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.

Highlights and Places in Iceland

Grindavík - and the Salt Fish Museum.

Grindavík

The Town of Grindavík

Grindavík and the Salt Fish Museum.

Staying overnight in order to enjoy a couple of visits to the Blue Lagoon is advised, and the nearby fishing community of Grindavík, on the south side of the Reykjanes peninsula, is worth a visit. This is a pleasant area to do some hiking (for all levels), followed by a refreshing swim at the local pool. Settled in the year 934, it has remained one of the main sources of salted fish in Iceland, and these days, has approximately 2500 inhabitants, most of whom base their livelihoods on fishing and fishing-related industries. Grindavík's illustrious history goes back to when it was a major trading centre during the Middle Ages in the booming Hanseatic period. It was raided by pirates many times and has been the site of many shipwrecks over the ages.

There is a statue dedicated to the families of local fishermen lost at sea, but even more poignant are the remains of two more recent shipwrecks and their memorials along a circular hike around the town. There is still an active fishing fleet and most of their catches go to the local factory that specialises in processing the salted fish for export. In the late 19th century, salted fish was to Iceland what oil is to Saudi Arabia, and indeed, the image of a golden cod was on Iceland's original coat of arms. As you stroll one of the best harbours in Iceland, you will arrive at the Saltfisksetur Íslands (Icelandic Saltfish Museum), Hafnagata 12a, (Open daily 11-18), where you can learn more about the industry that is an important element in Iceland's economic development, if not prosperity. The Museum opened in 2002 and is dedicated to the history of the salt fish, with a vividly depicted exhibition on the struggle for survival, which is a metaphor for the country as well as the salt fish industry.

Tourist Information
Saltfisksetur Íslands in Grindavík (within the Salt Fish Museum)
Hafnargata 12 A
Tel. 420 1190
Fax 420 1199
Iceland
Website: www.grindavik.is
Website: www.saltfisksetur.is