The traits of Icelanders which stood out for me were - (1) succeeding isn't what's important for them but it's in trying, thus, they aren't afraid to fail; (2) they believe in lifelong learning and (3) they just pursue whatever careers they want to pursue because it's not in their culture where they tell each other that they are not good enough. I thought I would be a good cultural fit - except that I couldn't withstand the cold temperature. Haha...
I finally got a chance to visit Iceland 2 weeks ago and I remember one of our tour guides mentioned 5 different careers when he introduced himself. I couldn't remember all but what I could recall was he used to be a tv news reporter before he decided to become a tour guide. How cool is that? :)
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| Iceland's Gulfoss Waterfalls. This is just one of the many breathtaking natural resources of Iceland. |
Anyway, there are so many things I want to write about Iceland and I took over 1,000 photos in 5 days but there's so little time to write. :( So for now, I am just sharing with you my top travel tips when visiting Iceland.
1. When to go. We decided to go in summer (June) since we couldn't withstand cold temperature. But even if it's summer, temperature could be as low as 5˚C. Brrrr....
BTW, during summer, the sun sets for only a couple of hours or never sets at all! Here's a photo I took from our window at around 2am.
And because it's too bright, there are no Northern lights. So if you want to see the Northern lights, you have to go during winter.
2. Where to stay. One of tips we got from a blog was to stay near the BSI bus terminal in Reykjavik because the blogger said the pick up place of most tours are in that bus terminal. But pick-up points in hotels can be arranged with tour operators so even if you're staying in an Airbnb unit (like we did), what I recommend is to choose an Airbnb unit which is near a hotel so you could use the nearby hotel as your pick-up point.
In our case, the Airbnb unit we got was near the bus terminal alright but it was in a residential area and it meant walking about 3 blocks to reach the nearest food establishment. Three blocks is actually a short walk but when it's 5˚C and windy, it's torture. There was one evening when we decided to just eat our breakfast food for dinner because we didn't want to walk in the cold. Haha...
3. Currency. You don't need to exchange to their local currency because almost all establishments accept credit cards including paid toilets. I remember toilet use was at ISK200 or about USD1.60 or Php75. Yes, everything is expensive in Iceland.
4. Getting around. There is no metro, just public buses and taxi to go around the city. But it's expensive to take a cab. We once took a cab (because we didn't know what bus to take and we didn't have any Icelandic Krona) and for about 3 to 4km ride, we had to pay ISK1700 or about USD13 / Php640. That's why it's important that you stay at the Reykjavik city centre.
Our Airbnb unit was actually in the city centre but we decided to see the Perlan (The Pearl) which was a little out of the way.
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| The Pearl |
See the 2 big round base of the structure? Those are water tanks which provide hot water to the city. There are actually 6 tanks at the base of the Perlan and each tank has a capacity of 4M liters of water. The hot water in these tanks is what keeps the streets of the Reykjavik city center free of ice during winter and the water of a nearby beach from freezing up.
The glass dome on top of The Pearl houses a cafe and a revolving restaurant for a 360 degree view of the city centre.
For guided tours, I recommend minibus tours since it's more intimate versus big bus tours.
There is also a Game of Thrones (GOT) tours from Grayline. There are portions of the road that are bumpy so check out our heavy duty bus during the GOT Tour.
BTW, you need to pre-book tours weeks or days ahead because they easily get sold out. For day 1, we didn't intentionally book a tour just in case our flight gets cancelled (which is what happened to a colleague last year). But when we arrived and tried to book tours scheduled for the following day, all the tours we wanted to join were sold out. :(
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| Glacier hiking |
Another tip - If you plan to go glacier hiking and you don't have hiking shoes, please bring cash (this is an exemption where credit cards aren't accepted). You could rent hiking shoes for 10 euros but you can pay in whatever currency you have like USD, Danish kroner, etc. You need to pay in small bills though because they don't have any change. I actually didn't have any cash and had to borrow from a friend whose smallest bill was DKK200 or equivalent to about 27 euros. The guide was so happy that he hugged me but I was mutually happy too and didn't mind not getting change for having survived the glacier hike. Haha...
