Iceland on a budget?

[bigfatnick]

In August, I plan on taking a trip to Iceland, for three nights, hurrah for easyjet.

I plan on seeing the blue lagoon, doing a golden circle tour, seeing the bridge between too continents (which might be on the tour, I've not looked into that yet.) What have I missed?

I know Iceland is expensive, but how expensive? I'm not going for a piss up, but is food/beer/public transport going to kill me? I'm staying in a hostel with mates and the trips seem not too silly, what can I expect?

Also, probably a stupid question, but if the northern lights are flowing at that time, how far out of reykjavic would I need to get to see them? Will it even get dark enough in August?

Thanks,

Nick

Edited by bigfatnick on Sunday 28th April 00:46

[Petrus1983]

No chance of the Northern Lights, in fact, little chance of darkness at all! I got back last week and we only had proper darkness from 1am to about 4.45am! Even then only once saw the merest of Northern Lights. Great place though. We flew out with EasyJet and back with Wow, both hassle free.

[Sarge 4x4]

I am out there in Aug with a tyre company for a little playing off road and was thinking of taking a couple of extra days before so will keep an eye on this.

[Petrus1983]

Shouldn't need to go too far off road - this was the main road last week!!.. in a VW Golf

Edited by Petrus1983 on Sunday 28th April 11:15

[Blown2CV]

probs changed in the interim but i was there 2 years ago and the exchange rate had levelled to the point where it was probably london prices rather than 'other worldly' to eat and drink. There are a lot of really lovely restaurants, which consequently means the average price is higher to eat, but then you're eating nicer food. Tours are tours though, and they aren't cheap.

[matt3001]

I went up in Jan on Easyjet (again did what it said on the tin, cheap no frills). Stayed at Hotel Ranga (would highly recommend - even if its just to try the fish in their restaurant - its amazing).

Hire cars - Expensive - more than the UK, mainly due to the extra risk of damage due to the roads and sandstorms etc. Driving is really easy over there, and the attractions (Waterfall, techtonic plates and geysirs) easy to find, all have visitor centres - with mates a car is a better bet than a tour.

Food - Slightly cheaper than London (I live in SE1), think Manchester/Birmingham city centre prices.

Drink - Expensive - think Dublin.

Tours - Are what they are. Try and do a glacier walk if you really want to do one.

Get out of rejkavic. Its just a boring/small scandanavian town.

Blue Lagoon is worth a visit - a morning should do it. It gets busy in the afternoon and once you have been in it 2 hours you have had enough.

No chance of the Northern Lights, whilst they will be happening up there because of the daylight you won't see them. Mid-Sept is when they start to become visible so if you can delay a couple of weeks it may be worth it. You will want to be outside of the city though, we saw them at Hotel Ranga in Jan but that is in the middle of nowhere.

Hope that helps.

Edited by matt3001 on Tuesday 30th April 16:25

[aka_kerrly]

Iceland on a budget, best off finding the nearest one to you then
http://www.iceland.co.uk/store-finder/

[bigfatnick]

Thanks for the help guys. Matt3001, very helpful. I like the sound of the 4 of us in a hire car for 2 days rather than on a bus. I'll take that on board!


Anyone else have any words of wisdom?

[Amateurish]

I went about 8 years ago and it was unbelievably expensive, but that was pre-crash. We stayed at the Sally Army hostel which was the cheapest place to stay at the time - still over £100 a night though. We got food from the supermarket. The four of us hired a car and drove around to see all the sights - great fun.