Iceland Summer 2023 🇮🇸 Best Travel Tips, Temperatures, Daylight & Itinerary!

today I'll be sharing my top travel tips to make your trip to Iceland an unforgettable experience especially since you'll be visiting during my favorite time of year summer [Music] while the winter in Iceland can also be magical icelanders will admit that there's nothing quite like an Icelandic summer having lived here in Iceland my entire life and having worked in the tourism industry for the past nine years assisting and hosting thousands of Travelers I'm excited to share with you my Insider knowledge in this video so whether you're a first-time visitor or a returning traveler I've got you covered with my expert advice and to make things simple I've divided this video into these four chapters so without further Ado let's dive into my best travel tips for Iceland in the summertime now it is possible to divide the Icelandic summer up until about two seasons so we have the early mid-summer which is the Midnight Sun season and then we have the later part of the Summer where it's Northern Light season during the earlier part of the summer May June and July it'll be very bright here since we have the Midnight Sun and during this time our sun technically does set but you'll barely notice it you can be here in Iceland during midnight one two three in the morning and it'll still be bright out and then we have the later part of the summer which is when our Northern Light season begins again I would say anytime after August 15th is when our Sunset is starting to set earlier and earlier and earlier and starting to get darker and darker making the Northern Lights visible again late August and September as well can be a great time of year to see the Northern Lights a lot of Travelers come here to Iceland December January February they want to come midwinter to maximize the chances of seeing the northern lights but August and September the 10 chances of rainfall any storms or snowy days or a lot less and all these things block visibility of the lights so I've actually seen some of the best Northern Lights Of My Life late August early September since the conditions can be really good tip number two is that summer in Iceland is peak season for seeing whales and seeing puffins you can't see whales in Iceland all year round but during the summer is when the chances of whale siding goes up drastically when it comes to puffins you can't see them during the winter here but starting beginning of May up until August is when about 8 to 10 million puffins migrate to Iceland making Iceland one of the best spots to see puffins and the beauty about whale watching tours and Puffin tours is that a lot of them depart from the old Harbor in downtown Reykjavik which will most likely just be five to ten minutes walking from your hotel hop on a boat Sail Out where you'll either see some Majestic whales or some cute puffins tip number three is that when you land here in Iceland you're actually not Landing in Reykjavik which is our capital and pretty much where you want to be for your stay here in Iceland but you'll actually be landing in keflavik International Airport which is about 45 minutes driving from Reykjavik the capital now I have mentioned this tip in a previous video it's in so many commented on not having a clue that they wouldn't be arriving to the city I wanted to mention it in this one as well but basically we fly to Iceland we're flying to kaplavic International Airport and not a reyjevik International Airport and it can be a bit confusing because some flight tickets will actually say Reykjavik international airport but that is our domestic airport which is located very centrally here in Reykjavik now when it comes to getting to Reykjavik from caploc International Airport there are basically three main ways one is to grab a taxi there's always a long line of taxis outside the airport number two is taking a rental car if you have a rental car while in Iceland if you can in most cases because it up at the airport and then number three you can take the fly bus which is just a big bus that goes from caploe to Reykjavik I think it departs every 30 minutes you can get tickets for that ahead of time online or at the arrival Hall when you arrive tip number four is that you'll be arriving to Reykjavik about two hours after your flight lands I'm very often asked I get an email hey where our flight lands at six when can we estimate arriving to the city and A good rule of thumb is estimating about an hour getting through customs picking up your bags and all that and then another hour getting to Reykjavik getting into your hotel checking it so if your flight lands at 6am you can pretty much estimate arriving to Reykjavik at 8 A.M for example tip number five is that when you arrive to Kepler week and if you'd like to have any wine or beer or something like that along your stay maybe to have at your hotel or Airbnb accommodation I would hundred percent recommend buying it at the airport in the duty-free section basically here in Iceland we have one of the highest alcohol attacks in all of Europe making alcohol a bit pricey but in the duty-free section at the airport it's tax-free so I definitely recommend grabbing some bottles or some beer in the duty-free section at the airport before heading to Reykjavik so tip number six is that when you're booking your accommodation I recommend booking it in downtown central Reykjavik and the reason for this is that the downtown central area is super walkable and if you're