Anonymous asked: Hi, before than nothing, thanks for all the info. and beautiful pics of your beautiful country, it's a world pride. Now, i'm from Argentina, and i'm thinking on visit Iceland in Feb. becouse i'll be traveling, and it's like a dream coming true. What i want to know is, how much money do you think that i gonna need for 5 days? I would like to do something like an "icelandic life" more than a "tourist trip" if you know what i mean. Takk.
The bus from the Keflavík airport to Reykjavik costs 2000.
In February it’s too cold for camping, so the cheapest option for accommodation (unless you find some lucky hotel deal) will be the hostels. I listed all the hostels in this previous post. That will be somewhere between 3 and 5 thousand ISK per night. The cheapest places to eat (fast food) charge about 1000 ISK per meal. For 2-4000 you can go someplace nice.
You can walk pretty much anywhere within downtown Reykjavik, but you can get a full day bus pass for 900 ISK or a three day one for 2200.
Museums and such generally charge between 500-1500 ISK for entrance. If you have any sort of school ID you can almost always get a discount. Many of them also are free on Mondays.
Getting out of the city is more expensive, unless you are a group of friends and able to fill a rental car. Most day tours from Reykjavik cost about 10000-25000.
Be sure to go to some of the local swimming pools. Entrance only costs 400-500 and it’s a great place to meet people, relax etc.
Another reference you could use is that the average tourist to Iceland spends 35,000 ISK per day.
Hope this gives you some idea.
Anonymous asked: I'm going to Iceland in May, literally my dream come true. But I'm only going for a week and by myself. What are the must-sees? Do the majority of people speak English? And do you have any cheap accommodation to recommend in Reykjavik?
The typical must-sees are things like the Blue Lagoon, Golden Circle, Bæjarins Bestu hot dogs, whale watching etc. Virtually everyone does them and they are nice. What I would add to that list is #1 walk on a glacier, #2 bathe in a natural hot spring (not just the Blue Lagoon) and #3 visit one of the local swimming pools.
The first two are most easily done by taking a tour. I would recommend this tour which combines both (I’m biased because I used to guide it. But it’s a great tour, at least with me as a guide).
The swimming pools are great and a good place to socialize. There’s a couple of dozen in Reykjavik, so just find the one nearest to you (or visit several).
The cheapest accommodation (unless you find some online bargain) is probably in one of the hostels. Since you are travelling alone and don’t have anybody to keep you company on bus rides, I recommend the ones downtown. There’s Downtown Hostel, Reykjavik Backpacker’s and Kex.
Pretty much everybody speaks fluent English, but you’ll make people smile if you learn some Icelandic phrases.
Góða ferð!
Reykjavik Mayor, Jón Gnarr, encourages the Mayor of Moscow to rethink his ban on Gay Pride.
Jón Gnarr was noticed by international media when he participated in drag at Reykjavík’s Gay Pride festival. Since then he’s been quite active fighting for LGBT rights as well as other human rights campaigns. Today he published this open letter to Sergey Sobyanin, the Mayor of Moscow. As the Mayor of a city in cooperation with Moscow, he encourages Sergey to rethink his ban on Gay Pride in the city and points to the very positive experience Reykjavik has had with the festival.
By the way, Jón is doing an AMA on Reddit right now.
Anonymous asked: Hi there! I'm heading to Iceland in January for a weekend from the UK, I'm 18 here so I'm obviously allowed (and am accustomed to!) alcohol, and I wanna experience some Rekyjavik nightlife! How strict do you think bars and clubs are in Iceland on asking for ID from tourists?
The drinking age in Iceland is 20 and the age to enter a bar after (I think) 22:00 is 18. This means that they could legally let you in. However, the bars/clubs don’t really see the point in letting people in that can’t buy alcohol and they don’t want the extra hassle of checking IDs at the bar, so they usually set the limit at 20. Some of them even set it higher.
Most Icelanders start going to the clubs well before they turn 20, but much of the night can be spent waiting in lines only to be turned away at the door. The bouncers are actually trying to follow the law, so unless you look older or they are overwhelmed with guests, it can be tough.
I don’t know if they give much more slack to tourists. The fact that you are a tourist raises the odds that you are over 20 though, so they may be less diligent in checking your ID. I actually used to pretend that I was a Brazilian and didn’t understand Icelandic. That often got me waved through.
What you can do to avoid the hassle is to go to a concert or a bar with a live band. Then it will usually cost in but instead they typically put the age limit at 18.
Góða skemmtun!
Pictures from the storm in Iceland
I already posted two posts yesterday (post1, post2) about the storm that blew over Iceland yesterday. But there are plenty more interesting photos that have come up.
