| Picture: Image Bank |
Winter may be wonderful, but it’s in summer when
Iceland really comes to life. Batteries are recharged after the
long, dark nights and the bright days of summer go on forever.
Flowers bloom, whales and birds migrate, and Reykjavik is ready to
party.
Iceland’s capital pulsates with festivals, art, music and
café culture in summer, while beyond the city the open road
beckons. There’s plenty of scope to sell Iceland as an
alternative to Europe’s usual summer resorts, and for
sunseekers there’s one big draw – the sun’s out
almost 24 hours a day.
Taber Holidays sales manager Terry Shaw said: “Iceland has
had some great summers of late, with temperatures up into the 70Fs.
Reykjavik is much livelier and people are also keen to explore
further afield. In summer you don’t need a four-wheel-drive
vehicle to get up into the highlands and explore the
glaciers.”
Icelandholidays.com owner Gareth Gee also rates Iceland as a great
summer destination.
He said: “In summer, visitors head east and north out of
Reykjavik. As a result, clients tend to book longer holidays. Seven
and 14-day flydrive packages are popular.”
The best way to start the day in Reykjavik is with an energising
soak in a hot pool. Most hotels have them, but better still are the
city’s outdoor geothermal pools. For a couple of pounds you
get a towel and access to a nicely heated pool.
Clients might even manage a couple of lengths before climbing into
one of the adjacent hot tubs, each one set to a different
temperature. These are perfect places in which to bask and breathe
the fresh air, as well as get to know some of the locals who visit
the pools en route to the office.
After breakfast, it’s less than an hour’s drive out of
Reykjavik to one of Iceland’s most important and beautiful
historical sites. For more than 800 years until 1798, Thingvellir
was home to the country’s annual parliament, the Althingi.
There’s a new visitor centre by the car park, from which the
path leads down along a vast fissure caused by the slow drifting
apart of the American and Eurasian tectonic plates.
The parliament site itself is marked only by a flag, but it affords
a tremendous atmosphere. Enjoy a view across Thingvellir Lake
– Iceland’s biggest – to the Langjokull Glacier
shimmering beyond. With its gentle hills and cracked lava the
landscape is a geologist’s dream, and has inspired
generations of Icelandic painters.
The perfect summer afternoon in Iceland can be spent renting a
bicycle and heading for the beach. The best way to get there is to
follow the walkers, joggers, cyclists and roller-bladers out along
the path that skirts the waterfront from downtown Reykjavik. A
15-minute ride takes visitors to Nautholsvik, the city’s
man-made beach. It is cut off from the icy Atlantic by a dyke,
creating a lagoon that’s heated to 20C by run-off water from
Reykjavik’s geothermal central heating system. It may be
close to the Arctic Circle but in summer the beach is still the
place to be seen, sunbathing, swimming, playing volleyball or
sharing a picnic.
The light decreases in the evenings in Iceland, but in summer it
never gets dark; instead the sky and water turn a dozen gentle
shades of pink. Full of energy after a healthy day outdoors,
clients should take stroll along Laugavegur, a street of shops and
bars including the bar Kafibarinn, part-owned by Blur’s Damon
Albarn and a hangout of bohemian celebs.
After couple of aperitifs, head to one of dozens of restaurants for
a meal of fish or wild lamb — the more adventurous can try
puffin or whalemeat.
Reykjavik is a very compact city with its restaurants, cafés,
bars and nightlife all downtown. For live music try Grand Rokk or
Gaukura og Stong.
After midnight the party starts to get livelier. NASA is still the
most popular nightclub, although Pravda and Café Solon are
giving it a run for its money. It’s easy to be caught off
guard when your watch tells you it’s the small hours but you
can see pink daylight outside.
So you might as well go with the flow and stroll on to the next
place.
