Talk:Iceland/Archive 2006-2012

Largest waterfall
I see "biggest waterfall" in the picture caption and "largest waterfall" elsewhere. By what standards? there are many ways to measure this.

The largest waterfall (Dettifoss) is measured by the number of liters of water that flows through.

- I believe Dettifoss is the largest waterfall in Europe (WT-en) Blacksapphire 10:14, 13 March 2010 (EST)

Keflavik Airport Sleeping
The entry mentions to not sleep in the airport but rather at a hotel nearby. When I was in Keflavik in 2007 I remember signs saying that sleeping over in the airport is prohibited. Can anyone confirm this? (WT-en) Blacksapphire 10:18, 13 March 2010 (EST)

Temperature
I'm going to include something about the average temperatures throughout the year so people can see more clearly when is the best time themselves to go. There's no where to put it in though, and I think it would be slightly rediculous to put it into its own section. Something needs to be done about the organisation and layout of this page. It's like the Icelandic phasebook in the fact it's all over the place - very un-Icelandic. (WT-en) SKC 23:32 UTC, 3 Feb 2007


 * Why not put the temperature info under "Climate"? As for the content of the article in general, you're right that it could use some work.  Iceland isn't one of the most-visited places, so the article hasn't received a lot of knowledgeable attention yet.  But please keep in mind that we have a standard format for articles about countries, so please try to stick to it as best you can. - (WT-en) Todd VerBeek 20:58, 3 February 2007 (EST)

Archives
some of the info in this article seems to have been copied from Lonely Planet guidebooks. Shouldn't we avoid this?


 * We certainly should, but what exactly are you referring to? (WT-en) Jpatokal 21:59, 7 Aug 2005 (EDT)
 * I just checked in lonely planet guides, and I must have dreamt... nothing to criticize here, move along. Sorry :) (WT-en) Antoine 8 Aug 2005

I'd like to see more on when to go. For example, tickets in May are about half the price as tickets in June. Does that mean it's unbearable in May? 66.65.127.132 23:06, 6 Feb 2006 (EST)


 * I haven't been there in May, but I can't imagine that it's "unbearable", probably just a bit cooler, about the same amount of rain. The June prices might be a "surcharge" for visitors who want to experience the round-the-clock daylight?  But you definitely want to avoid December; the weather's mild, but it's dark out. (WT-en) TVerBeek 10:30, 7 Feb 2006 (EST)


 * I've been there in April/May and the weather is pleasant (but don't forget a winter coat) but it is off season. Many places are closed or inaccessible and thus staying at guesthouses is quite cheap at this time.  It's important to contact the museums/centers you really want to visit beforehand to ensure they are open.  But, don't count on entering Interior Iceland or places that lie on the "F" routes (these roads are meant for 4 wheel drive, snow tire, high ride vehicles ONLY).

ISK vs IKR
Note that usage of the acronym ISK was abandoned in favor of IKR. --194.144.41.2 18:29, 10 June 2007 (EDT)

-- It is ISK that is the standard naming NOT IKR. - (WT-en) Blacksapphire 10:25, 13 March 2010 (EST)

Comment
We went last week of May, first week of June a few years back and it is much cheaper "out of season". The weather was fine the whole time and certainly not unbearable at all. Flew from Reykjavik to Hofn and collected hire 4x4 MPV and spent 10 very good days driving Route 1 back to Reykjavik. Excellent accommodation, food and sightseeing. Local specialities of Puffin and Guillemot very tasty.

The cost of public transportation looks scary
So please someone add a hitchhiking section. 66.91.224.203 05:46, 13 January 2008 (EST)

Cities list
The cities list should be reduced to a representative sample of no more than nine, by someone more familiar with the country than me. --(WT-en) Peter Talk 16:50, 27 March 2008 (EDT)

Smyril line
I agree with the statement that Smyril line is not entirely clear on prices (there is a comprehensive table on its website though). One should NOT call their head office in Torshavn on the Far Oer Islands (unless local residents perhaps). When I tried I was referred to their agent in my country, The Netherlands (Troll Travel). And if they even have an agent in The Netherlands, they are even more likely to have one in larger countries.

