Travel
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Iceland recs
DH & I are stopping over in Iceland for 3 days on our way to Paris in May. Yay! But I have 2 questions:
I'm not a huge fan of bus tours so we're thinking of renting a car for 1 or 2 days to get out of the Reykjavik area. Yes, I know car rentals are expensive there & I have experience driving on rough terrain. Anyone driven Iceland on their own? If so, can you rec a particular company?
Also, any hotel/b&b/farmhouse recs? The place that was rec'd to me on my local has ceased to exist. Nothing 5 star; just a basic, clean room (no hostel/bunks) & bathroom (shared is ok).
Thanks!
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Re: Iceland recs
We rented a car through Atak. We were offered a 10% discount with them through the hotel where we stayed. They were reasonably priced, picked us up from the airport (their facility is ~1 mile from the airport) and then picked the car up from us in downtown Reykjavik since we didn't want it the entire time we were there.
We drove north out of Reykjavik around Hvalfjordur, and it was so beautiful! I would recommend it if you can.
For hotel recs, we stayed at Room With a View and really liked it. We had a sea view apartment. It was pretty well decorated, clean and very centrally located to all shopping and restaurants. And reasonably priced.
I know you didn't ask for tour recs, but I have two I'll recommend anyway. :-) We loved the Silfra + Golden Circle tour through Dive.is. You snorkel in the rift between the Eurasian and N. American tectonic plates and it is amazing. And the Thorsmork Glacier Valley tour through Iceland Rovers was really awesome. It takes you out into the middle of nowhere, to the foot of the volcano that erupted a couple of years ago, to some hidden waterfalls, fording rivers, etc.
With three days, here's what I would do (been to Iceland twice - it's my favorite place)
Day 1 - depending on when you arrive, pick up a rental car and head to the Blue Lagoon, if it's the weekend, spend this day in Reykjavik and go to the Kolaportid flea market, wander around the harbor, take your photo by the Viking boat sculpture, go up in Hallgrimskirkja church, visit the 871 settlement museum. Have nice dinner (Thir Frakker for Plkkfiskur or Tapas Barinn for small plates like loster, whale and puffin, or Fishmarket for more upscale Asian/Icelandic fusion) and that night go out for the bar crawl (runtour) and have a hot dog around 2am.
Day 2 - drive yourself around the Golden Circle - Thingvellier, Geysir and Gullfoss - pack a lunch and expect to be gone pretty much all day. It's really easy to drive yourself along this route (I did it in March in a compact from Avis). I also really recommend Geysir rentals. Compare the cost of ditching the car the last day and taking the shuttle back to the airport vs keeping it for the last day and driving back. It might save you $50-$60 to get rid of it, and you do not need it in Reykjavik at all. (You could also just have it the first day - do the Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon and then do Reykjavik on day 2).
Day 3 - do a tour...I know you said you aren't tour people - neither am I, but some activities you can only do on a tour. . . like snorkeling at Thingvellier, which was one of my favorite things to do. They put you in a dry suit and the water is crystal clear and goes over the rift in the tectonic plates. Or go horseback riding - the Icelandic horses are adorable. Or you can go caving, walk on a glacier, or get in the car and drive up to the Snaefellsness Peninsula or out west to the black sand beaches at Vik. I also recommend the Oldgardin brewery tour in the city, or the My Reykjavik free walking tour (they also do a very cool summer hike out to hot springs at midnight).
As for where to stay - I LOVE Our House - which is a hostel but has very nice private rooms with double beds, and because it used to be a house, there is a full kitchen with free breakfast and lots of room to cook your own meals if you want, plus two very nice private bathrooms with saunas and jacuzzi tubs, a roof deck, free wifi, and free bikes for guests to use. I also like Sunna, though it's a bit more on the basic side.
I used to write an online Iceland guide at whygoiceland.com which has ton of info, but feel free to reach out with more questions.