Winter Self Drive in Iceland

Priscilla was so easy to work with! I told her all of my wishes and ideas as to what and where we wanted to go, and she fit it all in our 8 days. When we arrived, a few things were cancelled due to weather, but she was able to reschedule everything a few times for us. She responded immediately when I needed her. Despite cancellations, some road closures and rescheduling, she was able to fit everything in.
I would highly recommend everyone going to Iceland to use Priscilla!!
What a gorgeous island!

Hi Trent,

In a nutshell, Nicky and I have  had a fantastic time all week except may be for the long queues at the airport so early on a Friday morning which was a bit of a bore but we got home O.K.

You asked me for feedback which I am happy to do so but all is positive.

From the beginning that I spoke to you over the phone, I felt that I had chosen well and you are a credit to ‘Iceland like a local’.

Your advice was taken and now as I realise how big Iceland is and with so much you could do, I am glad that I took on board all your advices.

If we come back, which I hope we will, we will fly to the North and base ourselves there for another enthralling week or more.

So here is the feedback.

A great start last Friday being upgraded to Business Class with Icelandic Air given that this was our first trip with them. I thought that you had arranged this as this was my first flight with Iceland Air and no previous history with them.

Unfortunately only economy on the way back but all was good.

Picked up the car O.K. with your road/information book and the car was perfect for our needs .We left it with one small stone chip which the Euro Car Rep suggested that we would not be charged for it.

Drove into Reykjavik  O.K. but must have missed The Kringlan Mall traffic lights turn off . Are these traffic lights mentioned on the overhead gantries as we missed the Mall again the following day?. No harm as when I realised that I had made a mistake, saw a sign for The Centre, followed my nose and found the hotel quite easily with the town map.

With regard to all of our hotels . All great choices by you and especially your last one, Hotel Duss that serves  breakfast from  4.a.m. for the  early booked in air passengers such as us.

Just one point. The Foss Hotel Hekla ,would not suit the infirm as there is no lift  and we also had to negotiate two sets of small steps before reaching the stairs to our first floor room. Those with heavy bags to carry may have a problem. However, we did see the start of the Northern lights as we did the previous day at Husafell.

On Saturday we went on the Whale watching tour. We saw white nosed dolphins and Mink whales. It was a pity that some visitors did not listen to the guide with regard to use of  sick bags etc but maybe there was a translation problem here. The guide was very knowledgably and his talk on the whale species very enlightening.

In fact Nicky said he was brilliant!

After the tour and walking back to the Hotel Skuggi to pick up the car at about 1 p.m. ish  we left for Husafell for the ‘Into the Glacier Tour’.

Unfortunately, although we followed your detailed route instructions onto and over The Snorrabraut intersection and over what we though was the bridge and  took the first left as advised , we ended in a business park and a dead end. We knew we were wrong as we didn’t loop under the bridge. Our fault.

Got back onto the main road ,looped to the left onto the A1 at all times looking for signs to Mosfellsbaer but soon  realised that we were heading back to Keklavik. Also got confused early on when I saw an airport with Icelandic Air planes not realising that there was another airport  at Reykjavik. Anyway turned around ,called into a N1 petrol station and we were  put back onto the right road.

We probably lost around 45-50 mins here.

From now on we never got lost and your directions were perfect. I think my problem was the big city and  trying to not crash the new hire car in the busy streets.

On reflection, two activities in a day was a hard ask given that we were new to the country and road system but it was our choice to do this.

When I realised that we would be late for the 3 o’clock tour I pulled over and rang the tour office. The guy there was very understandable and when I suggested that if there was any places for the 10 o’clock tour could we join it. He said no problem and another bonus was there was no extra cost for us.

Next day we went on the tour which was fantastic. Again the tour guide Emilia was very informative.

We left Husafell and followed your directions but as we had effectively lost 3 hrs, I decided to miss the volcanic crater at Bifrost and also the The Whale Fjord by going back under the tunnel and got to the hotel o.k. but visited The Thingvellir National Park, Geysir etc onto Fosshotel Hekla.

However, when I was checking the next day’s itinerary  with the road book stating our snow mobile tour was at 15.00 (page 26) I did not fancy driving in the dark over the desert and lava field.So I made a decision as were in the area to pop in to see if we could get on an earlier tour. Imagine my surprise when the girl on the tour reception stated that there was no tour at that time. I went back to the car and retrieved the voucher which in fairness did state the tour time as midday. No harm done and we were able to drive thorough the desert and lava field in daylight.

Again the snowmobile tour was wonderful, again with another excellent guide.

On Tuesday we had the scenic flight. Although the weather was now poor, the excellent pilot Aaron took us over as much as he could in an hour  and again an excellent guide.

We both thoroughly enjoyed this flight as it gave us another perspective of the desert, glacier etc from the sky.

Wednesday was just a sightseeing tour  with the Golden Gate etc and seals playing beneath it.

Brilliant!

Thursday and our last day ‘Inside the Volcano Tour’ .

Again brilliant!

Final night at Hotel Duss and a lovely evening again to finish with.

In summary we have had a brilliant time, your organisation and planning was perfect for us.

Thank you from both of us.

Regards

Phil and Nicky

Hello all,
A magical destination for the new year.
We were a little worried about heading to such a different destination despite your excellent information and advice. But Iceland won us over in every way. The Christmas decorations in Reykjavik, the science fiction like geothermal activity, the comfortable guesthouses, the stunning landscapes under the snow. We experienced very unpredictable but totally manageable weather (from 14 to 46 degrees). We also got the feeling that Icelanders are easier to get to know in low tourist season. We met some great people.
Se you soon (in the summer).