Iceland restauarants-- - And Covid tests
May 23rd, 2022, 08:39 AM
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Iceland restauarants-- - And Covid tests
Traveling with a 14. year old and looking for dinner suggestions in Rekyjavik. We already have Tommi's burger Joint on the list but looking for other ideas. Thanks
Also, has anyone done their covid test at the Harpa Center? Deciding if I want to make appointments there or use the Emed site and test on our own.
Also, has anyone done their covid test at the Harpa Center? Deciding if I want to make appointments there or use the Emed site and test on our own.
May 23rd, 2022, 12:28 PM
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Cafe Loki and Islenski Barrin are both great for trying traditional Icelandic food at (relatively) reasonable prices (it's all expensive there). Salka Valka is good for soup and sourdough. There are some fun seafood restaurants on the harbor (it's worth walking through the city center and harbor for a different vibe). Selva had just opened when I was there and had amazing South American food. Punk is stunning for a more upscale experience.
Reykjavik really is a small town - about a mile walk down the main stretch of Laugavegur and a little farther to the harbor - so I definitely recommend walking around and seeing what looks fun to you. You'll find all kinds of cuisine in addition to Icelandic food.
They weren't offering tests at Harpa when I was there - I had to go about a mile and a half into the other part of the city. But the testing was SUPER efficient. There was a really, really long line, but I got through in about 30 minutes and had my results texted to me within hours.
Have so much fun. I LOVED Iceland.
Reykjavik really is a small town - about a mile walk down the main stretch of Laugavegur and a little farther to the harbor - so I definitely recommend walking around and seeing what looks fun to you. You'll find all kinds of cuisine in addition to Icelandic food.
They weren't offering tests at Harpa when I was there - I had to go about a mile and a half into the other part of the city. But the testing was SUPER efficient. There was a really, really long line, but I got through in about 30 minutes and had my results texted to me within hours.
Have so much fun. I LOVED Iceland.
May 23rd, 2022, 04:02 PM
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I agree with Cafe Loki and Islenski Barrin. Other places we have had great meals are the Sea Baron, Messin, Loa, and for croissants/cinnamon rolls Braud is a must. The hot dog stand is great too. We have been to Iceland 3 times so far with our 4th trip next summer.
As for Covid tests Harpa is easy. Make your appointment and they email the results in about 25 minutes. We did that several times on our latest trip this past February. Last summer we opted to do the Binax NOW proctored tests since there were 5 of us and it was more convenient. We did those in our hotel room one morning along the ring road and so didn’t have to juggler itinerary to make a testing appt work.
As for Covid tests Harpa is easy. Make your appointment and they email the results in about 25 minutes. We did that several times on our latest trip this past February. Last summer we opted to do the Binax NOW proctored tests since there were 5 of us and it was more convenient. We did those in our hotel room one morning along the ring road and so didn’t have to juggler itinerary to make a testing appt work.
May 24th, 2022, 07:35 AM
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I don’t know where to start….
it was mid February , we’ve been to Norway a few times at school Feb half term and had amazing times , incredible Aurora, dog sledding, Ok quite expensive food and stunning scenery but very peaceful and lots of space.
In Iceland the weather was truly dire - wet , no snow and 40mph winds. I think it had snowed a few weeks previously and everything looked very sad. The food was just I comprehensibly expensive …think Turks & Caicos x 2. My wife got food poisoning from shell fish, worst of all most of the island’s interior roads are closed for safety in winter and so the golden circle sites were totally mobbed with world tourists ….100 Italian school girls playing the theme to Titanic on music systems at Gullfoss …not sure if it gets any worse! Our accommodation was an Airbnb apartment on the docks - stunning interior in a loft but next to a fish factory and so we were woken up at 3am every night ….like having a baby all over again. The locals also seemed a little tense about tourism. Finally cloudy for a week so no Aurora show.
I think we were maybe a little unfair comparing Iceland with dire weather to Norway in a winter wonderland.
We will give it another try at some stage but Iceland has the dubious title in our house of “worst of 65 countries visited”.
it was mid February , we’ve been to Norway a few times at school Feb half term and had amazing times , incredible Aurora, dog sledding, Ok quite expensive food and stunning scenery but very peaceful and lots of space.
