Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For help in planning your trip - but not bike
rental - contact the
Icelandic Mountain Bike
Club
(Íslenski Fjallahjólaklúbburinn, or ÍFHK;
W
jallahjolaklubburinn.is), which organizes club
weekends and has heaps of advice for cyclists.
You can download most of the latter and contact
staff through the website, which has English text.
a good idea;
details of tours
and operators are
given throughout the guide. In winter - which
as far as tourism is concerned lasts from September
to May - many operators close completely, and
those that remain open concentrate on four-wheel-
driving and glacier exploration along the fringes of
the southern ice caps, as the Interior itself is
definitely off-limits by then. While bigger agents in
Reykjavík offer trips almost daily in winter, don't
expect to be able to just turn up at a small town
off-season and get onto a tour - most will require
a few days' advance warning in order to arrange
everything.
Hitching
Hitching
around Iceland is possible if you have
plenty of time. Expect less tra
c the further you go
from Reykjavík, and even on the Ringroad there are
long stretches where you may go for hours without
seeing a vehicle. Leave the Ringroad and you might
even have to wait days for a lift, though in either
case it's likely that the first car past will stop for you.
Having said this, holidaying Icelanders will
probably already have their cars packed to capacity,
so make sure you have as little gear as possible -
without, of course, leaving behind everything you'll
need to survive given the climate and long spaces
between shops (see p.37). And though Iceland may
be a safer place to hitch than elsewhere in Europe
Australia, or the US, it still carries inherent risks, and
the best advice is
not to do it
.
If you must hitch, never do so alone and
remember that you don't have to get in just
because someone stops. Given the wide gaps
between settlements it will probably be obvious
where you are heading for, but always ask the driver
where they are going rather than saying where it is
you want to go.
The best places to
line up lifts
are either at
campsites, hostels or the fuel stations which sit on
the outskirts of every settlement; it's possible, too,
that staff in remoter places might know of
someone heading your way.
Accommodation
Every settlement in Iceland has
somewhere to stay in the shape of a
hotel, guesthouse, hostel or campsite,
with farms and some rural schools
providing accommodation in between.
Almost all formal lodgings are found
around the settled coastal band; if you're
heading into the wilds at any stage, you'll
need to camp or make use of hiking huts.
Always
book accommodation in advance
.
Tourism to Iceland has rocketed in recent years - in
2012 Iceland clocked up an incredible 600,000
visitors, nearly double the national population - and
during the peak season (June-Aug) the industry is
struggling to cope with demand. The only exception
here are campsites which - aside from Reykjavík's -
don't usually require advance reservations.
City hotels tend to stay open year-round, though
many other places
shut down
from September to
May, or at least through December. Where accom-
modation does stay open, winter rates are around
25 percent cheaper than summer ones.
Budget accommodation options in Iceland
include
made-up beds
(with linen supplied) and
even cheaper
sleeping-bag accommodation
(where you bring your own bag). In both cases
you're paying for a bed in a dorm or shared room
for less than the price of a single room. So, even if
Tours
Everywhere you go in Iceland you'll find
tours
on
offer, ranging from whale-watching cruises, hikes,
pony treks and snowmobile trips across southern
glaciers to bus safaris covering historic sites, Interior
deserts, hot springs and volcanoes or even sight-
seeing flights over lakes and islands. Some routes -
like the popular Golden Circle via Þingvellir, Geysir
and Gullfoss - you can also do independently easily
enough, but in other cases you'll find that tours are
the only practical way to reach somewhere.
Tours can last anything from a couple of hours to
several days, with the widest range offered between
June and September.
Booking in advance
is always
ACCOMMODATION PRICES
Unless otherwise stated,
accommodation
prices
quoted in this the guide are for a
double room in hotels and guesthouses;
per person for made-up beds or
sleeping-bag accommodation; and per
person for camping.
