What is it like to travel to Iceland with Polar Lands: opinions

We have always been lovers of organizing our trips on our own and go hiring the excursions that interest us most in each place.

But it is true that in certain destinations travel with an agency in a organized trip makes everything easier.

To get to know Rome, Madrid, Paris or many of the big cities, the truth is that an agency does not give us much beyond the guide who explains what you are seeing.

But when the trip has complications due to infrastructure, or because they are adventure trips in nature, there are times when it is preferable travel with agency.

Travel to Iceland, on your own or with an agency

Last year already We travel to Greenland, a destination in which it is almost impossible travel on your own and which has certain similarities with Iceland.

In this last case we have had the opportunity to participate in a organized trip to Iceland with Polar Lands a specialized agency in this type of nature destinations, during which we toured the south iceland.

For those of you who don't know her, Polar Lands is probably the best adventure travel agency for arctic destinations.

It is the company founded by Ramon Larramendi, one of the most prestigious Arctic explorers in the world, to which he has transferred all his experience in these destinations.

As the Greenland experience It was amazing in every way, this time when we were planning travel to Iceland in winter It quickly occurred to us to repeat with them.

Here you can see a video of our trip through Iceland where we got to know the most important part of the country, with the natural corners and landscapes of the Golden Circle and the famous Blue Lagoon.

For those of you who are curious, we are going to explain to you what the trip we took is like and we will give you our opinion on experience of traveling to Iceland with Polar Lands.

Organized trip to Iceland with Polar Lands

Iceland It is a truly wild island, where the center of the country is uninhabited, so the places to see are all in the areas near the coast.

You have to know that for tour all of Iceland you need a minimum of 10 days in order to make a circular route around the island.

Our trip was at the beginning of winter, which posed certain difficulties.

In winter The north of the island is not easy to navigate because of the frost and because the roads tend to be closed quite frequently.

That is why when choosing between all the trips offered Polar Lands, and taking into account the date we were traveling, we decided to make a 7 day tour to focus in depth on the south of the island.

In reality, the south of Iceland is where most of the places in Iceland that you should not miss, such as its famous waterfalls, glaciers and volcanoes, making it ideal for a first trip.

Here we leave you an article with The 15 essential visits to do when you travel to Iceland

How and where to sleep in Iceland

Usually the accommodation It is usually something very important when traveling, but in Iceland The theme is a little different from most of the big destinations in the world.

The majority of Iceland's population lives in Reykjavik, so in the capital there is no problem with accommodation, but in the rest of the island things change a lot.

That's one reason why Iceland It is one of the destinations in which it is more common to travel by motorhome or in large vans to tour the country.

It is not a country very prepared for tourism today, despite the fact that the number of accommodations increases every year.

In certain areas of Iceland find a hotel With your own restaurant it is very complicated, especially if you travel during high season.

That's why trips with Polar Lands They basically offer two modalities.

The first is what they call comfort, in which the trip is somewhat more expensive, but you always stay in a hotel and have dinner in restaurants, and another option, which we did, is the adventure travel.

Sleep in a guest house in Iceland

It is not that you travel on an adventure to see where you sleep and eat, but rather it is a trip in which you sleep in guest houses And we prepared dinner as a group, like a trip with friends.

The guide who accompanies you on the trip is responsible for purchasing food and it is already included in the price, but when it comes to making dinner, everyone helps.

In our case we love this format, because it is a way to meet people and share many more experiences.

In the accommodations they usually share rooms, and the good thing about them is that they usually sleep in cabins o houses in the middle of nature, where at night, if you travel in winter, you can perfectly see the northern lights.

Travel with an agency guide through Iceland

El tour guide that accompanies you is usually one of the most important parts in the travel with agencies.

In this regard, the two times we have traveled with Polar Landsboth in Greenland as in Iceland, the guides have been incredible.

At the end of the trip they end up becoming friends since you spend the whole day with them and they are true experts in the country.

Furthermore, they are usually all nature lovers, since they are usually biologists, speleologists, climbers or any discipline related to the aforementioned nature.

They are the ones in charge of leading the group in the 4×4 vans and to carry all the necessary material for the activities as glacier trekking.

In this it doesn't matter if you choose comfort or adventure trip, the guides are always top.

In practice, during the trip you meet several groups from the same agency like yours, in which, normally, we are separated according to the languages ​​we each speak, and the languages ​​spoken by the guides.

on our journey the group was 8 people, where five of us were Spanish, two Portuguese and one Italian, and we all spoke Spanish and English, so the group was very varied and enriching.

The guide spoke all four languages, Spanish, English, Portuguese and Italian.

What are the meals like on the Adventure trip?

As we have told you, the guides are the ones in charge of the meals, helped by the rest of the group.

In the mornings, breakfasts are made in the accommodations, which are usually prepared with large kitchens to accommodate several groups.

The breakfast They usually include the usual foods in all countries, but in reality you can then talk to the guide to choose what everyone likes the most.

The meals They are usually quite agreed upon by everyone.

At noon we usually eat things that we prepare as a group at night, which usually includes a hot soup to help temper the body from the temperatures, and then some companion.

They are usually cold potato salads with typical Icelandic sausages o pasta or legume salads: sandwiches.

Actually this part depends a lot on the guide, and in our case the guide Jacks He worked a lot.

He said that he worked on his meals because that was his way of life and it was also what he ate, and since he liked to have a balanced meal, in practice that meant that we always had a very varied menu.

At night, as they were dinners at guest houses, the meals were like those you can prepare at home, with meat, fish and vegetables.

In short, an adventure trip through Iceland with Tierras Polares is a very special experience that you will never forget.