Iceland
Iceland Customer Reviews
We are very proud of the feedback that we get from our trips and are pleased to share reviews from past travellers to Iceland. These are kept as up-to-date as possible. Please have a read through these Iceland customer reviews to get a real sense of the kind of experience that you might have on a family trip.
Iceland is truly a land of fire and ice…
Farrington Family (with children aged 13 and 15)
Travelled Christmas / New Year 2025/26
Hi Emma. We had such a wonderful time, what an amazing country. I think all of the trips you suggested were perfectly suited to us; we loved them all. We also went to Perlan, which was fab. They have a new volcano experience, similar to Flyover Iceland, and that was very impressive. We went to Kol on NYE, near the church, a different vibe but fantastic food. Thank you for organising such a wonderful trip. We look forward to exploring other destinations with you in the future. Best wishes and Happy New Year!
Papakrivopoulou Family (with children aged 6 and 9)
Travelled Summer 2025
Dear Jess and Liddy. We had a fantastic time, thank you so much! From the car rental to all the hotels and restaurant suggestions, everything was great and went very smoothly. My daughters loved it, they hiked along mountains (much to my great surprise, even the little one of 6 years managed a 1.5-hour hike to bathe in a hot river, and we could not get her out of it afterwards, of course :), and glaciers, and got very wet by waterfalls, as did we, and we all had an amazing time! The notes about each place and the activities planned were very helpful, and the special tips and suggestions for “special” places to visit or have a picnic were great! A truly fantastic and memorable holiday for all of us :).
John Family (with children aged 8 and 11)
Travelled Summer 2025
Dear Liddy and Jess. Put simply, our trip was magic. All of the accommodation was perfect – each place charming and situated brilliantly for walking around town/seeing a waterfall/going out to eat etc. We couldn’t have asked for more. The staff were warm and welcoming and super friendly. I think the real joy for us, though, was the pace of the trip. We had the ideal amount of time to explore the places thoroughly. The balance of needing to be somewhere and doing things at our leisure was spot on.
Having pre-booked some things was a bonus. Not only did it lighten our wallet at the time of travel, but it gave us structure and the knowledge that, unless something out of our control happened, we had highlights pre-booked. Eg. Going straight to the Blue Lagoon on the way from the airport to Reykjavik. We caked our faces in face masks, we saw whales, we ate charcoal pizzas, we drove over black sand beaches, we slept under a glass roof watching the stars twinkle away, and more! From an 8-year-old to a 50-year-old – Iceland gave us all the most special memories. I can’t thank you enough for helping arrange everything.
I’m thinking about my 50th in ‘27 and want to organise a surprise trip for the four of us. More adventure. More memory making. More Stubborn Mule at its finest, please! Thanks again.
Edwards Family (with children aged 13 & 15)
Travelled Summer 2025
Liddy / Jess. Our trip to Iceland was fantastic – thank you so much for helping us sort the accommodation and activities. Everything went smoothly, and we had a lot of fun. I’ve set out some thoughts and observations. Raufarholshellir Lava Tunnels – Enjoyable and the guide was great. Glad we went for the standard tour. The longer would have been a test of endurance. Katla Ice Cave – Enjoyable, although to be honest, the cave was smaller than I was expecting. Apparently, cave size changes constantly, so it’s luck of the draw. Glacier Lagoon Rib Tour – We debated kayaking, but the rib was the right call. One of our favourite family activities – fast boat, close to wildlife and icebergs, and Diamond Beach was cool.
– Glacier Adventure Hike – Fun for the kids. I was hoping for ice caves or crevasses, but they loved the crampons and ice picks.
– Puffin Tour – Booked ourselves and highly recommend. Tractor-pulled trailer across sand and water to an island where puffins pose for selfies. Awesome experience, but not for really young children as we were close to the cliff edge. Perfect for teenagers.
– Snowmobile on Langjokull Glacier – I was nervous after reading bad reviews, but it was great fun. Long, bumpy ride to the glacier, but our small group meant we could go at a decent pace. Larger groups apparently stop every five minutes.
– Reykjadalur Guided Hike – We had to skip the valley hike because of volcanic pollution, but our guide surprised us with something even better, a hidden hot waterfall. He built a natural rock hot tub, and cooked eggs, soup and other food in the hot ground. It was a fantastic experience, and I honestly can’t recommend this team enough. Our guide, Ulfar, was charming, knowledgeable and truly authentic. He used to play ice hockey for Iceland! Indeed, it’s this kind of small, independent, off-the-beaten-path adventure that I think sets you guys apart from the big group tours. They also offer e-bikes, which would have been a fun extra activity if we had time.
