It’s that frosty time of year. I once nearly missed that bridge on an icy day driving a twenty ton truck. Didn’t look so beautiful then.
Several more photos of winter in Iceland by Victor Eredel here.
(Source: , via reykjaviks)
Received a couple of questions about roads in Iceland (summer driving, winter driving), so here are pictures of a few nice ones. The upper two pictures are typical winter conditions on the Ring Road. The foggy mountain road is a the kind of road you find leading to an abandoned farm somewhere in the East or West fjords. The last picture is perfect driving conditions probably somewhere on the Ring Road in either the East or West fjords.
Photos by Björn Valdimarsson.
Anonymous asked: Good evening and thanks for inviting questions! My friend and I will be traveling to Iceland from US in late February 2013. We would like to rent a car and circumnavigate the island. Do you think this is foolhardy?
It should be fine as long as you don’t expect things to go as planned. It is a full on winter at that time, so be prepared for some proper winter driving, delays and closures. The Ring Road is generally open all year long, but stretches of it will close for a couple of days every once in a while during the winter. It is particularly prone to closure in the Eastfjords.
Foolhardy? Heading out in a Toyota Yaris with no winter driving experience would be foolhardy yes. But if you have a decent car, preferably a 4x4 with studded tires, you are used to drive on icy and snowy roads and you are careful, then you should be fine.
Check for road conditions and closures on road.is. The website is not that great in English, but the map in the upper right hand corner shows the conditions at each given time. The map on the left links to webcams around the country which can be useful. As you can see, mountain roads are closed all winter and although the Ring Road is usually fully open, there often are some hindrances.
Follow weather forecasts at vedur.is and if you are in doubt, ask some locals. They’ll know how it is to drive a given road or mountain pass in that day’s condition.
This cheesy video by the Road Safety Commission has some useful tips. They also have a useful brochure. Finally, check out the SafeTravel website.
In Reykjavik and larger towns such as Akureyri in the north, everything is open, but unfortunately, in many parts of the country, tourist things such as museums may be closed during the winter. You could be in for some awesome northern lights and beautiful winter landscapes though. There’s nothing like lying in a hot spring out in nature in a snowy landscape, gazing at the aurora filled sky. Plan to have extra time around Mývatn. That is a beautiful area in the winter.
Have a fun and safe trip.
Anonymous asked: I'm an American trying to visit Reykjavik in December for a few days, a week before Christmas. Can you recommend things to do and day trips for 18 yr olds? Also, my parents sometimes worry about me traveling without them due to my wearing the hijab. Could you tell me about general attitudes toward Muslims? I'm an extremely accepting and liberal person contrary to people's assumptions based on my appearance, but will I be well-received by the atheist population? Thanks, your blog's great!
Reykjavík will be quite buzzing in the week before Christmas. Downtown shops will be extra busy which, if you are there to enjoy yourself and not stressed with holiday shopping, can be quite positive.
Most day trips from Reykjavík run year round. Things you should definitely aim to do is walk on a glacier, bathe in a hot spring and visit a local swimming pool. I used to guide the trip Ice and Fire which includes a hike to a remote hot spring and a walk on the Sólheimajökull glacier in a single day. I definitely recommend that. If you can afford it you should also try a super jeep tour like Essential Iceland and drive on top of a glacier.
In general keep two things in mind when choosing day tours. Route and group size. A lot of tours, probably a majority, goes to destinations along the South Coast. So it is a good idea to mix things up a bit and avoid driving the same routes day after day with slightly different stops. Also there are three general group sizes. There are the big bus tours where you travel with 20-60 people, van sized tours with 8-15 people and super jeep tours with 4-8 people. This is generally reflected in price, but apart from the super jeep tours, the price difference might be small compared to the quality.
For the swimming pools, just find the one closest to your hotel. They are all over the city. If you like it (I’m sure you will), then trey some other ones. There’s usually one in each neighborhood and each has their own style.
Truth be told, you’ll definitely stick out a bit wearing a hijab in Iceland and you will attract some curious eyes. But I don’t think it will really affect the way people interact with you. Iceland is very liberal, but sometimes too much liberalism makes you narrow minded. Many Icelanders will therefore associate the hijab with some sort of suppression. Something you might not agree with. Definitely a good conversation starter if you’re up for it.
