[sup?]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello Sup?,

Nice travelogue. Thank you.

After reading your travelogue, I immediately check flights from Frankfurt to Reykjavík for next Summer.

Can you provide some estimate of this round trip around Iceland?

You mentioned you chose Camping option at most places, did you carried your camping gear with you or managed to rent it locally?

We carried the tent and sleeping bags from Bangalore. I guess you can try renting it there but Iceland is insanely expensive for almost everything and I think it might be better to go through the inconvenience of carrying the gear than renting it out there.

Here is a breakdown of our costs for the trip:
Flights: 96k INR for two of us together (It will be a lot cheaper for you since you are already in Europe)

Car Rental(4x4): 55k INR (You don't need a 4x4 if you don't want to venture into the highlands. We booked a 4x4 but the F roads hadn't opened for us to go to the highlands)

Fuel: 40-45k INR (for about 4.5k kilometres)

Camping: 10-15k INR

Food: 15k (We took a lot of long lasting Indian food since we were vegetarians and choices are extremely limited in Iceland for Vegetarians. If you plan on eating there add 40k for the Food since its extremely expensive)

Total was around 2.3 lakhs INR for the whole trip which was quite cheap for how expensive the place is.

[sup?]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

Oh man...Iceland, you beauty!!! We had been there twice. Once in September and once during the Christmas break couple of years ago. The latter trip was to just catch a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis. What a sight it was. Totally worth camping in bitter cold.

Your pics make me want to visit that place once again. Its on another level seriously.

We also have 2 more trips left to Iceland. Once for the highlands with long treks through places like Thorsmork, Eastern Fjords, Vatnajokull glacier. Another for the Northern lights.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by sup?

Iceland is hands down the most beautiful country in the world.

Iceland basically has one main highway called the Ring Road. It does a circuit of the entire country. Its over 3000 kms long IIRC.

Lovely travelogue, couldn't agree with you more.

The ring road alone, if you don't take any diversions is 1332 Kms, if you take diversions, it adds up, we did a round trip and covered 3332 Kms with several detours.

Originally Posted by sup?

Total was around 2.3 lakhs INR for the whole trip which was quite cheap for how expensive the place is.

We did a 2 week round trip on a 4x4, stayed in hotels, camps, airbnb, it came for 2 adults almost the same 2.34L, we flew from Stuttgart, that alone saved us around 45K.

Originally Posted by sup?

We also have 2 more trips left to Iceland. Once for the highlands with long treks through places like Thorsmork, Eastern Fjords, Vatnajokull glacier. Another for the Northern lights.

Thorsmork and western Fjords are also my to do for our next trip, rented cars are forbidden to Thorsmork as there are water crossings. We went to Landmannalaugar and Vatnajokull this time, which was my best experience in Iceland.

Just like you, the only thing we were not equipped with, was a good camera. Here is one such ordinary pic from Landmannalaugar, shot with an iPhone6, which still looks extra-ordinary in Iceland's raw, natural beauty.



Spike

[sup?]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Lovely travelogue, couldn't agree with you more.

The ring road alone, if you don't take any diversions is 1332 Kms, if you take diversions, it adds up, we did a round trip and covered 3332 Kms with several detours.



We did a 2 week round trip on a 4x4, stayed in hotels, camps, airbnb, it came for 2 adults almost the same 2.34L, we flew from Stuttgart, that alone saved us around 45K.



Thorsmork and western Fjords are also my to do for our next trip, rented cars are forbidden to Thorsmork as there are water crossings. We went to Landmannalaugar and Vatnajokull this time, which was my best experience in Iceland.

Just like you, the only thing we were not equipped with, was a good camera. Here is one such ordinary pic from Landmannalaugar, shot with an iPhone6, which still looks extra-ordinary in Iceland's raw, natural beauty.

Attachment 1923012

Spike

Great pic of Landmannalaugar. A trek through Landmannalaugar is on my wishlist for my next trip to Iceland. We did only a week and it is such a short time for Iceland. We squeezed out everything we could on our trip and the weather was great every day of our trip. Next time, we are going to allocate 10 days at the very least with 2-3 multi day treks planned.

[sup?]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Just like you, the only thing we were not equipped with, was a good camera. Here is one such ordinary pic from Landmannalaugar, shot with an iPhone6, which still looks extra-ordinary in Iceland's raw, natural beauty.

Attachment 1923012

Spike

Do you have a travelogue of your trip? Or if you could post some pics here, that would also be nice. I feel like no pictures can do justice to the scenery in Iceland, but we can all try!

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by sup?

We did only a week and it is such a short time for Iceland. We squeezed out everything we could on our trip and the weather was great every day of our trip.

I can understand that you covered places in 1 week, that we covered in 2 weeks, so that's a lot.

Originally Posted by sup?

Do you have a travelogue of your trip? Or if you could post some pics here, that would also be nice. I feel like no pictures can do justice to the scenery in Iceland, but we can all try!

Sure, I will try.

This was our original plan, we didn't stick to it fully and took several detours.





One of my favorites, Skogafoss.




Another not so famous waterfall, which we happened to discover on one of our detours, while returning back to the base camp in Skaftafell.