Economic crisis
Perhaps somebody should add a warning box about current economic and social conditions in Iceland? I can't say this from experience, but I do know from the news that the krona has fallen sharply and many citizens of Iceland are angry and are protesting the government.


 * That's good news for travellers, since everything's cheaper now! No warning boxes are needed until the Icelanders start rioting. (WT-en) Jpatokal 12:26, 2 December 2008 (EST)


 * Well, they are... at least we get it on the news all the time, due to our relationship with Iceland; VOA article. Still this is Iceland, and police dispersing the crowd with tear gas is huge news up there, but maybe not in other parts of the world? --(WT-en) Stefan (sertmann) Talk 12:31, 2 December 2008 (EST)


 * i have heard of Icelanders having bad feelings towards the British in light of recent events, although to me this seems a little far fetched from what i know the country and the people. how would British, and other nationalities fare at the moment in Iceland?--81.23.56.12 21:03, 2 December 2008 (EST)


 * I can't imagine Brits having anything to worry about, except maybe have an opinion on the matter forced out of them in a bar. If anything there is some real anger towards the other Nordic countries, since help from the sister nations, which was fully expected, in many Icelanders eyes was too little, too late, but still - this is hardly anything that would jeopardize anyone's personal safety. --(WT-en) Stefan (sertmann) Talk 21:19, 2 December 2008 (EST)


 * I was there just after it happened. 1) As a foreign traveler, conversion is in your favor. You will not generally see a problem for many items except that your buying power will go much further. E.g., I was recommended to rent a car for a week than ride buses (less time to write post cards, but one of the most adventurous drives in my life: oh, I was driving in winter).  2) Serious businesses affected by tourism have printed stickers adding to brochures prices in Euros (or Pounds or dollars US).  3) Sometimes, if you use a credit card, e.g., Visa, you might be asked the choice of paying in Icelandic Krone or in my case US dollars.  I gave them the benefit of US dollars. Get away from the Reykjanes peninsula.  The Google map is surprisingly poor quality. I also have former co-workers from there Akureyri who moved back there Reykjavík. 143.232.210.38 20:25, 21 September 2009 (EDT)
 * There are no social related danger in Iceland (at least minimal versions of what you would find in any culture in the west), no matter where you are from. Any hatred towards British ore Nordic citizens is over exaggerated. There is no need for any warning boxes, not in 2008 and not today. Take it from a local. (There where no riots, they were protest in 2008-2009 and were peaceful and will continue to be so) Einsiol (talk) 23:36, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

Ring road
Suggestion: It would be really helpful to have a short but complete ring road-oriented part of this article with links to the "do" and "see" paragraphs. It could take the form of a map with all cities to sleep in during the trip, places to see etc. This just in order to avoid missing something.


 * There has been an article started for Route 1-Ring Road ("Ring Road" would seem to be a better name...). It's still extremely sparse, so any help you could provide in populating some of the info would be great.  Alternatively, if you have ideas for better organizing and presenting this information please plunge forward. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 20:42, 6 March 2009 (EST)

Regions
For the amount on content we have on Iceland, and for a country as homogeneous as Iceland, I think the current hierarchy is way to find grained, can anyone more familiar with Iceland come up with a more sensible division? and maybe outline them on a map so I can make a regions map for Iceland? --(WT-en) Stefan (sertmann) Talk 08:14, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Acording to WP there are six constituencies on Iceland. If we merge the three smaller ones around Reykjavik into South we will have three regions: (WT-en) ViMy 10:24, 29 September 2009 (EDT)
 * Northwest
 * Northeast
 * South

Tour companies
I've moved these listings out of the main article as most don't comply with Project:Activity listings, and in any case they should not be listed in the country article but should instead be moved to articles for the park / town in which the company operates. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 13:18, 7 August 2009 (EDT)


 * Island Adventures, +354 481-1010, . Is a group of islanders who would love to show you around The Westman Islands.


