Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

In the winter with the snow and freezing rain, they will get wet, heavy, and freeze your legs in the 25-50+ MPH winds.

Wind/waterproof hiking pants (what we used) with thermal underwear...

Icelanders say there is no bad weather in Iceland, just bad clothing.

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

Jeans are not warm!

djet Loc: Burbank, CA

We visited Akureyri and Reykjavik in July, 2018 on a cruise. We had day tours in both locations with Fabtravel (https://www.fabtravel.is/en/cruise-ship-day-tours). They were excellent. Used small vans with excellent driver/guides in both locations.

djet Loc: Burbank, CA

We visited Akureyri and Reykjavik in July, 2018 on a cruise. We had day tours in both locations with Fabtravel (https://www.fabtravel.is/en/cruise-ship-day-tours). They were excellent. Used small vans with excellent driver/guides in both locations.

John7199 Loc: Eastern Mass.

My wife and I went to Iceland in Feb, 2018. It looks like we took the same tour as Longshadow. It wasn't as cold as I expected. Temps were worse in Boston when we left. I agree with all Longshadow said. Feel free to ask questions.
John

Laramie Loc: Tempe

I went to Iceland in 2018, I think, with a Community College group. 30-ish people in a bus. CIE was the company, I think. In the north we visited a canyon, Ásbyrgi . Beautiful, and our guide sang an old Icelandic song there. Akureyri is nice (the stop signals are hearts). In Reykjavik visit the church - it looks like basalt columns, and The Pearl, it's a geothermal water heating / treatment plant.

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

Thanks! We are struggling to define exactly what we want—a taste of Iceland or a banquet 10-14 days!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Once in a lifetime trip? If you can, the banquet? Our six days went very quickly.
It's an amazing beautiful place!

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

Yes—that may be the way to go! All in!

SteveFranz Loc: Durham, NC

My wife & I were there for 2 weeks last October. It was our 4th trip to Iceland since 2016. If you are traveling on IcelandAir, you will probably arrive around 6:00 AM. My recommendation would be to rent a car and do a self guided tour. If you have an unlocked phone get a local SIM card, it's very handy for getting around. If you don't have an unlocked phone, but a very cheap unlocked phone for the trip. I've used Vodafone and was very satisfied with their service.

It's easy to get around in Iceland, virtually everyone speaks English, many are fluent in other languages as well. People are friendly, polite, and willing to help.

Go online & book 2-3 nights per stop. Explore the country in quadrants, south Iceland, east Iceland, ect. You'll find plenty to do and see no matter where you are. Iceland is a small country, so you can go from one side to the other easily in a day or two.

The weather can get dicy. We were driving from Vik to Hofn and halfway there they closed the road due to high winds. According to the signboard, the wind was 32 Meters a second. (71+ MPH) and cars were being blown off the road. After a couple hours they reopened the road, but told us to drive slowly and carefully.

JBRIII

They must get something equivalent to lake effect snow, maybe off the hot springs? There is tower in Reyk. from which you see the city below. Went up and perfect view, elevator down, snowing to beat all, few minutes later nothing.

For nature lowers, hot springs, volcanos, glaciers to hike, small canyon where mid-atlantic ridge is splitting iceland, waterfalls, etc. For train lovers no trains at all as I remember.

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

You must love Iceland! So many visits! Better to book your own lodging than buy a self-driving tour that includes rooms and breakfast every night? Those are almost all just 1-night stops…and you are locked in to the schedule. (But you would be with ones you booked yourself, too.). Thanks for your help.

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

Does one waterfall start to look like all the others? Or are they really as wonderful as the tour books say?

JBRIII

I guess that depends on your interest in waterfalls. We have traveled with a couple that is as much into lighthouses as one could be. My wife and I are really into odd plants, mostly cactus and succulents traveled to Africa three times and many more to S. America. Personally I don't care a lot or dislike a lot waterfalls. I would never deliberately travel for waterfalls, churches, lighthouses, TRAINS, etc., but enjoy them when I am there. For me, those in Iceland were nice, but nothing I found spectacular. The big one on the Argentina, Paraguay, Brazilian border (Izzuu?), now that is worth a special trip, amazing, all day trip by plane from capital of Argentina from cruise ship. I would say that Iceland in Winter is more like Alaska, not much for plants or animals, more physical nature. We did do a whale watch, but only saw a lot of seasick English students, it was really bad, even captain said they should never have left port. We actually went on our way to the Faroe Islands to see a solar eclipse.
Don't think this really answers your specific question, you need a waterfalls nut for that.
Have fun;
Jim

SteveFranz Loc: Durham, NC

It helps to book ahead. I'm not sure how successful you'd be booking day-to-day. I prefer the security of knowing where I'll be staying. Iceland is quite expensive, and it can cost quite a bit for a simple meal. That said, many of the hotels and other lodgings have excellent buffet breakfasts. Cold cuts, cheese, pastry, fruit, hot & cold cereal and GREAT coffee. I fill up at breakfast and can easily make it to evening meal with out much discomfort. (Nothing a bag of chips won't solve)

Iceland roads are great, but very lacking in the way of shoulders & places to pull off and view the scenery. For every photo place I stopped at, I probably passed a dozen equally good scenic places without stopping. And, as few as there are, there are even fewer places where a tour bus could pull off. And in a car, you can always drive to the next wide spot & turn around to go back if you have missed something.

My camera doesn't have a GPS, so I've been trying to remember to take cell phone pictures at every good place. Then I can later pull up the map info on the picture and be able to identify my DSLR picture.

I spent 3 days at the Viking Cafe in Hofn. (hint, they have very good breakfast buffet, but avoid them for any other meal). Lots of great photo op's in their neigborhood. (see attached - Vestrehorn mountains)