Airwaves in Iceland

[Zoo Music Girl]

Just wondered if anyone had been to this festival? We were planning to go to Iceland that week anyway, as luck would have it, but I don't really want to spend a whole four days at a festival with so much else to see. I was thinking of maybe getting a ticket - £100 for four days at current exchange rate, not bad! - and dropping in and out for some of the bigger names, Bjork, John Grant, EIY etc, and a few DJ sets and the like.

 

Any tips/opinions etc very welcome! x

[TheNewUnion]

I've never been to the festival but cannot recommend Reykjavik highly enough. One of the coolest cities in the world.

Harpa, where Bjork is playing, is a stunning building.

Edited August 3, 2015 by TheNewUnion

[Zoo Music Girl]

Thanks that's good to hear

What else did you get up to when you were there? I'm currently thumbing a guide book and trying to work out how best to get a bit of nature stuff in while absorbing the city highlights!

Airwaves line up is great so it Seem a nice opportunity to see some music too.

[TheNewUnion]

We did Blue Lagoon and Golden Circle tours. Blue Lagoon is a great place to spend the day, just floating round in the hot springs. You can get a bus from the airport to Blue Lagoon on arrival, then on to Reykjavik afterwards, nice way to relax after an early flight.

Golden Circle is stunning, waterfalls, geysers, beautiful stark scenery.

It's a great city to wander round, the locals are pretty chill, food is great and it's nowhere near as expensive as people might have you believe.

Places to try

Saegreifinn (Seabarron). Fish restaurant in the harbour, simple but brilliant.

Laundromat. Best place for brunch/hangover curing breakfast.

Hamborgarbúllan. Great greasy burgers.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Cheers for this! Appreciate I'm derailing my own thread by making it about Iceland more generally but I'm keen for tips

When did you go in the year and how long for? Did you see the northern lights? And from what you've said you didn't hire a car and that was fine?

One thing I worry about is the expense so that's reassuring. Flights are pretty decently priced for the time we intend to go too.

Sadly I'm a veggie so food won't be great for me! I'm used to that when travelling though...

[TheNewUnion]

We went in March for 5 nights, not quite enough time to do all the things we wanted to do so we are going to go back next year. Weather wasn't great for Northern Lights, what seems to happen is you book as soon as you get there then they have tours every night, if they know there will be a "sighting" possible they'll call you up and you go on the tour, if not they let you know and you wait for tomorrows call.

 

Didn't have a car, bus from airport to Reykjavik and back. We just took the bus tours to do all of the sight seeing, definitely worth having a tour guide telling you what everything is.

 

I am a hardened carnivore so paid no attention to veggie options. It does seem to be a very meat focused diet, but there was a place called Glo (I think) just off Laugavegur which is the main shopping street - they had raw food specialties and vegan/veggie stuff.

 

There are loads of places I could recommend for a drink, Kaffibarinn (again, just off the main street) was probably my favourite though. Very cool and, if you beleive the stories, used to be part owned by Damon Albarn.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Again really helpful. Thank you so much

We're planning to go for 7-8 days and I'm thinking of topping and tailing at Reykjavik with maybe one or two nights in a more rural setting in the middle. Still early days though!

Good to hear a car isn't necessary and I'm more bothered about nice places to drink than the food really. As a veggie I'm well used to a cheese sandwich or omelette when abroad...

Hope you get back next year!

[TheNewUnion]

Bjork seemingly cancelled Reykjavik shows, might be worth double checking if she's the main reason you're going to the festival.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Oh that's a shame. Not booked anything as yet so will keep an eye on it!

[DDave]

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/15/150805b.shtml

Yep, cancelled.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Bit weird this isn't it - what does scheduling conflicts mean?

 

Anyway I'd still consider going, but maybe not at full-price...

[DDave]

Bit weird this isn't it - what does scheduling conflicts mean?

Anyway I'd still consider going, but maybe not at full-price...

Preggo I reckon.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Preggo I reckon.

 

IT ALL MAKES SENSE

[Zoo Music Girl]

Me again with another non festival related query! Did you say you went in the blue lagoon in March? From what I can see online it's only open for bathing from June to August? Or am I missing something?

