Hi everyone! Spring is getting here slowly, but you wouldn’t know it from the recent weather! Let’s dive in to what’s new in Iceland.

NOTE as of April 2021: This is a post from March of 2020, the very beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Look how quaint the map is, with 88 total Covid cases in the United States and 3 total in Iceland! Feel free to read to get a historical overview as of this point in time. Or, check out our more recent coverage of rules for visiting Iceland in 2021, and even Iceland’s newest volcano! Also a quick plug: We’ll help you plan your vacation to Iceland! Back to our March 2020 article. Enjoy!

Coronavirus in Iceland

Coronavirus has been found in 67 different countries as of March 1, and that number is sure to go up. Iceland joined that list on February 28, 2020 with its first case of coronavirus, and then case number 2 came the next day, on March 1. And apparently a third case on March 2, according to this map from the New York Times?

(Edit: Here’s the latest information from March 3rd: 9 cases in Iceland now. Er, make that 11. Now 16. 34) So what does that mean? Well, I have no idea. On the one hand, Iceland is a small country, and as an island they can easily control people coming in and out. This time of year I think the only ways in and out of the country are the big international airport, and a weekly ferry from the Faroe Islands. (Late spring brings flights from Greenland into the Reykjavik City airport, and lots of cruise ships docking at Akureyri, Seyðisfjörður and other ports.) And Iceland is pretty good at tracking where people are. (Did you know that Iceland has a new location-based text messaging system in place for emergency situations?)

On the other hand, this may be a virus that we can’t really stop without extreme measures. We take it as a given that we can’t prevent the flu every season– we can only slow it down or make the symptoms less severe.

Here’s a scary Iceland headline: “Closing the Country Still and Option.” But that’s from a study group, not the Icelandic government. It’s possible Iceland will limit visitors from countries with high levels of coronavirus, as the United States and other countries have done. If that happens, I imagine it will happen in the next few weeks. I don’t think your summer 2020 trip is at risk (and might be less expensive!), but I don’t know much more than you do!

Keep an eye on Icelandic news sites like Iceland Monitor for the latest information.

A winter of many storms

Coronavirus has taken over the headlines in Iceland, but for months it was nothing but winter weather. A series of severe winter storms pounded Iceland, creating many stuck travelers and many cancelled flights. Here’s my non-comprehensive summary, starting from late December. Nearly all of the articles cited below are from the Reykjavik Grapevine newspaper.

• • December 10, 2019: Severe Storm Landing In Iceland Today: No One’s Traveling Anywhere. This was the first time Iceland’s weather service had issued a red alert warning, though the system has only been in place for a few years. (See the map of this warning to the right.) Sadly, this storm ended up killing over 100 horses.
    
  • January 3, 2020:  Yellow and Orange Warnings for the Weekend. Even a yellow warning should be enough for you to change your plans!
  • January 6, 2020: Storm Weather Will Remain Until Wednesday. This storm canceled flights and buses.
  • January 8, 2020: I can’t even tell what happened here. I think the same storm headed north (and got worse), but then there was a new warning for a new storm the next day, on January 9th? Here’s the story from the 9th: More stormy weather on the horizon.

• January 13, 2020: Maybe the worst storm of the season. Gale Force Storm Across Most Of Iceland Today: Travel Dangerous & Highly Inadvisable. This storm caused cars to freeze to the road in South Iceland!

January 20, 2020: The mood of the season is perhaps best captured by this Grapevine headline: Great, Another Stinkin’ Yellow Warning

• January 22, 2020: The fun headlines keep coming: Wednesday Evening Through Thursday: Hope You Like Wind And Snow
• January 24, 2020: One more fun headline: Enjoy Today’s Calm Weather? Too Bad, Another Storm Is Coming
• February 5, 2020: Looks like there were 10 days or so of good, or at least better weather! Until: Yellow Warning due to Flooding and Winds
• February 10, 2020: This one was just up north, and many winter travelers to Iceland don’t head north. Northern Storms: Yellow Alert Through Tuesday Morning
• February 14, 2020: Another massive storm with red alerts (for Valentine’s Day?): Red Weather Alert in Large Part of Iceland. This storm brought hurricane-force winds to the South Coast, and closed the airport. And Iceland’s Emergency Response Teams responded to more than 800 calls that day!
• February 18, 2020: Yet another storm rolling in later today. Orange in Southeast Iceland, yellow everywhere else. This storm caused hundreds of travelers to be stranded in Vik in South Iceland. The picture to the right is a closed road in South Iceland.

