Iceland in April

Anyone been there? Any advice on what to see?

DH and I booked a 3 day trip to Iceland for the end of April. We are flying in and out of Reykjavík. We are for sure going to see the Blue Lagoon and wikitravel had some good places to see great views of the city. Still, I am trying to plan what sites we can see that might be a good day trip out of Reykjavik...are there any "must see" places that we should check out?

Thanks in advance! 

sorry, I don't know... but I definitely wanto to check it out one day!

tell all!!! we just booked a trip to iceland in mid-feb (yes, we realize there's only 6 hours of daylight)... what were the highlights?  where do you stay?  what to avoid?

DS just signed up for a school trip to Iceland next October.  It is a science/geology field trip.  They're going to visit a volcano, geothermic springs and other geological phenomenae.  Sounds like a really cool trip. 

So yes, please tell all about Iceland!! 

i was a geology major in college in the US... it's probably the reason i've always wanted to go...

i was a geology major in college in the US... it's probably the reason i've always wanted to go...

Well I hope you've been to the Four Corners in the US  then...  Probably my most favourite part of the world!!

I've only flown through Iceland, but a friend of mine from college went to Iceland for a few months one summer because he loved it there.  He did go to the volcano, and to the hot springs, but I think he loved going to the little towns the most.  He was a history major and he could find such interesting things there.  I hope that helps, it's not a lot of information, because I only got to see the pictures.   

Definately go to the thermal baths...we were there in June and it was cold at that time of the year, but the warm baths felt so good until we had to get out!    We just booked a bus tour that took us to the major highlights outside Reykjavik - geysers, waterfalls, glaciers, lava beds and the 1st parliament area.  It was an all day trip and really nice except for the short stop at a garden center (aka tourist trap).  You can check out some excursions ahead of time at www.re.is
The other thing to get there is icelandic wool - sweaters, socks, gloves, etc.  They aren't cheap, but they are really nice.  Eating out is NOT cheap either.  We were celebrating a big birthday for me so really splurged on a nice lobster dinner at a nice restaurant---@$300 for 2 of us with a bottle of wine.  On the other end of the spectrum, we ate at Subway sandwich shop - had one 12" sandwich that we split and 2 drinks for over $20!  So if your hotel includes breakfast, make sure and fill up!!  As for hotels, we stayed at Hotel Cabin since it was part of our package with Icelandair.  It was pricey like everything else, and very tiny rooms - but we just needed a place to sleep since we were there to see Iceland, not a hotel.  We went to Blue Lagoon a couple of times and really enjoyed the experiences.  Another small thing that might interest you to see is the meeting place where Gorbechov and Reagan met to discuss the dissolution of the USSR located in Reykavik.  It's really easy to get around the city and there are buses if you don't want to walk.  Most hotels have travel counters to set up tours.  Our desk attentants did the calling to book for us as well as called restaurants for reservations which made it convenient since we didn't speak the local language.
The airport offered some decent shopping for souvenirs - it in fact was the cheapest place we found tee shirts and small stuff for family and friends.  As for the tax refund...not sure if it's worth the hassle.  We submitted the paperwork and never got it credited to our account like they said it would. 
Just remember to bring your thermals and lots of layers of clothing since it will be cold!  Enjoy!!!

It's funny, the description of DS's school trip was like a check list.  Seeing the Northern Lights, visiting lava beds, geothermic springs, waterfalls, etc..

When we added them up, we realised that he had seen all of them throughout our travels.  But it's all in Iceland - which makes it a great opportunity.  I love my kids' schools!

Iceland-Reykjavik-was a wonderful place to visit, and might be one of my favorite trips so far!

An important thing we realized is that the cheapest/easiest way to get to the city from the airport is to take the FlyBus. http://www.flybus.isThe company seems to have a monopoly in the area, and also use the name Reykjavik Exursions for their other trips. They will drop you off right at your hotel and/or the main bus station. They stop at the Blue Lagoon (absolute must-see!!) during the trip to/from the airport, but only certain trips during the day. You can save a lot of money that way, because otherwise you'll have to pay a separate bus trip with them to the Lagoon. However, we did it separate because that way we had more than 2 hours at the Blue Lagoon, which was really great! We stayed in there for 4 hours or so!

On all of our travels, we usually don't do any tour groups or anything and just do it alone. However, because of some of the driving warnings (small icy unmarked roads) we decided to just relax and have someone drive us around, the excursion company again, so we joined one of those tour bus groups for a day that took us around the Golden Circle-which includes Geysir, Gulfoss Falls, and all of the sites that Debinator mentioned in a previous post. It was well worth it! I know there are tours by boat to see Puffins, whale watching, etc. too.

The National Museum of Iceland was really nice. We also made it over to the zoo because I really wanted to see the Icelandic horses up close. It was a simple and small zoo, but a nice venture if you have some extra time.

Hot dogs are a major quick food over there, so that is a nice and cheap lunch to grab while your out. We were also surprised how many people were eating ice-cream

The weather in April was so crazy! It literally rained, snowed, hailed, and was so sunny I took my jacket off all in the same day! So dressing in layers is good advice!

I don't remember the sunlight ever being a problem at that time. We couldn't see the Northern Lights because of the time of year though.

We just stayed at a very simple and small B&B. If you have any other specific questions, feel free to PM me! 

Ooh I love iceland.

The Blue Lagoon is amazing.  I really want to go back.

We did a bus tour of geysers, waterfalls etc which was really nice.  maybe something like that?