Top travel tips for Iceland

I recently went to Iceland for a quick 4 night trip and it was amazing, probably one of the best places I have ever been and a great place for a geography geek like myself. Here are a few hints and tips that I leant during my trip and might help you if your thinking of planning a trip to Iceland soon.

• Spend a day exploring Reykjavik, it is a lovely relaxed city with lots to offer. There are a number of museums to look around, we had a look around the Whale and Aurora museums which we really enjoyed.
• Try and book as many trips as possible in advance. We booked our day trips with Geoiceland who were an excellent company. They run smaller group tours of no more than 18, which I preferred as some of the other trips are coaches of about 40-50 people. The tour guides with Geoiceland were very knowledgeable.
• If you are planning on booking a northern lights tour I suggest you check out Gateway to Iceland, we went with them and they were excellent. Once again the tours were small (no more than 18-19 people) on our tour there 7 of us plus the 2 guides. Unfortunately our first northern lights tour was cancelled due to bad weather, but the great thing about Gateway to Iceland is they automatically put you on the tour the next day. 
• As the weather in Iceland is so unpredictable I suggest you book your northern lights tour for the start of your holiday that way if your trip gets cancelled due to bad weather you have time to rebook on to another trip during your stay.
• The Golden Circle tour is definitely a day trip I would recommend as it takes in some of the best that the south of Iceland has to offer - the Faxi waterfall, Thingvellir National Park (where you can see the boundary between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates), Gullfoss waterfall and the Geysir hot spring area. I think this a must for anyone planning a trip to the south of Iceland.
• We also went on the South Coast and glacier tour - I really enjoyed seeing the waterfalls and the stunning glacier, but if I am totally honest I was not blown away by the south coast (black beach), which is ironic as it was very windy on the beach and we almost literally got blown over lol.
• If you book through Reykjavik Excursions bear in mind that they have a pick up time which can be up to 30 mins before your departure time (I think this is the case for all of their trips but not 100% sure). We booked an 11am departure time to the blue lagoon but the bus picked us up at our hotel at 10.30am, and we were then taken to the bus terminal to get the 11am bus to the blue lagoon. So this is worth noting as we nearly missed our bus.
• We stayed in the Fosshotel which is the newest and one of the biggest hotels in Reykjavik.  As the hotel is only 6 months old it is very clean and modern, with all the amenities. The breakfast was included in the price of our stay and it was yummy, with lots on offer.  There was also another restaurant as well as a bar which serves food in the hotel, which was very helpful on our first night as we arrived during a storm and on the night that we went on our northern lights tour as we only had 2 hours between getting back from our golden circle tour before going out on our northern lights tour.
• Take some steady shoes with a good grip, either walking trainers or boots. The streets and car parks can be very icy in the winter.
• The final tip is one of the most important, especially if you want to stay warm - Layers are your friend! I always feel the cold and so was worried before I went that I would not be able to keep warm. Then a friend gave me some advice, which was your will never feel warm in the winter in Iceland you will just feel different degrees of freezing :) so at least I knew what I was getting myself into. I ended up doubling up on the thermals and then made sure I had waterproofs on as well as hat, gloves and earmuffs. I was on the whole nice and toasty but I was wearing a lot of clothing lol, the only exception was when we went to the Gulfoss waterfall but this was due to the icy wind that was blowing. Layers are also good as the buses and coaches that you travel on during the day trips are warm and so at least with layers you can regulate your body temperature easier.

I think these are all of the tips and hints I would give to someone planning a trip to Iceland. I hope you find them helpful. If you are going to Iceland soon have a great time, you will have an amazing trip and if you are not, def add it to your list of places to go to as it truly is amazing!