Iceland excursions advice

[Corydory]

Does anyone one know how much P&O charge for their Golden Circle  from Reykjavik and Lake  Myvatn from Akureyri we are on Arcadia  J911 departing 20th August 2019 

 

Many thanks Lynn

[kruzseeka]

My information is a bit out of date - 5 years ago but as you haven't had any other response I've looked out our brochure and the Golden Circle was £85 for a 8 hour trip.  That included lunch and although quite expensive we thought it quite reasonable given Iceland,  like Norway are expensive areas to visit.  I guess it will be more now but I can thoroughly recommend it to experience so much of this scenic country.  Thingvellir National Park was amazing. 

Is the Akureyri one the  Myvatn Nature Baths?  If so that was £67.50 whivh sounds expensive for a 4.5 hour trip but I suppose that includes entry.  I know the Blue Lagoon was quite pricey when we went.  

Anyway, hope that helps.  You can check out what private firms charge too but we were happy with the P&O ones.  

[happy v]

£124, which is a lot but it's an excellent excursion.

Oh just noticed you asked for two. The above is the Golden Circle.

Myvatn Jewels of the North £85. We've been on this one too and really enjoyed it.

[kruzseeka]

Gosh that's a big increase over 5 years isn't it?  But I agree with you happy v - an excellent trip and one we'd do again.  

[dronnygirl]

12 hours ago, Corydory said:

Does anyone one know how much P&O charge for their Golden Circle  from Reykjavik and Lake  Myvatn from Akureyri we are on Arcadia  J911 departing 20th August 2019 

 

Many thanks Lynn

Try FAB Tours - they do tour no. 1002 which is a combi tour for  Golden  Circle and Lake Myvatn. We did the tours last  year and they  were fabulous, the company  was very reliable and we didn't pay until they picked us up. The guides were excellent and there were 8 of us on a 16 seater bus. The current cost is £144 pp for the 2 days

[happy v]

1 hour ago, kruzseeka said:

Gosh that's a big increase over 5 years isn't it?  But I agree with you happy v - an excellent trip and one we'd do again.  

It is a lot but when we went last year we noticed huge changes i.e. proper paths and safety barriers around the waterfalls, huge car parks for all the coaches. It seems tourism has really taken off in Iceland. Personally I preferred clambering over the rocks and getting wet!! but I do remember Davecttr breaking his arm.

Also the pound is very low. Nowadays I tend not to take too much notice of the prices because if you don't see the places you want to you may as well not go.

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by happy v
getting Daves' name right.

[Host Sharon]

My friend picked up a very good tour in Reykjavik to the main sights on the quayside. 

[mslubylu]

Have you thought about hiring a car? It's very easy to do, you can book online before you go and you collect the car directly in the port. The cost was approx £120 but between 4 of us it was very reasonable. Iceland is very easy to drive around and it allowed us to follow our own schedule.

[Tom Baker]

21 minutes ago, mslubylu said:

Have you thought about hiring a car? It's very easy to do, you can book online before you go and you collect the car directly in the port. The cost was approx £120 but between 4 of us it was very reasonable. Iceland is very easy to drive around and it allowed us to follow our own schedule.

I have considered hiring a car but there doesn't seem to be (or I can't find) a rental company who drop off or operate at the port of Reykjavik.

[mslubylu]

6 minutes ago, Tom Baker said:

I have considered hiring a car but there doesn't seem to be (or I can't find) a rental company who drop off or operate at the port of Reykjavik.

We booked through Europcar, you have to select Reykjavik cruise harbour on their website. Other car companies also have offices there. You walk directly of the ship and they have wooden huts as their offices and the cars are parked in a car park right outside the terminal. Was very easy to collect the car and drop it off. 

[leehal]

I used Europcar which is right at the port, we prefer to do a longer tour at our own pace.

[Dorset cruise fan]

To mslubylu and lehal: what did you manage to see in a day?  We have just booked on Oriana and don't have an overnight in Reykavik but would love to get out and do our own thing. Any advice on itineraries for the day would be much appreciated.

[Daddyglove]

We hired a car and did loads

We drove the golden circle we got our car about 8am and back on the ship by 6.30 pm

We stopped at pingvellir national park for about 3 hours

Then onto Gullfoss waterfall for about an hour and a half

Then we stopped at Geysir for about an hour

A quick 30 minute stpp at skalholt church

A quick stop of about 30 minutes at Faxi waterfall

Then stopped and walked around Kerid crater the weather was coming in and it started raining quite heavy so we only stayed about 45 minutes then drove back to the ship

It takes about 2 and a half hours to actually drive the Golden Circle but you can make your own plans and stops

We did a few other stops like feeding the wild horses (TIP - take a few apples from the buffet in the morning) and stops for scenic photos etc

While driving you will see other cars in front of you pull in at the side of the road or in a layby to feed horses or take scenic photos and we did this a few times

There is hardly any traffic even in Reykjavik city itself so do not worry about driving it is so easy just make sure you book an automatic it is much easier

Good luck and have a great time whatever you decide

[davecttr]

On ‎1‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 10:22 PM, happy v said:

It is a lot but when we went last year we noticed huge changes i.e. proper paths and safety barriers around the waterfalls, huge car parks for all the coaches. It seems tourism has really taken off in Iceland. Personally I preferred clambering over the rocks and getting wet!! but I do remember Davecttr breaking his arm.

