Iceland

[michael calvert]

Thinking of having a trip accross the water to Iceland, yes i know miles away but hey must be worth it when you get there?

OPtions please, any one done it before , take you rown vehicle or hire one which then moves to fly out or ferry.

Flights from LHR from £200 Leeds £400 or manchester something inbetween

Ferry where do you sail from is it striaght forward or does it take a couple of years to get there!

any help much appreciated

[pugwash]

the in-laws took us to iceland a couple of years ago now.

It was brilliant- very expensive, but brilliant.

we flew out there hired a partol and drove round the interior for 10 days- i was gutted to find that no one else wanted to drive and i HAD to do all the driving

It was all very straightforward. There is only 1 tarmac road (thoughtfuly called road 1) around the island, the rest is just dirt tracks. Hundreds upon thousand of river crossings, huge glaciers, geysir (the real one), gulfoss, vatnajokull glacier, yokalsarlon are all worth the trip alone!

personally the cost of crossing my own car did not make it worthwhile- not with family in tow anyway. 99% of the tracks you come across are easily navigable by a standard 4x4 if you konw what you are doing (or even if you don't in my case)

if you have any specfic questions then let me know and i'll see if i can answer them.

[stumpy2268]

Try Iceland air out of Stanstead, they are far cheaper than BA or any of the others. We got a deal last year for £12 each return ! - No I am not joking.

We also used Discover The World to setup hotel bookings and a rough circular route from Rekjavik ( spelling ! ) taking in all places of interest en route. All you need to do is get from one hotel to the next by whatever route you choose. Well worth going to the glaciers at the point where they melt into a lagoon with icebergs, and visiting the blue lagoon. - a bit pricey for a public baths, but good fun.

We hired a Landcruiser in standard road spec and had no problems, other than they don't do deep water. - oops

If we went again, I would hire a 110.

But then if we went again, I would take my own car as it is far more capable than the hire vehicles, plus I know my way around it.

Be prepared to spend silly amounts of money on food. Approx £8.00 for a starter, £15 main course.

If you want more detailed data, please pm me and I will dig out the route data and prices.

Adrian.

[stumpy2268]

What you might see if you go !

The other great thing about Iceland ? - there's no one there !!

Absolutely great if you live in the South East :D

[michael calvert]

stumpy / pugwash thanks so mch for the help, if you could email or pm me with any info it would be great

michael 'at' motor-sport-support dot co dot uk

cheers

[headhunter]

A friend went this April.

Shipped his 110 from Immingham and flew out from Stansted 7 days later.

He reckons if you budget £500 a head x 4 this will cover shipping, air fares, fuel, insurance.

Accommodation would be extra -basic hotels in capitol c.£50/room/night.

Food/drink on top.

John

[q-rover]

Only way to go is take your own (capable) vehicle.

I have been and the biggest cost is the ferry. You take your own food and camping gear

and spend a couple of quid a day on campsite fees. Then there is fuel.

We went in 2004 and spent less than £2000 for 3 weeks for 2 of us and

the vehicle from Bergen.

There is so much to see there that once you have gone you have to go back.

HERE is a thread from a group of Norwegians

that have just been. They did the same as us, 3 week holiday which gives you

2 weeks in Iceland.

[Bos]

I've just (two weeks ago) returned from Iceland.

We went with Smyril Line from Scrabster in Scotland (although there are rumours this may be the last year you can do that)

and for two of us with a Cabin each way and an over length/over height vehicle (110 + roof rack) it cost £850 return which I thought was ok. It takes a day and a half outward but five days on the way back as you get dumped in the Faroe Isles for 3 days.

You could get away with just hiring a car for most of the Island but to get into the interior you really need a 4x4, the interior roads are all very badly corrugated (or at least the ones we drove were), I was also told that hire companies will not insure you to drive on the interior roads - but that may be untrue as we saw several 'ordinary' cars racing aound.

We didn't drive any taxing routes as we were on our own and the ones we did drive could have been tackled by any standard Landy, although we did hear some stories from others on the way back about some difficult (ie scary) river crossings on other routes.

If you are thinking of camping I would say the only way to go would be to take your own vehicle, we camped every day and most sites were ok if a little basic in places, all costing around £7 pppn.

Apart from that I would say GO , I would go back tomorrow if I could I loved it, the scenery is just amazing and is just too BIG to get into a camera!