staying here you're close to everything everything will be within walking distance whether it's restaurants or shops or cafes or bars or pickup locations for the tours we sometimes do have guests that book their accommodation for karinta week or for caplovik 45 50 minutes from Reykjavik area and oftentimes those accommodations will cost a little bit less but if you factor in the cost of transportation to get to and from the city everything day but also the time it's simply not worth it especially for a short stay here in Iceland seventh tip is that everything here in the central downtown raycog area doesn't open until 11 11 30 a.m and this goes for most restaurants and shops here in Central Downtown Reykjavik I oftentimes see I'm walking here on my way to work I see some Travelers walking around just kind of looking for anything open but in reality things don't really open up until about 11 11 30 and this is all year round not just for the summer and my last Iceland travel tip is that there's no need to buy water here in Iceland if you go to the grocery stores or if you're at the airport you'll see water bottles everywhere in my opinion it's a big waste of money since every faucet here in Iceland will have fresh cold glacier water for you to enjoy free of charge so don't waste your money on bottled water in the stores so next chapter is my perfect summer travel itinerary basically if I had a foreign friend coming to Iceland for the very first time they would say to me hey Dan you can plan my entire stay in Iceland it's all up to you but just make sure it's Unforgettable and this would be my recommendation now this itinerary you're experiencing the very best that Eisen has to offer in just four days day one your arrival day in Iceland like we talked about before your flight lands at keflavik International Airport and if you're flying in from the U.S and you're most likely landing at either 6 a.m or 8 A.M there you have to pick up your bags get through customs and then drive to the city where you'll check into your accommodation and like we talked about before highly recommend staying in the central Reykjavik area in your first activity here in Iceland will be the Reykjavik food walk it's the food tour that we here at wake or break every host the perfect first day activity to get such a great great feel for Iceland its culture and its amazing food now the Reykjavik food walk is the highest rated tour in Iceland on TripAdvisor and on this tour you'll meet a fun local guide explore the city visit all these amazing local restaurants and hidden gems to enjoy incredible Icelandic food and this tour is packed with food so there's no need to grab any breakfast or anything like that before the tour you just show up hungry and ready for an awesome experience on this tour you'll hear fun stories about Iceland and learn practical tips that you can use throughout your stay and this is why this is the perfect activity to kick off your trip here in Iceland in our first tour of the day starts at 10 30 and we have a departure happening almost every single hour from 10 30 to 5. so you can check our availability and pretty much this book detour that suits you best but I would definitely recommend booking it with as much notice as possible because a food tour more often than not does get fully advance and this is especially true during our summer months now after the Reykjavik food walk you're nice and full want to digest and relax a bit and the perfect next activity for your first day here in Reykjavik is the sky Lagoon that's a very new Lagoon just opened here a couple years ago in 2021 and the beauty about it is that it's so close to the central region area it's only about 15 minutes driving so whether you have a rental car or just take a quick taxi ride super close super relaxing very beautiful and especially if you get the pure pass and they have a nice sauna some cold tub some warm tubs so no better way to relax in a food coma than in a geothermally heated Lagoon now I would estimate the time in the Lagoon from start to finish to be about two to three hours so when you're wrapping up there and returning to Reykjavik you're most likely getting hungry again so you want to head back to the city to grab some dinner now we here at Waco break Eric we host the Reykjavik food walk every single day to reconsider ourselves to be professional Foodies so if you need any recommendations on where to go where not to go in regards to dinner don't hesitate to send us an email I'll link to it here as well info at wacobreaker.com and I'd be more than happy to help out with some awesome dinner recommendations now since this is your arrival day and you've had a pack day of the food tour Sky Lagoon dinner you'll most likely be a bit tired so this time of the day I would either recommend walking about exploring the downtown Reykjavik a bit or simply heading back to your hotel to rest up recharge your batteries for day number two now on your second day we'll be doing the South Coast small group detour which is perfect since it starts from the Reykjavik area the pickup most likely very close to your accommodation since you're staying centrally and from there you'll drive the south coast of Iceland stopping at all of the Highlight sightseeing spots along the way now this is going to be so much fun since you'll be seeing amazing waterfalls the black sand beach the small coastal town of week where you can also grab lunch so it'll be a full day of fun and sightseeing and you're gonna love it now the