 * Arctic Heli Skiing. Exploratory heli ski adventures, first descents, skiing all the way down to the ocean basking in the rays of the midnight sun.


 * Nature Explorer, +354 691-3900, . Adventure day tours on Super-Jeeps to all the best nature sights in Iceland, including driving on glaciers, across unbridged rivers and on the black sand beach.


 * Bergmenn Mountain Guides, +354 698 9870, . Iceland's only certified mountain guides. Specializing in ski touring,heli skiing, ice, rock and alpine climbing, trekking, hiking and private guiding in Iceland and Greenland.


 * Dive.is, +354 663-2858, . Offers scuba diving and snorkeling tours around Iceland.


 * Eskimos, +354 414-1500, . Offers a great variety of activities and action-tours.


 * Glacier jeeps, +354 478-1000, . Amazing adventure tours on Vatnajokull, biggest glacier in Europe.


 * Highlanders Adventure in Iceland, +354 568-3030, . Offers super jeep tours mainly but can arrange all your travel needs.


 * Iceland Booking Center, . Online booking of tours, accommodation and more.


 * Iceland Excursions - Gray Line Iceland, +354 540-1313, . One of the largest day tour and sightseeing operators in Iceland. They offer wide variety of day tours all year around.


 * Iceland Experience, . Escorted & independent tours to Iceland including airfare, car rental and hotel bookings.


 * Iceland Guest, +354 534-4141, . Offers online information for tourist planning vacation in Iceland.


 * Iceland Travel, +354 585-4300, . The largest tour operator in Iceland. Offering all services for Individuals and groups. Self-drive packages, overland excursions, day tours, vacation packages and more.


 * Iceland Private Tours, +354 691 3900, . Customized tours and private travel in Iceland for individuals, families and small groups who want the personal touch from a small local Icelandic travel agency.


 * Iceland Visitor, +354 511-2442, . Offers vacation packages around the country and day tours from Reykjavik.


 * Icelandic Mountain Guides, +354 587-9999, . Offers 15 years of experience and a variety of Iceland tours, hiking, ice climbing, horseback riding and cross-country skiing expeditions.


 * Icelandic Rovers, +354 567-1720, . Offers a variety of Iceland tours, Jeep tours and adventure holidays.


 * Icelandic Travel Horses,.


 * Reykjavik Excursions, +354 562-1011, . The largest day tour operator in Iceland offering a variety of day and bus tours from Reykjavik all year around.


 * Velvet Adventure Sailing, . offers the opportunity to combine exhilarating sailing aboard a comfortable yacht with the opportunity to explore, the wilderness of the Westfjords, inaccessible by road, Experience the peace and tranquillity of largely unpopulated areas.


 * West Tours +354 456-5111, . Offers tours and excursions in the West Fjords of Iceland.


 * Jeep Tours for small groups (2-4 persons). Hotel and Guesthouse overnight stays. 


 * Iceland Tour, . Complete jeep excursion around Iceland.


 * Mountain Climbing, +354 565 3855, +354 891 7074,. Offers easy hiking tours on mountains in Reykjavik vicinity. The mountains are Esja (914m), the city mountain of Reykjavik, and Helgafell (340m), the sacred town mountain of Hafnarfjörður.

Thorny spelling issue
Should Icelandic placenames on Wikivoyage use þ and ð, or should they be converted to th? How about accents? My gut feel is that we should keep accents but use "th". (WT-en) Jpatokal 08:55, 9 February 2010 (EST)


 * Having traveled in Iceland I'd recommend using the Icelandic characters, with redirects created as needed. While I am definitely on the low-knowledge side for linguistic issues, I assumed that "þ" was akin to "p" and did not immediately recognize that signs I saw for Þingvellir National Park in Iceland were the same as what Wikivoyage had previously referred to as Thingvellir National Park.  If we're going to have articles such as Ærø then it seems consistent to use Icelandic characters as well to avoid forcing travelers to do an internal translation. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 11:03, 9 February 2010 (EST)


