Oppo advice wanted: Iceland edition

"Out, but with a W - has found the answer" (belg)
04/04/2017 at 13:39 • Filed to: Iceland, MR2, I might be crazy

Due to the financial wonder called ‘a job’, I seem to have acquired enough funds to carry out the idea I discarded !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Has anyone ever visited Iceland, and if so, do you have any tips?

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To clarify: I’m toying with the idea of taking the ferry and spend 1 or 2 weeks exploring the island with my MR2. The effective execution will depend on finding travel companions and getting the necessary time off work.

Initial questions:

Best time of the year to visit?

How expensive is food, drinks, fuel, lodging, ...? (Compared to European prices if possible)

Things to do? Things to avoid?

How much will the MR2 limit my options vs. hiring some generic AWD vehicle?

Anything else you want to share?

Thanks for putting your collective intellect and experience to work, Oppo!

DISCUSSION (16)

Party-vi > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
04/04/2017 at 13:45

Drive to Blue Lagoon and stay. Trip = done.

benjrblant > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
04/04/2017 at 13:51

I’ve got a good friend that’s just getting back from Iceland tomorrow. I’ll pass the link along.

If you do go, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease rent something from ISAK.

https://www.isak.is/4x4-rental

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > benjrblant
04/04/2017 at 14:01

Thanks!

While Defenders and Land Cruisers are undeniably cool, I’d still love to take the MR. If a RWD roadster ends up being too limiting, I’ll seriously consider them though! (You’ve given me an idea: MR2 for the majority of the thing, 4x4 for a couple of days)

facw > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
04/04/2017 at 14:02

Iceland is awesome. You definitely want a car. You can do stuff near Reykjavik will tour groups, but it will be better to do it yourself. Once you leave the southwest area, most of the roads are gravel, but (in summer anyway) you can get around just fine with any car (though watch for whether your rental company will charge you for rock chips). FWIW, we rented here: https://www.bluecarrental.is/

Best time to go would be July or August, when it will be warmest (still not that warm, but you won’t need anything more than a light jacket). You’ll also have nearly 24-hour sun, which mean you can do outdoor stuff at pretty much any hour, which is really nice. The only downside is you won’t be able to see any auroras since the sky only gets dark when it is cloudy. You could go in winter instead, but it will be cold and oppressively dark.

Food wasn’t too expensive but we did mostly get stuff at grocery stores, because we were often out doing stuff when places were open, because outside of the southwest there aren’t many towns so you really don’t have many restaurants to choose from, and because we had some vegetarians in our group, and Icelandic cuisine really doesn’t skew that way. Gas is very expensive, even by European standards.

Lots of good stuff to do. I don’t think I did anything I disliked. Favorite things were going to the Latrabjarg bird cliffs if the northwest of the country, and hiking to the Glymur waterfall, just a bit north of Reykjavik. There are tons of other cool waterfalls and other natural beauty though, just driving around was an astounding experience.

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > facw
04/04/2017 at 14:04

Thanks a lot! Seems like taking the MR2 around would be feasible.

facw > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
04/04/2017 at 14:11

Yeah, I had a coworker make it all the way out to Latrabjarg in some city car. You wouldn’t be able to do any of the f-roads (which require 4-wheel drive vehicles), but you can get to just about everywhere on asphalt or well-maintained gravel roads (at least in summer).

One note: when planning, don’t assume you’ll be able to do 10 over the speed limit and get everywhere a bit faster than what Google tells you, on a lot of the gravel roads, it felt pretty unsafe going anywhere near the limit, so budget your time wisely.

benjrblant > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
04/04/2017 at 14:12

I think most of the ISAK stuff is for winter driving, but yeah.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
04/04/2017 at 14:20

Look for a package travel deal that includes meals. Food prices are ridiculous. My friend went and ended up paying the equivalent of $50 usd for what amounted to a personal pizza and a soda, and spent $15 on a loaf of good bread to bring back to the hostel.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
04/04/2017 at 15:17

Know lots of people who have, some tips they told me are.

Stay just outside Reykjavik for a lot better deals on rooms, some are sort of a hostel set up that can be pretty affordable.

You should be fine if you bring your own car but if not get a manual, saves a good bit of money.

Go in the summer, pretty foggy and rainy outside of it.

Tons of hikes and waterfalls!

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
04/04/2017 at 15:18

Ouch! Thanks for the heads-up.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
04/04/2017 at 15:43

This seems like an awesome way to do it:

https://expertvagabond.com/ring-road-trip-iceland/

Now you have inspired me to convince my girlfriend to do this trip. Some cheap as hell flights via Wow airlines also. I imagine they are like flying in a cattle carrier but for that price they could stack us in piles for all I care.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Out, but with a W - has found the answer
04/04/2017 at 16:01

I don’t often swear, but Iceland is fucking fantastic :)

Food is expensive, but everything else is sort of central european posh city prices. When we went we ate out once or twice (because it’s so expensive, they really go the extra mile in restaurants), and got stuff from the supermarket for the rest of the time.

I don’t think you’ll have a problem at all with the MR2. Most of the roads bar the ones in the very north are pretty good actually. Plus, there’s gravelly stuff the further out you go from Reykjavik which will be buckets of fun :)

I can recommend some places to eat and stuff to do centred around Reykjavik if you like :)

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
04/04/2017 at 16:03

Wanna tag along with the MGF, just to teach those Icelanders about the existence of mid-engined roadsters? ;)

Will hit you up about Reykjavik when things get more ‘real’, thanks for the offer!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > benjrblant
04/04/2017 at 16:05

I was very confused with how a decimal place is used instead of a comma in places outside the US. Since it was quoting like 174 ISK for a week with the land cruiser (which is under $2 USD). But then I found out it was 174 THOUSAND ISK which is quite a bit more lol.

benjrblant > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/04/2017 at 16:09

ha, yes. they’re quite expensive rentals. doesn’t help if you’re not familiar with currency exchange rates either.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > benjrblant
04/04/2017 at 16:18

Well google helps solve that, but yeah exchange rates like that end up looking like monopoly money.