Iceland

[Chewbacca 7617]

Going with the family next May for a week. Any must see places?

[sidis 9659]

are you going to attempt to do the full ring?

[Chewbacca 7617]

2 hours ago, sidis said:

are you going to attempt to do the full ring?

Probably not, but we might?  Haven't decided on that yet.

[sidis 9659]

Just now, Chewbacca said:

Probably not, but we might?  Haven't decided on that yet.

given that you are a southwestern colorado people, are you going to back country camp type deal or staying in "hotels?"

[Chewbacca 7617]

Just now, sidis said:

given that you are a southwestern colorado people, are you going to back country camp type deal or staying in "hotels?"

Hotels for sure.  Although we will rent a 4WD vehicle so we can explore.

[conVINCEd 21468]

4 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Hotels for sure.  Although we will rent a 4WD vehicle so we can explore.

They are pretty picky about where you are allowed/not allowed to take the car.

[sidis 9659]

7 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Hotels for sure.  Although we will rent a 4WD vehicle so we can explore.

just so you know, in may, there is still a decent part of the island that you might not be able to access by car. particularly taking into account that a lot of what i am listing below is in the highlands. that said...besides some of the more obvious things to see (skógafoss, gullfoss, blue lagoon), you might look into the following to see if they fit your family's jam:

hornstrandir nature preserve (by boat, not by hike)

the springs at hvammsvik

seljavallalaug pool

the kjolur road (if it accessible which is 50/50 in may)

the  hvalfjordur fjord (specifically for glymur waterfall

the village of siglufjordur

thakgil canyon, huldujökull glacier

gljufrabui waterfall and the eastern highlands waterfall circle

Krakatindur track drive

markarfljótsgljúfur Canyon

morsárfoss waterfall

[52-80 18982]

most consider the southern half of the loop more sightseeing dense, but really its all equally nice, and honestly if you miss 2 or 3 waterfalls or glaciers after seeing 2 or 3 other ones, it aint gonna kill ya.

i would say, if you do a google search for "filming location iceland", you could use that as a destination list, which will often repeat some really common sites appearing in anything from prometheus to batman begins to interstellar to game of thrones.

my personal favorite was taking a dip in the fissure of the continental crack. https://www.dive.is/diving-snorkeling-tours/snorkeling-day-tours/silfra-snorkeling-day-tour

 

btw the band Sigur Ros did a project where they play background music to hours of footage of simply circling the ring road. gives you a glimpse of what it looks like on the road.

 

 

 

[alphahydro 332]

Just got back from ~ a week in Iceland.   rented a car and drove to Hofn and back, stopping basically at whatever spots had high ratings on google maps.  

I didn't really have the highest expectations for Iceland--it was supposed to be a just-in-case-we-had-flight-issues buffer for a trip to Greenland.   but it was amazing.  Photos don't do any of the locations justice.  we went in late August, just rented a car and booked hotels and Airbnbs close to the main sights, so we could visit them before or after the tourbuses.  we had pretty much all the popular locations to ourselves.  HIGHLY recommend this approach.   recommend sky lagoon on the way in our out to relax before or after the flight.   also, if you are tempted to skip Gljufrabui or Kvernufoss, don't.   Food we tried was just OK along the southern coast of Iceland, but had a surprisingly nice dinner at fosshotel glacier lagoon.   If I had more time, I would have checked out the highlands and the NW. 

[6th Street 6270]

Great pics. Enjoy it now before climate change melts those glaciers for good. Read recently that some tourists doing an ice walk near Jokursarlon got crushed by melting ice.

[alphahydro 332]

yeah, they were trying to check out ice caves, which is pretty stupid.  it's too early to walk through ice caves; that's something for later in the winter.  i guess the tour operator that put that together was kinda rogue, and a lot of locals were shocked that someone would take tourists to ice caves in august.  idk, but dumb and dangerous. 

we did a lava show in a town called vik.  (the lava show company built some kinda super furnace that heats up volcanic rocks to their melting point, creating lava; during the show, they release a stream of lava into a room for tourists).  

they also give an interesting presentation about volcanos.  apparently, there is a huge volcano topped by a glacier just up the road, and the town of vik sits in the valley below.  every time the volcano goes off, it melts the glacier and the area suffers biblical floods, which basically destroy the town.   

the volcano is 50 years overdue for an eruption.  Everyone who lives there has detailed evacuation plans for the next time the volcano erupts.  