 * I'm with Ryan on this, let's use the Icelandic characters. They're also a part of the culture and experience for the traveller. If it's causing confusion perhaps at the top of the Iceland article we want a boxed warning "This article uses placenames using Icelandic characters - for an explanation see the #Talk section"? (WT-en) Andyfarrell 11:29, 10 February 2010 (EST)


 * Also, why treat this any differently to the other Scandinavian cases eg Tromso where we use the special characters. (WT-en) Andyfarrell 11:32, 10 February 2010 (EST)


 * Because þ and ð aren't within the A-Z range and thus technically violate Project:Naming conventions. But I can definitely see the benefits of adopting them as an exception for Iceland and Faroes alone &mdash; do we have a consensus here? (WT-en) Jpatokal 04:00, 11 February 2010 (EST)


 * I actually feel the opposite from your initial statement: thorn and eth are Old English letters and thus I would accept them as (barely) part of the English language, but I think the diacritics are unnecessary. (WT-en) LtPowers 08:30, 11 February 2010 (EST)

Mmmkay, I don't see anybody opposing eth and thorn, so I guess they're in. Instead of ugly boxes, I think the neatest solution is just to put the pronunciation in parens afterwards, so we'd have "Þingvellir (Thingvellir) is..." in the first line. (WT-en) Jpatokal 01:16, 20 February 2010 (EST)

Other destinations
There are 12 listed. Can somebody who knows Iceland please get that list down to 9. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 13:00, 15 April 2010 (EDT)


 * Trimmed - Southwest Iceland is probably over-represented, but with the capital being located there it tends to be the most traveled region. Note that I'm not familiar with Vestmannaeyjar and since it's a town it might be a candidate for trimming as well. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 13:09, 15 April 2010 (EDT)


 * Thanks Ryan. This will be an interesting map with some fairly arbitrary region boundaries I think. I might need your eye on it at some stage. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 13:15, 15 April 2010 (EDT)


 * Minor change - I swapped Jökulsárlón for Vestmannaeyjar. The former is on the Ring Road and heavily visited while the latter is a town, something we wouldn't normally include as an "Other destination". -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 13:17, 15 April 2010 (EDT)

Map done and uploaded. I have winged it a bit on the region boundaries as I could find few useful references, so please do comment if they are wrong in any way. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 13:14, 16 April 2010 (EDT)


 * It looks good to me, but having only spent five weeks in Iceland it will probably take someone with more detailed knowledge of the country to point out any issues with the borders of the various regions - for example, the Interior seems fairly ambiguous from a casual traveler's point of view, basically just encompassing "the middle" of Iceland and being accessible only with some difficulty. The only other suggestion I'd have might be to include the national parks as shaded areas since they actually encompass a significant portion of the country's landmass, but that's a minor issue.  Nice work! -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 13:28, 16 April 2010 (EDT)


 * Good point on the parks. Vatnajökull is absolutely huge! I can't possibly use the usual pine tree park pattern though :). Let me try to come up with something in the "icy" theme. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 13:44, 16 April 2010 (EDT)


 * Peter used the pine trees for Gates of the Arctic National Park, so you can blame him if anyone complains about a map that shows portions of Iceland's interior in green :) -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 13:52, 16 April 2010 (EDT)


 * Personally, I don't like the huge splotches of green on region maps. It's nice to know where the parks are, but it's also nice to know where the region boundaries are, and the parks obscure that (and also make it hard to use green as the color of a region).  But maybe that's just me.  =)  (WT-en) LtPowers 15:22, 16 April 2010 (EDT)


 * It would probably be worthwhile trying to figure out if there's a way to show national parks that is less intrusive, but in this particular instance, since most visitors to Iceland are going for the scenery and nature I think a strong argument can be made that the utility of having parks displayed on the maps outweighs the potential disadvantages in readability. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 15:40, 16 April 2010 (EDT)


