Just made flight plans for late May.

Went in November for seeing the northern lights. We enjoyed it, but with certain caveats. It's expensive. Like, $7 beer at happy hour expensive. The tours are expensive but worth it. We stayed in Reykjavik, and took tours out for the Golden circle (completely worth it) and a boat tour to see the lights.

Don't ever grab a beer in Cali or nyc then if $7 hh beers scare you.

Have fun in Iceland!

If you're renting a car and have the time, I'd highly recommend going around the ring road. Some of the coolest landscapes on the planet are on the south and east sides of Iceland

Is there a certain company and tour you recommend? I'm going in July for 5 days. I'm going solo so some places want to join a group preferably small tour groups. Any places you went that didn't think was worth it?

I may not be the best one to answer, since my wife had a sinus infection for most of the visit. The Golden Circle tour was with Saga Tours-15 person mini-bus. Really happy with it and a good driver/guide. Saga has a lot of options online to look at and compare. The prices seem to be fairly consistent. In May you also have the options of whale watching and a puffin watching. I have heard good things about both.

Ring road, do it yourself, map out speed cameras in advance. Stay at air bnb, enjoy the sulfur smell on the north side, go whale watching. Prepare for hiking, lots of it.

i also used nordic saga to book a week long tour,, was actually operated by gudmundur jonasson. would recommend it, i really enjoyed it. went in october 2015 and saw the northern lights several times
https://nordicsaga.com/northern-lights-exploration-tour

edit: yikes, i looked it up and their prices have almost doubled in the 3 years since i did my trip, i did single occupancy and for my 8 day/7night trip it was $1540, now it'd be $2990 for the same trip

My friends and I used Midgard Adventure for a week long tour and had a blast. They have a hostel that we stayed at which is brand new and very nice. We did some glacier hiking, ice climbing, mountain hiking, super jeeping, and sight seeing. Definitely recommend them.

The only McDonald's you will in Iceland.

https://www.bushostelreykjavik.com/last-mcdonalds-in-iceland/

And they probably paid close to $20 for that meal. The only cheap thing in Iceland is getting there.

Matsui said:

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Don't ever grab a beer in Cali or nyc then if $7 hh beers scare you.

Have fun in Iceland!

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Maybe he meant $7 hh PBRs hah.

$7 is pretty standard in the states for a decent beer.

Yeah, that's the two for one happy hour price. Normally it's $12-14.

Anybody have recommendations for a car rental in Iceland.

We went to Iceland in June, 2016 as part of a 3 day stopover on a Scotland trip. General prices will be about 3x the cost of the same in Texas. We balked at the car rental prices, but if we had to do it again would probably rent a car since all the tour prices added up and you would have more freedom to travel when and where you want.

We rented a place on the outskirts of Rekjavik and visited the church and and the concert hall. We took a tour to the Blue Lagoon which is a large hot springs facility. On another tour, we visited the geothermal plant, The Kerid crater(w/small lake), Geysir(smaller Yellowstone), waterfalls Faxi and Gullfoss(huge), and Thingvellir National Park.

We used Sixt in Reykjavik. Worked well!

We are going in August. Making final plans this weekend but plan on renting car and not doing tours.

The headline for Iceland is that it is expensive as sh^t. Thats all I know right now.

I'm planning on going late Nov or early Dec 2018. Ideally I'd like to spend five to seven days there. The purpose will be to see the lights, site seeing secondary.

Couple questions.

What is the weather like? Brutal cold or more of a mild cold?

I'd like to spend a night or two in Reykjavik and then a few nights out under the stars, camping or in a cabin out of the cities. Any suggestions for nice hotel? And then a cabin in the woods/camping areas?

From what I've read, I'm heading there at the best time of year. Any suggestions on best viewing?

BlueAg2003 said:

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We used Sixt in Reykjavik. Worked well!

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I've narrowed it down to Sixt and Blue Car (a local company)

Mr.Infectious said:

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I'm planning on going late Nov or early Dec 2018. Ideally I'd like to spend five to seven days there. The purpose will be to see the lights, site seeing secondary.

Couple questions.

What is the weather like? Brutal cold or more of a mild cold?

I'd like to spend a night or two in Reykjavik and then a few nights out under the stars, camping or in a cabin out of the cities. Any suggestions for nice hotel? And then a cabin in the woods/camping areas?

From what I've read, I'm heading there at the best time of year. Any suggestions on best viewing?

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It's going to be brutally cold from the research I've started. Some of the island won't even be reachable that time of the year.

Check the moon's cycle for the time you are going. A full moon greatly reduces the northern lights.

FYI - If you plan on going this summer and want to stay in anything above 2 stars you need to book NOW.

I've been online for the past several hours in basically a day trading scenario trying to get rooms either through hotel or Airbnb. 80% of the Airbnb houses we favorited yesterday afternoon just casually looking got booked in the last 24 hours.

There ain't sh^t left out there that won't cost you your 401k and if it won't you are sleeping in a twin bed with your wife. Screw that.

Yeah we are staying hostels to keep it cheap. Only need it for a bed and shower anyways.

Anyone trying WOW air to get there? Saw some cheap flights out of DFW and it looks like an international version of spirit. All I care about is if they leave on time and are safe.

I flew wow from Paris to Reykjavik. They were fine. One of the more comfortable seats for European budget airlines

Bayside Tiger Ag said:

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Anyone trying WOW air to get there? Saw some cheap flights out of DFW and it looks like an international version of spirit. All I care about is if they leave on time and are safe.

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they were fine when i used them in 2015,, nothing free onboard, but, the ticket was so cheap i was ok with paying $3 for a cup-noodles and $4 for a beer, or something close to that,, biggest complaint was that they left the lights on onboard all night long on the way there

Bayside Tiger Ag said:

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Anyone trying WOW air to get there? Saw some cheap flights out of DFW and it looks like an international version of spirit. All I care about is if they leave on time and are safe.

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Yes, we are flying WOW Biz Class for ~$400 per person. I'm by no means expecting their biz class to equate to IcelandAir biz class, but it was about $200 cheaper than IcelandAir Economy with more room and a meal.

What are must do/must sees for a weeklong trip to Iceland in July or August?

Thanks for all the advice Ags leaving in one week!

hds said:

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Be sure to leave a review or some suggestions when you get back. I am going July 9-14. Enjoy.

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Yes please!

Rent a camper.

Going June 20-25.

Iceland is great and will be exciting during the World Cup but consider the Faroes:
BBC.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/faroe_islands_postal_service

We leave for Iceland July 26. I have most everything booked but definitely open to suggestions on cool things to do there.