Iceland March 2023

[Craneguy]

I thought I would ask the PH Collective for there advise.

I am taking the OH to Iceland in late March and will have 3 nights in Reykjavik Hotel and Flights are sorted.

Also booked is a northern lights tour for our 1st night.

We would like to do the Golden Circle and the Secret Lagoon on 1 day and also South Iceland Waterfalls and Black Sand Beech tour on another day.

Should I rent a car and do the tours myself, or book a guided tours. I have no issue with the driving , spend plenty of time driving in Europe in hire cars.

Thx. Andy

[Gren]

Can't comment on the doing your own driving stuff but the best decision we ever made when we went there a few years ago was going on a glacier safari trip.

6 of us in the back of a Defender driving up on the glacier before having shots of Brennivin and having snowball fights. The driver knew all the best places to stop, quieter and off the beaten track. We did a coach trip the day after - geysers, waterfalls etc which was good but a more forgettable day apart from the one or two highlights.

Wasn't cheap mind.... low hundreds each nearly 20 years ago.

Edited by Gren on Monday 12th December 15:04

[yellowbentines]

Craneguy said:

Should I rent a car and do the tours myself, or book a guided tours. I have no issue with the driving , spend plenty of time driving in Europe in hire cars.

We went in March of this year, can't comment on guided tours as we rented a 4x4 Dacia Duster from Blue car rental and cover a large part of the country in our week there - Blue will give you studded winter tyres as standard.

Some of the driving conditions were unbelievable, and quite frightening at times. I'm talking whiteouts where only the winter poles along the roadside were guiding you as to where the road was beneath you, and you couldn't see more than 1 pole in front. Then there were sections where you'd hit deep slush and even the winter tyres struggled and the car would snake until it regained traction. Roads would often be closed whilst they cleared them, and there isn't a huge road network so you either wait, or try to find a very long way around.

Don't underestimate what you might face, but do it, it's an exhilerating experience at times

[craig1912]

Can’t comment on hiring a car but been twice and used small guided tours (4-6 people in a super jeep) and the guides gave us so much information it made the trips far more interesting.
The weather can play havoc with any planned journeys though and we had one trip cancelled last year.
You will probably know but there are no guarantees to see the Northern Lights and it can be painfully cold on top of a mountain at midnight! We’ve only seen them once in 12 nights and even then was not very bright.