Iceland in Winter: Lodging

We stayed in three hotels while in Iceland and we stayed in two New York City hotels flying to and from Iceland. I summarize our experience at each of these five hotels in this post.

The "core" of our trip was scheduled via Gate 1 Travel, a company we had used for our first trip to Europe. This trip to Iceland was one of Gate 1's "independent" vacations ("6 Day Iceland's Northern Lights - Fosshotel Reykjavik"), meaning that they arranged the flights and hotels and the rest was up to us to plan and do as we saw fit. It was really less "independent" than this sounds because we purchased three "optional" excursions through Gate 1 for three of our days in Reykjavik and we had the same bus driver and same tour guide for the first two days' activities (third day was canceled due to weather and road conditions). The hotel we reserved via the Gate 1 "independent" package was the Fosshotel Reykjavik. For the days outside of (before) our Gate 1 arranged days, we reserved on our own a single night at Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon and a single night at Hilton Reykjavik Nordica. We enjoyed all three of these Iceland hotels.

 

Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon

We chose to spend a night at Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon so that we would be close to Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon for our morning ice cave tour the next morning. This was our most costly hotel night (just over $300 US), but it was really nice to be within 30 minutes driving time of that glacier lagoon, which was the rendezvous point for the ice caving tour. This hotel was used for our first night in Iceland so that we would have plenty of time to get from the airport in Keflavik to this hotel and only have a short drive to the snow caving pick-up point the next morning.

We had some inclement weather on that first day in Iceland and the road conditions were a bit sketchy at times due to blowing snow and ice on the roads, but we made it to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon with no significant issues and after visiting beautiful south Iceland locations such as Reynisfjara, Vík, and Reynisdrangar that are on the way along the Ring Road.

The dodgy weather continued to cause issues that night and power was lost from at least the glacier lagoon to the Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon. The staff at Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon made the best of the situation of having no power that night. While we did not see the power come on in our rooms the entire time we were there, we were comfortable overall. The staff arranged for complimentary "cold dinners" for all guests and this was welcome as there are extremely few dining options in that area and the "cold dinner" had more variety and was tastier than I anticipated it being.

The rooms had no light due to the power outage, so they gave guests small candles that we could use in our rooms. Together with our mobile telephones and other electronic devices that provide light, we were able to get situated and had a good night's sleep. The toilets were not flushing without power when we went to bed, but they must have connected generators during the night because the toilets started working and there was light in common areas of the hotel. In the morning, we were provided with a complimentary breakfast that included hot items. Given the normal cost of dinner and breakfast at Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon, the complimentary dinner and breakfast were significant.

It would have been nice to have power while at the Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon to experience that hotel in its full capacity. However, even in the diminished capacity of being without power, the hotel was impressive as was its staff. We really liked the room with its view toward the Ring Road and ocean. It had a particularly impressive view of the star-filled sky. With the power out all around us, it was easy to see the stars.

 

Hilton Reykjavik Nordica

After our day of ice caving and seeing some sights as we drove back along the Ring Road to Reykjavik, we checked into our first hotel in Reykjavik, the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica. This large hotel had numerous amenities, but we didn't get to experience most of them because our stay there was brief. However, we enjoyed the large room. We enjoyed the view of the Old Harbor even if we could barely make out the harbor in the darkness of the winter night and morning we spent there. This nice hotel was slightly cheaper than the Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon, but was still almost $290 US for a single night.

 

Fosshotel Reykjavik

We spent four nights at the Fosshotel Reykjavik and really enjoyed it. I don't know our cost for this hotel because it was included in the Gate 1 Travel package that bundled airfare and lodging costs. We were not able to check into our room that morning because the rooms were not available yet and advertised check-in time was not until the afternoon anyway. However, Fosshotel Reykjavik has a storage room where we could store our luggage.

We had really bad weather that morning and most tours were canceled. Fortunately, our Gate 1 tour, which was a "City Tour" of Reykjavik, was able to proceed because no roads in the city were closed.

While we waited for our city tour to start, we decided to eat breakfast at Fosshotel Reykjavik's Haust Restaurant. While we normally would not pay that price for breakfast because we don't eat large enough breakfasts to justify it, we did on that morning because it gave us somewhere comfortable to sit and something to do (eat) while we waited and we did need to have breakfast. We would have breakfast there for the next four mornings as well, but those were all included in the price of lodging, so we only paid for that first morning before check-in. The breakfast selection was large (it's a breakfast buffet) with fruits, pancakes, breads, potatoes in various forms, eggs in various forms, Icelandic yogurt-like skyr, and more.

We liked our room and the staff was friendly and helpful. One of the strongest aspects of staying at Fosshotel Reykjavik is its location. We had really close proximity to the harbor, to the Laugavegur area, to Hlemmur Mathöll (where we ate several meals), to a taxi station, and to the Höfði house.

 

Other Observations Regarding Iceland Lodging

• There is obviously far less lodging available outside of Reykjavik than there is in the greater Reykjavik area.
• Many lodging establishments in Iceland provide rooms with shared bathrooms. This was not the case for any of the hotels we stayed in: Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon, Hilton Reykjavik Nordica, and Fosshotel Reykjavik all had private bathrooms for each room.
• Tour buses typically are not allowed to pull up directly in front of hotels in Reykjavik. They typically go to designated bus stops very near the hotels. For example, bus stop #12 was immediately next door to Fosshotel Reykjavik. Most tour providers can provide instructions and maps to indicate which stop is used for each hotel. Also, the hotel staff know which bus stop the tours pick up people at from their hotel.
• Taxis typically do not queue up in front of the hotels in Reykjavik to wait for passengers, but instead should be called to come to the hotel. The Fosshotel Reykjavik was really close to a taxi stand.
• Tips are generally not expected for Icelandic housekeeping and other services, but overall Icelandic lodging costs are expensive.

 

Conclusion

All of our hotels in Iceland were warm and comfortable. This was welcome after adventure-filled days in the cold, often windy, and sometimes snowy weather.