Iceland

by Andrew Evans

A new, thoroughly updated edition of Bradt's award-winning Iceland guide, the most in-depth guide available, featuring honest, practical information from an author who has repeatedly visited the country over 20 years and is familiar with its language, history and culture.
Bradt's Iceland is the recipient of the Lowell Thomas Award (the highest travel writing award available in the United States) and provides more context for individual places than any other guidebook, plus frank, investigative hotel and restaurant reviews that hide nothing. Based on 20 years of personal and business travel, exploration and adventure all around the country, the guide is exhaustive, well-researched and comprehensive, featuring a year-round approach to travelling in Iceland in line with the development of the local tourist industry to offer attractions beyond the normal summer season. This latest edition covers the growing tourist the new, fully-paved road system, better routes through the interior, a wave of new hotels and resorts, more tour companies with more tour options, new adventure activities, plus day tours from port city destinations and tips for those travellers arriving by cruise ship. Natural history and wildlife experiences are featured prominently along with a focus on the outdoors and help in accessing even the most difficult corners of Iceland. Also featured is the most in-depth political and economic analysis offered by any guidebook since the turmoil of 2008. And, even though Iceland is notoriously expensive, there are now a lot more options for travellers, including more hostels, campsites, and budget airlines. This new edition also includes a foreword by the newly elected President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson. Containing information on remote offshore islands, the uninhabited interior and Reykjavik's bustling music and art scene, this remains the definitive guide.
American tourism to Iceland has skyrocketed, including winter tourism when travelers can experience dogsledding, northern lights, and ice-climbing. There are now more direct flights to Iceland from the United States than ever before, including nonstop flights from Denver, Seattle and Anchorage, Alaska.
Replete with lava flows, colossal glaciers and thundering waterfalls, Iceland is one of Europe's most unusual destinations. Iceland's tourism has exploded to over two million visitors a year. As a major tourist destination, Iceland now requires a guidebook that can lead readers away from the industrial complex and still find the authentic gems and quiet nature of this fascinating island nation.
Pure, wild, and still in the midst of its own creation, Iceland stands apart from the rest of Europe. With its moody volcanoes and massive ice caps, it has caught the world's curiosity like never before. Iceland offers visitors a chance to get close and personal with its immense nature and vivid wildlife, to experience the live volcanoes and ancient glaciers, and gape at roaring waterfalls and the drifts of obsidian sand in the country's bleak desert interior. This new edition details several new high-adventure opportunities, including multi-day hikes and ski-trips across the glacier Vatnajokull, more interior highland exploration than any other guide, and a special focus on multi-day horseback adventures with Icelandic horses.
As a contributor to National Geographic, and a frequent host for tours to Iceland, Andrew Evans explores some of the remotest corners of the country regularly. He continues to lecture about the country to high-end tour groups, as well as the National Geographic Society and Smithsonian Institution. His guide is exhaustive, allowing travellers to make informed decisions, to go anywhere and explore anything.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Guidebook, Reference

464 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2007

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't be freaked out about the part where he says you have to strip naked and wash yourself in front of a staff member at the Blue Lagoon before entering the spa - it's not true. You do need to bathe sans swimsuit, but it is in the privacy of an individual stall. Perhaps they've eased up on the rules since publication.

[Suzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit I didn't read this cover to cover. It's long, and although it has photos, it's as packed with facts as an Icelandic tour guide. (Believe me I can still quote statistics.)

Used this to plan our trip to Iceland. Very comprehensive, with two caveats. First, several of the restaurants that were listed in Reykjavik were out of business. It's not the book's fault, but you'd be well advised to call ahead (nearly everyone speaks English) or pick a location where there are several restaurants nearby just in case. Secondly, and more importantly, the places you may want to visit will have drastically different hours (or may even be closed entirely) if you visit in the off season (on the other hand... way cheaper to go off season.) If it hadn't have been for the book, I wouldn't have had a clue how to pick a hotel that suited us in Reykjavik, and I wouldn't have taken a fantastic trip up to the North of Iceland near the Arctic circle. I wouldn't have known how important it was to bring hiking boots. Because even though it may actually be sunny when you go, if you visit a waterfall, WHICH YOU WILL, the sidewalks and steps will all be slick as snot, and you will have more fun if you don't fall down. For what it's worth, if you want to go CAMPING in Iceland, this is not the guidebook for you. Also worth mentioning there aren't really any maps in the book detailed enough that you can get around with them.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough, informative, and witty, once again the Bradt guide was my trusted companion on an international adventure. Online travel sites have their place, especially for convenience, but nothing beats a well-written guidebook when venturing to points unknown, and I found the Iceland Bradt guide to excel. When my eyes were glazing over at all the 5-star and 1-star reviews for Reykjavík hotels (come on, they can't all be AMAZING! or WORST EVER!), the Bradt guide offered brief, honest appraisals along with price ranges, which made it much easier to winnow our choices. The section on cultural customs and mores cannot be oversold either. TripAdvisor won't tell you that Icelanders love to dress up for a night out, despite the freezing temps, or that punctuality is a must. The Iceland Bradt guide does, and we were the more comfortable travelers for the info. The book is also packed with historical and geographical information regarding Iceland's countless natural wonders, all of which we wanted to see if only time and money permitted.

Get thee a Bradt guide and then to Iceland!

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't remember a time when I read a travel guide with such strong language (e.g. tell me how you feel, really, about Iceland's national liquor Brennivin, p. 109) which was pretty refreshing. Overall it was both informative and amusing.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Combined with Frommers for a nearly perfect travel experience.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered the Bradt guides when travelling through South Eastern Europe - they were a lot better than any of the Lonely Planet guides. The Iceland guide is another exemplary Bradt travel guide.

[Kathee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the historical and cultural details.