Every week a reader gets a chance to put a travel question to the Been there community and travel experts. How does this work?

The dilemma:

My husband and I are going to Iceland for a week at the end of October to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We plan to hire a car and are looking for tips on places to visit, sights to see and places to stay for a short tour in the south or west of the country. I'd like to go riding on one day, and my husband would like to go ice climbing. We plan to start and end our holiday with a night in Reykjavik.
Emma Taylor


The expert reply:

This week's expert is Nicola Rickett, Iceland Product Manager for Discover the World, the UK’s leading tour operator to the destination

Firstly, congratulations! You’ve chosen one of the world’s most incredible islands to spend your anniversary.

You mention seeing Iceland’s south or west but you needn’t necessarily choose between the two - you could potentially explore both on a seven-night self-drive holiday such as our Icelandic Connoisseur itinerary. This includes a first night at the Northern Light Inn; overlooking the Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik and last night at Hotel Odinsve in Reykjavik’s city centre, together with some truly romantic accommodation options in the south and west regions. Hotel Budir on the westerly Snaefellsnes Peninsula is exquisitely furnished with a top gourmet restaurant and located next to a sweeping lava field, whereas Hotel Ranga, on the south coast, is a cosy ranch-style hotel perched on the banks of the East-Ranga salmon river; a beautiful rural setting under wide open skies - ideal in winter for northern lights sightings.

Driving in Iceland is a real pleasure, and this itinerary allows for eight days exploring independently and uncovering Iceland’s natural gems, which are often simply spotted from Road 1, which circles the island. The route along the south coast allows you to visit spectacular waterfalls such as Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss, glaciers, black sand beaches, lava fields and craters. Then heading northwest you will see acclaimed sights such as Gullfoss, Geysir and World Heritage site ‘Thingvellir’ where you can walk between the tears in the earth’s crust! Contrast this with the fjords and mountain landscapes of the west and the Snaefellsness Peninsula, with its dramatic coastline and the mystical Snaefellsjokull glacier. The beauty of having your own vehicle is that you can do as little or as much as you like whilst you’re there.

There are various options for horse riding in the south west area, from one hour to a full day; you could try a two to three hour ride in the saddle of a robust and purebred Icelandic horse, prices from £52. Your husband can try ice-climbing on the Solheimajokull Glacier near Skogar on the south coast – prices from £117 for 3-4 hours.

You can also, of course focus solely on the south coast on our week-long Essential Iceland or Southern Highlights self-drive itineraries - it just depends on how much you want to drive and how long you wish to spend in each location – the latter offering a shorter driving distance. The Southern Highlights itinerary offers you a splendid introduction to Iceland’s kaleidoscope of landscapes, and lets you explore the many natural wonders of the Vatnajokull area; Europe’s largest national park, as well as other highlights. Essential Iceland takes you further along the south coast towards Jokularslon, the iceberg lagoon, and gives you the chance to explore further afield on foot and gain a true sense of the real Iceland.


Reader advice:

Go to Akureyri, a lovely little town high on Iceland’s frigid shore, and take the road south, up one of nature’s great valleys. Several miles up that fertile valley, turn left onto a small farm road, and when you get to the end, ask the farmer if you can watch him milk his herd of dairy cows with his computerized setup. When you step out of the barn and gaze your eyes northward, you will see a distant island, Grimsey, stuck between the Denmark Strait and the Greenland Sea. If you look closely, and let your imagination roam a bit, you’ll see an icy thin line cutting across that barren piece of landscape. Some call it the Arctic Circle. Others, just an awestruck hallucination. Then, if you’re lucky and the seasons right, drive northward after midnight, out of town onto the high plains that sweep across that solitary paradise, find a lonely country road, park your car, toss a blanket on the ground, lie down with your honey, and feast your eyes on one of nature’s greatest spectacles: the Northern Lights.

If you linger too long, you may need to dust the frost from the crack of your ass-pirations;, but hey, ICELAND is special, really special, so go for its low cost, down-to-earth treasures. And, savor the crusty natives.
Fred Fisher


We spent almost a week in early June in Iceland and it was a very interesting
place to visit.
It is a lot larger than I expected and driving conditions are not that good in many places. We were going to hire a car but decided not to having read that some of the interior roads in the centre of the country are open for only a few weeks in high summer, as weather conditions can change rapidly.

If you are planning a trip in October I think many roads will be impassable plus there will be a reduction in daylight hours so you will often be travelling in the dark. As you can travel for vast distances without seeing any other vehicles or many houses I would recommend you consider using some of the excellent tours that were available instead. Plenty to do in and around Reykjavik and lots of organised tours that can get you to your destination safely. Also a good daily coach services around the country, even in winter, according to my guide books.

Why not contact the Icelandic Tourist Office to ask for more information.
Hope this information helps you plan your trip.
Cath Beacher


Visit Vik as its worth seeing the wool shop - albeit very expensive but there are some trendy woolen clothes.