South Coast has a lot of sightseeing so the tour itself is about 9 to 10 hours in total you'll most likely be arriving back to the city somewhere between 6 and 7 pm and when you arrive back to the city you'll most likely want to head back to your hotel get changed get freshed up a bit and then head out to grab something to eat you will be heading out to eat at an awesome local restaurant because we've already talked via email and I've given you some awesome local recommendations now after dinner you do have a few options to choose from if you're tired you can simply head back to your hotel if you're in the mood to explore you can walk around the downtown area it'll be very Lively and very bright since you're visiting during summer or what I would recommend is hitting up an awesome rooftop cocktail lounge called Peterson sweetum where you can sit outside in the Midnight Sun and enjoy an awesome cocktail now after a few drinks at the cocktail lounge you're nice and Tipsy you're in a great mood you'll head back to your hotel no need to grab a taxi since you're centrally located and will be short by and it also won't be hard to find either because it'll be bright outside now this brings us on to day number three whereas I like to call it your local day in Reykjavik it doesn't have a strict schedule on what to do but instead I'm gonna recommend a few awesome activities that I would enjoy doing you can simply puzzle together what you're most interested in doing on your local day now here you'll find my list of activities that you can do on your local day you can check out the big church here in the downtown Reykjavik area it's possible to go inside take an elevator to the top and if it's a nice clear day you'll get one of the best views of the city you go swimming like the locals you can visit which is one of the oldest swimming pools in Iceland there you can have a swim check out the hot tubs the sauna it's a very nice relaxing thing to do and super local as well now if you're traveling with kids I have two family friendly activities to recommend first one being there you can see and sometimes even packed some of the Icelandic farm animals and also hop on some of their fun rides that they have it's about 10 minutes driving from the central area if you don't want to go all the way over there you can also visit the Reykjavik Pond and feed the Ducks going to the regular Pond and feeding the docks is a super local thing to do most icelanders growing up including myself would go there all the time with a big loaf of bread to break it up and feed to the Ducks and the swans it's a lot of fun and kids love it you can also go out on a puffin or a whale watching tour but these activities can be perfect on your local day since they do depart from the downtown area the old Harbor and they only take a few hours and we also have loads of museums to check out in Reykjavik whether it's the settlers Museum or the national museum for some rich Icelandic history and then we also have the penis museum now I just know some of you will really enjoy that now if you're a beer lover and would like to try out some amazing Icelandic craft beers and I highly recommend checking out located in the Central Downtown Bakery area now beer has only been legal here in Iceland for about 35 years it was legalized in 1989. since then we've been crazy about beer and today I believe we make some of the best beers in the world caldebar is from culte Brewery the first ever microbrewery here in Iceland founded in 2006. they make some amazing beers now if you enjoy Escape rooms then there's one close by called Reykjavik Escape they have plenty of rooms to choose from and it's a lot of fun as well so if you enjoyed that in other countries if you want to try that here and reikiwink Escape if you're like me and you enjoy coffee you want to head to a cozy little coffee house the Central Downtown Radio area there are plenty of good ones to choose from my favorite is located right next to our office it's called Cafe France there you can get a nice chocolate croissant cappuccino as a board games there as well very cozy if you want to relax grab a nice cup of coffee hopefully with these recommended activities you're able to puzzle together the perfect low day to enjoy on your third day here in Iceland that brings us on to our fourth and final day and since you're visiting when it's warm bright and basically the perfect conditions for some awesome sightseeing we're gonna end it with a brilliant small group sightseeing tour for this day you can choose between exploring the Golden Circle of Iceland or the sniper's nest Peninsula both of these tours are absolutely amazing so I have no doubt you would have an amazing time with whichever tour you choose but in short the Golden Circle the classic sightseeing driving route here in Iceland where you'll explore waterfalls the erupting geyser think about the national park you'll visit frederimar tomato Farm it's a beautiful doors it's a beautiful tour it's a full day of sightseeing and it's a very popular driving route for a reason and it's also possible to do another variation of this tour which is the Golden Circle and secret Lagoon combo tour we will visit all of the sightseeing spots of the Golden Circle which will end the day at a very nice relaxing natural hot spring called seaweed Lagoon and then the other option the snipersness peninsula small group tour the Golden Circle and the South Coast tour that we talked about earlier beautiful sightseeing routes they're quite