Iceland is used to experiencing some pretty extreme weather, but this was a considerably stronger storm than we are used to. There are usually several strong storms that go over the country each fall, but this one was unusual in how long it took and in that it was very strong around the whole island. Houses in Iceland are built to handle both extreme weather and earthquakes, yet there was considerable damage. Roofs were blown away, cars were blown off roads and parking lots and some people were blown away. Fortunately there were no serious injuries, but plenty of broken bones as people were swept up by the wind.
The storm was caused by a particularly sharp contrast between a high pressure area over Greenland and a low pressure zone off of Iceland’s southeast coast. The highest average wind measured in Reykjavik was 38 m/s (140kmh, 74knts, 85mph) and gusts as high as 64 m/s (230kmh, 124knts, 143mph). By comparison, Hurricane Sandy topped out at 40 m/s in the US. But the weather was actually far from being worst in Reykjavik. In the north and eastern parts of the country, strong winds were combined with heavy snowfall. The highest wind measured was 70 m/s (252kmh, 136knts, 157mph), just short of the record breaking 74,2 m/s measured in 1995.
Update: Unconfirmed data from a weather station in Iceland indicates gusts of 125 m/s.
This is a view from an office window in Reykjavik.
Rescue teams were busy tying down roofs.
Out for a walk in Reykjavik.
The weather coincided with the Iceland Airwaves music festival and since guests would have to walk this path by the sea to get to Harpan, Reykjavik’s opera house, buses were used to transport guests.
This statue in the north kept a lookout during the storm.
People in the town of Blönduós received their morning paper despite the storm. The mailman simply used his snow scooter.
Volunteer rescue workers excavate snow from a fishing boat at Skagaströnd to prevent it from tipping over.
It’s not every day that tractors are picked up by gusts of winds. This tractor was parked by a farm on the south coast.
Roofs of the outhouses at the farm of Berjanes were blown off.
The town of Egilsstaðir in the east had some of the heaviest snowfall.
Truck blown off the road, just outside Reykjavik.
A trailer parked outside a house in Reykjavik exploded in the wind.
Snow in Akureyri.
If you want to see a better overview of the storm and practice your Icelandic, try watching the TV news overview. You can even see rescue teams driving people to work in their tracked snow cats. There’s also a short video showing around town in Egilsstaðir here.
Snow buried this farm in Aðaldalur.
Snow in Reyðarfjörður.
Young Petra Sigurðardóttir helps uncover the family car in Egilsstaðir.
Cartoonist, Hugleikur Dagsson, was inspired by the weather:
Maybe you’ve seen this picture of a whale blown onto land in the Reykjavik harbor. It has been passed around the internet quite a bit. Of course it is just photoshop.
Perfect Storm in Reykjavik
I already posted a video this morning of the sea battering the Sæbraut road in Reykjavík. The ocean in this video however looks like the cgi created waves in the movie Perfect Storm.
Must be fun blowing between venues at Iceland Airwaves tonight. The rescue workers in the image are probably not on their way to a concert :)
There is quite a storm going over Iceland right now. Wind speeds are as high as 40m/s. This is the view of one of Reykjavík’s major streets from an office window.
And here’s another video from a similar location. Perfect storm?
Did you know that in the Swedish country side your neighbor can force you to paint your house in the traditional Falun Red? In Iceland you paint whatever color you feel like painting.
Here are a couple more pictures of colorful Reykjavík rooftops, all taken from the top of Hallgrímskirkja church. Also check out more photos from Iceland taken by Amy.
(via untilhardtimes)
Tourists visit Reykjavík in 1926
This video of life in downtown Reykjavík, was shot by Burton Holmes in 1926. Holmes was an American who traveled the world in the early 1900s and filmed. You can read more about him here. This video shows both Reykjavík inhabitants as well as some of the 350 passengers on the cruise. Notice how the
There are a few interesting things you can see.
Arrival in Reykjavik: Notice that the ship is reaching shore at midnight. Since this is in July, the sun is out 24 hrs. And since the coming of 350 foreign visitors is quite an event, the harbor is full of curious people. Some of the houses you see by the docks are still there. The most prominent, behind the ramp, was owned by the Eimskip shipping company. This house is now the 1919 Hotel.
The men you see with the white hats are students. There are also a couple of women wearing the Icelandic national costume.
Dómkirkjan and Alþingi: After the three police men are shown you can see Dómkirkjan, the Icelandic national church. most of the surrounding buildings still exist. Right thereafter you see the Parliament building next to the church. I reckon that the man with the umbrella on the Icelandic horse is a tourist, as all Icelanders know that umbrellas are useless in Icelandic wind.
