in Reykjavik for the week and doing day trips as possible.
Itinerary
We had a very loose idea of what we wanted to see in Iceland and we spent the end of each day looking at the weather and planning the next day. We tried to keep our expectations low, so if there was a storm and we were housebound, we’d be cool with playing cribbage and watching movies all day. Besides, this was a holiday, and time with all 3 kids was the main objective.
Here is how our week in Iceland ended up:
(Stay tuned for detail on both Reykjavik and the day trips in the next blogs.)
Dec 26 Flew into Keflavik Airport
Dec 27 Daytrip to Golden Circle
Dec 28 Daytrip to South Coast
Dec 29 Explore Reykjavik
Dec 30 Kids wanted a break, so we did more Reykjavik
Dec 31 Snæfellsnes Peninsula
Jan 1 Reykjanes Peninsula
Jan 2 Reykjavik Zoo before heading to Keflavik Airport.
Daylight and Weather drives the Itinerary
During the last week of the year, the sun rises at 11:30 am and sets about 4 hours and 20 minutes later at 3:40 pm. Compare this to Minnesota, where we get nearly twice this amount of daylight! This time of year is pretty cloudy, so most of the days didn’t get very bright at all. The clouds also limited the ability to see the northern lights.
Many of the day trips from Reykjavik take a good full day----so we needed to leave hours before the sun rose and we would return after dark. The reason it was so busy at the sites we toured, is because basically everyone is doing the same thing we were--- staying in Reykjavik and driving to the South Shore, the Golden Circle tour, etc. In the summer, there may be more tourists, but they are spread out around the island and there are 20 hours of daylight to do your touring.
Every day we would cycle through weather, from raging winds to rain, to sleet, to snow, repeat. The winds were pretty incredible and aren't to be messed with. High winds kept us grounded one morning, as we waited for them to subside so we could safely travel.
Iceland is called the Land of Fire and Ice because of the geothermal features and glaciers.
Planning Resources
· We used Rick Steve’s book on Iceland as a basic planning guide.
· Add to that DK’s Eyewitness Guide Top 10 Iceland
· I also watched several travel vlogs by hipsters traveling in the winter, bringing huge suitcases, so they could have a different winter coat every day. Not really our speed, but it did prepare us for some of the road conditions we might face.
Language
You will notice the abundant consonants and some unique letters in the Icelandic language, which is most closely related to Western Norwegian and Faroese. We remarked that an Icelandic Scrabble board would have to be very large and only 7 letters at a time wouldn’t cut it. For example, the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano that erupted most recently in 2010 (and disrupted air travel around the world) is more commonly called E16 by non-Icelandic folks who can’t pronounce this tongue twister. You get the idea, pronouncing and remembering names here is a challenge! Rick Steve’s book does have a handy table to help pronounce the major sites.
The good news is that everyone we encountered spoke English---but it’s still polite to learn a few phrases. My favorite is the formal goodbye, which is “bless”.
Views from our Airbnb
Lodging
We found a very nice Airbnb on the west end of the Reykjavik peninsula, about 4 miles from downtown. This Airbnb was newly renovated, easily slept our family of 5, and was on the 11th floor of one of the tallest apartment buildings in Iceland, with 270-degree spectacular views towards downtown. At nearly $2400 for the week, this was a splurge for our family, but things in Iceland are very expensive, even during the theoretical off-season.
Car Rental
I closely followed the TripAdvisor forum and asked questions to get ready for the trip. The responses on that forum consistently discourage any tourist from driving in Iceland in the winter. One of the more humorous reasons why not self-drive is because the country roads do not have streetlights. As a people who grew up in rural Minnesota, I felt pretty confident we could handle Iceland’s winter roads and use common sense—monitor the weather, be flexible in our plans, and know when NOT to go out on the roads.
We rented a Mazda5 AWD from ProCar. It had actual studded tires (had not seen them before) and with the rough texture of the Iceland pavement, we were easily able to handle the self-driving. We did experience some temporary white-out conditions and severe winds---but the usual winter stuff. There was a day when we waited for the wind to calm down and it eventually did.
The alternative to self-driving is to sign up for various bus tours, which is highly encouraged by the Trip Advisor forum. I know we travel frugally, but it was truly shocking to me to understand how many people spend significant money on multiple tours when in Iceland—from walking on a glacier to snowmobiling to guided bus tours to all the sites, etc. For a family of 5 like ours, we could have easily spent $350--$1000 per day for tours. Our car rental cost us $560 for the week, plus gas (which wasn’t cheap either-----but still a bargain compared to the tours). The tours might be a great option for some folks, so I’m not trying to wholly dismiss them----but if you need to travel here on a budget, don’t feel obligated to take the tours that will be heavily suggested to you.
Money-saving Tips
Rick Steve’s recommends planning on an average of $250 per day. Other sites have a lower amount at $172/ day---but that clearly depends on how you travel, how many tours you take (or don’t), and how much you spend at restaurants. We spent less than that.
· #1 tip is to buy your alcohol at the duty-free shop at the airport when you arrive at Keflavik. One time, Kevin and I did relax over a beer at Icelandic Street Foods. 2 beers were about USD 20. The lamb soup in the bread bowl looked amazing, but we didn’t try it.
· Pack lunches for day trips. When you are away from Reykjavik, finding a café or restaurant available when you are hungry may be a challenge. We saved a lot of money by packing our lunches and food was there when we needed it to avoid the well-known hangry phase when traveling. (We did enjoy hamburgers and fries at Hamborgarabulla Tomasar, but thought the Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, The City’s Best Hotdog, was overrated)
· Make your own meals at night. To be perfectly honest, Iceland’s food didn’t strike us as that appealing, unless you spent a lot of money to go to the better restaurants. Even Anthony Bourdain disliked the food (Season 1, Episode 2 “Hello Darkness My Old Friend”), especially the fermented shark.
· Self-guided tours--- especially if you have a family of 5 like ours. Tours are likely a better value if you’re traveling solo or with a small group.
· Don’t bother exchanging any money. Iceland operates as an almost-cashless society, so bring your credit card and be ready to use it often.
The Christmas Cat
Icelandic folklore
Icelandic Air introduces you to the unique folklore traditions as soon as you enter their planes. Christmas folklore is particularly interesting in that it is meant to trick children into good behavior. Grýla is a giant Christmas witch, who eats the naughty children. Her husband Leppalúði is lazy and browbeaten. They have a cat, (Yule Cat, Christmas Cat, or jólaköttur) who will eat both children and adults who do not receive any new clothes for Christmas. What a clever way to force everyone to be appreciative of those new socks or pajamas you receive as presents!
Grýla and Leppalúðl’s children are called the Yule Lads. With names like Spoon Licker, Pot Licker, Door Slammer, Stubby, Sausage Swiper, Bowl Licker, Gully Hawk, Candle Beggar, Meat Hook, Door Sniffer, Skyr Gobbler (this is Icelandic yogurt), and Window Peeper, these are the Icelandic version of the 7 dwarfs, but better.
Helm of Awe
One of the souvenirs we purchased in Iceland is a metal “Helm of Awe” or Ægishjálmr. It’s one of the many symbols of Norse mythology you will encounter while in Iceland. It has the power to protect you from injustice and evil, so we thought it essential to protect our home during the Trump administration.
We did fall in love with this magical place, despite the massive number of tourists, limited daylight, and high costs of traveling in Iceland. Our goal is to come back in the summer, rent a camper, take our time driving the Ring Road around Iceland, and see a puffin or two.
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