 * I have not forgotten this by the way, just been busy with other things. Please have a look at OSM - do you think those big icy blue marked areas are the NP's? They are not labelled as such, and I am thinking they might be permanent glaciers? Þingvellir National Park (only) is marked and labelled, but with a different pattern.
 * On LTPower's point about the problem of using green as a region colour when the park pattern is utilised, I don't agree. For the Uganda map for example, I used an all green colour scheme (four regions) plus the park pattern and I think it works clearly and elegantly. Point taken though about boundaries sometimes being obscured. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 09:29, 1 May 2010 (EDT)


 * My acronym translator is failing me - what is the OSM? For what it's worth I did a bit of searching and failed miserably trying to find maps that show the park borders - http://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/english has a flash image with the borders of Vatnajökull National Park in the header, and http://www.umhverfisraduneyti.is/media/PDF_skrar/vatnajokullkort.pdf claims to be a park map but it won't download for me.  The brown dashed line on http://english.ust.is/media/fraedsluefni/Tjodgardurinn_Snafellsjokull_EN.pdf outlines the borders for Snæfellsjökull National Park (essentially the entire western bit, minus a small triangle in the south).  I'm happy to help out further if needed - just let me know what I can do. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 11:34, 1 May 2010 (EDT)


 * OSM = OpenStreetMap http://openstreemap.org. :). The problem is finding a free source that I can copy in all good conscience and I think it is doubtful that there will be anything other than OSM.
 * This commons file shows Vatnajokull. Any idea if that is the NP or, as I suspect, is the Vatnajokull glacier? --(WT-en) Burmesedays 12:00, 1 May 2010 (EDT)


 * You forgot the second "t" in openstreetmap - having never visited that site I spent five minutes thinking I was either an idiot for not being able to find the map data, or that it was the most useless site EVER :) The blue marked areas at the actual openstreetmap site are glaciers and don't correspond to park boundaries.  Similarly, the map at commons is just the glacier and not the full park, which is in three sections including the waterfall in the north.  I'll keep looking, but for now the only image I've found remains http://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/english. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 12:22, 1 May 2010 (EDT)


 * Whoops. Sorry about that:). My only defence is that it is midnight here. I suspected as much with both maps. You would have thought that Iceland is just the sort of country that would have a map of its national parks easily and freely available. Clearly not. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 12:30, 1 May 2010 (EDT)

Confusion
we need to have ICELAND have a message that says it is not IRELAND. —The preceding comment was added by 98.185.22.173 (talk • contribs)


 * no, actually, we don't. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 12:00, 7 August 2010 (EDT)
 * why not?
 * Has anyone ever gotten the two confused? (WT-en) LtPowers 16:58, 9 August 2010 (EDT)
 * We also need a message that HOLLAND is not POLAND. --(WT-en) globe-trotter 21:50, 9 August 2010 (EDT)
 * And I always mix up the US and UK as well. --(WT-en) globe-trotter 21:50, 9 August 2010 (EDT)
 * I get Balkans and Baltics mixed up sometimes. (WT-en) LtPowers 14:57, 10 August 2010 (EDT)
 * I'm amazed that no one uttered yet how confusing Hungary and Bulgary can be at times...wait...hmm.. – (WT-en) Vidimian 17:28, 10 August 2010 (EDT)
 * I sometimes have trouble distinguishing Turkey and Chicken. --(WT-en) Peter Talk 19:12, 10 August 2010 (EDT)

Political unrest
This edit states that there is currently a great deal of political unrest in Iceland, but my understanding was that things had calmed down, and even when the banking crisis began the political situation wasn't such that it would affect travelers very much. Could anyone who knows the situation better comment? -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 01:26, 31 March 2011 (EDT)


 * When I made the edit on political unrest, what I mean to say was that it is specifically related to the ongoing economic crash in Iceland. --User:(WT-en) Abi User talk:(WT-en) Abi 19:12, 1 April 2011 (EDT)


