Best holiday of my life!
Iceland
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Jun 25 - Jul 6, 2023
This was the best holiday we have ever been on. We'd like to thank Emanuela and the team that worked with her to arrange this. Before the trip the service and responsiveness from Emanuela was excellent - she was quick to clarify options and to come up with suggestions and ideas based on our queries.
The itinerary was excellent and allowed us to see so much of this beautiful country. The accommodation was also top class - we loved virtually all of the places we stayed in. I have provided more detailed reviews below of the individual places where we stayed.
The car was perfect and WiFi device provided with the car was just superb. We were amazed by the Internet coverage even in remote areas of Iceland!
The activities proposed by Emanuela were also excellent and loved every one of them. Here are some details about our accommodation and experiences:
1. Foss Hotel Baron was excellent - our suite was large and comfortable and had a great view facing the sea. The bathroom was great, breakfast was good and the view facing the sea was also excellent. Location was not perfect as it was away from the centre of town… but that was OK and did not affect us much.
2. We enjoyed the amazing Sky Lagoon in Reykjavik - did not want to come out and spent several blissful hours there.... very unique experience! All our friends have seen the amazing pics on Facebook and now want to do the same!
We also did the Fly Over Iceland in Reykjavik - what an amazing experience! It was exciting and we really felt we were flying over Iceland... We all loved it - very well done and memorable. We visited the Whales of Iceland museum and again really enjoyed it with my 17-year old very interested in the guided tour where we learned so much. The huge life sized models of the whales were amazing and we spent a lovely couple of hours here. We also went to Perlan and again thought it was excellent.
3. We had two very enjoyable meals at Hlemmur Matholl. Very cool place that was walking distance from our hotel... and we also could not believe it was just a bus station in the past! The meal from Krost was excellent with some good wine and beer as well. Thanks for suggesting this!
4. Snorkeling in Silfra was the most unique experience of all. Very enjoyable and exciting. Our guide - Gabriel was our guide - he was top class and really made us feel comfortable. Some feedback for your information: The dive.is team at Silfra was very busy ... probably too busy - if you ask me they have too many people and our 11am dive eventually happened at 1pm - they were quite backlogged and I feel that they need to cut down on the number of people. But we were in no hurry and really enjoyed the unique experience. I will be writing to dive.is with some detailed feedback as I feel they are not equipped to handle the large volume of people that are being booked in summer.
5. The Kerid crater and the walk around it was wonderful and also a new experience for us to walk around a dormant volcano. It was beautiful and we got some beautiful pictures.
We missed out on Geysir and Gulfoss waterfall as the road was closed... and we did not have enough time to go around the other way.
6. Hotel Arnarstapi was a very special experience. We really liked the stand alone 2-bedroom suite - it was well designed and very comfortable for the three of us. The location was just spectacular as it was not far from the cliff walk. We did long walks along the cliffs and enjoying the sights of all the sea-birds roosting on the cliffs. The place had a wild beauty that we fell in love with... could not stop snapping pics!
The Snjofell restaurant on site was top class - a beautiful setting with excellent food and service. We had a memorable dinner there.
7. The VATNSHELLIR lava cave was also an interesting experience and our guide Irina was wonderful.
8. We were a little apprehensive about the Acco Apartment when we were standing outside in the street. But once we went in we were super happy with the beautiful and spacious apartment. It is beautifully located and has amazing views. It is comfortable with all of the amenities and really enjoyed the evening there. In fact my wife wanted to stay another night in the apartment - she liked it so much.
The breakfast in the Cafe Berlin was excellent - the best breakfast on the trip. The staff were super nice and very competent and professional. We'll be giving Cafe Berlin 5 stars on tripadvisor.
9. The Whale and Puffin tour was amazing - we ended up seeing 3 different humpback whales and all three of us were thrilled. We also saw dolphins and of course the puffins were wonderful. The guide - Victoria was wonderful and funny and did a great job. A very memorable experience and a first for us as we had not seen Whales before!
We had lunch in Húsavík at the Salka Restaurant - again an excellent meal that we all thoroughly enjoyed.
Later the Godafoss waterfall was lovely and we enjoyed the walk to and from it.
10. The Sel Hotel at Myvatn was just wonderful. I think it was my wife's favorite place. The rooms had beautiful views and we loved the surrounding area. The staff were very helpful and we enjoyed a good meal at the restuarant of the hotel. The Pseudocraters of Skutustadir were wonderful and we enjoyed walking among them and the lake area. In the evening we went to the Myvatn Nature Baths and very much enjoyed the experience and the views. We explored e DimmuBorgir rock formations and the Grjotagja cave with the hot water inside.
We had lunch at Vogafjos farm - another superb sugestion - the food was excellent and we enjoyed it very much.
11. The horseriding at Safarihestar, Safari Horse rental was a major highlight for me. They were truly wonderful and patient as my wife was very nervous and they handled her perfectly. The horses were beautifully trained and very obedient. I loved the landscape and the setting and took so many photos from horseback. Thanks for suggesting this wonderful experience.
