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Hi,
I don’t know of anyone who will rent a hiking carrier. I am hoping one of the camping gear rental companies will start carrying them; you could perhaps reach out to them and see if they are willing to start renting them:
https://www.iceland-camping-equipment.com/
http://outfitters.is/en/As for strollers, there are several options for renting (or buying!), but none of them are super easy. If you can bring one, that’s your best bet; some airlines do allow you to gate check a baby item for free.
Otherwise, here are a few ways to rent a stroller:
The store Olavia and Oliver is an upscale children’s store that may rent strollers. But this is a store where parents in Reykjavik would shop for expensive children’s gear, and there may be a waiting list to rent strollers. They don’t show strollers right now on their rental page.
Here is a place that appears to rent strollers, and will bring them to your hotel. But I’ve never heard of them, and it looks like the web site was just created a few weeks ago. They might be great, but I just don’t know.
Since we were in Iceland a long time, we actually ended up buying an umbrella stroller from a store called Rúmfatalagerinn. Here’s a link to the stroller.
So it’s about $50; if you add more items to your purchase (on the same receipt) to get to $60 (6,000 krona) you should be able to get a tax refund in the airport. Just make sure they are items you will take home with you, and save your receipt!
Hi! I’m wondering if a “proper” trip to Iceland goes all around Ring Road? I think a lot of people assume they haven’t truly visited Iceland unless they circle the whole country. If that’s true, then I think you also haven’t truly visited Iceland even if you do all of Ring Road! (See a little more of my ramblings about this here: Reykjavik or Ring Road.
I say skip Ring Road. You can definitely enjoy Iceland and see plenty of the country with a toddler and in a few days. Maybe start by looking at my post about a week-long trip to Iceland with kids. Skip the Westman Islands in October, but see if the rest sounds good.
You could make Vik the furthest point you get to to make sure you didn’t spend more than 2 hours in the car each day. You could still see Reykjavik, the South Coast, the Golden Circle, and the Reykjanes Peninsula. Skip the Blue Lagoon and check out a thermal pool in Reykjavik. You’ll see a ton and have a great time!
Hi! If you’re in Hvolsvöllur, you definitely need to see the Lava Centre Museum– it should only be a couple minutes from where you’re staying!
I think you’re good for the South Coast then. I would probably use Hvolsvöllur as a base to see some of the south coast– it’s an hour or less to get to Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss, Reynisfjara and Dyrhólaey. Then you scoot over east to see the rest, and stay in Hnappavellir. You’d backtrack a little from Dyrhólaey back to Hvolsvöllur; you could also try to squeeze those in as you drove east to Hnappavellir.
You could decide to spend a night after that on the Westman Islands? Or see it as a day trip from Hvolsvöllur. But it might be a nice stopping point driving back from Hnappavellir; it would be about 3 hours to the ferry port from Hnappavellir. Then you could head up to the Golden Circle from the Westman Islands, then to Reykjavik, and then to the Blue Lagoon / Reykjanes at the end. That way you’re more or less heading west to east on your way back from the south coast.
Good luck and have fun!
Hi! Thanks for reading. I think you’re in the perfect situation to take our 1 week itinerary and include every option. Something like this:
Day 1: Reykjanes Geopark. This will get you to some amazing sites on your first day, but also keep you close to the airport. You could consider the Blue Lagoon if you thought you’d be up for it after the flight. Make sure you book tickets for the Blue Lagoon once you know when you are going!
Day 2:
Reykjavik. Relax, walk around if you’re not exhausted from the flight. Take a nap early if needed, or try to stay up until 6 PM and then crash. Consider the Laugardalur area: Reykjavik Family Park and Zoo, Ásmundur Sveinsson Sculpture Museum, Laugardalslaug thermal pool. Those are all just a couple minutes drive from each other, but it’s about 10 minutes away from the main downtown harbor area.Stay in Reykjavik.
Days 3 and 4: 2 days in the Golden Circle. See what sounds good from our Golden Circle with kids post
If you took 2 days here, you could spend 1 day exploring everything that isn’t the big 3 attractions: Raufarholshellir lava cave (make sure the kids are careful walking on the rocks!), Ljósafoss Power Station Visitor’s Center, Kerið Crater, Slakki (great for kids the ages yours are), Faxi waterfall. You could stay in or near Flúðir.
