Iceland

[Mostonian]

We will be sailing on Queen Victoria in July to Norway and Iceland. We have booked the usual trips with Cunard, e.g. waterfalls and geysers etc. and are wondering what footwear will be needed. We both have walking shoes already, but as these are a bit bulky to pack, would we be OK with sturdy Sketcher type trainers? Perhaps those who have been to Iceland before can advise. Don’t really want to travel down to Southampton in our walking shoes to save on packing?

[Turtles06]

Having been to Iceland, I highly recommend low-cut waterproof hiking shoes.  (I'm not sure what you mean by "walking shoes" -- are they waterproof?)   It can be very wet and muddy around the waterfalls and elsewhere, and on the paths you will be following on shore excursions.  Also, you can have lots of rain at any moment.  (Even sideways rain, for hours.)   I would not suggest regular trainers (or, as we Yanks say, "sneakers." 😂)  Yes, it's a pain to taking an extra pair of shoes for outdoor use, but some destinations really warrant them; we wear ours on the plane or however else we are getting to the ship.  

[Scottishclover]

I agree. We spent a week in Iceland and were never out our hiking boots and that was a week of fabulous weather. Much of the terrain is rocky and dusty, something more supportive than a trainer is needed. We too always travel in our hiking boots to help with suitcase space. Have a great trip - Iceland is such a unique place and probably our favourite place from all our travels.

[thehowlingroad]

We're heading to the fjords and Iceland next month, and we'll be bringing hiking shoes/boots along with our regular sneakers (we are staying in London for a few days post-cruise and don't want to walk around the city in hiking shoes). And it's good to have an extra pair, just in case something renders your hiking shoes unwearable the next day. Sneakers are better than no option at all!

[Mostonian]

Amour walking boots it is then. Thanks everyone for your replies.

 

[SimplyMarvie]

We're doing Iceland and Norway and I just spent a whole lot of money outfitting everyone in waterproof hiking boots, so I'm glad to see this thread. 

 

Corollary, though: How muddy and gross are we going to get? I have (don't ask why...) a foldable portable boot-tray around the house somewhere, mostly to put gross shoes on while tent camping. Worth bringing to control the mud on our hiking shoes in the cabin, or am I being too fastidious?

[Nitemare]

We have found Iceland to mostly be WET or ROCKY, but not so much mud.  We've been there 5 times and just haven't done much walking through fields where you are more likely to get mud.  Roads can be muddy and I guess some attractions are thru some mud from parking lots, but it's the big puddles and the sharp rocks that we mostly had to evade as we toured and hiked Iceland.  A nice grippy tread is good, too, for crossing small "ad hoc" streams that can crop up

[CCJack]

I agree with others that we did not see much mud in Iceland with the exception of the bubbling (boiling) mud pools.   Most other excursions there (not ours) provided paper covering for people's shoes.   Ours did not so my boots got covered with clay.  Obviously you don't walk in boiling mud, but the walking paths around the area were all clay.   It was very difficult to get off your shoes.    I took my boots in the shower on our cruise ship cabin and soap and water didn't come close to loosening it.    It required a metal fork from the dining room and about 45 minutes to make a dent in it.   It was nasty stuff.

 

[czrunner]

I wonder if we REALLY need hiking shoes on our cruise if we are only taking mainly Viking shore excursions.  Even their optional excursions seem to include mostly bus rides, with limited walks or hikes.  I have done a lot of hiking in my running shoes/sneakers, and plan to bring two pairs to switch between, while one pair is wet or muddy.  I think that as long as I can find an old pair with good thread, my feet would be happier.  Also, I plan to bring my hiking poles.  Do you think that I would be O.K. with this solution?

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, czrunner said:

Do you think that I would be O.K. with this solution?

 

Well, yes, if: 1) it doesn't rain much; 2) you don't plan to get up close to or behind the gorgeous waterfalls; or 3) you don't mind having your feet soaking wet all day. 😉

 

Seriously, to me, it's not so much about hiking shoes but about waterproof shoes.  But if you really don't care about possibly having really wet feet, you know yourself best. If so, go for it. 

 

BTW, I can't help but think that if you don't expect to be getting out of the Viking tour bus much in extraordinarily beautiful Iceland, you may be paying too much for your cruise.  😂

Edited July 1, 2022 by Turtles06

[Nitemare]

Totally agree.  Seeing Iceland from bus windows and parking lots with short walks is not the best way to experience Iceland.  Much as we loved Antarctica, being on ship tours where you are never more than 20 yards away from other people is not nearly as enthralling as Iceland is, where you can easily be the only humans for 20 miles around.  It just takes turning down a random road and finding an unnamed waterfall or the non-tourist edge of a glacier to make a lifetime memory

[czrunner]

I really appreciate everybody's input.  We would very much prefer to travel independently, and in the past have done so frequently all over the world.  Only recently we decided to go on cruises, mainly to places that would be difficult to see on our own (e.g. a Russian River cruise) or for the convenience of covering many ports better accessible by a ship (e.g. Hawaii).  We have rented a car in ports and traveled to out of the way places even in Hawaii and Alaska.  On cruises we preferred independent excursions, but after painfully getting refunds for our cancelled 2020 cruise, this time with all the pandemic restrictions we were not sure if it would be possible, and used our vouchers to book mainly Viking shore excursions.  I have no idea what the excursions in Iceland will look like and any insight from those of you who were there on a cruise would be helpful.