– Thermal Spas – We did both Blue Lagoon and Sky Lagoon. Blue Lagoon is iconic, but Sky Lagoon wins hands down – quieter, stunning setting, and beautifully maintained (though still pricey).
Thanks again for all your help. We had an incredible time and really appreciate the effort you put in.
Conway Family (with children aged 8 and 10)
Travelled February Half Term 2025
Robyn. We had the most amazing time. The activities were great and all very age appropriate, so the kids had so much fun. Thank you! The favourites were definitely the super jeep and ice cave adventure, the horse riding and whale watching. We would have probably been happy to pay to upgrade in Reykjavik. With the car, given the volume of driving involved, I think a slightly better car and an automatic would have offered a slightly better experience. The thermal pool was good, as was the whole experience at the Blue Lagoon. Thank you, a real memory making trip which was exactly the objective! You have both been so proactive, efficient and helpful from the very start. We are very grateful!
Crow Family (with teenager aged 14)
Travelled October Half Term 2024
We really enjoyed our trip and found it to be the change we needed, i.e. going somewhere that feels nothing like normal life! In terms of activities, these were all good. A few comments: We really enjoyed whale watching from the big boat and liked being able to move around and got excellent views of the whales. Walking on the glacier was a great experience. We really liked the hike on day 6 – this was a highlight for me.
Jordanger Family (with children aged 10, 11, 14 & 15)
Travelled October Half Term 2024
Dear Robyn. We had the best holiday, thank you so much for organising everything! Everyone just keeps saying it’s their best holiday ever and already thinking we must go back. You have a very good understanding of what we’re after so I’ll definitely be in touch to plan our next adventure. Most likely for mid April time. Greece is probably a good shout, but if you have any other suggestions please shoot them across and I’ll run it by the team. Thank you again!
Naughton Family (with children aged 7, 15, 16 & 19)
Travelled Summer 2024
Hi Liddy. We had a great time in Iceland. So many highlights but the Lava Tunnel, snorkelling in Silfra and the “secret” hike to the hot spring were particular favourites. Although Fly Over Iceland was a hit with our littlest. Having our own car made a big difference (when I compare it to Norway) as it meant we could control our own schedule a bit more. Logistics all worked out very smoothly The only thing I would have done differently (and not sure if it would have been possible with a small child) is do the whale watching on a small rib boat as would have loved to get closer to the whales.
Hillman Family (with teenagers aged 14 & 15)
Travelled Summer 2024
Hi Jess and Liddy. In short, an absolutely brilliant holiday! Lots of adventures and unique experiences…we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Happy to give detailed feedback on specific activities, hotels and other things if helpful. Thanks.
Bushman Family (with child aged 12)
Travelled Summer 2024
Hi Tracy and Robyn. Thanks, we had a really great time, the weather was super which helped, most of the rain happened whilst we were driving. It was 19 degrees C when we were looking at the Geysers and Gullfoss last weekend! Places to eat – Black Crust Pizzeria in Vik. Fantastic! Something to add to your list of things people might want to do – the Lava Show in Rekyjavik or Vik. Best £100 we spent all week – they remelt lava and show how it flows and cools Lava Show in Iceland – Feel the Heat of Red-Hot Lava. We had a great time.
Jackson Family (with teenager aged 14)
Travelled Summer 2024
Dear Liddy. Thanks for following up on our Iceland trip, we had a really fantastic time. Highlights for us were whale watching (we were lucky enough to see five humpbacks and a pod of dolphins!), the snowmobile excursion and exploring Reykjavik – the hotel was so well located for walking around the central and harbour areas, and we found some super cafes and restaurants. The Blue Lagoon experience was great (we loved the face masks!) although extremely busy – if we had stayed longer I would have liked to try the newer Sky Lagoon that we heard excellent things about from other people on our excursions.
The final day we went on an incredible volcano hike – the landscape and views were truly amazing – however, it was in a very remote location and took 4-5 hours of travel each way for barely 4 hours there. Whilst the hike itself was great, I think this excursion would be best included only when people are in Iceland for a bit longer than us.
We really enjoyed the trip and appreciated all the arrangements that had been made – it was an interesting and exciting itinerary for us both.
Richings Family
Travelled Summer 2024
Hi Tracy. We had a great time away. The pre-planned activities were all very good. In particular we managed to see some whales (we’ve had three previous ‘whale watching’ trips when we didn’t see any). We also enjoyed the sea kayaking, and the guide for our day at the hot springs, Ulfar, was excellent. The hotels were all good; we particularly enjoyed the setting of the hotel at Budir.