Not had much time lately but I did intend to put some photos up,will try to do so soon (at work now), and I'll try to answer any more questions if you have them.

One tip if you go - save room to refuel in the Faroe Isles, I put 116 litres of diesel in for around £64 the bargain of the trip, as as others have said Iceland is pretty expensive - in one shop we picked up a red pepper for our evening curry before dropping it again when we realised they were the equivalent of over £4.50 each !

[michael calvert]

If you are thinking of camping I would say the only way to go would be to take your own vehicle, we camped every day and most sites were ok if a little basic in places, all costing around £7 pppn.

You seem to mention camping, as an option, is it not a tad cold for that or is that just me thinking (i know doesnt always happen and yes its usually miles out!)

[stumpy2268]

stumpy / pugwash thanks so mch for the help, if you could email or pm me with any info it would be great

michael 'at' motor-sport-support dot co dot uk

cheers

Michael,

Since yesterday's mail, it would appear that you have accumulated alot of positive info. If you still feel you need more, let me know and I will have a dig around at home for costs and route data.

Adrian.

[Rizla 1]

I went a few years ago with discover the world - we went to there office sat down and planned a holiday taking in all the sights ( which are all free ) and to see what you go to Iceland for -- To take in a Formula off road race .

If you get the chance its a must see , Great place , open space , nobody for miles sometimes days .

Wicked

[66gaza]

I went 2 years ago, ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. Sailed Aberdeen to lerwick spent 12 hours there then picked up another ferry that took us via the Faroes (you can stop off here and pick the next ferry up if you have time, we didn't) then onto Iceland. Takes 1/2 week to get there and 1/2 week to get back. We wild camped most of the time in some fantastic locations. Heres a pic to wet your appetite. As mentioned above Iceland is VERY expensive, my camper was absolutely stuffed with grub and we hardly bought anything during our 2 week stay apart from diesel.

Gaza

[Bos]

You seem to mention camping, as an option, is it not a tad cold for that or is that just me thinking (i know doesnt always happen and yes its usually miles out!)

If you go in the summer (July/August) - the best time to go if you want to go into the interior as the roads are mostly closed except for those months - then it is not much colder than this country in fact this year it was probably warmer and certainly drier while we were there, although it was pretty windy at times.

As mentioned above Iceland is VERY expensive, my camper was absolutely stuffed with grub and we hardly bought anything during our 2 week stay apart from diesel.

Be very careful with this, there is a limit to importing food of 3kg per person and No Dairy produce or uncooked meat can be imported. I know because I was 'arrested' for having 24kgs and fined 6500 IKR (which luckily turned out to be only about £55), although this seems to be a calculated money making exercise by the Icelanders as most foreign vehicles were being stopped and fined. They also never asked us if we had any Alcohol, Cigarettes or Drugs just food ! Mind you we had about £50 worth of food from Tesco's and even accounting for the fine it was probably still cheaper than buying all our food there

[66gaza]

If you go in the summer (July/August) - the best time to go if you want to go into the interior as the roads are mostly closed except for those months - then it is not much colder than this country in fact this year it was probably warmer and certainly drier while we were there, although it was pretty windy at times.

Be very careful with this, there is a limit to importing food of 3kg per person and No Dairy produce or uncooked meat can be imported. I know because I was 'arrested' for having 24kgs and fined 6500 IKR (which luckily turned out to be only about £55), although this seems to be a calculated money making exercise by the Icelanders as most foreign vehicles were being stopped and fined. They also never asked us if we had any Alcohol, Cigarettes or Drugs just food ! Mind you we had about £50 worth of food from Tesco's and even accounting for the fine it was probably still cheaper than buying all our food there

This is all very true but £50 buys very little food in Iceland. When we disembarked virtually everyone who was in a vehicle on there own was stopped. The other people we were with binned there meat & dairy in the Shetlands but weren't stopped, we took a risk luckily it paid off.

Gaza

[Rizla 1]

You should see some great trucks like this one

[Kev Baldwin]

Smyril Line ferry service from UK still very much up in the air for next year. If they pull out of the UK as they've been threatening (they already closed their UK office in Shetland), the only way to get your own car there will be to catch the Smyril ferry in Denmark or Norway. Whether you figure that's inconvenient or merely adds to the adventure will be up to you. Circular route of ship can add time onto ferry journey. Schedule seems to change every year, but they like to leave you in the Faroes for a few days. It's probably no coincidence that Smyril is a Faroe based company....Faroes is OK, but by day 3, you'll be scanning the horizon waiting for the ferry.

