hi guys, me and the girlfriend are stopping over in Iceland for 5 nights on our way to Canada and the U.S. At the end of November. We're wanting to spend about half the time in Reykjavik and doing the golden circle then the other half in a nice cabin or something somewhere so we can hopefully see the northern lights at night but also do some activities in the day, eg snowmobiles, hiking maybe dog sledging. Does anyone have any recommendations for anywhere like this. Are we able to do these kind of things this late in the year. Also are the roads ok to drive on this time of year if we were to stay away from Reykjavik? Any help is much appreciated! Cheers
1
bjoern
November is very early for snow related entertainment. You may be able to do things on glaciers (on ice) , but thery are not close. On the other hand - not g´very good for hiking - daylight is becoming very short.
2
iviehoff
Also are the roads ok to drive on this time of year if we were to stay away from Reykjavik?
The main road network is an all year road network, connecting where most people live, but may suffer intermittent disruption during episodes of wintry or stormy weather, rarely disrupting travel for longer than a day or so. You are more likely to experience rain than snow at that time of year - rain can fall all year.
Snowmobiles for tourists is mostly done on glaciers in Iceland, as snow is not adequate for it in inhabited areas, which often do not have any extended period of snow cover even in mid winter. You'd have to be lucky to get good enough weather for going up on glaciers in November, and remember this is the lowest of the low season of the whole year, so the operators might be in Spain on holiday. .Similar comment applies to dog sledding, I think there is only one dog sled team in the country. There is absolutely no tradition of it in Iceland, it is Greenland which has that tradition.
Cabins are generally called "summer houses" in Iceland, though some are suitable for all year accommodation. It isn't common tourist accommodation, though if you search you will find some, in the region around Selfoss I know there are some possibilities - though that is basically "Golden-Circle Land" so you might want to go somewhere else. The main out-of-Reykjavik-but-not-so-far-as-only-have-a-few-days options are the southern shore and Snaefellsnes.
3
Thorn Tree
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