Normally, as an Iceland fan, I should only be writing positive things about Iceland here, encouraging you in your plan to travel here and giving you reasons why you should visit.
But Iceland may not be for everyone, and that’s why I want to list a number of reasons why you might be better off not traveling to Iceland.
At the very least, this list should nudge you to adjust your expectations where necessary, so you won’t be disappointed if your Iceland trip doesn’t turn out the way you imagined.
Here we go (please enjoy with a pinch of irony)…
You don’t like the cold
If you like it warm and the mere thought of snow and ice makes your stomach turn, you should definitely not travel to Iceland in winter! In the weeks between September and March you have a really very, very high chance of seeing lots of snow on the roads. This season does offer the highest probability of seeing the northern lights, but the ratio between those two probabilities is far apart!
If that actually puts you off, I have two ways out for you: you can of course travel to Iceland in summer and take advantage of the comparatively high temperatures of the summer season. In June, July and August you have a good chance of plenty of sunshine, temperatures around 15°C and above, and little rain. That’s not warm, but at least it’s a lot more pleasant than frost!
You can also adapt to the conditions and pack the right clothing. The layering principle helps: the first layer is functional underwear, followed by a warming layer and then a layer that protects against moisture. Only the middle layer is there for warmth and can be as thick as you like. Fleece works well here, but a nice thick Icelandic sweater keeps you properly warm too!
You’re a penny pincher
You want to save money on vacation — not even because you have to, but because you enjoy it. You like booking all-inclusive holidays because then there can be no unexpected surprises. You enjoy haggling with the vendor over a souvenir, and if a liter of gas or a beer isn’t cheaper than back home, it puts you in a bad mood.
Then Iceland won’t be a source of joy for you. For a good two years now, the value of the local currency has been rising rapidly — a good 50% more is what you now pay for many goods compared to 2014/2015. On top of that, the tourism boom has meant that many providers simply couldn’t keep up. When increased demand can’t immediately be met with more supply, prices go up. That’s exactly what’s happening in Iceland right now, and so prices for tours, hotels and local goods are rising not only because of the currency but also because of these price adjustments.
A beer will cost you €8 and up, a glass of wine as much as a whole bottle back home. An ordinary dinner will raise the question of how many Michelin stars the chef has. Gasoline and diesel are easily 25% more expensive than in Germany, although these prices fluctuate a lot.
There are only two ways out of this misery: either set a budget and try to get the most out of your vacation with it, or cross Iceland off your list — or move it further down — and put some money aside.
You can save the most on rental cars, accommodation and excursions. But if your budget then only gets you 5 days at a campsite with no mobility even though you’d love to see the country, that won’t make you happy.
That said, Iceland can also be great on a small budget: skip the rental car and take the bus, and instead of an expensive hotel you can go camping and do your excursions on foot. With a bit of planning and discipline, it’s all doable.
You want a typical city trip (shopping, clubbing, drinking…)
You love cities like London, New York and Frankfurt? You enjoy heading to the hottest clubs late at night and dancing until dawn? You can happily skip the Sunday excursion and would rather spend the whole day in bed nursing a hangover?
Iceland will disappoint you a little, I suspect. I’ve never come here with that intention, but I can’t imagine you’d find the right setting for it. Iceland’s capital does have quite a bit to offer in terms of bars and restaurants, but clubs are fairly thin on the ground.
Shopping, on the other hand, works quite well: the streets in the center of the capital are lined with lots of small shops selling all sorts of things — from DSLR cameras to secondhand clothes to designer coats, pretty much everyone will find something here. You won’t find any bargains, though, and not really the big designer labels either.
As for drinking, it depends on your pain threshold when it comes to your budget — or how quickly you can drink it away: alcohol is expensive in Iceland! A beer can easily cost you 8, 9 or even more than €10, depending on where you’re from and the exchange rate. Happy hours help, but even with optimal refueling it’s going to be an expensive ride 😉
During the Airwaves Festival, by the way, things look different for a short while. On those days the city is full of party-loving people swinging their dancing legs. So that’s your window of opportunity for a city trip to Reykjavik! To protect your drinks budget, you should buy your alcohol at the airport — it’s noticeably cheaper there than in the city.
You couldn’t care less about nature
You sit down on grass and immediately everything itches, when a ladybug lands on your arm shivers run down your spine, and the mere thought of hiking through mountain landscapes instantly puts you into a coma.
Iceland has alternatives for that too: the capital has museums, galleries and the Harpa concert hall. So there’s plenty to see for culturally minded people as well, and you don’t have to go on adventures in the highlands.
But that’s a bit like flying to Africa to watch safari documentaries in your hotel room.
You don’t like mass tourism
You like being on your own when you travel, and you don’t like it when other people join you while you’re admiring an attraction?
You won’t find a single sight in Iceland anymore that you’ll have all to yourself. Many waterfalls in Iceland now have visitor parking lots bigger than the ones in Reykjavik.
At the Blue Lagoon, busloads of tourists are now delivered and picked up again on an assembly line. In, selfie, wine, out. It looks similar at most of the well-known sights in the south of the island. At the Strokkur geyser, aircraft drone above you and the shutters of hundreds of cameras click all around you. At Gullfoss you can hardly take a photo of the waterfall anymore, because someone is always standing in the way.
But here, too, there’s some good news: as soon as you leave the tourist trail, you can still find lonely and remote places in Iceland. In the east of the island only a few tourists are around, and if they are, they probably do what I did on my first ring road trip around Iceland: rush right through. For the Westfjords, most people have neither the time nor the right vehicle, so you’ll still find lonely spots there as well.
Conclusion: when and why you shouldn’t travel to Iceland
What I’ve described above is painted very, very black. I may be speaking straight from the heart of one or two Iceland veterans, but many people never knew Iceland the way it used to be (neither did I, to be fair).
So you should take all of this with a pinch of humor — but maybe don’t just brush it aside either: if many of the points above apply to you, that might be a hint that you wouldn’t actually enjoy a vacation in Iceland. Even though it’s a very, very trendy destination right now.
The country is a peculiar one, though, and so you should weigh carefully whether it offers what you’re looking for.
Either way: have fun in Iceland!
No Comments Yet