Bunner Family (with children aged 11 & 13)
Travelled Feb Half Term 2024
Hi Liddy. We had a fantastic time! The washing machine is ON but I would be very happy to share views, photos etc. Leave it with me. Europcar gave us an upgrade to a Toyota Land Cruiser – didn’t think anything of it at the desk but soon realised this was very helpful as driving can be tricky in the snow and I liked knowing we had a car that could get through anything! Petrol station N1 does not take any of our UK cards at its self-service pumps. Buying a pre-payment card when you can from a store or plan your route so that you can fill up at a manned station.
We had a delicious Icelandic tapas meal in Reykjavík. Annoyingly I can’t remember the name but it was recommended by the hotel and has a cow outside. Not on the itinerary but D and the children went swimming in Iceland’s oldest pool. I thought they were mad but it was novel! Fun walk there and back too.
We went on an ice cave tour when our snowmobile was cancelled. This was excellent – prob my favourite part! Had a delicious pizza at the Black Crust Pizzeria in Vik afterwards.
After the geothermal bakery, we went into the spa pools at Fontana. We all liked this and made the bakery tour a bit more memorable (it’s nice – bread is delicious – just not what we expected).
Sounds obvious but Iceland is very slippery, I noticed people had crampons of the rubber variety – just wonder if others might like these.
Thanks again.
Donaldson Family (with child aged 11)
Travelled December 2023
Hi Robyn. We had an extraordinary time in Iceland and managed to make it home before the volcano too (although it would have been brilliant to see it!). Thank you for your help with the organisation. Perlan Museum – an excellent thing to do on arrival to have a broad understanding of Iceland. Likewise, Fly over Iceland which was fun. The Lava Show was brilliant and unlike anything I have seen before. Thingvellar Park is a must and the geothermal bread making was fun and educational with a brilliant guide. The Lava Centre was good and the Caves of Hella trip was excellent, again with a very knowledgeable guide.
The Secret Lagoon was ok but busy and a bit too commercial, but then we were spoiled with a geothermally heated hot tub at the hotel. Geysir hot springs and Gullfoss waterfalls were spectacular as was the Kerid Crater – a must do I would say, but we need to come back in summer to fully appreciate it as we visited in a blizzard and it was tricky to see! The lava tunnel was extraordinary and we managed to visit the geothermal energy exhibition on the way to the airport too – before seeing the northern lights from the plane!. A great, but busy trip!
Family W (with children aged 9, 11, & 13)
Travelled October Half term 2023
Hi Robyn. We had a fantastic time in Iceland. What a country and what an adventure! Loved by the whole family – thank you for your help in organising it. The itinerary worked out very well. The only thing we would change is the trip up to Snaefellsness as, although it was lovely up there, we didn’t really have enough time to appreciate it and it was too far to travel for just one day. Maybe we should have got up earlier!! We were so lucky with the weather (mostly beautiful blue skies) that our itinerary remained pretty much unchanged, apart from swapping round a couple of waterfalls to different days to allow more time to enjoy them and dropping a couple when everyone needed a rest.
On the last day before flying, we explored the Reykjanes peninsular and that was cool – including a hike to see the latest lava flows. Hard but rewarding (took a couple of hours).
Hotels – these were all great except one. They were all different, nothing fancy but all worked out well and we loved the breakfasts! Loved the Fosshotels – especially the Nupar one where we saw the northern lights!
Trips – the hike to the hot springs was a definite highlight. Absolutely wonderful! All of us rated it our top activity. Great lunch too. All the other trips were also excellent: lava cave, boat ride, Secret Lagoon, Ice cave tour, Glacier lagoon boat trip, Lava show – all very worth doing and all ages enjoyed them and learned from them. We also enjoyed the Blue Lagoon which we booked separately and loved Flyover Iceland. We did a glacier hike too (with Troll) but didn’t love this – the ice cave tour was better. Felt like we were wandering aimlessly around on a glacier finger on the hike although the boys enjoyed the pick axes!
Sights – so many wonderful sights to see. The landscape was out of this world. We’re still processing it all and showing photos to anyone who shows a slight interest.
Food – we were prepared for it to be expensive so that wasn’t a surprise. Basic repetitive options (burgers, nuggets, toasties) are available all over the place as well as the ubiquitous hotdogs and fish and chips but there are lots of good options that are more interesting too, where you can cater for discerning adults and kids.
