GUIDE TO ICELAND!!!

If you're here it's surely because you're thinking of going to Iceland or still dreaming about it!
I wrote this little guide to help you plan your trip.
So in here, I'll explain what companies are the best (according to me), how to move around, accommodation, food and all...Hope this will help you!

PLANE TICKETS

ICELANDAIR (click on the company's name for more info)

• Checked baggage up to 23kg (158cm total dim) 
• Cabin baggage 10kg (55x20x40) + purse
• Great company 
• Large airplanes
• Nice staff
• The one I took

WOWAIR

• Checked baggage up to 23kg
• Cabin baggage up to 10kg
• Good company

OTHER COMPANIES THAT GOES TO ICELAND

• Jetblue
• Air France
• Lufthansa
• SAS
• British Airways
• Finnair

TRANSPORT

BUSES

• NordicVisitor (tour buses)
• Straeto (Public buses)
• Bus Travel (named best bus company of Iceland)
• For more information about public transport in Iceland 

CARS

• MotorhomeRepublic (I had some problems with them because except of having a Jeep with 5 doors I ended up with a 3 doors Jeep and a three doors Jeep is quite complicated when you're a group of 5 people).
• Camper Iceland (So I took my car with them and they're amazing, super nice and very helpful, just check everything to be sure they didn't forget stuff you're supposed to have (they can't be perfect haha))
• 
  

In Iceland, you CAN rent a car if you're under 25!

CAMPINGS

• Ferdafélag Islands (Landmannalaugar Tjald/ camping)
• Hamrar Campsite (Akureyri)
• Tjaldsvaedid (Reykjavik campsite)
• Tjald-staedi camping (Skaftafell, Klaustur, Kirkjubaejarklaustur)
• Skjol campsite (Gullfoss)
• Grindavik tjaldsvaedi campsite (Grindavik)
• Tjaldsvaedid (Vik)
• kirkjuhvammi hvammstanga Hunaping vestra ( Illugastadhir)

FOOD AND DRINKS

FOOD

• Seabaron ( seafood Reykjavik)
• The Laundromat Café (Breakfast, brunch Reykjavik)
• Bergson Mathus (brunch, lunch  Reykjavik)
• Reykjavik Roasters (coffee Reykjavik)
• Bonus (supermarket)
• Netto (Supermarket)
• Skjol camping restaurant (French lair, pizza, and beer, Gullfoss)
• Gullfosskaffi ehf (Gullfoss coffee)
• Humarhofnin (seafood Höfn)

DRINKS

• Kiki Queer Bar (Reykjavik)
• The Dubliners (Reykjavik)

MUST DO

ANIMAL OBSERVATIONS

• Illugastadhir (Seals observation center)
• Husavik (whales observation)

FJORDS

• Eastern Fjords (Stodvarfjordur, Faskrusdsfjordur, Mjoifjordur, Egilsstardir)
• Western Fjords ( South fjords are the most beautiful ones, according to me)

ABSOLUTE MUST DO

• Thingvellir National park
• Silfra rift
• The Blue Lagoon
• Kleifarvatn lake
• Skaftafell
• Landmannalaugar
• Seltun Geothermal area
• Geysir Geothermal area
• Myvatn lake and surroundings
• Jokulsarlon (you can also see Seals here)
• Reyjaviti (Cliffs)
• Vatnses Peninsula
• Snaefellsnes Peninsula

VOLCANOES

• Snaefellsjokull (Volcano)
• Ljotopollur (Volcano)
• Hekla volcano (Careful with Hekla, this volcano is supposed to erupt every 10 years and it's been 17 years since the last time)

CITIES & TOWNS

• Reykjavik
• Akureyri
• Hofn
• Keflavik

WATERFALLS

• Gulfoss Waterfall
• Skogafoss Waterfall
• Dettifoss Waterfall
• Selfoss Waterfall
• Svartifoss Waterfall
• Oxarafoss Waterfall
• Godafoss Waterfall

SMALL TIPS 

(I usually don't do that but I thought that for Iceland some little tips could be useful)

• Download Maps.me (FREE GPS without internet,4G or any Wifi (wifi only needed for downloading the map not while using it).
• Don't hesitate to use the Help yourself in the campings (it's stuff that people don't need anymore and can't take home with them).
• Take some food with you before you leave (food is extremely expensive in Iceland, the more you take, the less you pay).
• Trash bags (always useful).
• Buy your stamps in Posts offices (less expensive than in tourists shops).
• Prices always change, so don't be surprised if the price is higher than you think, Iceland is only starting to develop everything concerning tourism..price changes every year.
• Gas Station (self-service so you need your credit card if you want a ticket you need to put your credit card a second time inside the machine).
• When you do groceries, be careful and take more than you need, supermarkets aren't everywhere in the country and you could find yourself short of food.
• Bring raincoat, sleeping bag (-10° minimum) warm sucks and sweater, Leggings (it's cold and rainy even during summer).
• Like I said Iceland is a very expensive country, provide a substantial budget.
• A travel Adapter.
• Phone Battery (take as many as you can, not every camping has charges and if you're a group taking turns in the car can be tricky).
• Take a water bottle, sometimes water in Iceland has a really strange taste that some of you might not like.
• Small mattress to put under your sleeping bags, because sleeping on rocks can be hard without it (if you sleep in Landmannalaugar you'll thank me for that one).
• A survival blanket...you can use is to sleep on it or under it, but you will use it).
• If you take a tent with you make sure it's adapted to Iceland climate.
• A flask and a flashlight can always be useful.
• A head net ( for midges or gnat, they're everywhere when you're near a lake and trust me you'll be happy to look stupid with a net on your head).