Then if you do travel in Iceland, don't speed. I know of two people who picked up really expensive speeding tickets. Its a gross form of taxation which preys on speeding individuals. If you travel along the south coast past VIK visit Skaftafell, Svindafell. This will take you about six hours of driving, but it's really worth doing so.

Reykjavik isn't that beautiful a place in terms of architecture, but it is interesting. The place feels a litttle like Norway crossed with America, in terms of architecture. I found a Celtic irish pub which was pretty good in atmosphere. The night life is quite sedate in the centre. Be prepared for a shock to your wallet, as the country eats money. Fresh fruit will cost a bomb, and a pint could well cost you a fiver.

But the country is full of beautiful scenery, and great expanses of gravel beds. Great place for geography and geologist enthusiasts. I think its one of my favourite countries I have visited.
Neil Holiday


We went to Iceland in October for 10 days and packed a whole lot in:

Car and licence
If you are renting a car to get around, we used Budget and picked it up at the airport. But don't make the mistake we made and remember to bring your driving licence (we both forgot ours and had to have them faxed over which delayed us by a few hours which was a right pain in the arse).

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The Blue Lagoon
Be sure to bring your swimming costume as the Blue Lagoon is very near the airport. What we did was go straight there to relax after the flight. It's a huge pool about the size of a football field where the water is really hot and very relaxing, it's highly recommended. We went there just before we left too so as to be nice and relaxed on the flight home.

If you're not renting a car then you can get a bus there direct from the airport and then another bus on to Reykjavik when you're done.

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Drink
Drink is very expensive in Iceland so what we did was get a few bottles of spirits in duty free on the way over and then when we got to Reykjavik airport bought a slab of beer there. You can buy stuff in the duty free when you arrive and bring it through customs.

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Accommodation
Are you hotelling it or hostelling it? The hostels are relatively cheap and have the advantage that you can have the majority of your eating in them thus saving yourself a fortune as eating out is quite dear. I've stayed in three and they were all clean and safe, plus you have the advantage of meeting folk there.
www.hostel.is

The hostel at Reykjavik
Sundlaugavegur 34
Reykjavik
105
Iceland
is right next to the national stadium whcih has a heated swimming pool, hot tubs, saunas, etc and is dead cheap to use It's about five euros for the day so if you're staying in Sundlaugavegur then be sure to try it at least once.

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Food
Eating out is expensive so if you're hostelling it then eat in as much as possible, bring tea bags, etc with you if you can and save yourself a whole load of cash. Even a cup of coffee is 4-5 euro in the cafes so be warned! Fishing is a big indusry for them so there's some real nice fish places around.

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Music
http://www.musik.is/dofine.html
http://www.reykjavik.com/underpage.aspx?id=Nightlife&cat=Venues

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Bars
Sirkus is my fave, kinda reminds me of a cross between lebowskis and the liberty. Big beer garden out back where they sometimes have gigs on. It's just off the main shopping and bar steet ( Laugavegur .)

Damon Albarn owns Cafibarinn so that's a nice spot too and my other fave cafe bar after Sirkus is a tiny upstairs place called Babalú, you can see it on the map here, it's about 5-8 mins walk from sirkus
http://www.icelandairwaves.com/files/airwavesmap2007.jpg

The Icelanders go mental on a Saturday night and the bars stay open til 2 or 3am.

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Outdoors

We spent out first night (Sat) in Reyk then the next day drove up to the far north. Outside of Reyk there are very few people so with no-one on the roads we made really good time (we covered 1800km's in five days sun-thurs) and covered a good chunk of the north and west.

Afer we got there we went to see Godafoss waterfall and we stayed in fantastic wee cottages with an outdoor hot tub run by the folk we were doing the white water rafting with the next day. There's pix of the cottages here on their site - http://www.rafting.is/cottages.php

The rafting was great fun and the people running it were really nice and helpful.

After the rafting we headed north-west to the fjords, there's one main road in the country which goes around Iceland in a circle but a lot of the secondary roads can be, er, a bit dodgy so be prepared! And then we slowly made our way back to Reyk by 5pm thursday for the Airwaves festival. So:
On the Tuesday we went to Bredivak beach (the most westerly in Europe.)
Wednesday we drove over the mountains and down through the fjords, etc
Thursday we did the golden circle ourselves as we had our own car
Fri-Sun we did the music festival and flew home Monday after a final visit to the Blue Lagoon

If you're basing yourselves in Reyk and haven't hired a car then Iceland Excursions do loads of day trips from the main bus station and will collect from all the hotels too once you book in with reception the day before. Like everything there it ain't cheap but when in Rome ... The Golden Circle is the main one to do from Reyk and they offer loads of others too such as trips to the glacier, etc

I've been there four times now and have always really enjoyed myself so hopefully you will too.
Jim Moorish