MAIN Travel Tourist Attractions Iceland

Planning a vacation holiday in Iceland is a bit more complex than planning for most other travel destinations. If you want to see the northern lights or the midnight sun you'll need to plan to travel when those natural attractions are available later in the year.

The weather will also dictate when you go. Although spa swimming and indoor pools are available throughout the winter, other outdoor activities can be curtailed by short days and frigid nights.

Birding, hiking and cycling tours are late Spring through early Fall adventures in Iceland.

The waterfalls in Iceland are part of the culture as well as the scenery. Do you want to visit when they are running wildly summer, or see them in their breathtakingly frozen beauty - as they are suspended in mid air by the hand of winter?

The late spring and summer landscape is a sea of green to match the Irish countryside with groups of wildflowers sprinkled liberally to provide splashes of brilliant color. Icelandic horses and sheep graze peacefully in the long hours of sunlight. As the days grow shorter the greens withdraw and leave a stunning lava based rock world. The sheep move into warmer homes, but the horse braves the cold and finds grazing in the golden and brown rock cover.

Birder watchers who visit in May or June will find a paradise of breeding and migrating birds with many rare species thrown off course and wandering into the welcome nooks of the Icelandic coast. Hiking on the glaciers is more comfortable in the warmer longer daylight of the spring and summer months. Whale watching runs year round, but warmer weather in May through September provides a better chance of catching sight of one of these huge marine mammals.

Playing golf under the midnight sun is a once in a lifetime experience and the Arctic Open Masters Tournament in at the Akureyri Golf club is the place to see it. The northernmost golf course in the world hosts this event annually. If you'd like to play on your own, all of Iceland's golf courses are open for business.

So, before you plan when to go, first decide what you really want to do and see. The season dictates the scenery and activities in Iceland much more than in most other travel destinations. You may find yourself choosing what many tourists do...making a trip to Iceland in every season...

The Virtual Tourist - Iceland Travel Guide - Comments and suggestions from others who have been to Iceland offer good suggestions on things to do, places to eat and sleep plus plenty of tips on packing and what to watch out for. Not all of the suggestions will be of interest depending on whether you are traveling on a youth hostel or five star hotel budget, but the honest opinions are an excellent source of info.

Iceland on the Web - This is a very well put together directory of web sites and informative short articles dealing with Iceland history, culture and travel. The links are well maintained and cover just about any category you are looking for infomation on...

When to Go to Iceland - Fodor's recommends a visit between May and mid-November with a good explanation of why this is so. You'll also find plenty of other good information about travel in Iceland on their site.

Who Offers Iceland... - The Iceland Tourist Board has collected a listing of tour operators, "known to have Iceland specialists and extensive knowledge about Iceland be that for; group or independent travel; leisure or special interest travel, activity tours or custom-designed arrangements." Also check their Practical Information section...

Travels in 19th Century Iceland - If you'd like to learn more about Iceland before you start your travels, check out this site. Ed Jackson has put together text, original illustrations and modern day photographs related to travels in Iceland between 1750 and 1914 that are, incredibly, very helpful for the modern day traveler. You may also want to take a look at his other collections of photos and drawings on The Very Best of Iceland.