Container option is by Eimskip or Samskip. Both sail from Immingham

Iceland Air and Iceland Express and are in a price war on air tickets so getting there by air has never been cheaper. Iceland Express only operates out of Stansted, while Iceland Air fly from H'row, Manchester and Glasgow.

You can hire 110s on 38in tyres in Iceland, but like everything in Iceland it won't be cheap. At least £100 a day. I've seen an outfit hiring 130's with demount bodies in Iceland but I'll be damned if I can find a link. Again, expect that option to be silly money.

Taking your car will be the cheaper option since you can cram your car with as much tinned and packet food (& drink) as possible and just buy essentials in Iceland. Fuel is about the same as the UK.

There are tough tracks if you know where to find them, but for the most part, the regular tracks and river crossings throughout the interior will blow your mind! Iceland is easily do-able in a standard LR. A snorkel makes sense and maybe a diff guard for the hidden rocks in the rivers should cover it. I've always got away with one Jerry can as back up fuel.

I always liken Iceland summer climate to British summers. Rainy one minute, Sun the next. Certainly OK for camping. You'll not be spoilt for places to camp.

Kev

[munro]

Also came back about 3 weeks ago. Thoroughly recommend it.

Took lots of advice from forums/magazine articles - most of which was spot on. We took a 90 and a 110 from Scrabster, both on Mud Terrains, with snorkels, diff guards, steering guards. We met up with the Icelandic Land Rover club so got to find a few interesting tracks....in the space of 5 hours you can go from 1st low ratio crawling over lava fields, over 60 mph tracks on smooth sand and through fast flowing rivers. Had to turn back from one river and wait for the water level to go down the following morning due to the glaciers melting in the afternoon. Meant we got a stunning wildcamp to ourselves. only got stuck a few times trying to get across gravelly river banks. Was fairly exciting at the time as the water levels were going up!!

There were others on the ferry in bog standard Disco 3's and various Jap stuff who all seemed to have a good time on easier routes.

Damage was limited to a dented gearbox crossmember (I think that was from an unseen washout on a corrugated road - made a hell of a bang) and a few electrical connections shaking loose from extremely corrugated roads.

Food in supermarkets not stupidly expensive but the first £60 round of drinks in Reykjavik (for 7 people) was a shock.

The people were very friendly, the weather was mixed, cold at night but ok camping. And guess who filled up before arriving in the Faroe Islands!! How gutting.

Happy to provide more info on routes, local contacts etc

Doug

[ColinTheCop]

There's a group of ORRPers heading out in the summer. Although I'm curious about this food thing. I was aware it was there but I didn't think it was that well enforced.

Do they search vehicles or are they relying on peoples honesty....?

If it's the latter then I'm laughing.

This is the link of the planning stage if you want some reading, http://www.orrp.com/smf/index.php?topic=29336.0

[Kev Baldwin]

To clarify. There is strictly speaking a quota of food per person, but all the the stuff customs are really bothered about are fresh items. I've been searched (and other vehicles travelling with us)with boxes full of food way over the limit and they've never said a word. Customs walk down the line of vehicles and ask each driver if they have any fresh items on board. A 'no' will usally satisfy them, however, if you end up getting searched, apples and oranges are considered illegal contraband!

In my experience it's usually the 4x4 camper conversions and motorhomes that get pointed in the direction of the strip-down shed as it's these vehicles that tend to arrive laden with supplies. Many of the Europeans with their custom MAN's and Unimog's are planning on staying a month or so.

The first place you'll come to within the first half hour of leaving the ferry terminal is Egilstadir. There are a couple of large supermarkets here where you can stock up on fresh stuff so it's pointless risking it. Just remember not to take anything 'fresh' from the ferry for the journey.

One really worthwhile tip I'd offer for a large group (or solo traveller) is to make sure you arrive in Iceland with a full tank/tanks of fuel. The filling station in Egilstadir is always manic on the one day of the week when the Norrona lands with vehicles arriving from the ferry and with those filling up at the last gas station before heading off to catch the ferry home.

If I help out in any other way. Let me know.

Kev B