Welcome to Iceland Guest - Your Online Travel Guide.

Iceland Guest is an information website for your travel to Iceland. On this site you can get all the tourist information you need for your vacation in Iceland. We hope that you will find this online travel guide useful in planning your holidays in Iceland.

About Iceland
Iceland is a refreshingly unconventional travel destination. The Icelandic nature is unspoilt, exotic and mystical with its spouting geysers, active volcanoes, tumbling waterfalls, towering mountains, vast lava plains and magical lakes. Iceland’s fjords, glaciers and highland plains present visitors with some of the most beautiful and enchanting places they will ever see, as well as a rare feeling of utter tranquillity.

For travelers on a quest for action, Iceland’s pristine nature offers great potential for outdoor activities such as snowmobiling, horse riding, cave exploring, hiking, swimming, skiing, river rafting, kayaking and mountain safaris on modified four-wheel drives, to name but a few. Iceland supports a surprisingly diverse Nordic flora and fauna and is an ideal place for ornithology enthusiasts, while also offering some of the world’s best whale watching destinations.

About Reykjavik
Reykjavík sometimes feels like a cosmopolitan capital and a tiny seaside village - all wrapped up in one. But Reykjavík has the best of both worlds; the qualities of a modern, forward-looking society complemented by a close connection to Iceland‚s beautiful and unspoilt nature.

Reykjavík’s legendary nightlife is bolstered by plentiful cultural and social happenings in addition to an abundance of first-class restaurants. The size of Reykjavik city centre is also limited enough to allow for easy navigation by foot. Reykjavík has been described as a young and daring city that is characterized by strong contrasts. Conveniently small, clean and safe, it is more or less free from the major problems that haunt many other capitals. Big city events are frequent, the winter lights festival finished recently with thousands of participants and more tourist at this time of the year than we are used to.

Jewelry and Accessories

Franch Michelsen - Laugavegur 15 Reykjavík, tel. 511 1900

Watchmarket Franch Michelsen

Franch

Four generations of quality and and good workmanship.

90th anniversary. The fourth generation, one of Frank ⁄.'s sons, RÛbert F. Michelsen (b. 1984) is now serving his apprenticeship in the family firm and plans to follow in his father's footsteps by going to Switzerland for further training in this ancient trade. The Michelsen watchmakers have kept abreast of progress through the years, adopting new tecnologies as they emerged, at the same time respecting tradition. Their dedication has earned them a solid reputation, which has been passed on from one generation of clients to another.

The Michelsen watchmakers' shop on Laugavegur, the main shopping street, offers a wide assortment of watches and jewellery, including many internationally known brands. First and foremost among these are the world-famous ROLEX watches, for which the Michelsens have been agents for almost half a century. The hallmark of Rolex has always been an unfailing insistence on professional excellence, combining the finest watchmaker craftmanship, attention to detail and specialist knowledge in order to create one of the best watch movements in the world.

The best available materials are used: 18-carat gold, platinium or high-quality steel for watch cases and superbly designed straps, wrought by master craftsmen to produce the masterpieces that carry the Rolex name. Relatively rare models are often to be found in the Michelsen shop, for instance the Rolex Daytona in steel and the Rolex Submariner Anniversary. Among other interesting watches that might be mentioned are ORIS, exquisite mechanical watches from Switzerland, many produced in numbered series. The producers of Oris take great pride in these very fine and special mechanical watches, which are based on a long tradition.

Among their best-known models is the "Oris Big Crown Original", a copy of a model made by Oris in the Second World War for the Allied Air Forces. The Michelsen watchmakers have carried Oris watches for over 60 years. In a tranquil little village deep in the Jura mountains, the heart of the Swiss watchmaking industry, the firm of AUGUSTE REYMOND has been making watches for over a century, since 1898. This family firm offers fine mechanical watches, some of them made in limited series only. True to a long-standing tradition, even today watches are assembled by hand by the specialist craftsmen of Auguste Reymond, watchmakers possessing the specialised knowledge and skills which only experience can give and which have been passed on over generations. Another make on offer in the Michelksen shop is MOVADO. The name comes from esperanto and means "in constant movement". Great ambitions and an avid acceptance of progress characterize the story of Movado, where prize-winning design and creativity in the technology of time-measuring devices has earned the firm numerous recognitions.

One of the best-known watches made by Movado is the Museum Watch, first produced in 1947 and still a great seller all over the world. Movado is also well-known in artistic circles due to the firm's cooperation with and support of many artists. HUGO BOSS and EMPORIO ARMANI are well-known among those who choose quality fashion brands. For the young there are Kenneth Cole, Diesel, Fossil and DKNY watches in an incredibly varied and colourful selection. In jewellery, the Michelsen watchmakers offer GEORG JENSEN, high- quality18-carat pieces, often set with diamonds and exquisitely designed. There is also an excellent selection of other jewellery, including numerous examples ˛designed and handcrafted by Icelandic goldsmiths and jewellers. There are no taxes on watches and jewellery in Iceland.

ALL FOREIGN TOURISTS thus enjoy the privilege of buying watches and jewellery in Iceland with a 15% tax refund. Visitors from abroad are often quite surprised to discover the advantageous price of watches and jewellery in the country and many have returned home highly satisfied after doing business with the Michelsen watchmakers and finding out that the tax trefund on their purchases even paid the cost of the trip to Iceland!

Franch Michelsen
Laugavegur 15
Reykjavík
tel. 511 1900