Iceland is a highly unique country. Despite its remote location and relative inaccessibility, five times the population of the country is estimated to visit this year alone - a jaw dropping 1.7 million tourists. This is an increase of 30% over last year! When I met and spoke to the CEO of Icelandair, he said…
Continue reading: What To Do During A Stopover In Iceland
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Ah you did the IBI completed the diploma program last year too! What were your subjects?
@Vee Awesome! I did HL: Econ, History and Eng A Lit and SL: Math, Physics and French B.
Rent a 4X4 and drive to the bottom of Hekla and look up what a view, hopefully one of the good days where you can see something beside clouds.
Thanks for the post Daniel. It'll be helpful for me since I plan to visit Iceland for 3 days in early October in sha Allah. I plan to rent a 4x4 since we would be 5 friends and DIY activities.
Yes, for those of us who aren't broken by a $100 or more a day budget, rent a car and drive around, the country is incredible! We drove from Reyjavik to Vik and stopped many places along the way to see different sights, it was one of the best days of my life.
You can stay up to four days or so and do daytrips from Reykjavik, as Daniel did, or you can spend at least nine driving the Ring Road and actually seeing the country. I really recommend the latter. I just wanted to say that I don't think that Iceland makes sense for stays of 5-8 nights.
The Blue Lagoon is not a naturally heated spring. It is a man-made lagoon which is fed by the water output of the power plant Svartsengi and is renewed every two days. I prefer not to swim in waste water from a power plant. It is a classic tourist trap.
Great list. I visited Iceland a few years ago and couldn't believe how short the flight was from Boston. Closer than the west coast!
"The scene looks like something you’d see in a documentary about The North Pole."
Unless you've been watching 'documentaries' about the polar ice caps melting, those pics don't look anything like the North Pole.
Sorry, not a fan of OMAAT's latest addition.
If you have can make an overnight stop, there is also Vestmannaejar (Westman Islands) where half of the world Atlantic Puffins live. I have happy memories there running Aska Hostel for a month 🙂
Another informative and engaging piece from DantorpAviation! As a long running OMAAT reader (since when Ben was just a Lufthansa lover only) it's great to have these fresh new approaches to OMAAT articles. Congrats Daniel - nice job for signing him Ben! 😉 Welcome to our 'Residence' Daniel.
I did HL Econ too, but made the terrible mistake of taking HL math along with it (war flashbacks). Did you write an EE as well?
This blog is faltering... No poster is up to par to Ben, and they only lower the standard of the website
I didn't do the horseback riding in Iceland and didn't feel like my visit there was anything short of amazing. Since I went during the winter season, I was able to do the northern lights tour and got to see the lights; also did a lava caving tour which was my favorite. There are many different things to do in Iceland and it really all depends on one's interest and preference. I'd agree that it's not a budget-travel friendly country though (unless you wanna eat hotdogs all day, errrday).
Ninth time to Iceland - amazing country. Diving in Silfra is still my favorite activity regardless of the year. However, the cost-to-fun ratio for the dive may not be favorable for all.
Definitely need to see Þingvellir, where Alþingi (parliament) was established in 930...
And probably should see Höfði where Reagan/Gorbachev met in 1986, a huge step toward the end of the cold war.
Throw in some Northern Lights and some whale watching in Akureyri and you'd be all set!
I've been wondering if an Iceland stopover would exempt you from most of the Heathrow departure fees ?
Does anyone know ? Thanks
@James "The Blue Lagoon is not a naturally heated spring. It is a man-made lagoon which is fed by the water output of the power plant Svartsengi and is renewed every two days. I prefer not to swim in waste water from a power plant. It is a classic tourist trap."
Actually it is. It's just the rich mineral content is provided by the underground geological layers and pushed up to the surface by the hot water (at about 1.2 MPa (170 psi) pressure and 240 °C (464 °F) temperature) used by the plant. however it's already been heated and what waste water. Geothermal only reduces the temperature from 80C to something tolerable, unlike coal power plants, it doesn't pollute the water at all