In Iceland the weather was truly dire - wet , no snow and 40mph winds. I think it had snowed a few weeks previously and everything looked very sad. The food was just I comprehensibly expensive …think Turks & Caicos x 2. My wife got food poisoning from shell fish, worst of all most of the island’s interior roads are closed for safety in winter and so the golden circle sites were totally mobbed with world tourists ….100 Italian school girls playing the theme to Titanic on music systems at Gullfoss …not sure if it gets any worse! Our accommodation was an Airbnb apartment on the docks - stunning interior in a loft but next to a fish factory and so we were woken up at 3am every night ….like having a baby all over again. The locals also seemed a little tense about tourism. Finally cloudy for a week so no Aurora show.
I think we were maybe a little unfair comparing Iceland with dire weather to Norway in a winter wonderland.
We will give it another try at some stage but Iceland has the dubious title in our house of “worst of 65 countries visited”.
May 24th, 2022, 12:27 PM
#7
I'm with BritishCaicos on this one and not due to weather. We fully expected to love Iceland, but didn't.. Too many visitors with too little infrastructure (by that I mean clean maintained public toilets!), crazy expensive not-very-good food, chaotic airport, etc.
We too feel we might need to give it another go...maybe. Or maybe not.
We too feel we might need to give it another go...maybe. Or maybe not.
Last edited by Melnq8; May 24th, 2022 at 12:31 PM.
May 24th, 2022, 01:00 PM
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BritishCaicos--Our most recent trip was this past February. There were a lot of storms that month and we did have one day that all roads in the country were closed. Otherwise though all the roads were open. It changes daily, even hourly
Food poisoning can definitely put a damper on a trip! I hope you go back. We have been 3 times and love it. Our 4th trip is next summer.
MelnQ--We never had any issues with clean toilets and we found some excellent restaurants. I hope you give it another chance too.
I know it isn't for everyone, but with 3 trips under our belt I highly recommend it for anyone that likes to get out and explore.
Food poisoning can definitely put a damper on a trip! I hope you go back. We have been 3 times and love it. Our 4th trip is next summer.MelnQ--We never had any issues with clean toilets and we found some excellent restaurants. I hope you give it another chance too.
I know it isn't for everyone, but with 3 trips under our belt I highly recommend it for anyone that likes to get out and explore.
May 26th, 2022, 08:19 AM
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Another contradicting post: Iceland in 2021 was neither expensive nor crowded (nor dirty). It was a surprise how easy, affordable, and satisfying the trip was, actually $5300 for ten days including Saga class RT airfare for 2, rental car to drive around the island, everything. I can only think of a couple accommodations that were rather on the high end. Maybe not for everyone but for most people a big thumbs up. I will say that I am glad to have missed the pre-covid crowds.
May 26th, 2022, 08:48 AM
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MMS
I think for us there’s a straight choice in winter between Norway or Iceland. The différence in winter between each country is the weather systems. Norway is less prone to storms and enjoys the protection of the continental high pressure which forms over Russia. I’ve always been a geographer at heart and built up expectations of Iceland so much….maybe that was the problem.
I think for us there’s a straight choice in winter between Norway or Iceland. The différence in winter between each country is the weather systems. Norway is less prone to storms and enjoys the protection of the continental high pressure which forms over Russia. I’ve always been a geographer at heart and built up expectations of Iceland so much….maybe that was the problem.
May 26th, 2022, 09:46 AM
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BritishCaicos--I have only been in Norway in October, so obviously cannot compare Here at home we live in an area that is sort of like Iceland in that our weather can be hard to predict, and especially in our immediate area as it is in a convergence zone. I definitely understand what you are saying in regards to built up expectations. I have done that before as well
Tom--We were also there in October 2015 and it was not crowded at all, thankfully. My husband is extremely crowd adverse, so if that were an issue we never would have gone back, much less 3 times.
Here at home we live in an area that is sort of like Iceland in that our weather can be hard to predict, and especially in our immediate area as it is in a convergence zone. I definitely understand what you are saying in regards to built up expectations. I have done that before as wellTom--We were also there in October 2015 and it was not crowded at all, thankfully. My husband is extremely crowd adverse, so if that were an issue we never would have gone back, much less 3 times.