Days 5: Westman Islands. This is an unusual recommendation, but I loved the Westman Islands. I think the 35 minute ferry ride is a great adventure for kids. Stay overnight and explore. Take the bus tour from Eyja tours and explore the Volcano Museum.
Maybe plan to take the ferry one morning and then return the following morning. This leaves a lot of time on the island, so take some time to relax too!
See my Westman Islands with kids guest post.
Day 6: Head east toward Vik. Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Skogafoss waterfall (both right off of Ring Road), Reynisfjara and Dyrhólaey. Stay in or around Vik.
Read up on the “sneaker waves” at Reynisfjara!
Days 7-8:Hit the rest of the South coast past Vik. See our post here about the south coast of Iceland. Spend one night far East, and then the second night back near Vik again? Book lodging down here super early!
Day 9: Travel day to head back. If you ended up staying near Vik, you’re you’re about 2 1/2 hours away from Reykjavik. If your kids liked the Volcano Museum on the Westman Islands, consider the Lava Centre mentioned in the South Coast post. Also consider a visit to the Icelandic Horse Center.
Day 10: Reykjavik harbor area. Do a Whale Watching trip. (See our tips for whale watching in Iceland.) Visit the Whales of Iceland museum beforehand. (Be sure to consider the family ticket!) Icelandic Fish and Chips for dinner; explore the little Volcano House attached to it. Maybe a hot dog at the hot dog stand.
Day 11: Visit the Blue Lagoon in Grindavik if you didn’t on the first day.
If you have time, see Keflavik (the town near the airport). Visit the Viking Museum, and the settlement zoo next door.
And check out the Keflavik harbor area, including the Gaintess in the mountain and the sculpture by the water.Then back to the airport- it’s only about 10 minutes away from these parts of Keflavik. This is assuming you have some time on your travel day home.
Whew. Hope that all makes sense. Let me know what you think!
Hi! Sorry for the late response– your messages got caught in our spam filter.
So the northern lights will be tough in April. Not impossible, but very difficult. Take a look at the twilight data here:
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/iceland/reykjavik?month=4&year=2018
Note there are three different kinds of twilight: Civil, Nautical, and Astronomical. These are just different levels of dark. Something like:
Civil: Dark. Outside of civil twilight, people can’t really see outside anymore to do stuff without a flashlight.
Nautical: Very dark. Outside of nautical twilight, you can see some of the brightest stars
Astronomical: Super dark. Outside of astronomical twilight, you can see lots of stars
(The data is a little confusing, since this shows hours of daylight; you need to consider the times outside of the ranges given, since you want darkness.) So by mid-April, it never gets “super dark.” It’s only “very dark” from maybe 11 PM – 3 AM. And it’s only even “dark” from 10 PM to 5 AM.
You can see the northern lights during civil twilight, though it might be less impressive. But you’ll be up very late or very early. In my opinion, I wouldn’t choose to go in April just to try to see the northern lights, especially with a 6 year old.
There will be fewer tourists in April, though!
I updated the Day 5 link to Fakasel, the Icelandic Horse Park. Fakasel appears to be out of business. See our new post about Icelandic horses.
Hi! I think you will be able to find some good active activities along the way. With one exception, I don’t think you should consider ice caves in September. It’s too warm, and if the caves even exist they would be unsafe.
Here are a few ideas off the top of my head:
– Lots of the south coast won’t be a problem. Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Skogafoss waterfall (both right off of Ring Road), Reynisfjara and Dyrhólaey. In our brief daily update about Dyrhólaey, you can see my wife wearing a baby carrier in one of the pictures.
(Read up on the “sneaker waves” at Reynisfjara!)
– You couldn’t do an organized glacier walk with a child in a carrier, but you could walk up to the base of Sólheimajökull Glacier. Here’s what I wrote toward the end of that post:
“If you have kids under 10, or the glacier walk just isn’t right for you, you can also park out here and walk by yourself to the glacier’s edge. You should NOT walk on the ice without a guide, but you can hike to see it, and then buy some hot chocolate when you return.”