 

After reading all the helpful comments, I decided to pull out my hiking boots.  To make sure that they are water resistant (if not entirely waterproof), I plan to spray them and even some other shoes with a waterproofing agent.  We have done that previously successfully with cross country running shoes.  My husband will do the same, and we both can probably tolerate wet feet for a few hours.

 

Again,  thank you for providing an insight into the conditions we can expect.  We very much look forward to visiting Iceland in a couple of weeks.

[CCJack]

14 hours ago, czrunner said:

I really appreciate everybody's input.  We would very much prefer to travel independently, and in the past have done so frequently all over the world.  Only recently we decided to go on cruises, mainly to places that would be difficult to see on our own (e.g. a Russian River cruise) or for the convenience of covering many ports better accessible by a ship (e.g. Hawaii).  We have rented a car in ports and traveled to out of the way places even in Hawaii and Alaska.  On cruises we preferred independent excursions, but after painfully getting refunds for our cancelled 2020 cruise, this time with all the pandemic restrictions we were not sure if it would be possible, and used our vouchers to book mainly Viking shore excursions.  I have no idea what the excursions in Iceland will look like and any insight from those of you who were there on a cruise would be helpful.

 

After reading all the helpful comments, I decided to pull out my hiking boots.  To make sure that they are water resistant (if not entirely waterproof), I plan to spray them and even some other shoes with a waterproofing agent.  We have done that previously successfully with cross country running shoes.  My husband will do the same, and we both can probably tolerate wet feet for a few hours.

 

Again,  thank you for providing an insight into the conditions we can expect.  We very much look forward to visiting Iceland in a couple of weeks.

We took two independent excursions, one ship excursion and one day on our own.  I would say the independent excursions and ship excursions are probably more similar than in other countries / destinations.   The golden circle tour, as an example, (we did SAGA tours) - is basically 3 stops and you are on your own for 1 to 2 hours when you are at the stop.   So basically it is transportation, however, I enjoyed the commentary on the way there.   Personally, I do not like to drive on vacation, since I do a lot of driving in my normal life, so I like excursions - others feel differently.   

 

I can tell you we had two overnights there (on the ship) and the second day in each port was a short day (ship departing at 2 pm).   So I booked a ship's excursion on those short days since the ship leaves mid day.  I am glad I did.   Our independent excursion on one of the full days (first day in port) was late back to the ship by 1.5 hours, but it was not a problem since we had an overnight then.   This was not the excursion's fault, but there were traffic issues.  I never would have expected a traffic jam in Iceland.  There is not that many vehicles, but all of the roads seem to be 2 lane and one accident or issue can back things up. 

 

Although we have not been on Viking ocean ships we have been on their river boats.  I would expect Viking to have nice excursions planned.   I liked Viking a lot, except for the brochures they mail you every week for the rest of your life!

 

I hope you enjoy your trip, we really enjoyed Iceland.   

Edited July 2, 2022 by CCJack

[mpk]

On 6/20/2022 at 1:10 PM, Turtles06 said:

Having been to Iceland, I highly recommend low-cut waterproof hiking shoes. 

[ ... ]  😂Yes, it's a pain to taking an extra pair of shoes for outdoor use, but some destinations really warrant them; we wear ours on the plane or however else we are getting to the ship.  

 

On 6/20/2022 at 2:12 PM, Scottishclover said:

 We too always travel in our hiking boots to help with suitcase space.

 

I'm thinking about wearing hiking boot onto the plane, but doesn't this cause extra steps at airport security screening?  Like removing the boots and having to send them through the x-ray machine.

 

I'm not excited about having to removing my shoes at security  😬

[SimplyMarvie]

3 hours ago, mpk said:

 

 

I'm thinking about wearing hiking boot onto the plane, but doesn't this cause extra steps at airport security screening?  Like removing the boots and having to send them through the x-ray machine.

 

I'm not excited about having to removing my shoes at security  😬

 

It's definitely a pain and I totally prefer to fly in slip-ons... but given the hot mess that is airports and baggage this summer, we'll be flying in our hiking boots because it's the only way to be carry-on only (and know we're not leaving our baggage in the wrong country).

[Scottishclover]

3 hours ago, mpk said:

 

 

I'm thinking about wearing hiking boot onto the plane, but doesn't this cause extra steps at airport security screening?  Like removing the boots and having to send them through the x-ray machine.