Don’t forget to bring warm clothes and good boots. Wandering around Iceland in soggy sneakers in Iceland’s winter weather can really ruin a trip.
Enjoy Iceland and let me know how your trip goes!
Did you know that the Icelandic horse has a thick winter coat that it sheds in the summer?
The Icelandic horse has been completely isolated in Iceland for over a thousand years. Not a single horse has been brought to the country in all this time. This has allowed it to adapt to the harsh environment and become a strong breed of its own.
Photo by Skarpi.
(via nicelandic)
Like the thought. I often look at the Icelandic landscape and imagine what it was like before anybody came here. Of course, it looks mostly the same (except for some new volcanoes), but nobody had seen it. And imagine all of the spectacular eruptions, not disturbing any flights, the flowing waterfalls with nobody to see them and the boiling hot springs with nobody bathing. Actually imagine right now, a boiling hot spring all alone up in the Icelandic highlands, patiently steaming, summer and winter, night and day while it waits for you to come have a bath.
Photograph by Orsolya and Erlend Haarberg
When Hverfjall erupted 2,500 years ago, no one saw it—no one lived in Iceland. On a March evening photographer Orsolya Haarberg watched alone as a north wind scoured Mývatn lake’s thin ice, sweeping snow into a drift that looked like a path to the crater.
Reykjavík Winter Lights Festival Opening Scene
A few days ago I posted some great photos of the Hallgrímskirkja church in Reykjavík lit up for the Reykjavík Winter Lights Festival. Well here’s the video. Quite a show.
The music you hear in the video is the music that was actually played on scene. It is music by Icelandic band, For a Minor Reflection.
An Icelandic horse in its thick winter coat. Photo by Gígja
(via 7000stars)
If you don’t like the weather in Iceland, just wait 15 minutes
The picture I posted of a car full of snow in Iceland yesterday has been spreading around 9gag as well. As good and plausible as the story was, It turned out to be old. This picture of the door is authentic though (as authentic as viral media gets anyways) I had a look in 9gag again and there I found this picture of a doorway entirely blocked by snow. This is what happens when the wind starts blowing, it takes redistributes it like crazy, clearly packing it up against the door in this case.
There’s a saying in Iceland “If you don’t like the weather in Iceland, just wait fifteen minutes.” This often holds true, because since we are a small mountaineous island in the North Atlantic, nothing is stable. Even though we’ve had all this crazy snow in the past few days and an unusually snowy winter overall, the forecast is for up to 11°C and rain this weekend. This will cause lots of problems as all that snow melting this fast will clog up drains, filling the streets with snowmelt. Everybody will have to be careful to clear away their drains to prevent their cellars from flooding.
Here’s another pic from Reykjavík yesterday, found on 9gag.
Forgot to close the window in Iceland
As I reported earlier, many Icelanders are stuck at home, snowed in. This gives them a lot of time to hang out on Facebook, allowing this picture to quickly spread. The picture, apparently of a car owned by a guy in the town of Hafnarfjörður (just outside Reykjavík), has been shared by about 500 people.
The thing is, in Iceland it doesn’t snow or rain vertically, but due to wind it tends to come in sideways. This means that even a small opening in the car’s window allowed it to fill with snow in a short period of time. The funny thing is that plenty of those who shared the picture have added that similar things have happened to them or their friends before.
![Iceland winter conditions
[Update] Check out the TV’s report on the weather. Just click play. You may not understand the language, but you can see what the weather is like in Reykjavík and on the road to the airport. Not every day that you see snowcats driving around downtown.
As I posted before, Iceland has had a serious winter this year. Somehow it just keeps getting worse and worse or better and better. Depends on your point of view. A significant part of Icelanders are completely snowed in today. In Reykjavík, only the largest streets have been cleared forcing many to either stay at home or walk or ski to work. Even many schools have been encouraging parents to keep their children home for the day. This I can tell you is very unusual, it’s not like in much of the US where schools simply close on snow days. Icelandic kids usually just march on to school, no matter the weather.
The map above shows the state of the roads at the moment, according to the Icelandic Road Authority. As you see, there are no clear roads in the country.
