It depends!
The smaller vehicles on 33″ and 35″ are easier to use than the more modified trucks on 38″ and 44″ tiers. The more modified trucks usually are more difficult to drive due to the nature of the trucks. But the smaller vehicles are much more easy to drive and navigate. They are harder to drive than smaller or unmodified trucks, but the tires are better and easier to steer with.
The answer is no to that question.
But with 4×4 car you can experience place that you can not on small 2×4. Even though the highlands are open for regular cars, the roads are graval roads, and it is not very comfortable to travel in a small car on those roads.
Many car rental companies in Iceland have been offering so called Ash insurance. In our opinion this is some thing that is done in order to get more money from tourists that do not know the situation in Iceland and want to be sure of them self. Ash insurance is some thing that would have been useful in Iceland during the volcano activity last year, if, and only if you were so unfortunate to be located near the volcano! So if you are offered ash insurance for your car, at least think about the changes of your car getting damaged by ash that was problem in Iceland last year.
Car rental is generally expensive in Iceland, but there are many options how to get cheap rentals. For example Nicecars that offer not only cheap rentals, but also self drive tours. You will rent then modified 4×4 on big wheels (38″ or about 1 meter diameter), you will drive on your own but communicate with convoy truck on radio. The operator will guide through rough rivers and snow, and make sure come home safe.
Other rentals that offer cheap rentals are for example sadcars.is.
LazyTown is creation of Magnus Scheving is the creator of LazyTown. The show has been very popular around the world, but even though it had good success the creator had to big plans so the show stranded financially even if it was immensely popular.
The show has now been bought by Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) Europe, owns children’s television brands including Cartoon Network, Boomerang and the brand-new Cartoonito channel. The show will still be produced in Iceland and Magnus will still be in charge (maybe not financially though).
The annual Icelandic sheep and horse round up, known as réttir, is by now finished in all parts of Iceland.
Réttir is one of the highlights of the Icelandic autumn season, drawing visitors from all over the world to witness the round up of sheep and horses that have grazed wild for the summer. The round up is still conducted on horseback and the animals are herded into a corral where the sorting takes place. This traditional event is a highly festive occasion, with dances and other communal festivities an integral part of the celebrations.
At spring sheep are driven to the highlands where they go around wild for the summer period, in the fall it is time to collect them back for housing. Each sheep is market with the farm it belongs to, and part of rettir is the farmers go around in and look for their own sheep. Then they take them back to their own farms, either with car or by herding them on horse back.
During réttir there are festivities and tradition of singing and drinking.
The Réttir are very popular by tourists and give great option for photographing real Icelandic people at their best.
Iceland is not densely populated, but there is big difference between areas of the country. This gives you idea of where the most and fewest people live in Iceland.
| Icelandic name | Translation | Capital | ISO 3166-2 | Population (01/07/2008) |
Area (km²) |
Density (inhab/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austurland | Is | Egilsstaðir | IS-7 | 12 786 | 22 721 | 0.61 |
| Höfuðborgarsvæði | The capital region | Reykjavik | IS-1 | 200 969 | 1 062 | 189.24 |
| Norðurland eystra | Northeast | Akureyri | IS-6 | 28 925 | 21 968 | 1.32 |
| Norðurland vestra | Northwest | Sauðárkrókur | IS-5 | 7 392 | 12 737 | 0.58 |
| Suðurland | South | Selfoss | IS-8 | 23 972 | 24 526 | 0.98 |
| Suðurnes | Southern peninsula | Keflavík | IS-2 | 21 431 | 829 | 25,85 |
| Westfjords | West Fjords | Ísafjörður | IS-4 | 7 279 | 9 409 | 0.77 |
| Vesturland | West | Borgarnes | IS-3 | 15 601 | 9 554 | 1.63 |
| Iceland | 319-355 | 102 928 | 3.1 |
| Good Day / Good Morning | Góðan dag | |
| Good Evening | Gott kvöld | |
| Good Night | Góða nótt | |
