The famous Eyjafjallajökull vulcan during eruption earlier this year in Iceland

Just returned from my 6th wisit to Iceland. I was happy to realise that even at the end of August and the beginning of September the evenings are quite light – on arrival it wasn’t before 10 o’clock in the evening it was dark in Reykjavik.

The capital of Iceland Reykjavik in clear weather seen from the east over the city and sea.

But as ususal the weather is very changeable in Iceland. Normally I would therefore recommend you to stay in Iceland for several days. In fact a full week will make it possible to drive around along the coast of the whole island with a few exceptions. During a week you should be safe with good weather for some days if not for all days.

Anyway a few days of a stop-over for example if you are going from US or Canada to Europe would make much sense as the route over Greenland and Iceland is the shortest for many European destinations – depending on your departure airport in North America.

Please add your Icelandic experience below, thanks:

To visit Iceland is a beautiful island vacation experience. I love the landscape of Iceland with its huge areas of natural beauty without much influence of human activities.

On a visit to Iceland you have to accept that the Icelandic weather is very changeable as a precondition for your travel conditions. The weather conditions of Iceland in the different regions might be very diverse on the same day, too.

You find the weather forecast for Reykjavik here at http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Reykjavik/forecasts/latest – including a five day prognosis for the weather in Reykjavik.

You find the weather forecast for Iceland here with an interactive map that shows you the expected weather in each of the Icelandic regions for the next 5 days and even longer weather forecasts http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/areas/.

These weather maps are extremely useful when you plan your travel in Iceland, e.g. if you hire a car and chose different regions to explore for each day with a permanent stay in Reykjavik or elsewhere in Iceland.

See 10-Day Forecast for Iceland weather here in Reykjavik.

At our trip we didn’t see and experience everything shown in this video, but this is what you can manage to see in iceland in a two weeks trip with travel around on Iceland, and dwelling in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik. Hope you can make a trip to Iceland this summer as Iceland is a cheap travel destination at the moment due to the financial crisis in Iceland.

Read more about Iceland (in Nordic languages ‘Island’) here.

In Icelandic language the name of Iceland is ‘Island’ and it is the same in Danish language. When I was a boy in Denmark in the late 50ties and early 60ties I liked to collect stamps like many other boys were doing.

As Denmark had a long connection to Iceland the stamps from Iceland were of cause much in my mind. From older collectors of stamps I was told that especially stamps from Iceland were valuable, like stamps from Greenland and the Faeroe Islands. These all came from countries and territories with very small populations.

On the stamps from Iceland the name of the nation was named ISLAND – of cause in their own Icelandic language. So for me ‘Island’ became the signal word for me when I was browsing through piles of used stamps from different sources.

It took me some time to learn and be acquainted with the reality that I found many other stamps from different parts of the world with ‘Island’ printed on the stamp – simply from some of the many other countries and territories that were ‘islands’. – And funny enough I still have these associations in my mind with ISLAND.

The meaning of Iceland and Island is exactly the same, the land of ice – even this isn’t any good description of Iceland, as the winter climate of Iceland is rather mild due to the passage of the Gulf current bringing warmer water up to the Northern Atlantic Ocean.

The old stamps from Iceland were quite boring to look at, but they are expensive now. The modern stamps from Iceland are of the kind of modern stamps we know from most other countries of the world, they are in a commercial marketplace for attractive stamps with specific motives to attract stamp collectors like the dog stamp here.

Their value for collectors is low, but the information value of such stamps can be rather high. Even I stopped collecting stamps long, long time ago; I still have to control myself when I find attractive and informative stamps when I visit islands and other countries of the world today.

More Icelandic dog stamps here at http://www.dogstamps.dk/iceland.htm

Read more about Island / Iceland here.

More information about Iceland – a cheap travel destination at the moment because of the drop of the icelandic economy linked to the international recession in the economy.