 

I'm not excited about having to removing my shoes at security  😬

We are only asked to remove boots very occasionally when we go through security. Last week we flew from Edinburgh to Munich for a hiking trip to Austria and did not have to remove boots at either airport. They obviously knew the stink coming from my daughter’s boots would knock them out😂

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, mpk said:

 

 

I'm thinking about wearing hiking boot onto the plane, but doesn't this cause extra steps at airport security screening?  Like removing the boots and having to send them through the x-ray machine.

 

I'm not excited about having to removing my shoes at security  😬

We once flew from Newark to Paris, then Paris to Amsterdam, and finally back to Newark from Amsterdam with me wearing a walking boot on my left foot. (About 9-10 weeks earlier, I had broken my ankle.) The boot had all kinds of metal clips on it. At Newark, they almost fought to be the one TSA member to just let me through. In Paris, no problem. But in Amsterdam, they asked if I could take it off. And I could tell by the tone of voice that it was an order, not a real question.

[Nitemare]

19 hours ago, mpk said:

 

 

I'm thinking about wearing hiking boot onto the plane, but doesn't this cause extra steps at airport security screening?  Like removing the boots and having to send them through the x-ray machine.

 

I'm not excited about having to removing my shoes at security  😬

If you have TSA Precheck/Global Entry you don't have to remove your shoes

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We had an overnight in Iceland on our TA. It rained both days.  We did independent tours. We were VERY cold.  We had waterproof jackets shoes, etc. But, not waterproof pants. When we stopped for lunch I commented to DH that I was wet up to the top of my thighs.  

 

  Our Golden Circle excursion was at a couple stops at the same time as the ship tours. So, the experience would be similar.  However, the second day we did a Reykjanes peninsula tour.  It was GREAT!  You get to see the wild side of Iceland.  

[SimplyMarvie]

11 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We had an overnight in Iceland on our TA. It rained both days.  We did independent tours. We were VERY cold.  We had waterproof jackets shoes, etc. But, not waterproof pants. When we stopped for lunch I commented to DH that I was wet up to the top of my thighs.  

 

  Our Golden Circle excursion was at a couple stops at the same time as the ship tours. So, the experience would be similar.  However, the second day we did a Reykjanes peninsula tour.  It was GREAT!  You get to see the wild side of Iceland.  

 

Uhoh. I had thought waterproof pants were an exaggeration. Sounds like it's definitely something I should try to get, if we'll be in Iceland for a week... Do you think you would have been OK with like, fleece-lined leggings under hiking pants, or is the full monty required?

[DragonOfTheSeas]

3 hours ago, SimplyMarvie said:

 

Uhoh. I had thought waterproof pants were an exaggeration. Sounds like it's definitely something I should try to get, if we'll be in Iceland for a week... Do you think you would have been OK with like, fleece-lined leggings under hiking pants, or is the full monty required?

That will be warm enough but will get wet.  Here are a few pictures of what people wore.  Our TA left the UK on August 31. You may have a warm sunny day.  YMMV  We were glad for everything we had.  You can see from the pictures of other people that we were not alone in our clothing choices.

 

 

 

 

 

This was near the end of the second day when the rain slowed down.  You can see by my svelte silhouette [sarcasm] how many layers I had on. LOL

 

 

We loved our visit to Iceland.  It is like another world.  

 

edir:  I am not sure why it is showing two of the pics twice.  I tried to fix that--but, I could not. 

Edited July 10, 2022 by DragonOfTheSeas

[FreestyleNovice]

Look into Gore Tex boots or low shoes.

 

Regarding the security at airports and especially Amsterdam: anyting higher than the ankle needs to be taken off is a good rule of thumb. 

 

There are many good and low GTX shoes around, not sure if this brand is known State side; Mammut for example. Also very light!

 

And a wind- and waterproof pants yes, an underlayer is not neccesary unless you plan to visit during winter/off season. During the summer you might want to consider a convertible pants, the weather can change quickly in Iceland and during an hike you might even want to cool off after all those stairs and upwards paths to the sites. 

[Turtles06]

7 hours ago, SimplyMarvie said:

 

Uhoh. I had thought waterproof pants were an exaggeration. Sounds like it's definitely something I should try to get, if we'll be in Iceland for a week... Do you think you would have been OK with like, fleece-lined leggings under hiking pants, or is the full monty required?

 

We had waterproof rain pants that we could pull over whatever we were wearing that day, and we used them a good bit.  When you need them, you need them.  (We had one entire day, for example, when the rain was not only drenching but blowing sideways.  We would have been totally soaked but for our rain gear.) 

[Nitemare]

There is no "bad weather" in Iceland.

 

There is "bad clothes for the weather" in Iceland

 

Waterproof outer levels and solid soled shoes are a must.  I've worn my hiking boots more in Iceland over the past 5 years than I have everywhere else, and my feet are very happy with that choice.

[croosieloosie]

Curious if anyone here has rented a car for the day in Akureyri or Reykjavik?