| Do you speak English? | Talarðu ensku? | |
| I only speak English | Ég tala bara ensku | |
| Nice to meet you | Gleður mig að kynnast þér | |
| See you later! | Sjáumst síðar! | |
| I don’t know | Ég veit ekki | |
| How are you? | Hvernig gengur? | |
| What is your name? | Hvað heitir þú? | |
| My name is … | Ég heiti … | |
| Where are you from? | Hvaðan ertu? | |
| I am from … | Ég er frá … | |
| What time is it? | Hvað er klukkan? | |
| You are very beautiful | Þú ert mjög falleg | |
| You are very funny | Þú ert mjog fyndin(n) | |
| You are an angel falled to earth | Þú ert engill af himni ofan | |
| I have never seen a woman more lovely | Ég hef aldrei seð yndislegri konu | |
| How many sisters do you have? | Hversu margar systur áttu? | |
| Could your father beat-me up? | Getur pabbi þinn lúbarið mig? | |
| Can you help me with my Icelandic? | Geturðu hjálpað mér með íslenskuna mína? | |
| I am lost | Ég er týnd(ur) | |
| Where is the hospital? | Hvar er sjúkrahús? | |
| Where can I exchange money? | Hvar get ég skipt peningum? | |
| Where is a telephone? | Hvar er sími? | |
| Where is the bathroom? | Hvar er salernið? | |
| Where is the general store? | Hvar er Fjarðarkaup? | |
| Where is a clothing store? | Hvar er fataverslun? | |
| I am allergic to fish | Ég hef ofnæmi fyrir fiski | |
| I am looking for a place to eat | Ég er að leita að matsölustað | |
| What is this? | Hvað er þetta? | |
| I would like … | Ég ætla að fá … | |
| I would like more | Ég myndi vilja meira | |
| Could I have an ashtray? | Gæti ég fengið öskubakka? | |
| What do you recommend? | Með hverju mælir þú? | |
| How much for that? | Hvað kostar þetta? | |
| I like that | Þetta líkar mér | |
| I don’t like that | Mér líkar þetta ekki | |
| I don’t understand | Ég skil ekki | |
| Where is the …? | Hvar er …? | |
| I need to send a fax | Ég þarf að senda fax | |
| Do Icelanders “haggle”? | Prútta Íslendingar? | |
| Where can I get American food? | Hvar get ég fengið bandarískan mat? | |
| Can you take us to the airport? | Geturðu farið með okkur á flugvöllinn? | |
| Can you take us to our hotel? | Geturðu keyrt okkur á hótelið okkar? | |
| Where is a hotel? | Hvar er hótel? | |
| Where are you staying? | Hvar gistir þú? | |
| I would like a room please | Get ég leigt herbergi? | |
| I need to buy a map | Ég þarf að kaupa kort |
The Imagine Peace Tower is a work of art conceived by the legendary artist, musician and peace advocate Yoko Ono as a beacon to world peace.
The tower is a light tower and is composed of a number of individual lights that join together to form a single beam. Buried underneath the light tower are upward of 500,000 written wishes that Ono gathered over the years in another project, called “Wish Trees”.
Six of the lights travel through corridors across a platform that surrounds the well and are reflected upwards to the sky with mirrors. The strength, intensity and brilliance of the light tower continually changes as the particles in the air fluctuate with the prevailing weather and atmospheric conditions unique to Iceland.
Every year the Imagine Peace Tower will emerge between October 9th (Lennon’s birthday) and December 8th (the day of his death). In addition the Imagine Peace Tower will emanate on New Year’s Eve, during the first week of spring and on some rare special occasions agreed on by the artist and the City of Reykjavík.
The tower is very well visible during dark evenings in Reykjavik.
McDonald’s opened in Reykjavik in 1993 but closed in 2008 after the financial collapse in Iceland. Iceland is therefore one of the few European countries, including Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, without a McDonald’s.
The holder of the McDonald’s franchise in Iceland, said the rising cost of importing ingredients and no sign of economic recovery meant the business was no longer financially viable, so they decided to close.
On the other hand the restaurants where not closed, they still sell McDonald’s like food, just with different names. It is kind of like in the movie “Coming to America”, well only with out the Golden Arcs. So if you thrive for McDonald’s like burger you can have a visit.
There are plenty of burger joints in Iceland where you can get better burgers. For one there is the one called American Style and other Hamborgarabúllan (the hamburger joint). In most urban area there is at least one of these joints, at least at the nearest petrol station.