 * I guess my concern is: what are you basing that on? Is it your own personal observation, some specific report, or something else?  My understanding is that this is no longer an issue that travelers need to be particularly concerned about, although since I haven't been in Iceland recently I can't say that definitively. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 21:49, 31 March 2011 (EDT)


 * I've reverted the original change pending further clarification. -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 12:39, 2 April 2011 (EDT)


 * I think that there is some major confusion regarding this: I didn't mean to say that the political crisis would affect travellers, I meant to say that it has caused some political uncertainty, but on a very-small scale. --User:(WT-en) Abi User talk:(WT-en) Abi 19:12, 1 April 2011 (EDT)

The costs in various items in Iceland have plunged and remain quite low, so when you are stepping out of the airplane you are entering one of the cheapest destinations in Europe not vice-verse as it is presented in the "Cost" section.

Can somebody fix this I've tried but my ip isn't registered.

Some Icelandic prices in Euros:

Beer 2.3 Euro Wine Glass 2.3 Euro 16" Pizza 8 Euro Hamburger and Fries 5 Euro Vegetable-Dish 6 Euro Cup of Coffee 1.3 Euro

Jeans:

—The preceding comment was added by 78.40.254.35 (talk • contribs)


 * Creating an account is free and easy, though you should be able to edit even without doing so. You don't need to be "registered".  (WT-en) LtPowers 14:53, 16 May 2011 (EDT)

Map of Iceland
I was looking at the map indicating regions in the Iceland article, and saw you're the one who made it. There are a few things that seem a bit strange about it to me, as a native, and I was wondering if you could change them - I'd love to do it myself, but I don't have the software (or the source file of the map). Mainly, they have to do with the towns you chose to put on there:
 * Vatneyri, I strongly suspect, is only a farm. This is an all-to-frequent type of error found on foreign-made maps made of Iceland, mistaking farms for villages. It would be more appropriate to indicate either Bíldudalur (the village where most flights to the region go) or Patreksfjörður (the biggest town on the southern West Fjords).
 * Egilstaðir are conspicuously missing from eastern Iceland, despite being the biggest town in the region and the gateway to the East Fjords for most tourists.
 * Stykkishólmur, similarly, is the main town on Snæfellsnes (the big peninsula in the western region), but instead you've put in the smaller village of Hellissandur. Nothing wrong with showing Hellissandur on the map, it's a beautiful place, but Stykkishólmur needs to be there. In addition to being the main town, it's also the place where ferries leave to cross Breiðafjörður or to visit its islands (the large island-filled bay between Snæfellsnes and the West Fjords).
 * Selfoss is by far the largest town in the South. Indicating it may not be too important for tourists, as it's not a big destination (too close to Reykjavík), but it is one of the biggest towns in the country and should thus in my opinion be there. However, despite being the main town of the South, it would actually fall within the South West region on your map. Which brings me to the last point:
 * The south west region is larger than most Icelanders would consider it. It's not inaccurate as such, and it may be useful for tourists to have it this way because it currently indicates the distance of easy day-trips from Reykjavík, but it looks a bit strange and if I were making the map, I'd move the northern border of the South West region down to the next fjord (Hvalfjörður) and the western border to the west of Þingvellir. The Western region would then cover all of Borgarfjarðarsýsla (in blue) and the Southern region would cover all of Árnessýsla (in orange), as seen on this map of Iceland's counties: I apologise if there was a discussion on this somewhere, I couldn't find one, so I thought I'd at least point it out to you.