Hope you enjoyed my little tips on this wonderful country that is Iceland. Please give me a comment if you've ever been to one of this places, what did you think of it? And if you haven't, would you go there?...I would love to hear what you think!

PLEINS DES BISOUS

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

- EXPLORING ICELAND

- ICELAND "A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE"

- EXPLORING ICELAND VIDEO

EXPLORING ICELAND// Maiitikaa's Life

Halo  everyone,

Here it is... the video about my road trip in Iceland!

Hope you'll like it, I'm so sad because so many footage is not in the video otherwise it would have been 30 minutes long instead of 7min, I'll probably try to do another with the dive in Silfra, the western Fjords and Reykjavik see I told you so much is missing!

But for now I hope this one will inspire you and show you how incredible Iceland is!

Please feel free to leave a comment.

ENJOY!

PLEINS DES BISOUS

ICELAND, "A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE" !!!

Hi, guys!!!!

Did you know that Game of Thrones went shooting in Iceland? yeah me too haha, and I totally get why, this place is so wild and impressive, glacier next to volcanoes perfect places for the show, wild black sand beaches, and so many waterfalls you don't even know where to look anymore!

Iceland is also known as "Land of fire and ice" is just 3 hours away from Paris and yet before 2 years ago I never really thought of going there!
And really we decided to go there almost on a whim, summer 2015 my best friend and I came back from our holidays in Ireland and her mom looked at us and asked "Where are you going for your next adventures? you should go to Iceland!" and that how we decided that we had to go to Iceland, 2 years later we were driving a Jeep Wrangler across that very country!

WHY ICE?

JOKULSARLON

One of the most famous, or maybe the most famous place in Iceland, known for its numerous icebergs, we were super lucky to go on a sunny day, we saw icebergs break apart, imagine those huge block of ice fall into the water and create small waves...it was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen.

Then we went for the black sanded beach and that...just blow my mind, since I'm a little girl I dream of going on an expedition to Antarctica or Arctic to see those frozen places, pure nature away from everything and even if it was one of my biggest dreams, I've always been afraid that it was too big of a dream to become a reality and to see the iceberg there in Iceland just made me feel like I was touching my dream, I don't really know how to explain it but the feeling was magical, I felt great!

More information

SILFRA RIFT IN THINGVELLIR NATIONAL PARK

Silfra is a rift between the tectonic plates of America and Eurasia, the water is only 2 degrees all year long because the water comes from a glacier and can't get warmer because it merges with the lake of Thingvellir and due to the flow the water only goes from the glacier to the lake and not the other way around, this is definitely an experience I will never forget, snorkelling into the water of a glacier, the price is pretty high for snorkelling (price of a dive), but I promise you it's totally worth the price, it last about 30 to 40 minutes and there's no lifeform but algae...You don't really feel the cold only on your face and hands because the suits are really studied so the water doesn't infiltrate and touch your body...
Plus at the end of your tour, they give you hot chocolate and cookies! what's not to like?
more information 

SKAFTAFELL

Skaftafell is one of the biggest glaciers of Iceland, at first, we only went there for a short walk but we couldn't resist and went to see the glacier, we could feel the cold, like literally, the closest you were from the glacier the lower the temperature was, such an amount of ice melting in front of us...just impressive!

Then we went for that walk and arrived on top of the glacier, the walk warmed us up but as soon as we arrived near the glacier the temperature dropped down, I kinda loved the feeling, I like cold it's invigorating and I think it represents perfectly what Iceland is.

More information

WHY FIRE?

SELTUN

This is certainly the most stinky place I've smelt in Iceland, haha, the scent of brimstone was awful and for my friends, it was even worst, for me it wasn't the first time I smelt brimstone, still, it wasn't pleasant!
But I was glad to see this geothermal place with my own eyes, with its bubbling mud pots and fumaroles, this volcanic land has so many colors and I saw plenty, like blue, pink, purple, yellow and so many...I was in heavenly!

It appears that Seltun is situated in the middle of the fissure zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which crosses Iceland from the South-west to the North-East.

It almost looks like walking on Mars.

More information

HEKLA

The most active volcano in Iceland, it usually erupts every ten years but it's been now seventeen years since its last eruption.
We kind of get lost trying to climb that one, so we ended up looking at it instead of climbing it, we drove and drove for I don't remember how much hours to end up on the opposite mountain, little advice don't forget the four-wheel drive when you climb a mountain with your jeep, we were so scared, thrilled but scared haha.
But it completely was worth all the time and effort we put in Helka!

For the information, we had no idea that Hekla was so active before we decided to climb it.

LANDMANNALAUGAR

Perhaps my favorite place and yet the one that was the hardest for our mind and body, probably why it was my favorite, in the deserted land of Landmannalaugar we had to sleep on rocks and face the wind and the rain, we didn't eat very well (cold white rice, soup, bad bread and other stuff which weren't real meals) but it made me feel so good because now I can say that I did it and it was hard and cold but I did it, we did it, and the walks in there were the best in all Iceland.
We even kept our wrist band just to prove to ourself that it wasn't a dream, we walked on volcanoes, slept with below zero temperature, on rocks (literally for one of us) eat bad food but met really awesome people and well, we were in Iceland so we still had fun!

More information

ALWAYS TRAVEL WITH PEOPLE YOU LOVE!

Do you feel like going to Iceland? If you've already been there I would love to hear about your travel experience in the comment!

*All pictures aren't mine, some are my best friend's @emelinespictures (that's her Instagram if you feel like taking a look)

PLEINS DES BISOUS