The Icelander's Travel Guidebook 2009

The best online collection of travel information for Icelanders.

About this book

This free online travel guide is designed for Icelanders who are planning a trip abroad. The goal is to fill Icelanders' need for honest, accurate, critical information on travel. What makes this book special is that it is written especially for people who live in Iceland.

I've been involved with travel guidebooks and group tours for twenty years. I've worked for Let's Go, Frommer's, Rick Steves, Scandinavian Seminar/Elderhostel, Holland America Lines, and Heimsferðir.

Remember that travel guidebooks like this start going out of date as soon as they are printed. Things change, prices go up, hotels and restaurants close. I welcome all comments and corrections: please use my suggestion form. I'll be updating this guidebook again in the winter of 2009-2010.

My philosophy

The Internet has brought new and efficient ways of planning travel, but also new tricks for diverting travelers' attention and misleading travelers into sending their money in the wrong direction. My goal is to find and share safe passages through this jungle, with a critical and price-sensitive eye. Most of us prefer to patronize inexpensive, honestly run establishments. We just don't always have the time to research them out. That's where this book helps.

All of the information in this guidebook is independent and free from advertiser influence. I do not take commissions, I do not serve as an "affiliate" for anyone, and I select listings because they are the best ones that I can find. I advise you as if you were a member of my family. When you click on a link in this document, I don't get paid. I try to tell it like it is. As the Reykjavík Grapevine says, "You may not like it, but at least it's not paid for."

I do accept advertising, but I do not accept advertising from any company which I review directly, or where advertising might make it tempting for me to compromise my honesty.

Destinations

My aim in the second half of this book is to include destination-specific information that's of special use to Icelanders. I have concentrated on the most common destinations and flight gateways in Europe and North America. I have included links to Icelandic-run businesses abroad (though I know that some Icelanders like to get away from being Icelandic when they travel abroad!) I have added to this section since last year and I look forward to putting in more information about destinations that Icelanders like to visit.

In the accommodations listings, I try to give you information that would be hard to find elsewhere. I have listed places that are especially nice, or especially convenient, or especially good value for money. Breakfast is included and rooms have private bath (except at hostels) unless otherwise noted.

Note though that I have not stayed at most of the hotels I mention. My listings are based on fairly careful research work and I think my recommendations are pretty sound. I would really appreciate your feedback on them using my suggestions form.

Icelandic travelers almost always fly abroad, and becaust flights on most routes go only once a day at most, they often need to make overnight layovers when using connecting flights. So I have put special emphasis on airport hotels in these listings. If you are searching for airport hotels on your own, here's a tip: if a hotel calls itself an "airport hotel," that doesn't usually mean that it is on the grounds — and sometimes it can be quite far away from the airport — certainly well out of walking distance. In my experience, hotels regard themselves as being worthy of the name "airport hotel" if they have a free shuttle service from and/or to the airport that runs at least part of the day. I have tried to be of service by sorting the wheat from the chaff and finding airport hotels that are really worth of the name.