All the best, --(WT-en) sterio 04:38, 24 July 2011 (EDT)


 * Some really excellent feedback there - thank you. This map has certainly lacked that very thing. Please see Talk:Iceland which has been the only discussion on this map to date. I will copy your message to the Talk:Iceland page as I think it better than any discussion continues there.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 06:02, 24 July 2011 (EDT)
 * On the specific missing places and a town that apparently does not exist :), I will make those changes in next day or two. Just out of interest you might wish to know that the source trace for this map was the CIA map.
 * On moving the Southwest region boundary, let me have a play with that. Very useful to get your local feedback on matters like that. Thanks again, --(WT-en) Burmesedays 06:11, 24 July 2011 (EDT)


 * Thanks for your quick reply, and for pointing out the previous discussion. Don't know why I didn't notice that one. And it's interesting to see that even the CIA has problems realizing what is and what isn't a town!
 * Regarding the regions, the boundaries of the southwest are actually much more fluid than of other regions (although the line between south and east tends to be in a constant state of flux as well). The reason is that the southwest was never considered a region unto itself until the 20th century, when Reykjavík started to extend its influence to the neighboring towns. It tends to depend on what people are referring to where they draw the line - for example the "commuter belt" can be said to reach north to Borgarnes and east to Selfoss, but with regards to jurisdictional or statistical issues these towns are clearly parts of the west and south respectively. It would be useful to get other Icelanders to comment on this, but I think the description I gave in my earlier comment is the most commonly used one. The question is just what's most useful for a Wikivoyage map. --(WT-en) sterio 10:00, 24 July 2011 (EDT)


 * You might want to take a look at this map: . It indicates the jurisdictional boundaries of district courts, which largely follow a traditional division of the country that was previously also used for constituencies. This map on the other hand, shows the current constituencies. Those borders are considerably different and generally speaking less useful, but I think it may be better to draw the east-south border on the Wikivoyage map as it is there. This is because that way Vatnajökull is all in one region, and the southern coastline is kept intact. The division in the middle of Vatnajökull exists for historical reasons: There's a large river there that wasn't bridged until the 1970s. Both of these demarcations follow the boundaries of Iceland's traditional countries (see here: ), which today have no actual political usage but are often used in daily speech.
 * All these maps come from this page on the website of the National Land Survey of Iceland: They're marked simply as "Free maps." Although that's a very vague description, I believe they're free for further use and earlier versions of those same maps have been uploaded to Wikipedia (f.ex. here for the constituencies: ).
 * Finally, one more point, since we're on the subject of this map anyway: It might be good to add the names of Breiðafjörður (between Snæfellsnes and the Westfjords) and Faxaflói (between Reykjanes, the southestern peninsula, and Snæfellsnes), as well as Vestmannaeyjar (the name of both the Islands to the south and the town on the largest one of them, you can decide which one to tag). But then again, we don't want to overcrowd the map either! --(WT-en) sterio 14:17, 24 July 2011 (EDT)


 * That's a superb map resource. I especially wish we had this one when I drew the original map! I think I am leaning towards redoing all the region boundaries based on that map. Separately, is there anything on that government site which we can use for national park boundaries?--(WT-en) Burmesedays 22:37, 24 July 2011 (EDT)


 * I would definitely not be averse to creating a new regional map based on that one. These are pretty much the "correct" lines, and I think North Iceland could definitely support two separate articles. I have a few points on that, though:
 * The south/east line is usually usually drawn where it is on that map, but as I said before that's because of transportation issues that were solved 40 years ago, and actually this line is quite far down the south coast.
 * I also think we should merge the Reykjanes and Reykjavík areas on that map. That's because this map shows court jurisdictions, where Reykjanes covers the southern half of Reykjavík's suburbs as well as the peninsual itself, while the Reykjavík district court applies to Reykjavík and the suburbs and farmland immediately to the north. Makes more sense for us to merge it into "Southwest" and then have a special article on the Reykjavík area.
 * Finally, keep the interior as a separate region. Of course it doesn't show as such on maps that indicate various jurisdictions, but for the traveller it's very distinct from the lowland areas you access it from.
 * As for national park maps, I've been searching but I'm afraid I can't find any map of all of them without going to sources which are very clearly not free to use. This map, however is from the Vatnajökull National Park website, but judging by the text on the map it seems like it's actually part of the legal document defining the outlines so that should be something we can use. The area inside the green line indicates the park (both hashed and non-hashed) - and don't forget Jökulsárgljúfur far to the north of the actual glacier! As for Snæfellsjökull National Park and Þingvellir, I couldn't find any maps I think we can use.
 * Alternatively, you could simply put the glaciers themselves on the map. This is very common for maps of Iceland, and if you see where Vatnajökull and Snæfellsjökull themselves are, you don't really need a map to show you the national park. And Þingvellir can continue to be marked by a dot. The map with the district court boundaries also shows the glaciers.--(WT-en) sterio 03:37, 25 July 2011 (EDT)

