Best guidebook
by acemj
I used Lonely Planet's "Best of Reykjavik" title which was published in June of 2006, but there were a few things in the book that were already a little outdated. It's not a bad book, but when I was browsing through other books at the airport in Keflavik, I found the guidebook, "Inside Reykjavik, The Grapevine Guide" and it was much better. It's written by locals as has a more knowledgeable, insider's voice. It's a great read and I wish I would have had it. The Grapevine is a good quality English language newspaper in Reykjavik that can be found all over town.
I'm not sure where to get the guide online, but if you can't find it, I'd wait and buy it in Reykjavik.
Grapevine's website
Icelandic Vehicles
by sue_stone
How silly did we feel in Iceland in our tiny hire car.....when the locals were driving scary looking 4WD's crossed with monster trucks!!
Take a look at the photo for the typical type of vehicle we saw in Iceland. HUGE tyres are a must, which makes sense due to the arctic conditions for most of the year, coupled with the fact that many of the roads are unsealed.
Some of the cars we saw were pretty funny - looked like they had taken a standard "city 4WD" and added the largest tyres available. Everywhere we went we saw troops of these cars, though I must say they did look a little out of place on the streets of Reykjavik!
Big trucks in the streets of Reykjavík.
by Regina1965
I remember reading a conversation on the forums here some time ago about the big trucks in the streets of Reykjavík.
Yes, there are many many jeep-owners here and some of them are driving big pickup vans making normal cars look like ants next to them. During the boom here in Iceland, which then led to a total crash in October 2008, then a lot of people bought themselves a big jeep. They were able to do this by getting a 100% car loan, mostly a foreign currency loan. Of course these loans backfired when our króna collapsed, but that is another story.
When the ISK króna was strong against the US-dollar then a lot of Icelanders imported jeeps from the USA, and many of them imported big pickup vans, which look stupid in the streets of Reykjavík, they are just way too big and having an accident with one of these trucks driving a normal car is not a fair game.
But living in Iceland and wanting to travel in the country a 4x4 is needed. I don't own a 4x4 so I have had to skip a lot of places when travelling around the country. And living in Reykjavík and travelling around the country, it goes without saying that you have to drive the truck in the streets of Reykjavík as well, as people cannot afford to own 2 cars, one for the city and another one for the countryside.
I remember back then when only directors owned jeeps, that was a big fad, every director had to own a jeep. And Icelanders, having the mentality of small kings and feeling like they are all small kings (I am not making this up) then every Dick and Harry had to buy a jeep as well as not to be inferior to the directors.
And then started the big boom when the banks got privatised and the bank directors started competing against each other - then the most luxurious jeeps were bought, the black Range Rovers. Nowhere else outside of England did Landrover export more jeeps per capita than to Iceland.
A lot of the jeeps are elevated, those are the jeeps that go on glacier tours, and when on the glacier they will let air off the tires so that they can float on the glacier. That is the best way to travel on glaciers. Arctic Trucks, an Icelandic company located in Norway, specialises in altering Toyota jeeps so that they can drive on glaciers and on sands without difficulty. That is a big business and they alter jeeps f.ex. for Dubai and the Norwegian and Swedish army.
The Festival of the Sea - Harbour day.
by Regina1965
Iceland's biggest industry is the fishing industry. The annual Festival of The Sea is divided into Hafnardagur (Harbour day) and Sjómannadagur (The National Seamen's day). It is held the first weekend in June and we celebrate and remind ourselves of how important the sea is and has been for the Icelandic nation.
This year (2008) Harbour day was held for the 10th time and National Seamen's day for the 70th time (see my next tip on The National Seamen's day). Most activities were centred at or near Reykjavík's old harbour. There was an outdoor "Bizarre sea creatures'" exhibition (see 2 of my tips), whale-watching tours, mini amusement park, sight-seeing cruises to Akranes, food and culture in a tent on the pier, where you could also arm-wrestle with the strongest men in Iceland (note that Iceland has owned 2 "Strongest men in the World", which held the title for many years), see my tip under local custom on my Iceland page. The Icelandic diving society sold samples of grilled shellfish, there was a sailing competition and a ship sailed to launch messages in a bottle from people ashore. There was a guided tour aboard one of the ships of the coast guard. And nearby seafood restaurants offered a special three-course seafood-menu during the festival. A lot of activities and if you are ever in Iceland during this weekend try not to miss it, it is a lot of fun.
Road trip
by jlynyc
If you don't have time to complete the Ring Road, consider renting a car and taking a short day trip to a small town outside Reykjavik. The landscape is stunning - you feel like you've landed on the moon and then all of a sudden you are surrounded by lush farmland, giant cascading waterfalls and Icelandic ponies.
Just be careful driving - while the roads are well maintained, there is little traffic and driving can become monotonous.
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Icelanders.
The Pentecost church.
A cat in Reykjavík.
A statue of Skúli Magnússon fógeti.
