I am so glad I kept going back to it as my first option. And I am beyond happy that despite the storm we encountered during our time there we were able to do everything I had on my wish list. But before we talk about those things let me just say that March was a great time to go. We had more than enough daylight each day to get things done. This was a big concern for me. I feared the lack of sunlight more than anything as well as cloudy gloomy skies and the closer it got to the travel dates and the longer the sunlight lasted it just set the mood for the perfect trip.
Time of year. According to my research, March was also a great month to see the northern lights. Of course that because it is a natural phenomenon it will always be unpredictable on whether you see it or not so my expectations were realistic. I hoped for the northern lights and had said that seeing them would be the cherry on top but I was not going to base this trip strictly on seeing them. Fortunately for me, which also set the mood for a great trip, I was able to see them from the plane on our way there. Y’all, this was amazing! The feeling I felt as they appeared through my window is truly indescribable. For two hours I could not close my eyes. It was perfect! A dream come true. Tip: lower your expectations. The northern lights are not what people make them out to be like on those beautiful photographs. Yes they dance and take on different look whether it a crown look with a tail or one to multiple stripes and yes they dance around but color wise… it’s more like a fog. The color issue is that with a good camera (as simple as a phone) and the simplest edit features a couple of clicks will let you see this beautiful natural phenomenon. The view from the plane however was perfect. It truly was.
Our first night there we did an excursion to see the northern lights. I was skeptical because of everything I had read prior to the trip but decided to give it a go anyways. What I did do was not spend too much money on this excursion because of the probability of not seeing them. Iceland is expensive enough and after seeing them from the airplane I had gotten my fix. We did end up seeing them that night but it was definitely NOT what anyone was expecting and definitely not as vibrant as the view from the plane. Even with editing the color it was not as nice as it was from the airplane window. The reason for that was that there were too many clouds in the the sky. Would we have gone to a better location had we paid more money? Not sure, it's something to consider.
Weather in Iceland is 100 percent unpredictable. That is something you have to be okay with before booking your flight. Another reason I had booked in March, the end of March to be exact, was because I was trying to minimize the likelihood of bad weather. Well jokes' on me. From the second to the last day in Iceland there was a snow storm with very bad winds. We were fortunate that the way our itinerary was set up we missed every storm except for the last one. The more South East we drove the more snow we encountered. To the point that we never made it to our accommodation on the third night due to road closures. I was afraid we were going to have to cancel our glacier and ice cave excursion on day four however, that night roads opened up and we drove the hour and twenty minutes to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. On our way back we encountered another storm that made the 5 hours drive back to Reykjavík last 6 hours. We had bad weather for about 2-3 hours during our drive then we came out of it as we got closer to the city thankfully. The winds were so bad y’all. Definitely don’t underestimate the weather or wind there. I will say however, if you come from a location with winter weather and you feel comfortable driving in the snow you will be just fine. Just take proper driving precautions, get yourself a 4WD with spikes on the tires, and good insurance.
Price. Iceland is very pricey. Hotels. Gas. Food. All of it! Personally I had a budget I wanted to stay within and I think we did pretty good without having to sacrifice much. We ate out daily. We stayed in nice hotels. We did all the excursions we wanted to do and rented a car. You can make Iceland reasonable by staying in hostels or going with a larger crowd and splitting Airbnb, car, and gas prices but I personally thought it was reasonable for Iceland prices. Considering other places we'd travel to. We even went to a hookah lounge and ordered a few drinks (dejavú to our trip to Paris and Barcelona 😂). I guess I could say our budget was not too strict and after having an idea of what hotels, car, and excursions would be, I decided on a budget around that instead of making reservations based on a pre decided budget.
Food. I think eating in Iceland made me appreciate family dinner outings in the states hahaha. How bad are the prices? $15 for a regular bowl of soup. $20-30 burgers. $30-60 meals. We never spent less than $50 on food stops. We didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary either. Honestly, food was not a top priority for us. As long as we ate daily we were happy. Tip: book hotels that include breakfast. This saved us a lot, maybe around $200 in 4 days. Our last hotel didn’t include breakfast and we went in search of breakfast. I feel like Iceland breakfast is more like pastries and coffee. And that’ll run up to $50+ if u order 2+ coffees or to many croissants/pastries. We stopped at this cute spot around the corner from our hotel and it was so good. The service won us over. We stopped at Brauo & Co because it was recommended everywhere online but honestly. It was a tourist trap with cold pastries and service. I liked the more personal warm and welcoming experience we had at the Kaktus Espressobar. And of course the food, they had some delicious healthy sandwiches and pastries. I asked if they had breakfast sandwiches and she said, what is this breakfast sandwich you are looking for? What does it have in it? I said, Is with eggs and she just laughed. Silly me. Only Americans. 😂
Winter clothing. Layer layer layer. It saved us and set for a great experience with the cold. I don’t know about others in America or other countries with winters but I have never layer my clothing during winter. Ever! So for Iceland I bought thermal sets. Fleece lined leggings. Vest. Sweaters. Wool socks. Earmuffs, waterproof boots and coats and let me tell you. Best advice I got from all my research. Layering will make or break your Iceland experience. Especially since you can encounter all four seasons in one day. Don’t even question it. Just layer up your clothing. Not once did we feel cold and removing layers as necessary was a big plus as the weather changed over the day. I’m actually going to start doing that back here for future winters 😆.
Do download the apps that will help you with knowing the weather and road info. The regular weather app on the iPhone does not tell you the right information for Iceland weather. And knowing if there’s a big storm coming would be helpful, as well as knowing road closure etc. They also have several apps for the aurora forecast. I wasn’t the greatest figuring those out. I always checked on the Icelandic Met Office, Safetravel, and Road.is and that helped a lot. Just don't forget that it is not always the case that you’ll see the northern lights so don’t hold your breath.
Car insurance plans. Don’t cheap out on this. Car rental I’d say is reasonable. There’s different options for insurances too and I’d say those are reasonable as well. You never know what the weather will be like or the wind so you’ll never know if you will benefit from a good plan until it's too late. We rented our car from Lotus car rental and got the Gold package. No specific reason for going with this company, just reviews. There are a few that had great reviews too, I simple picked the one with the better price.
Miscellaneous Tips: tipping at restaurants is not necessary. There's no tipping at all. They do have their own currency but accept debit & credit cards and apple pay. For pumping gas you do need a card with a pin number otherwise you must pay inside or buy a fuel card inside the gas stations which can sometimes be closed. We didn't have an issue with this either. Do keep your fuel tank full unless you are in the city or more populated areas as gas stations are far and few in between when you leave out of the towns. Yes, gas is a lot more expensive here than in the States.
Overall, Iceland is a beautiful country. Clean and well maintained. Picturesque scenery at every turn, so many unique experiences that you won't find in other countries. The air felt pure and clean. Almost everyone speaks English and many speak Spanish. We had no issues communicating with the locals. They were nice and welcoming. The water tasted amazing! Literally the best water I have ever had. FYI, you can drink tap water in Iceland and they don't really sell water bottles. At least every where we stopped and I asked for water they had self serve stations. I'm sure you'll find water bottles for sell but it's not as common unless is flavored water or carbonated water.
I truly do recommend a trip to Iceland. It doesn't have to be long, it'll depend on the purpose of your trip and your must do/see. We went for 5 full days and we did a lot. Just remember to have realistic expectations depending the time of year you go as you never know what the weather will be like the amount of daylight they'll be. I'd love to return during their summer months when the sun doesn't set and the weather is a little nicer.
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