We very much enjoyed the Hverir Bubbling Mud Pots... a truly unique experience that none of us had had before.
Móðir Jörð restaurant with its wonderful vegetarian food was probably our favourite restaurant in Iceland! We loved the food and setting and had our coffee in the greenhouse and loved wandering around the lovely area.
12. Hotel Egilsstadir was lovely as well. We loved the setting and the warm bar area was so nice - my wife and I stayed up until late having a couple of drinks. The staff were superb and very helpful and friendly.
We later visited Seydisfjordur - the drive to that village was beautiful and very memorable.
13. Hofn Inn guesthouse: The accommodation was spacious and it was clean and functional. It was comfortable for the few hours we spent there - but it was not our favorite. They had an unusual rubber floor instead of carpet which felt odd. But everything was comfortable and we are just being a bit picky as all the other accommodation was superb.
The amphibian boat tour was excellent and quite a unique experience. We saw some seals in the lagoon which was wonderful.
14. The snowmobile tour on Vatnajokull glacier was just out of this world. Sven our guide made it very enjoyable and put my wife at ease as she was quite nervous. Very special experience that we will not forget.
14. The Kria hotel in Vik was just superb. We loved our corner room - 101 - and the views of the mountain opposite. What a special location! We had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was excellent and the next day had lunch in Restaurant Suður-Vík - I had the best softest lamb dish here.
15. Finally the Ice Cave tour with our guide Maria was amazing - my wife bonded with her as she really lokked after my wife and held her hand through some areas where my wife was a bit apprehensive.
16. The last night at the Hotel Keflavik was also very nice. We expected a functional airport type hotel - but were very pleased with the quality of the hotel and the view toward the sea.
If we could give 6 or 7 stars to Emanuela we would! Thanks for a memorable experience which we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Activity Reviews
Nothing short of top class. The Sky Lagoon is magical and an amazing experience. The design of the lagoon is beautiful and the water temperature is wonderful. There is a beautiful pool bar and the changing facilities are first class. The seven step experience is amazing and must be done. The view from the dry Sauna is outstanding.
The experience of going into the lava cave and learning all about it from our guide Irina was excellent. My 17-year old daughter was very interested in the details and kept talking about it afterwards. We really enjoyed the experience and found Irina to be excellent - she had great knowledge, was uncompromising about safety - but had a good sense of humor and made it fun.
The most unique experience - very special to be snorkeling between two tectonic plates! Our guide Gabriel was excellent, caring, funny and very friendly. He did a great job and gave us an experience that we will never forget. When you are in the water and snorkeling between the tectonic plates, it feels very special and you feel like pinching yourself! I have not given 5 stars for this activity because I found that dive.is has taken on too many people and is not able to process this volume of tourists effectively. The expected 30-minute prep took 2 hours. Our 11am snorkel in fact started at 1pm. Our group of 6 people also had two issues with the equipment/dry-suits as two of them were leaking. There seems to be too much pressure on the guides to keep things moving and weight of numbers of tourists is too high. My strong recommendation is that dive.is review what is a realistic number of tourists and cut down a little bit. They should charge higher prices if need be but it is important to reduce the volume of people to keep it fun and enjoyable and safe.
Is it possible to give an experience 6 or 7 stars? We just loved the horse riding in the unspeakably beautiful environs of Lake Myvatn - a big thank-you to Emanuela for recommending this! The people at Safarihestar, Safari Horse rental - were just awesome. My wife was very nervous and they handled her perfectly calmed her down and handled everything very professionally. The horses were superbly trained and just followed the lead horse. Although none of us were very experienced horse riders, we were comfortable all the time. We rode along the margin of the lake and then into the wild area. It was unspeakably beautiful and I could not stop taking photos whenever I had the opportunity. A superb experience - 7 stars - highly recommended!
It was a phenomenal experience. Our guide Victoria was excellent - funny and informative and also very non-nonsense when it comes to safety etc. We were given thick waterproof overall to wear on top of our clothes - which was excellent - as it was quite windy and cold - but the overalls kept us warm throughout. The boat was not large and was a speedboat which is essential to be able to maneuver and quickly get to where the whales are. They also had a good system of keeping in touch through the radio with other boats / spotters so that they know in real time where to go to see the Whales. Before we saw the whales we really enjoyed the puffins! They are beautiful birds and we learned a great deal about them.... we saw hundreds of them which was amazing. We saw 3 different humpback whales on our tour - with one of them getting very close to the boat - on one occasion - only about 15 or 20 feet away. We saw the whales come up on multiple occasions and then dive down. It was an almost spiritual experience for me to see these huge but gentle animals so close. The experience was awesome and I would not miss it for anything.
Hi Rahul,
I just want to personally thank you for your wonderful review, and the time you took to write all your happy feedbacks. This has truly made my day!
I am so happy to look at your pictures and see smiles and know that you had a wonderful time with your family.
It has been truly a pleasure to stay in touch with you for all this time. Thank you for your trust!
All the best to everyone and I hope to have you back here again, one day!
Emanuela