I think I have reflected just about all of that, bar dealing with the National Park/glacier issue. Please have a look at the map here and leave any further comments. There will be a bit of adjustment to region articles, breadcrumb trails etc., so it is best that we get this finalised before changing the actual map in article. Very pleased to get such valuable local input on a region map. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 03:46, 25 July 2011 (EDT)


 * Sorry about the late reply, but this is great. Misunderstood you a bit before, thought you meant splitting the north in two as well, but it doesn't really matter either way. And I'm willing to go with that east-south divide. It's the one most familiar to Icelanders, although it might seem a bit strange for people driving along the south coast. The Southwest is the right size like this. But I do reccomend drawing the glaciers, actually. You don't need to be as detailed as the maps you're using, it's ok to leave out the smaller ones, but at least Vatnajökull, Mýrdalsjökull, Eyjafjallajökull, Hofsjökull, Langjökull, Snæfellsjökull and Drangajökull should be on the map. This is particularly important for the southeast, where Vatnajökull dominates everything. --(WT-en) sterio 04:47, 26 July 2011 (EDT)
 * One other tiny thing: The boundary between the East and the North should be moved a bit further north, like it is on this map, as the boundary is right now in the middle of the northernmost of the Eastfjords - clearly in East Iceland. The only other border that is then a bit "strange" is the one between the Westfjords and North Iceland, but frankly I think the one on your map makes more sense than the traditional boundary. --(WT-en) sterio 04:56, 26 July 2011 (EDT)


 * I agree on the glaciers, and will get around to that... will try to develop a suitable pattern or perhaps do them in white and change the interior colour. Will do on the North/East boundary. Thanks again for the feedback.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 05:08, 26 July 2011 (EDT)


 * Updated with glaciers showing and north/east boundary adjusted. Any final comments please? --(WT-en) Burmesedays 06:09, 26 July 2011 (EDT)


 * No final comments. This is great work! Thanks for responding so quickly to my suggestions. Now Iceland has a very good map of its regions and all that's lacking is very good articles about those regions... --(WT-en) sterio 06:18, 26 July 2011 (EDT)


 * My pleasure. All done and articles adjusted where necessary.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 06:59, 26 July 2011 (EDT)


 * Another error on the map: Geysir and Gullfoss are swapped. Unfortunately, the map creator seems to have disappeared.--Ymblanter (talk) 20:06, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I have fixed it. --Voll (talk) 14:01, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Confusing section on Costs
This section is confusing:

Costs Getting to Iceland can be done very cheaply: Icelandair and Iceland Express both offer many excellent fares and promotions. However, as soon as one steps off the plane the situation changes quite drastically - prices in Iceland can be vastly lower than in other parts of the world due to the low value of the currency, particularly for items such as food. The difference in prices between Iceland and the rest of Northern Europe is much less; petrol is cheaper, for example.

Does it mean that getting there is cheap but it is more expensive when you get there? This is based on the "however, as soon as one steps off the plane the situation changes...". But it goes on to say that prices in Iceland can be vastly lower than in other parts of the world.

Clarification needed. Thanks! —The preceding comment was added by 99.255.195.17 (talk • contribs)


 * Yes, that is what it means. It means flying to Iceland can be cheap, but living costs in Iceland are very high. It doesn't state that prices are vastly lower than other parts of the world. It does state that some prices might be somewhat cheaper than in other Scandinavian countries, such as Norway (but these are also very expensive, among the most expensive in the world). --(WT-en) Globe-trotter 02:10, 14 November 2011 (EST)