BTW, for social media addicts, the great news is there's wifi connection in most tourist buses (except in areas where it's really isolated).
6. Best way to explore Reykjavik city centre - join a Free Walking Tour. This is actually the first time I joined a free walking tour and I learned a lot from it. Because of the great experience, we continued to join free walking tours in Venice and Copenhagen. The tour guides of free walking tours are consistently more passionate and engaging versus the paid tour guides like the island tours in Venice and canal city tours in Copenhagen.
But in Iceland, I've to say that all our tour guides - both paid and free tours - were super lively, engaging and interactive.
How do free walking tours work? At the end of the tour, you just pay whatever you think is a fair amount.
For Reykjavik free city tours, go with City Walk. There is actually another free walking tour you'll find online but when we went to the designated place and time, no one was there. :( We found about about City Walk from the Tourism office of Reykjavik.
7. Drinking Water. Tap water in Iceland is one of the cleanest in the world so no need to buy bottled water. Yay! Cold tap water comes straight from the mountains. Hot tap water comes from geothermal plants.
8. Food. When you read blogs, the recommended foods to try in Iceland are exotic foods like rotten shark, mink whale (not an endangered species - at least not yet), sheep's head (yes, literally, the head of a sheep!) etc. but when you talk to locals, they would tell you that they only eat these traditional Icelandic food once a year during their annual food festival. But ok, I did try most of them but what I super loved was the Icelandic Meat Soup (Lamb soup). I ordered a bowl every lunch and dinner! Wahaha...
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| Icelandic meat soup |
The lamb in Iceland is super good because they are free range - roaming on hills. One of our tour guides said - You know why our lamb is good? Because our lamb eat a lot of grass and herbs so they are seasoning themselves while they are still alive. Hahahaha....
Now I am trying to google how to make the Icelandic meat soup - except that maybe I need to replace the lamb with beef or pork. :)
9. To go or not to go to Blue lagoon. Blue Lagoon is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It's a geothermal pool and spa. If you want to go there, you need to pre-book online. We tried buying tickets on the day itself but all tickets were sold out.
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| Blue Lagoon |
But if you want the real experience, locals recommend going to community hot tubs / geothermal pools - this is where locals go. It's like their version of a pub where they hang out and relax. How hot is the water in hot tubs? 39°C t0 42°C. I felt like being cooked as I was going down the steps of the tub. Haha...
If you plan to go to one, here are some useful tips: bring a swimsuit, towel, soap and extra clothes. Before dipping, you are required to shower in a communal bathroom where there are dividers but no enclosures. And expect to see people walk in the nude to and from the locker room and shower area. Of course, this is their norm so it's only us who aren't used to it who are uncomfortable! Haha...
10. Super Safe. Yes, Iceland has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. When I was researching, I've read that Icelanders sometimes leave strollers (with babies inside the strollers) by the door of cafes. I did see some strollers outside cafes but not sure if were babies inside.
A surprising fact is Icelanders have one of the highest gun ownership in the world - more than 25% of the entire population own a gun - but gun-related crimes is almost non-existent. In 2009 for example, there were only 4 gun-related incidents in Iceland where one was suicide and another was accidental shooting.
One of our tour guides said that they don't have a life sentence because when they put people in prison, it's not to punish them but to give them a chance to change. So when you're in prison, you are encouraged to pursue studies and you could even work and earn a salary. Wow! Free food, lodging, studies, a job that pays a salary?! If we had something like this, there would be a lot of volunteer prisoners. Wahaha...
Iceland is one of the most unique, beautiful and breathtaking places I've ever visited. If you visit Europe, you might want to add 2 to 5 days and make a side trip to Iceland. :)
Check out my other posts about Iceland:
Foods to try in Iceland
Top things to do in the city of Reykjavik
Top things to see and what tours to join in Iceland