I was like, damn, why do you guys live here? 

Icelandic ppl just built different, I guess. 

[Vertuzzi 1303]

15 hours ago, alphahydro said:

Just got back from ~ a week in Iceland.   rented a car and drove to Hofn and back, stopping basically at whatever spots had high ratings on google maps.  

I didn't really have the highest expectations for Iceland--it was supposed to be a just-in-case-we-had-flight-issues buffer for a trip to Greenland.   but it was amazing.  Photos don't do any of the locations justice.  we went in late August, just rented a car and booked hotels and Airbnbs close to the main sights, so we could visit them before or after the tourbuses.  we had pretty much all the popular locations to ourselves.  HIGHLY recommend this approach.   recommend sky lagoon on the way in our out to relax before or after the flight.   also, if you are tempted to skip Gljufrabui or Kvernufoss, don't.   Food we tried was just OK along the southern coast of Iceland, but had a surprisingly nice dinner at fosshotel glacier lagoon.   If I had more time, I would have checked out the highlands and the NW. 

Fucking sick photos here. Definitely need to make a trip to Iceland soon!

[alphahydro 332]

3 hours ago, Vertuzzi said:

Fucking sick photos here. Definitely need to make a trip to Iceland soon!

definitely recommended. 

[6th Street 6270]

22 hours ago, alphahydro said:

yeah, they were trying to check out ice caves, which is pretty stupid.  it's too early to walk through ice caves; that's something for later in the winter.  i guess the tour operator that put that together was kinda rogue, and a lot of locals were shocked that someone would take tourists to ice caves in august.  idk, but dumb and dangerous. 

we did a lava show in a town called vik.  (the lava show company built some kinda super furnace that heats up volcanic rocks to their melting point, creating lava; during the show, they release a stream of lava into a room for tourists).  

they also give an interesting presentation about volcanos.  apparently, there is a huge volcano topped by a glacier just up the road, and the town of vik sits in the valley below.  every time the volcano goes off, it melts the glacier and the area suffers biblical floods, which basically destroy the town.   

the volcano is 50 years overdue for an eruption.  Everyone who lives there has detailed evacuation plans for the next time the volcano erupts.  

I was like, damn, why do you guys live here? 

Icelandic ppl just built different, I guess. 

I like the huge volcano disclaimer they make you sign at the rental car place. 

Supposedly there's a hookup app where you can check beforehand to make sure you're not related lol.

[alphahydro 332]

5 hours ago, 6th Street said:

I like the huge volcano disclaimer they make you sign at the rental car place. 

Supposedly there's a hookup app where you can check beforehand to make sure you're not related lol.

makes sense.  small island.  crazy tho.

[Scary Stranger 1711]

Anyone ever done a ring road trip?  We're going to do it in 2 summers when my oldest son graduates HS.  Plenty of videos out there but want to bookmark this for later planning. 

[52-80 18982]

56 minutes ago, Scary Stranger said:

Anyone ever done a ring road trip?  We're going to do it in 2 summers when my oldest son graduates HS.  Plenty of videos out there but want to bookmark this for later planning. 

I did the loop in spring season. Weather agreeable most of the time, though at a portion was driving through heavy snowstorm (that quickly passed). 

Planning is simple because most everything is just off the loop, or a tiny excursion from it. And then most of that is walk/hike-up natural attractions, with only few things requiring booking or guides. 

One idea for itinerary building is googling movies scenes shot in Iceland. Theres a few common locations like the Glacier Lagoon. Pretty cool to watch these same movies afterwards (or new ones) and recognize the places youve been.