[TheNewUnion]

We went in March for sure (sticks in the mind as we went for my 40th birthday). As far as I know they're open every day, even Christmas!

Edit. Checked, http://www.bluelagoon.com/plan-your-visit/opening-hours/

Edited August 7, 2015 by TheNewUnion

[mandolin]

Never been to the festival but jumping in on the holiday bit. Hope that's ok. I'm not sure that you'll be able to safely go to the interior of the island in November - would definitely ask local advice, but I guess it depends on what you mean by "middle". All of the coast will be accessible. Would really recommend Husavik area (north of the island) for a couple of days - public transport, flights or driving all a possibility. If you did hire a car, Myvatn is worth a visit and there's a much less touristy blue lagoon type place near there too. If you go down the south coast, the unpronounceable volcano that erupted a few years ago is only about an hour past Hetta. Nice little museum there and you can go walking on the glacier which is a fantastic experience but make sure you go with a reputable guide. Pricey but absolutely worth it if the weather is clear. Northern lights absolutely possible in November - just need clear skies (we didn't get them) and luck. If you're on Facebook, Aurora Service is really good at letting you know when it's worth keeping a eye out but won't be able to tell you whether or not it's going to be cloudy.

Hope you have a great time. It's an amazingly beautiful island with great people.

Oh, and as you're vegetarian, Skyr might become your best friend. Healthy, nutritious, delicious and available everywhere. It's a bit like yoghurt so can get a bit same-y after a while but it was the only non-meat/fish protein we could face - didn't manage to spot any non-plastic cheese.

[TheNewUnion]

I'll second Skyr. Now available over here and the best yoghurt ever. Icelanders love the stuff.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Thanks guys. That's all super helpful.

Yes I don't think I meant "the middle" really. Just somewhere other than Reykjavik for a bit of variety. Funnily enough I was thinking of Husavik. Mainly for the whale watching but it sounds like you'd recommend it in general? What else is good to do there? When did you go Mandolin and for how long?

The boy has Facebook so I'll get him on Aurora watch!

Also intrigued by skyr - not a big fan of yoghurt to be honest but I'll give it a try

Really appreciating the tips!

[TheNewUnion]

I got a lot out of this blog

http://unlockingkiki.com

http://unlockingkiki.com/category/iceland-must-see-places/

Written by an American girl who moved to Iceland. Lots of interesting stuff in there.

Edited August 16, 2015 by TheNewUnion

[mandolin]

Husavik itself is just a small (though exceptionally pretty) little town with a couple of nice bars/restaurants. It's more the scenery etc around it that makes it special. We really liked Godafoss waterfall (not as big as the one near Geysir) but really beautiful, Dimmuborgir lava formation, Grjotafja rift, Hverir mud pools (very smelly but fascinating to watch the blue/yellow mud bubble) Tjornes peninsula and Asbyrgis. Did all that all in a relatively easy day trip (we hired a car) and then back to Husavik to try out the beers from a few local microbreweries - one (possibly called Troll) was great but at 13% made the legs a bit wobbly! Just as well we weren't having to drive anywhere that night

Not sure about whale watching there in November - there wasn't any when we were there in February but Gentle Giants (who we used when we went back in July - yes we liked the place that much!) were fantastic and will give you all the help/advice you need. I think you might be able to do whale watching from Reykjavik though. Mainly orca to be seen in the winter months I seem to remember but sailings might be cancelled due to bad weather - they give you a full refund if that is the case.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Thanks both for all the great info. I'm working my way through a Lonely Planet at the mo and will give that blog a go.

I heard about the whale watching from Reykjavik and that seems to be year round. More research to be done!

[Bort]

So how was it?

I'm going this year because Lush, Warpaint, Jennylee, PJ Harvey, Julia Holter is too good to resist.

[Zoo Music Girl]

10 hours ago, Bort said:

So how was it?

I'm going this year because Lush, Warpaint, Jennylee, PJ Harvey, Julia Holter is too good to resist.

Great line-up! I didn't actually end up going in the end My boyfriend got a new job around the time we were planning to go, so it ended up being cancelled. Am already thinking about reviving the Iceland trip plan for autumn, though, so I might look into this...