Iceland Tours for Seniors

First of all, Iceland is strikingly beautiful. We went from Reykjavík along the southern coast, then north along eastern Iceland, all the way north to Akureyri. We snorkeled in two-degree water, hiked with an ice pick in hand on a glacier, and saw countless whales and waterfalls. It was magnificent! The trip was well planned and fabulously executed. Thanks to our Zicasso travel team, it was stress-free.

The trip was full of ups and downs:

The ups:

1. Our guide in the South was phenomenal. He was attentive, knowledgeable, patient and experienced. We had a great time from ice-climbing, to glacier hiking, to Northern light viewing. 

2. The location of our hotel in Akureyri is fantastic. 

3.Our experience designer, was prompt to put together alternative plans for us when we were stuck in the storm in Aukureyri for two days. She was responsive, available, and stayed up late to figure things out for us. 

4. We love having spent some time in the North -- it's much less touristy than the South. 

The downs:

1. Lots of activities cancelled due to the storm / weather (including ice-fishing/ and caving). We did not expect this level of weather dependency and should we have known, we would have picked another time to come. 

2. There was a dinner party arranged for us -- which was appreciated but the quality of the party was so-so. The activities was not the most entertaining and the food was mediocre. Perhaps dinner at restaurants such as Dill would have been more interesting. The room at the hotel in Reykjavik was too small for us - we couldn't even open our luggages fully. 

3. There was a last-minute cancellation by the company in Aukureyri and we were not informed, which could mostly be the local company's fault rather than our travel company. 

4. The folder which our travel agency compiled, while useful, was quite bulky, maybe it would have been more practical putting together a wallet-size contact info list for us. 

Our guide was great.  He met us at Keflavik Airport at 4:50 AM in his 17 passenger mini-bus, showed us a lavafield on our way to the Blue Lagoon, and took us to a very nice breakfast at a small café in Grindavik, before taking us to our hotel in Reykjavik which had a great fish and chip on the menu.

Iceland was a great trip and our guide was a great guide for it.  We were a family of 5, ages 16 to 85, and Our guide was able to accommodate all of us.  My wife and mom were not up for the more challenging hikes, so he got them to lunch and a museum.  My son wanted to get the morning light for his camera, so he was in the lobby on two mornings at 3 AM.  My other son forgot his toiletries bag in one of the 8 hotels we stayed in, so our guide coordinated with his niece to have the bag delivered to us before we got on the plane. Lastly, I have an interest in the sagas, Njal's Saga in particular, so our guide got me to the site of the Njal burning (which was not easy), the saga museum, and various landmarks along the way.  Also, waterfalls, a hike on the glacier, a hike in the glacier, in a cave, Thingvellir, Thorsmork, Geysir, Guilfoss, Reynisfjara, Jokulsarlon, and more.  Stops at Bonus, souvenirs, the new Iceland Costco?  No problem!

It was also a great help to have him as a driver.  If you want to see the scenery, you're going to have to drive out, in a country on the metric system, where you might not see another car for an hour.  Our drivers knew which one lane road or dirt road was the right road, and that is  tricky if you're not a native.