April birthday destination outside of Reykjavik? | Iceland - Lonely Planet Forum - Thorn Tree

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Hi all, I'll be in Iceland in early April (arriving on the 5th very late, departing on the 9th). April 8th is my birthday. I'd like to be somewhere 'special'…

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ONLINE

Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:52:42 +0000

Hi all,

I'll be in Iceland in early April (arriving on the 5th very late, departing on the 9th). April 8th is my birthday. I'd like to be somewhere 'special' on the 8th and I'd love some advice or suggestions.

Things to know!

I've been to Iceland before in 2012, and circumnavigated the country with Iceland Farmstays. So I've seen the big sights and adored them.
I'll be based in Reyk since it's such a short stopover.
I don't drive.
I loved the capital but in general I find myself drawn outside big cities when I travel. Perhaps because I live in one (Toronto).

I realize it'll be cold but I'm Canadian and we're going through a deep freeze right now so I'll be well-prepared. Although I also realize the Icelandic winds might be up.

I was wondering about spending a night or two somewhere outside the city perhaps - does anyone have any suggestions? I'm really open to anything at this point. I've never celebrated a birthday abroad and am looking to make it memorable.

Thank you so much in advance!! :)

1

ONLINE

Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:48:21 +0000

Hi joyfly, have been in the west of Iceland I mean to Hraunfossar and Barnafoss, Deildartunguhver and the area there?

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ONLINE

Mon, 16 Feb 2015 23:33:17 +0000

In response to #1

Hi hilmarhalldors,

No I haven't! I passed through Borgarnes but that's about it. Would I be able to get there and back from Reykjavik in only a few days with no car do you think? I would actually love to see more of the interior.

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ONLINE

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 11:43:45 +0000

Hi!
You should ask a local! When I went over I contacted Rafn Sigurbjornsson. He's a great guy, native, photographer and loves to help people to discover the hidden treasures of Iceland. You can reach him through travelmoodz.com

Have a great birthday!

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ONLINE

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:11:21 +0000

In response to #2

You can also try to use tripcreator.com I know that Rafn has his products in on that platform.

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ONLINE

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 15:27:22 +0000

Hraunfossar and Barnafoss, Deildartunguhver and the area there

It is tricky or expensive to explore detailed small sights like these without your own transport. Simply going to somewhere outside Reykjavik doesn't necessarily help because the sights are usually insufficiently concentrated to find accommodation conveniently located for them, without your own transport, and local transport is very, very thin. But maybe you might just like being in some country place and looking around just there even if it isn't the great scheduled sights. Clearly you can set up a personalised or customised tours with a specialist, but the costs of this are high in Iceland. You can employ a taxi, but that's going to become expensive very quickly too. One near-exception is Myvatn where the sites are sufficiently concentrated you can enjoy them by bicycle, but that is not to the taste of all, and there is still the issue of getting there, being 60km from Akureyri and its airport by infrequent bus.

In the low season, most tours run out of Reykjavik. So at least in R you can more easily access the still rather expensive, but not as expensive as customised tour, general tour offer if you are there. Whereas if you are outside town you are going to be using some infrequent bus or using an expensive taxi, and it still probably isn't going to give you local access to very much.

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Fri, 19 Feb 2016 01:01:22 +0000

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