Hrunilaugin



Reynisdrangar



Our Airbnb near Hvolsvöllur



Hike near Landmannalaugar



Fjaðrárgljúfur



The unmistakable Jökulsárlón



The mighty Vestrahorn Mountains



In the middle of nowhere



Again, in the middle of nowhere



Drive through East Iceland



Hike through Lava fields near Mývatn



A museum consisting of turfed houses



Beautiful rainbows



Some rainbows kept on chasing us



My idea of retirement looks like this



On to another Airbnb



Our trusty companion for 2 weeks, the Jeep Renegade.



That's all I have.

Spike

[sup?]

My idea of retirement looks like this

Retiring in Iceland is what I would ask for if a Genie came out of a lamp

[//M]

Wow such beautiful clicks from such a beautiful country. I won't battle an eyelid if I have a faint option of retiring in Iceland !

Here's a lovely airbnb near Kirkjubæjarklaustur where I stayed during my trip in 2016. I have been since then wanting to call it my post-retirement home. Trust me, I still can't get over the hangover !

[sup?]

Originally Posted by //M

Here's a lovely airbnb near Kirkjubæjarklaustur where I stayed during my trip in 2016. I have been since then wanting to call it my post-retirement home. Trust me, I still can't get over the hangover !

I remember this village. We stopped here on our way to the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon. There is a small waterfall called Systrafoss here. We also refilled our water bottles in a beautiful little stream here.

[Haroon]

Originally Posted by sup?

Iceland is hands down the most beautiful country in the world..........

Thanks for the wonderful pics and log. Brought back wonderful memories from our trip. I fully echo your feelings. Absolute raw beauty and almost everything else pales in comparison.

Myself and wife did a motorcycle trip in 2016 and it was one of the best adventure rides we did on our global ride series (and also the most scary!). Had to alter route plans due to a severe snow storm in the north of the country. At immigration when the lady asked the purpose and I said we are doing a solo motorcycle ride, she said you must be crazy!

Our Iceland ride video is on my website in my profile

[sup?]

Originally Posted by Haroon

Thanks for the wonderful pics and log. Brought back wonderful memories from our trip. I fully echo your feelings. Absolute raw beauty and almost everything else pales in comparison.

Myself and wife did a motorcycle trip in 2016 and it was one of the best adventure rides we did on our global ride series (and also the most scary!). Had to alter route plans due to a severe snow storm in the north of the country. At immigration when the lady asked the purpose and I said we are doing a solo motorcycle ride, she said you must be crazy!

Our Iceland ride video is on my website in my profile

That is an amazing video. I think your videos capture the beauty of the country much more than any pics can. I don't know how you managed to ride a bike in those winds. I remember watching a video where an entire car at standstill just swerved from one side of the road to the other because of the wind.

Also, the part where your wife explained how so many people have visited India resonates with me. We were in the Western Fjords at a waterfall called Dynjandi one evening and we had probably seen only 10 people all day. This middle aged German woman was also at the falls and we got talking and she asked where in India we were from. When I said Bangalore, she told me she owns an apartment in Whitefield which she uses when she visits India every year for a month to serve at one of the Ashrams close by. I was flabbergasted.

[Haroon]

Originally Posted by sup?

That is an amazing video. I think your videos capture the beauty of the country much more than any pics can. I don't know how you managed to ride a bike in those winds. I remember watching a video where an entire car at standstill just swerved from one side of the road to the other because of the wind.

Also, the part where your wife explained how so many people have visited India resonates with me.........

Thanks. Glad you liked the video. Yeah, lots of people with nice memories of their India visits.
The cross winds were crazy, we had 4-5 close calls including a sand storm that was thick black and frightening. I almost thought the ride was over. When we reached Hofn, I and wife were shaking & wondering if this was Adventure or pure Stupidity! And due to the snow storm beyond that place, we had to backtrack the next day thru the same horror route we did the previous day. Luckily our B&B owner's husband was working at the Hofn airport and he assured us the wind forecast for next day was much better with only a few bad stretches in between. Of course the vedur.is website was our constant companion! But yeah the Adventure was real and better than IMAX quality!

[dhanushmenon]

Wow man! I am spellbound! And extremely jealous too. You were spoilt for choices for waterfalls I should say.

Thoroughly enjoyed the snaps and your apt descriptions. After going through your photo journey, I can relate to what "Not Iceland beautiful" means. Thanks a lot for bringing this beautiful gem to our eyes.

Wishing you many more happy miles.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

---

Forgot to add one more interesting pic in my previous post. Have travelled quite a bit now in Europe, but haven't seen anything like this yet.

These traffic lights in Akureyri town will bring a smile on your face.



Spike

[sup?]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Forgot to add one more interesting pic in my previous post. Have travelled quite a bit now in Europe, but haven't seen anything like this yet.

These traffic lights in Akureyri town will bring a smile on your face.

Spike

I remember there were so many speed warning emoticons before you entered villages. If you were above the speed limit, it would be an angry emoticon, and as you reduced it to below the limit, it would turn into a smiley. Would bring a smile to my face every time I saw those lights and were actually effective in bringing down speeds.