Pre-booking tours in Iceland

[SarasMommy]

DH and I are travelling to Iceland in May on a land-based tour, not a cruise, but I figured my Cruise Critic friends might still be able to answer my question. Is it worthwhile to book tours in advance, or should we wait until we get there to see what is offered? Would it be cheaper to book in advance? We are in Reykjavik for 4 full days & 5 nights, so we should have plenty of time. I figured that since it is near the beginning of their tourist season that tours shouldn't be sold out yet. We would like to visit the Blue Lagoon, Thingvellir, Gulfoss, Geysir, and possibly take a horseback ride on Icelandic horses. Any advice would be appreciated. :)

[Jane110]

Does your tour not include a one day basic tour? If it doesn't, I'm surprised. The basic tour will cover Thingvellir and Gullfoss, Geysirs and other things.

 

I never went to Iceland on a formal tour, but rather book it with an air/hotel/airport transfer deal and even that includes the one day tour then we do the rest on our own.

 

But if your tour doesn't, I don't think you need to worry about pre-booking. Your hotel can help you, and there are plenty of brochures.

 

For one of our days we hired a private jeep tour with Mountain Taxi company and it was fantastic. Took us to glaciers, and an incredible underground cave, as well as other spots.

 

You can easily arrange for horseback riding, as well as a trip to the Blue Lagoon as separate excursions.

 

I wouldn't worry about pre-booking before you get there.

 

Rekjavik is fantastic, and if your hotel is not right downtown, then there are plenty of taxi's to take you there. The nightlife is alot of and the bars are open all night.

 

Make sure you visit Perlan, and I suggest having dinner there one night. Spend one day walking around the downtown area and do go and see the church. If you're into fashion, there are some hip trendy Icelandic designers and some nice shops on Laugervaugan Street. (i'm sure I've messed up that spelling! but it's the main shopping st. in downtown Rek)

And if you like Icelandic music (i'm a big fan), you can get CD's there that aren't available here in the US. Iceland has more music per capita than any other country, and there are tons of music stores.

 

Have a great time!