Our common choice went to what in the menu card was called the exotic menu. And in came a stream of small delicious dishes as starters, later several rounds of sophisticated main courses and finally a round of outstanding deserts.

Together they formed an extravagant dinner and the delicious dishes and their arrangement became an unforgettable tasting experience for all of us.

With the present days currency of the Icelandic kroner this was also a very good value for money taking into account the outstanding level of the cooking and the extravaganza of the many courses.

The chef Pétur Örn Pétursson deserves the highest recommandations for his outstanding professional skills and results.
You will find the restaurant website here: http://www.sjavarkjallarinn.is/index_en.html

An added charm is that the restaurant is situated in the oldest cellar of Reykjavik with a very nice atmosphere.
(I was without my camera during the dinner, but I will get some pictures for later inclusion here from my wife’s little camera that she is always carrying with her).

But here are just a few notes from our short holiday trip to Iceland. I can expand later on many of the issues and bring more island vacation tips for your consideration. Please give the post a comment, and I shall do my best to answer it.

As earlier mentioned the people at Iceland suffer from their own downturn of their economy together with the bad world economy. So they have a lot of trouble.

For the tourist to Iceland this is in our favour, as the currency – Icelandic kronor – is much cheaper to buy and your credit card will perform much better  in this situation.

Earlier, Iceland was by many regarded as a rather expensive travel destination but that isn’t the case any longer.

Hotel in Reykjavik in Iceland

We stayed the 4 nights (3.-7. April) in Iceland at the Radisson SAS Saga Hotel in Reykjavik.

This isn’t a cheap hotel but the rooms are nice, they serve a very fine breakfast, and the hotel is situated conveniently for many things.

Especially if you hire a car you will enjoy the easy connection to the old city centre, and to the many interesting places of Reykjavik. You find a map of the location of Radisson SAS Saga Hotel in Reykjavik here

You can come to the Radisson SAS Saga Hotel after a 45-minute drive from the international airport. From the domestic airport Saga Hotel is only a 5-minute drive away.

Car parking is easy and bus connections are available directly to the hotel from the airport.

Nearby you find attractions like:
•    The National Museum.
•    The National Library.
•    The Nordic House.
•    Open-air, geothermally-heated swimming pool.
•    The University of Iceland.
•    The University Cinema.

The weather in early spring in Iceland

The weather in early spring in Iceland is like all seasons in one day. I experienced very nice sunshine, especially one unforgettable morning with the eider ducks courting each other in a shallow bay and allowing me to approach them quite close for photos. This area is called Seltjarnarnes and is the north western narrow peninsular of Reykjavik. Part of Seltjarnarnes is a nature reserve, part of it a golf course.
Find more information about Iceland for travel here.

I will return with more travel tips about what to see in Iceland and where to go.

A few more fresh pictures from Reykjavik in mixed weather:

In a number of years the Icelandic economy has been booming, too, known in financial circles as the Icelandic geyser economy. The geyser economy has been clearly visible for tourists as well as the inhabitants of Iceland: Lots of new big cars and housing development in the luxury class out of proportions to the limited population of around 250.000 Icelanders.

The Icelandic geyser economy has been built on huge investments in other countries, like Great Britain and Denmark funded by enormous loans from Icelandic banks and others.

The Icelandic krona has dropped dramatically in value and the country Iceland has been near to be bankrupt, see ‘Iceland is all but officially bankrupt’ and

What an Economic Collapse Looks Like: The Icelandic Crash Visualized

These economic difficulties for the people of Iceland are at the same time an opportunity for foreigners to sign up for a cheap summer vacation in Iceland. I guess you will never forget an island vacation in Iceland.

In fact Iceland is much nearer to North America than most people imagine and Iceland can be reached in a few hours from many big cities, see the Official travel guide to Iceland
You will find an interactive map of Iceland here

And a few facts about Iceland from Lonely Planet here.

Please add your comments and experience from visiting Iceland by going here.