What makes a destination family-friendly? And what makes a destination easy for first-time international travelers? A short list of factors we think are important shows Iceland as a clear winner. Our ideal starter destination would be: safe, easy to get to, English-speaking, and easy to navigate. It would also have a kid-friendly culture and lots of cool stuff to see (and, more importantly, do). How does Iceland stack up in those categories? We will mostly compare to travelling to the UK, as that is another frequently suggested starter trip. [Read more…] about Why Iceland is the Best Starter Destination for Families
whyiceland
Why visit Iceland?
It’s a big world, and your vacation days are limited. Why spend some of them in Iceland? Because it’s pretty close, it’s pretty small, and it’s pretty amazing. (Iceland Tourism People, feel free to steal that as your new slogan.)
It’s pretty close
How close is it? Well, from the east cost of the United States, the flight is shorter than flying to California. Take a look at the graph below. It shows how many hours it takes to fly from New York to various destinations. (Actually, this is the average of the shortest scheduled flight times in both directions. Without doing that, we are cheating: In the United states, flights from west to east are generally shorter than from east to west, because of the earth’s jetstream.) [Read more…] about Why visit Iceland?
Tourism in Iceland
Tourism in Iceland is a booming industry. Take a look. The chart below shows the number of foreign visitors who flew into Keflavik airport in June of each year. I chose June because it allowed me to include 2015 in the data; note that July and August are actually even busier than June. As you look at the numbers on the chart, remember that the total population of Iceland is about 323,000. [Read more…] about Tourism in Iceland