Women washing clothes: This is filmed in the Laugardalur valley which in 1926 was in the outskirts of town. These pools called Þvottalaugar (Washing Pools) are actually full of naturally warm geothermal water and were used for washing clothes for centuries. Most homes in Reykjavík were connected to the geothermal heating system in the 30’s, but some kept using the pools well into the 20th century. You can still see the old washing pools, but you can also have a bath at the nearby Laugardalslaug swimming pool.
Glíma wrestling: Two young Icelanders display their skills in Iceland’s national sport Bændaglíma (Farmers Wrestling). You can read more about the sport on Wikipedia.
If you found the video interesting you should take a look at these photos taken by a French tourist in Reykjavík in 1910.
Iceland from above - Skydiving into the Reykjavík Airport
A few Icelandic skydivers jumped from a helicopter above Reykjavík during the Reykjavik Air Show last week. Skydiving in Iceland is on quite an upswing right now. The local skydiving club’s airplane was damaged beyond repair in a storm several years ago, leaving the club penniless and planeless. Since then, there have been almost no jumps in the country, until recently. In the past couple of years a new skydiving company has been relaunching the sport. This opens the chance for you to experience Iceland in free fall. If you are a certified jumper, you can rent a rig and jump. If you are new to the sport, you can do a simple tandem jump.
Relaxing high above Reykjavík
Tomasz Chrapek took this photo while paragliding above Hafrafell mountain in the outskirts of Reykjavík. If you like the picture, you’ll like even more his video of flying around Reykjavík’s main ski area last winter.
![Reykjavík 1910
Although tourism is growing fast in Iceland, it is nothing new. This picture taken in Hafnarstræti in downtown Reykjavík was taken by a French tourist on the large German cruise ship Grosser Kürfurst. Since this is long before daily flights to Iceland, such a visit would cause quite a commotion in the town.
As you can see (click image to enlarge), a “Tourist Bureau” has been set up and tourists are departing on horse carriage rides with local tour guides.
The Irish author Henry De Vere Stacpoole was in Reykjavík at the same time. Here are some quotes from his description of Iceland (translated from English to Icelandic to English):
“It is impossible to distinguish the nationality of Icelandic men, they might as well be German, Danish or Swedish, but Icelandic women only resemble themselves and are completely different from all other women I have seen. Icelandic women rarely smile. They do not return a smile as their southern sisters. It is quite disturbing how dry they are, particularly when one enters their shop. However, as one gets used to this, one realizes that their dryness does not derive from disgust or cold thoughts, but something else which I can not understand, unless they perhaps are seriously embarrassed.”
“Nearly all Icelanders write poems and many of them are serious poets. In Iceland the men are as anxious to write as the volcanoes are to erupt. I know as a fact that amongst the crowd [on the townsquare] there are about twenty editors, because everyone of some might in Reykjavík is there and in Reykjavík there are 20 journals published every week. The most common person you can meet, is quite possibly a writer and I can vouch that the best book I have read about Iceland was written by one of our guides.”
Source: Lemúrinn.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1wur0YOW51qdghoso1_500.jpg)
Reykjavík 1910
Although tourism is growing fast in Iceland, it is nothing new. This picture taken in Hafnarstræti in downtown Reykjavík was taken by a French tourist on the large German cruise ship Grosser Kürfurst. Since this is long before daily flights to Iceland, such a visit would cause quite a commotion in the town.
As you can see (click image to enlarge), a “Tourist Bureau” has been set up and tourists are departing on horse carriage rides with local tour guides.
The Irish author Henry De Vere Stacpoole was in Reykjavík at the same time. Here are some quotes from his description of Iceland (translated from English to Icelandic to English):
“It is impossible to distinguish the nationality of Icelandic men, they might as well be German, Danish or Swedish, but Icelandic women only resemble themselves and are completely different from all other women I have seen. Icelandic women rarely smile. They do not return a smile as their southern sisters. It is quite disturbing how dry they are, particularly when one enters their shop. However, as one gets used to this, one realizes that their dryness does not derive from disgust or cold thoughts, but something else which I can not understand, unless they perhaps are seriously embarrassed.”
“Nearly all Icelanders write poems and many of them are serious poets. In Iceland the men are as anxious to write as the volcanoes are to erupt. I know as a fact that amongst the crowd [on the townsquare] there are about twenty editors, because everyone of some might in Reykjavík is there and in Reykjavík there are 20 journals published every week. The most common person you can meet, is quite possibly a writer and I can vouch that the best book I have read about Iceland was written by one of our guides.”
Source: Lemúrinn.
You see it is written with a k not c.
(Source: reykjaviks, via fuckyeahiceland)