Information – great info and helpful. I’d done a lot of research as well so having the info a bit earlier would have been better as I’d already covered much of the ground by the time I got it. Helpful as an extra though.
All in all – thank you for helping us to have an amazing holiday different from anything we’ve done before. We plan to return to explore some more.
Thanks again.
Kilvert Family (with children aged )
Travelled Half Term October 2023
Thanks, Caroline. We had an absolutely amazing holiday! It was fantastic and both the kids and us had a really good time. For the most part, everything went to plan. We were really pleased with Stubborn Mule and the service that you provided to us with the advice and flexibility in terms of itinerary planning. We are looking to organise a trip to Mexico next October half term so will be back in contact!
Notcutt Family (with teenagers aged 13 & 14)
Travelled Summer 2023
Hi Robyn. Overall, this was an absolutely superb trip. It was my third visit to Iceland, so I had an idea on what to expect, but the activities you helped to organise really boosted the holiday and the accommodation was perfect. The Snaefellsness Peninsula is a real gem; thank you so much for suggesting this area as a destination; we all loved it. It really is Iceland in a nutshell and is perfect for the start of an itinerary as it eased us all into the landscape of Iceland and whetted our appetite for the Golden Circle. We were able to easily tour the peninsula in 2 days but would have been very happy staying a third day. Sea Kayaking was a great activity and we are really pleased we detoured for it.
Snorkelling at the Silfra Fissure was a unique experience, and for us well worth it, but it is expensive to do and not too sure if all families would enjoy it. We enjoyed it as we love water activities and are used to scuba diving (in warmer water), so to experience snorkelling in glacial waters with 100% clarity was superb.
Landmannalaugar Area – One of the real highlights of our trip; this area is simply stunning and the journey there was otherworldly.
Golden Circle to Skaftafell – Lots of great waterfalls to see, but also you need to squeeze through the crowds of tourists.
Katla Ice Cave Tour was one of our top three highlights of the trip. Fantastic company, a great tour guide (Thor) who was really chatty and engaged with our teenage boys. They loved the superjeep ride into the area, and seeing where various films such as Star Wars were filmed, which were pointed out to us. The Ice Cave itself was superb; 100% natural, unlike some others which appeared as though they had been carved out for tourism. Small tour group size which was perfect.
The real highlight of the whole trip was trekking to the site of the recent volcanic eruption (thank you for organising this!!!). It was an absolute dream come true to see an eruption.
Whale-watching trip was good.
Suffice to say that we loved the holiday and really appreciated all your work in drawing together an itinerary that worked so smoothly and gave us such a wonderful experience of Iceland and fun times together as a family. We are already thinking where next!!
Dadd Family (with children aged 12 & 16)
Travelled Summer 2023
Hi Robyn, we had a great time in Iceland and all the bookings were smooth so thank you. The itinerary you provided was great (with additional suggestions) so we used that a lot when travelling to break up the journeys etc. We enjoyed it so much we think we may go back next year 🙂 and try some different parts of the island.
Ethelston Family (with children aged 11, 14 & 16)
Travelled Christmas/New Year 2022/3
Hi Charlotte. We had an amazing time thanks. A true experience! As you no doubt will have seen the weather was exciting with lots of winter storms bringing snow and very low temperatures. The lowest was -23 degrees! Tours-wise, the glacier walk was brilliant and we all loved it young and old. The tour guide was fantastic. The Blue Lagoon was also great fun and worked well to go coming off the flight…Car hire was fine. Hotel-wise, we all liked the first hotel and they were very helpful when we had to change our plans and gave us a late check-out to give us time to sort ourselves out and find somewhere else to stay. The self-catering cabin was in a lovely position.
The tips and advice on what to do each day were helpful although we did supplement this with our own research. We went to the Perlan Museum in Reykjavik which we would recommend for the observation deck and also the Whales Museum which would be particularly good for younger children. The Lava Museum was great as you suggested.
New Year’s Eve is a spectacular night. Our hotel room was on the 5th floor so we had great views of the city and the fireworks! We didn’t really appreciate how much the city shuts down on that day from about 4 pm most things were closed apart from a few restaurants. Luckily we had pre-booked one!
Hopefully, that is all helpful. Thank you for your help pre-departure we had a great time.