Green = Clear
Yellow = Patches of ice
Light Blue = Icy
Dark Blue = Crazy slippery
White = Snow
Pink = More snow
Black = Very much snow
Red = Impassable
Truck = We’re working on it
Crossing arrows = snow blowing in the wind
It is normal, that all of the roads in the middle of the country (the Highlands) are red. They are usually impassable from sometime early in the fall and until mid June. However, most of the rest should be open and either clear or icy on a normal day winter day.
Some major roads, such as the road between Reykjavík and the Keflavík Airport were closed today. As you can see on the pic to the right, it is open now, but the Police is discouraging people from using it. This has caused some flight delays in the past 24 hours.
In Vestfirðir, the north western part of Iceland, you see virtually all the roads are closed (red). That is actually the smallest of their problems, because they are worried about avalanches. Many of the roads are closed due to avalanche risk and some of the towns are on alert for evacuation of some neighborhoods. In 1995, dozens of people died in a series of avalanches that hit towns in that area. This is Iceland’s greatest natural disaster in the past couple of centuries.
Plenty of people have been making good use of the snow though. The skiing area in Bláfjöll just outside Reykjavík, has been bustling with activity and great conditions in the past few days. Many have also been enjoying mountain ski trips around Reykjavík. Here are some great pictures from a few friends of mine skiing on Móskarðshnjúkar, a mountain right on the city limits.
Would be great to hear from tourists enjoying Iceland right now. As long as your plans are not too rigid, there’s plenty of fun possible.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyeosuQfQW1qdghoso1_500.gif)
Iceland winter conditions
[Update] Check out the TV’s report on the weather. Just click play. You may not understand the language, but you can see what the weather is like in Reykjavík and on the road to the airport. Not every day that you see snowcats driving around downtown.
As I posted before, Iceland has had a serious winter this year. Somehow it just keeps getting worse and worse or better and better. Depends on your point of view. A significant part of Icelanders are completely snowed in today. In Reykjavík, only the largest streets have been cleared forcing many to either stay at home or walk or ski to work. Even many schools have been encouraging parents to keep their children home for the day. This I can tell you is very unusual, it’s not like in much of the US where schools simply close on snow days. Icelandic kids usually just march on to school, no matter the weather.
The map above shows the state of the roads at the moment, according to the Icelandic Road Authority. As you see, there are no clear roads in the country.
- Green = Clear
- Yellow = Patches of ice
- Light Blue = Icy
- Dark Blue = Crazy slippery
- White = Snow
- Pink = More snow
- Black = Very much snow
- Red = Impassable
- Truck = We’re working on it
- Crossing arrows = snow blowing in the wind
It is normal, that all of the roads in the middle of the country (the Highlands) are red. They are usually impassable from sometime early in the fall and until mid June. However, most of the rest should be open and either clear or icy on a normal day winter day.
Some major roads, such as the road between Reykjavík and the Keflavík Airport were closed today. As you can see on the pic to the right, it is open now, but the Police is discouraging people from using it. This has caused some flight delays in the past 24 hours.
In Vestfirðir, the north western part of Iceland, you see virtually all the roads are closed (red). That is actually the smallest of their problems, because they are worried about avalanches. Many of the roads are closed due to avalanche risk and some of the towns are on alert for evacuation of some neighborhoods. In 1995, dozens of people died in a series of avalanches that hit towns in that area. This is Iceland’s greatest natural disaster in the past couple of centuries.
Plenty of people have been making good use of the snow though. The skiing area in Bláfjöll just outside Reykjavík, has been bustling with activity and great conditions in the past few days. Many have also been enjoying mountain ski trips around Reykjavík. Here are some great pictures from a few friends of mine skiing on Móskarðshnjúkar, a mountain right on the city limits.
Would be great to hear from tourists enjoying Iceland right now. As long as your plans are not too rigid, there’s plenty of fun possible.
Kids walking to school in Iceland
These pictures are all taken by Valdi and published by the Icelandic news site Vísir.is. Check out this video of taken by two news reporters driving on the Hellisheiði plateau just outside Reykjavík. Their car spins off the road in the icy conditions (just click the “Horfa á myndskeið með frétt” button.
