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
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