– Into the Glacier is the only tour I know of where you can take kids of any age. It’s out of the way and expensive, though you may enjoy it!
– You can take kids on many whale watching trips. We like and recommend North Sailing in Húsavík, though Húsavík is about half an our off of Ring Road. On their web site, North says: “Children of all ages are welcome and it’s also fine to take strollers with you on board. We recommend to dress the children warmly and ask about weather and sea conditions before you decide to go.”
– Most hikes should be fine with a child in a carrier. There are dozens of options, and you can stop anywhere that looks interesting. For some reason, I am thinking of the hike up Hengifoss in East Iceland as one that was challenging but rewarding. My 7-year-old handled it with me, though he was tired by the end!
Hope that gives you some ideas.
It looks like this is the itinerary for a trip from Iceland Travel. So my first thought is that you will probably save some money if you do it yourself vs. paying for the tour! (I’m not sure if you plan to just follow their itinerary or actually go on a tour with them.)
Several of the days look ambitious to me with a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old. For example, on the first day you are supposed to arrive at the airport, explore the Reykjanes Peninsula, maybe visit the Blue Lagoon, drive to Reykjavik, explore Reykjavik, and then drive to Hveragerdi. That’s a lot on a few hours of sleep if you took an overnght flight.
And Day 4 has you going from South Iceland to Egilsstaðir out in East Iceland. Assuming they stay close to Vik in South Iceland, that’s almost 6 hours of driving that day. And they plan to do some stops along the way. I think my kids would be miserable after a day like that, but maybe yours would be better!
Since you’re not set on doing the entire ring road, maybe take a look at my sample 1 week Iceland itinerary with kids? You could continue heading east to Jökulsárlón after day 4 if you had more time.
Let me know what you think. Thanks!
You are welcome! I just updated the link- it looks like the first 2 stops were out of order. It should be fixed now.
Hi! I made you a quick Google Map with an order that should minimize drive time:
https://goo.gl/maps/u5AEWXQgFoB2
I didn’t enter the exact parking lot locations, but this should get you close. You could also reverse the order– whichever will get you to Friðheimar when they are open (12-4 PM).
Hope that helps!
Hi Ford,
Sounds like a good problem to have! 🙂 And I’m glad you have found tentative housing on the South Coast– are there really still places available for 4 people on the south coast for 220 Eur a night?
Is your concern that 13 days will be too much for the kids, and that they will be bored? As long as the kids are up for exploring (like my 7-year-old is) I think they will have a good time. But my kids are happy to take an hour to explore a black sand beach, or a cave, or whatever we happened upon.
You may also be asking if it’s worth the extra time and expense to do the whole ring road? That’s a tough call. We did enjoy staying in a new to explore town every couple of nights, and there will be fewer tourists as you get past the south coast. You also will save on having to backtrack to your apartment in Reykjavik most nights.
But 8 days to explore will still be great. You can take a (long) day trip up to Snæfellsnes if you wanted. Perhaps you could spend a couple of days on the south coast and a night up in Snæfellsnes? That gives you the opportunity to explore new places without committing to the longer trip.
If you do the longer trip, make sure you understand the conditions getting to Askja. I think there are some river crossings.
I’m not sure if I helped at all. Let me know what you decide!
A quick update: Costco is now open.
Here’s a great blog post from someone who has visited the Reykjavik Costco.
A couple of notes:
– Several sites have confirmed that your Costco membership will work worldwide.
– Apparently, the Iceland Costco also sells gasoline, and it’s the cheapest in the country.
Hi- thanks for reading! I do think that Vik is a good home base for the south coast. It’s very close to Reynisfjara and Dyrhólaey. I would stay for 2 nights? But mostly I like having a night where the whole family didn’t have to unpack ad repack!
You could also stay further east if you wanted to, closer to Kirkjubæjarklaustur. That may make more sense if you wanted to head out to Fjallsárlón and Jökulsárlón glacier lagoons.
Unfortunately, sometimes the answer for where to stay on the south coast is “wherever you can find a place.” September should be better than the summer, but your south coast house should be one of the first things you book.
Good luck, and have fun!