Family P (with four children under 12)
Travelled October Half Term 2022
Hey Liddy. The trip was AMAZING….. everyone in the family gave it 10/10. Genuinely one of my favourite holidays ever, with the bonus the family came back tighter than ever having shared amazing adventures and even epic journeys! The one thing we really wanted to see and looked out for every night was the Aurora Borealis…. And finally on the last night after a fun Viking feast including rotten shark, which the kids and I thought was delicious, they were there in all their glory.
The first hotel in Reykjavik was excellent, although the rooms a bit small. It was really fun with a cinema you can take over to watch movies and very good location, even with a huge ship dry docked outside reception! The Laundromat Cafe the best family place to eat.
Flyover Iceland was a great activity.
Whaling boat trip excellent, and the boat we were on was quite big so had a cafe that was ideal for chilly kids! We saw about 4 humpback whales which was very special.
Perlan Museum was excellent with an amazing revolving restaurant on top with views across the city.
The hotel on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula was perfect, with the most spectacular setting and super hospitable (as were all the Icelanders, all very cheery!) Excellent exploring around the immediate vicinity of the hotel and all the booked trips equally amazing. Lava caves very cool. We loved this peninsula as not at all touristy and felt much more genuine. So many of the sites with only a couple of tourists here and there. It was of course much busier in the Golden Circle.
Very cool slightly more off-road detour between Buoir and the centre of the Golden Circle, which takes in Lake Uxavatn, a hot spring, and a waterfall along the Uxahryggjavegur road. We had no snow, but would want a 4×4 if snowy!
The Laugartvatn bakery was fun mainly because of the girl hosting it, but the kids enjoyed seeing how the bread was baked and eating it afterwards. Fun looking outdoor bathing area which we didn’t use.
The usual Golden Circle attractions all impressed but much busier however all free.
Andréss was an excellent tour guide, although not a man of many words he really did take us off piste on a 45 min hike to a very secret unknown hot stream that he dammed for us so we could all bath in a 38-degree stream and rub clay into our skin and bake eggs in the water for a picnic…it was amazing!!
Travel was generally very easy, the food mostly decent and no end of things to keep kids engaged and adults busy.
Thank you to everyone involved for helping organise pretty much the perfect holiday!
Porter-Thomas Family (with children aged 15 -18)
Travelled Summer 2022
Hi Caroline. It was a fantastic trip, thank you for helping us with it. We were blown away by the scenery and the trips were all very good and well organised. The only downside was the cost which we kind of knew before we went… so we ate local instead to try and keep costs down a little.
Vinecombe Family (with a child aged 14)
Travelled October 2021
Hi Helene. We had a truly wonderful time, fresh air, pure water, and a different adventure every day. The itinerary ran very smoothly, although the boat trip was sadly cancelled due to bad weather. However, generally, we were very lucky with the weather, being dry and bright with some fantastic sunrises and sunsets. Reykjavik is a fantastic city and we were glad to have a few days there at the start rather than rush off to the Golden Circle.
The food tour was excellent and a great way to get to know some restaurants. We booked to go back to one from the tour because the fish was so good.
We also enjoyed the Blue Lagoon. We went at 9.00 am as it opened, so it was very quiet and we watched the sunrise while enjoying a glass of prosecco in the wonderful warm waters. The Perlan Museum was a real find with a planetarium show on stars etc and really good hands-on exhibits for kids, plus a great café in the glass dome roof, with views right across the city.
We were pleased to self-drive so that we could dictate our own pace rather than group tours and as soon as you left the main attractions, there was hardly a car on the road. The Foss hotels were excellent, a large family room with a tv/ sofa area plus the extra child bed and a very good breakfast buffet…. it was there that we saw the Northern Lights.
The drive to the Foss Glacier Lagoon was long and tiring after a day hiking a glacier. We split the driving so it wasn’t too bad and stopped to see the amazing black beaches on route. As the hotel is so remote, everyone eats in the restaurant, so it would have been useful to have made a reservation in advance for our first night. We ate in the bar but the menu was quite limited. You also need to book the spa facilities; huge hot tubs on the patio, sauna, etc. Wonderful after a busy day.
The ice cave tour was fantastic as was Diamond Beach with huge lumps of ice washing up on the black sand.
We split the long drive back to Reykjavik with a stop in Vik (great town), Skogafoss, and then a trip to a hydroelectric power station which did a great audio tour. Husband is an engineer and son has been studying energy in physics so popular all round!
Overall we had an amazing family adventure, probably our best short-haul trip ever. We came home totally invigorated after a difficult 18 months due to the pandemic. We would definitely like to go back in the summer months to do more walking/water sports etc,
Thank you for putting together a well-thought-out and balanced tour.
Iceland in pictures
