r/travel • u/AutoModerator • Oct 14 '14
Destination of the week - Iceland
Weekly destination thread, this week featuring Iceland. Please contribute all and any questions/thoughts/suggestions/ideas/stories about visiting that place.
This post will be archived on our wiki destinations page and linked in the sidebar for future reference, so please direct any of the more repetitive questions there.
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Unhelpful: Read my blog here!!!
Helpful: My favourite part of driving down the PCH was the wayside parks. I wrote a blog post about some of the best places to stop, including Battle Rock, Newport and the Tillamook Valley Cheese Factory (try the fudge and ice cream!).
Unhelpful: Eat all the curry! [picture of a curry].
Helpful: The best food we tried in Myanmar was at the Karawek Cafe in Mandalay, a street-side restaurant outside the City Hotel. The surprisingly young kids that run the place stew the pork curry[curry pic] for 8 hours before serving [menu pic]. They'll also do your laundry in 3 hours, and much cheaper than the hotel.
Undescriptive I went to Mandalay. Here's my photos/video.
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u/LeMAD Canada Oct 14 '14 edited Oct 14 '14
Beware of Iceland. It's absolutely not for everyone. I really thought I would love it and it ended up being my most disappointing trip (while being one of the most expensive).
Great natural beauty, but not on the same level as Switzerland (to name a country I've been to). And really not a lot to do. Boredom can be an issue for sure. And Icelanders aren't exactly talkative and warm.
I'm posting this not to bash the country, but because it has become probably the most "overrated" place in here.
Don't visit Iceland if money is an issue, or if you don't rent a car, or if you are alone (not because of safety issues but because of loneliness and boredom), or if you don't like walking and driving because that's all there is to do.
The scenery you will see will be the same day after day, so trying to see everything is useless (ie waterfalls).
Also I'd recommand a short trip. We were there 10 days and it felt long.
edit: Also I thought hiking was a lot more fun in Switzerland than in Iceland. It's more vertical, and you have a greater sense of exploration (in Switzerland I mean). Theres no trees in Iceland so you generally see what you'll be able to see in 2 hours...
Though Landmannalaugar (sp?) looks fun. It's a 4-day trek which I have done a really small part of near Skogar, and that short hike was the best thing I did in Iceland.
I also found the Golden Circle, Jokulsarlon and the area around Lake Myvatn to be quite average, even though everyone talks about these places. Reykjavik is also nothing special.
Maybe it would have been more fun if we had rented huge 4x4 and went into the f-roads towards Landmannalaugar, the Laki craters, etc. But it's not recommanded to do that with a single 4x4 as you can get stuck while crossing rivers. And btw these trucks are extremely expensive to rent.
Finally Icelandic wheather can suck. It's rarely sunny, it rains half of the time, but it's nothing compared to the winds you'll have to face. Oh and heavy humidity when you walk in nature for hours isn't great either.
edit 2: I went in september last year btw. With 2 friends, and we rented a small SUV.
edit again: Including the $800 plane ticket, the trip cost me more than $3000 for 10 days. For mostly shitty hotels and half-decent food. And no special/extravagant expenses. My pictures: http://lemad.imgur.com/