Searching for the Northern Lights...
We stayed In Reykjavik which was a good base. We stayed near the harbour but actually the town centre is a better location, I have since found some amazing hotels that I now recommend to my clients and I am getting great feedback on them. We stayed for three nights which I would suggest as an absolute minimum, I now recommend 4-5 nights to my clients as it give you that little extra time to take in the destination and have some more free time to enjoy the city.
I will say Iceland is not cheap when you are there to eat and drink, so you do need to be aware of that. We found that a nice restaurant for a main course each and a bottle of wine was around £100.00. I would also recommend you try and make sure breakfast is included at your hotel as we did not have it included and we were spending around £30 each morning on breakfast. Drinks on average are around £8-£10 but lots of places have happy hours and they are generally 241 so not too bad, if you want a drink for your room then definitely buy at duty free. Another tip is to make sure you book the transfer shuttles from the airport, I always include these for my clients as taxis locally are very expensive and the journey from the airport to Reykjavik city is around 1 hour.
Now onto the trips we did
Northern Lights by Super Jeep - This is not the cheapest way to see the Northern Lights but in my opinion (and also in several of my clients I have sent on this since returning) it is worth every penny. These Jeeps can get to places that the standard tour coaches and minibuses can't. We booked the trip for our first evening as, if the conditions are not right for the lights, the tours get cancelled and re-arranged for the following night so it is definitely best to book for your first evening. We were lucky and saw the lights that night but there was a lady in our jeep that was on her third attempt, but she was happy as she had had great fun each night in the Super Jeeps without seeing the lights. The Jeeps pick you up around 8pm from your hotel and they take you in the direction that they think will give the best chance of seeing the lights. The guides are experts and ours told us some great stories, you could tell that they genuinely wanted you to see the lights and they were doing their best to get you into the best place to see them. As I mentioned we were lucky and it did not take long for us to find the lights. The driver gave us some lovely hot chocolate and was happily taking pictures for us too. We got back to the hotel just before midnight, but the trips can last longer depending on how far away they need to go to find the lights. Make sure you wrap up really warm as it was very cold and you definitely must had some good, warm, waterproof footwear.
Blue Lagoon - No trip to Iceland is complete until you have been to the Blue Lagoon. Considering it was absolutely freezing the whole time we were there I can’t say I was looking forward to putting my swimming costume on but once in the lovely warm water I soon forgot about the cold. It was quite early in the morning so not overly busy which was nice. I would recommend going as early as possible as it can get very busy and I don't think I would have enjoyed it so much if the whole lagoon was full and overcrowded.
Golden Circle Tour - I had no idea what to expect from this trip beforehand and I had no idea what a treat we were in for. We saw the most amazing waterfall I have ever seen in my life. I also really enjoyed the Geysers. I could have stood and watched those all day. The trip takes you away from the city and I feel I got to see the real Iceland on this trip. The trip can also be done in the Super Jeeps which I would imagine is even better, but the Super Jeep trips are much more expensive, and I must say the guide we had on our coach was absolutely fantastic. He clearly loved his job and country and he told us some fantastic stories and interesting facts along the way.
We would have also liked to do a whale watching trip but it was the wrong time of year to see the whales. We did see some boats go out, but we heard that they didn't get to see anything special, it is more March - October for the Whales. All in all I would highly recommend Iceland for a short break. We really enjoyed our time there and the trips were fantastic, it is not the cheapest weekend away but a once in a lifetime place for me and I got to tick seeing the Northern lights off my bucket list.