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.
The number of bills of sale in the capital region rose by about 30 percent in April 2007 compared to April 2006. Experts believe the increase can be attributed to optimistic Icelandic consumers and easier financing.
According to financial experts at Kaupthing Bank, many are inspired to invest in property due to easy access to loans in foreign currencies, which now total ISK 103 billion (USD 1,6 billion, EUR 1,2 billion) across Iceland, about 14 percent of the total debt of Icelandic families, ruv.is reports.
The total property sale turnover increased by 43.5 percent between April 2006 and April 2007 – from ISK 17 billion (USD 265 million, EUR 195 million) in April last year to ISK 24.3 billion (USD 378 million, EUR 279 million) last month.
Experts have cast doubt on whether the real estate market in the capital region can continue to do business at such a high rate. Construction and apartment sales have surpassed demand as compared to population growth.
Thus experts have predicted a recession in the market in the near future even though nothing indicates that will happen.
Source: Iceland Review (www.icelandreview.com).