  

• February 25, 2020: Yellow Alert For North Iceland Through Tomorrow Morning This is again only in the north; the rest of Iceland did not have a weather warning.
• February 28, 2020: Yellow Alert For North Iceland Through Tomorrow Morning This storm (just a few days ago!) caused almost 150 people to get snowed in on Ring Road overnight:

The trouble started around 5pm on Thursday, when police in South Iceland were notified that a car had gotten stuck in the snow on the bridge over Jökulsá á Sólheimasandi glacial river, blocking all other traffic. By the time police arrived, many other vehicles had queued on either side of the bridge while heavy snow continued to fall. In the end, ICE-SAR had to transport passengers from 45 vehicles to temporary overnight accommodations, either at a hotel in Skógar or a shelter that the Red Cross opened in Heimaland.

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That’s a lot of storms! Does that mean you should never plan a winter trip to Iceland? Not at all. While that is a long list of storms, 14 storms in 70 days still leaves a large number of days where you can travel just fine. (Still always make sure to check road.is, safetravel.is, and en.vedur.is every day!)

My biggest takeaway is this:

When in Iceland, you have to be willing to change your plans!

You probably have lodging booked, and you may have a tour booked as well. If there’s a yellow alert in the area where you plan to be, I would cancel. Even if it means losing some money. (Hopefully the company would be willing to work with you.)

There’s currently a debate in Iceland about whether companies should cancel tours when a yellow alert is issued. “A yellow weather alert does not automatically mean that organized trips in Iceland must be canceled, according to Jóhannes Þór Skúlason, CEO of SAF, the Icelandic Travel Industry Association.”

That’s fine … but I’m not showing up!

If you’re in Iceland during the winter, be careful, go slow, and be ready to change your plans.

New (but very old) caves to explore

It isn’t all coronavirus and winter storms in Iceland. You can now take a guided tour of some ancient, man-made caves. Complete with wall carvings and carved seats! And it looks amazing:

These caves could have been constructed 1,000 years ago … or even longer ago! The Grapevine says: “The caves feature drawings and carvings on the walls as well as carved seats. Many have wondered if they are the handiwork of the Celts, or whether the caves were a place of worship. Currently a restoration project is underway, supervised by the Cultural Heritage Agency of Iceland. The goal of the restoration is to eventually open more of the caves to the public, and all income generated from those that are currently open will go to this end.”

See more information or book a tour at CavesOfHella.is

A new restaurant in Reykjavik and a reclaimed Michelin Star

There are two new restaurants in Reykjavik. First is Flame, which opened at the very end of January. It looks like an upscale Japanese steakhouse, with chefs cooking on expansive grills right in front of you:

It’s a pricey place, but there’s is at least a nice kid’s menu that could help to lower the cost a bit.

For exactly a year, Iceland had no restaurant with a Michelin star. Dill Restaurant earned a star in 2017, and then lost it in 2019. Now in 2020, Dill reclaimed that star! It’s fun for me to follow the gain and loss of a star, but for the chef involved there’s a whole lot of fretting and stress:

When Dill lost its Michelin star last year, Gunnar Karl was living in New York. He decided to return home to Iceland and work to regain the star, whatever the cost.

Congratulations to Gunnar Karl and his team! Here’s a review of the restaurant from just before it reclaimed that star.

New snakes at the Reykjavik Zoo

The Reykjavik Zoo plans to acquire up to 5 new python snakes. Well, at least they now have the authorization to go buy some snakes. This news led to the best Icelandic new headline in recent months, courtesy of the Grapevine: Proposed Permanent Python Perturbs Politician.

Both of the above articles have stock photos of snakes, just in case you’re not a big fan of snakes. With or without snakes, we like the Reykjavik Zoo and Family Park. It’s not very expensive, and there are lots of other things to see nearby (if you can get out to this part of town.)

We published a new edition of Iceland With Kids!

One last piece of “news”: We published the second edition of our travel guide book in February. You can buy the book on Amazon. Or follow us on Facebook or Instagram to see some of the new places we cover in the new edition!

Looking for more help with your trip? Itinerary planning, or maybe even a personal tour guide? We’re considering offering new services for Iceland travelers. E-mail us if you’re interested; since we’re just getting started, it will be cheaper than you think!