Also the pound is very low. Nowadays I tend not to take too much notice of the prices because if you don't see the places you want to you may as well not go.

 

Not quite as bad as that. I fell off a rock and took a chunk out of my left shin which already had weak skin because of cellulitis years before. That was when they nearly amputated my leg!. They treated me every day in the medical centre and waived the charges at the end of the cruise. It took weeks to heal when I got home because the NHS made a hash of treating it. I started that cruise with a frozen shoulder and was being treated on board. I was wandering the decks at night followed by a suspicious security fella. I wandered into the buffet at 3 am and the man behind the counter pleaded with me to have some freshly made chips, he was so bored, what could I do but comply!.

 

Back to the excursions, We did tingviller and the waterfall I fell off the first day and the geyser field the second? Lake nyvatyn was good, luckily no midges. We also visited the Faroe Islands, I was impressed, it was so different to my impressions gleaned from the shipping forcast

 

ah, happy days. I am off to Iceland again this summer.

[Dorset cruise fan]

Thanks Daddyglove, that's really useful information. Did you have your route all prepared beforehand? Did the car hire provide maps? Can you do it with a phone satnav?

[mslubylu]

I think most people follow the same route, we started at the Kerrid crater and walked around it. There is a small fee to get in. We then drove to the gullfoss waterfall, spending around an hour there. We then stopped at Geysir and finally stopped on Pingvellier national park. I would say the whole route took us about 8 hours. But the great thing about hiring a car is you can go at your own pace and we stopped several times at random places. Plus you can work around the coach tours and avoid the crowds.

 

We found it very easy to drive around as the roads are quite and we just used google maps on my phone.

[Dorset cruise fan]

Thank you for all the helpful information.  I think hiring a car is definitely the way to do it, particularly as we always feel rushed on the organised tours and with other half being a geologist he won't want to be rushed.

[kruzseeka]

Couldn't be going to anywhere better then imo.   It always disappoints me that we've never had a Geologist on board giving lectures about the Geology of Iceland on any of our Iceland trips.  It would seem to me to be the obvious choice for enhancement lectures on such a cruise.  Perhaps a niche here for your other half?!!!  😏

[Dorset cruise fan]

He's always wanted to go to Iceland and I'm sure he'll talk geology to anyone who wants to listen. I will fulfil my usual role of being in photos 'for scale'

[happy v]

On 2/17/2019 at 3:48 PM, davecttr said:

Not quite as bad as that. I fell off a rock and took a chunk out of my left shin which already had weak skin because of cellulitis years before. That was when they nearly amputated my leg!. They treated me every day in the medical centre and waived the charges at the end of the cruise. It took weeks to heal when I got home because the NHS made a hash of treating it. I started that cruise with a frozen shoulder and was being treated on board. I was wandering the decks at night followed by a suspicious security fella. I wandered into the buffet at 3 am and the man behind the counter pleaded with me to have some freshly made chips, he was so bored, what could I do but comply!.

 

Back to the excursions, We did tingviller and the waterfall I fell off the first day and the geyser field the second? Lake nyvatyn was good, luckily no midges. We also visited the Faroe Islands, I was impressed, it was so different to my impressions gleaned from the shipping forcast

 

ah, happy days. I am off to Iceland again this summer.

Well you should be safe this time, with a tarmac path and safety rails. Enjoy.

[leehal]

On 2/17/2019 at 9:13 AM, Dorset cruise fan said:

To mslubylu and lehal: what did you manage to see in a day?  We have just booked on Oriana and don't have an overnight in Reykavik but would love to get out and do our own thing. Any advice on itineraries for the day would be much appreciated.

 

We collected our car from the port (Enterprise), had a complimentary upgrade to a Landrover Discovery, the weather turned later in the day and we were glad for feeling a little safer in a bigger 4wd.

 

We managed to visit:-

 

Geysir

Gulfoss

Skogafoss

Sejlandandafoss

 

The detour from the Golden Circle was worth it, Skogafoss was amazing.

 

Overall we were out for around 9 hours, could have stopped off at more places but the weather was very bad on the afternoon.  At Gulfoss we saw a woman blown off her feet in the car park.

 

I suffer with my back and the main reason we chose to DIY tour was because I could do it my own pace and I'm better driving as it takes my mind off it.