common when it comes to sightseeing it's my business area is a little less common a little less touristy which makes it in my opinion a little bit more unique filled with amazing sightseeing spots such as snipersness you could kiss you fat black Beach at two balloons Center and try saying that five times and then the tour will also include lunch at a horse farm so it's a very special unique tour it's a full day of sightseeing and it's awesome as well and like I said you can't go wrong either the Golden Circle or the sniper's nest you'll have a great time with whichever tour you choose now with all these tours whether it's the food tour South Coast Golden Circle or sniper SNES they're all amazing they all have great reviews they're all small group experiences and on our website wacobreaker.com you can see more info about these tours but also the availability and booking calendar if you want book your tickets and on our website you'll find the lowest price for each and every one of these tours but since you're watching this video you can also use the promo code summer which will give you a discount of all these stores that we've talked about but we also have some other amazing activities to choose from which you'll find at quakerbreakery.com as well and the promo code summer will work on them also foreign Iceland during the summer is warm well at least us icelanders think it's warm since we're used to long and cold Winters June July and August are the official summer months but may and September can also be very nice however the average temperature here in Iceland during summer is only 10 degrees Celsius which is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit the absolute warmest it'll get is around 20 degrees in celsius which is around 68 Fahrenheit when it comes to Daylight summers in Iceland are bright very bright June 21st is our brightest longest day of the year we technically do have a sunset but it's just 24 hours of brightness June 21st is our Brightest Day July also a very bright month but when August arrives you start to notice the earlier and earlier sunsets and around mid-august we'll start to have hits black darkness around 9pm hope that helps lastly we're moving on to our packing list for a trip to Iceland during the summer to the right you can either take a screenshot or pause the video basically just some recommendations to look over when you're packing for your trip just to make sure you're not forgetting it and then our last and final chapter of this video events and special dates taking place during the summer on the first special date to know about is the 17th of June which is Iceland's National Day often known as our independence day it's a public holiday and a day of celebration for icelanders marketing the country's independence from Denmark in 1944. there will be parades concerts and festivities held all throughout the country to celebrate this important day in Iceland's history so definitely join in on the fun if you're here in Iceland during June 17th next very special day during this summer is June 21st our summer solstice it's also the day that we will be hosting our very first summer solstice yacht party now this will be a three hour event where we'll be sailing around the regular Harbor area enjoying the Midnight Sun by securing your ticket to the wake-up breakout yacht party you get access to this exclusive event also some drinks included live music the team from wake up breaker will be there partying with you and it will be without a doubt the funnest event happening on summer solstice so I highly recommend booking your tickets it will sell out and I can't wait to see you next up we have Vash lunar Mana halki or the merchants weekend which is a popular Icelandic holiday which takes place on the first weekend of August during Western many icelanders take to the countryside to hike Camp fish or simply enjoy the beautiful Icelandic beautiful Icelandic landscape during this weekend there will be festivals happening all throughout Iceland so whether you're staying in Reykjavik or somewhere outside of the city I would definitely recommend checking out the schedule for the town that you'll be in on this weekend to see what's going on because I'm sure you'll love it the last event is shape right or Reykjavik Pride which is an annual event to celebrate lgbtq plus rights and promote equality it's one of the biggest events in Iceland attracting thousands of visitors from all over the world the festival usually takes place in the second week of August and includes a lively parade throughout the streets of Reykjavik concerts parties and other events Iceland is known to be one of the most lgbtq plus friendly countries in the world and Reykjavik pride is a great way to celebrate and experience that now you should be all set to experience Iceland in the summertime if you want to book any of the tours that we talked about in this video I'll link to them in the description and don't forget to use the promo code summer for an awesome discount now after watching this video if anything is unclear or if you have any questions at all write them in the comments below I'd be more than happy to answer them for more videos like this don't forget to subscribe to the channel and I'd also recommend following us following us on Instagram until next time

Channel: Wake Up Reykjavik

Views: 53,770

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Id: UXznDJxCr1M

Length: 22min 16sec (1336 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 11 2023