Great Overview of Iceland As with all Exodus holidays - read the detailed itinerary carefully and you should not be disappointed if you choose to go. We had yet another superb Exodus guide in Kristian (I have probably mis-spelled that!) who was also the bus driver for the 16 in the group which I think is the maximum. Inevitably you spend a good deal of time on the bus but no surprises there, that's why I stress to read the itinerary. The views are constantly excellent and Kristian would stop regular to stretch legs and admire the view. This holiday gives a good overview of the entire island. Although a good deal of the driving is on gravel roads do not expect to be taken deep into the interior where the really rough roads are that need specialised transport. Just one night in each place but all the hotels were fine with the possible exception of the one in Akureyri. Our room was adequate but some had tiny rooms with poor showers. Some of the more remote places offer very limited menus, if you like lamb and fish you'll be okay! We had a vegan in the group who had very limited options at one place. Highlight was undoubtedly the last day when Kristian rejigged the itinerary (with our permission) so that we could trek to the Fagradalsfjall volcano, which Kristian had heard was ramping up activity. Wow! We were treated to specular displays of erupting lava and Kristian told us that in 25 years of guiding we were the first group of his to witness such a thing. Weather was mixed as you would expect in early September. Two very wet days - one with a gale - and 4 days of blue skies and flat calm, the other days being between those extremes.
Loved this tour, it’s a brilliant and beautiful country Excellent leader who had great stories. Could have engaged with us more, but as it was his first top deck and I think he was used to an older crowd maybe we were a bit of a shock to him. Only annoying thing was an optional extra - blue lagoon we had to organise ourselves (find times, book etc) our leader only stepped in when we were saying we were having trouble booking a transfer. He then helped us out, but the company (intrepid) made us then pay for this as we were told the bus was done for the tour even though we had another day to go. Just different to other top deck optional extras - which were all organised by the leader.
The trip was 6 days longs with many weather-related issues. Solvi our trip guide handled it professionally and very expeditiously. There were adequate stops, intense inactivity as described and on time. Will strongly recommend it.