Another amazing video of Iceland's incredible nature

Iceland's nature is incredible and popular to photograph.

Here is a nice example - click here.

Christmas in Iceland

Christmas is a wonderful time in Iceland in spite of the short daylight hours. Reykjavik Bike Tours offers the Classic Reykjavik Bike Tour some days during the holidays. There is some snow and ice on the ground but die-hard cyclists will find the ride even more fun than usual.

We've received lots of Christmas greetings from various bicycle associations and companies.

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Amazing Time Lapse Photographs from Iceland

Elemental Iceland from Stian Rekdal on Vimeo.

Reykjavik Bike Tours - photo tours in Iceland - please enquire.

Segway in Reykjavik

Reykjavik Segway Tours started in March 2013

Reykjavik Segway Tours started in March 2013 and offers scheduled and private tours to the highlights of Reykjavik's attractions. Segways are new in town and are set to become very popular with locals and tourists alike.

I tried a Segway recently and I was blown away. Try it yourself if you get the opportunity.

Public Holidays in Iceland in 2013

Public holidays in Iceland 2013

Banks, shops and several other services such as public bus service may be either closed on public holidays, and/or the hours of operation reduced. The Blue lagoon is open every day of the year but has limited opening hours on some public holidays. Scheduled sightseeing tours are usually not affected by public holidays.

 

New Year‘s Day 1 January (Nýjársdagur)

Palm Sunday 24 March (Pálmasunnudagur)

Maundy Thursday 28 March (Skírdagur)

Good Friday 29 March (Föstudagurinn langi)

Easter Sunday 31 March (Páskadagur)

Easter Monday 1 April (Annar í páskum)

Labour Day 1 May (Verkalýðsdagurinn)

Ascension Day 9 May (Uppstigningardagur)

Pentecost / Whitsun 19 May (Hvítasunnudagur)

Pentecost / Whitsun Monday 20 May (Annar í hvítasunnu)

National Day of Iceland 17 June (Lýðveldisdagurinn)

Bank Holiday 5 August (Frídagur verslunarmanna)

Christmas Eve 23 December (Aðfangadagur)

Christmas Day 24December (Jóladagur)

St. Stephen‘s Day 25 December (Annar í jólum)

New Year‘s Eve 31 December (Gamlársdagur)

Tina Dico loves Iceland's south coast

Singer Tina Dico from Denmark loves the south cost of Iceland. Watch Skogafoss waterfall, lava fields covered with moss, national road number one and some rusted old trucks.

Tom Cruise Oblivion

Tom Cruise's new film the Oblivion screens in theatres in 2013. Parts of it was filmed in the amazing landscape in Iceland.

Two landmarks from the northern part of Iceland can be identified in the film:

 1 – Hrossaborg crater. Looks like an amphitheatre. It is about 400 meters / 1.400 ft. above sea level and rises about 40 meters / 120 ft. above its surroundings. The crater is north of glacier Vatnajokull, Europe’s largest glacier, and south of the Ring road. The crater is a popular place for travellers to have a picnic lunch sheltered from the wind.

2 – Dettifoss waterfall, Europe’s most powerful waterfall. This waterfall also appeared in the 2012 Hollywood film Prometheus.

Please contact Reykjavik Bike Tours for exciting off road bike tours in this amazing region of volcanic formations and stark beauty.

RIFF Iceland Movie Locations in Reykjavik Explored by Bicycle

Tour participants, organisers and guides, on the first guided bicycle tour of Reykjavik film locations get ready for the ride.

Ever wanted to know where young Hlynur (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) in the film Reykjavik 101 lived with his mom and Lola the flamenco dancer (Victoria Abril)?

The small number of participants who joined this first ever guided Reykjavik film location bicycle tour got to see just that... and plenty more. What an amazing whirlwind tour of locations made possible by a fantastic invention - the bicycle.

The tour was organised by "Icelandic Cinema Online" in co-operation with Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF), and Reykjavik Bike Tours.

Two guides, Sunna Guðnadóttir and Eysteinn Guðni Guðnason, kept the the tour interesting throughout. They spoke knowledgeably about films, scenes, characters and storylines which included locations from movies Mamma Gógó (Mother Gógó), Börn náttúrunnar (Children of Nature), Djöflaeyjan (Devil's Island), Bíódagar (Moviedays), 101 Reykjavík, Englar alheimsins (Angels of the Universe), Bjarnfreðarson, and Mýrin (Jar City).

A high point of the tour, in more ways than one, was a visit to the Grillið restaurant on the top floor of Saga Hotel. The place afforded the participants a great view of Reykjavik bathed in the orange glow of the late afternoon sun. At least three scenes from memorable Icelandic films were filmed at this restaurant.

The house of Hlynur in the film 101 Reykjavik was the last stop on the tour. The owners recently replaced the corrugated metal sheets on the entire house except they've kept the entrance, the part of the house seen in the film, intact - obviously proud of the fact their house was used in the film.

After enjoyable two hours of cycling, sightseeing and learning about Icelandic films and film locations in Reykjavik the tour ended. Most participants then went to Kaffibarinn bar to view the screening of the film 101 Reykjavik and socialise.

Hopefully this event will be repeated at the RIFF 2013

Icelandic Cinema Online is a non-profit organisation who's aim it is to make Icelandic films available worldwide through the Internet.

Pictures from the Reykjavik Bicycle Ride, click on the link to see them on Facebook.

Russel Crowe bicycles around Reykjavik

Actor Russel Crowe enjoyed his stay in Iceland during the filming of the big Hollywood film Noah's Ark in many different ways. Russel Crowe spent time cycling around Reykjavik and he sang with the famous singer Patti Smith in small local places. Patti Smith has been to Iceland before and given concerts.

Noah's Ark is one of the largest film assignments in Iceland ever. Director Darren Aronofsky is said to have been particularly happy with the quality of the work of his Iceland production team, and the hospitality of the Icelandic people.

One third of Noah's Ark was shot in Iceland at these locations: Djúpavatnsleið, Sandvík, Sandvíksklofi, Lambhagatjörn og Undirhlíðanáma við Kleifarvatn; Sandvíkurskarð, Stapahraun, Stampar, Hafursey, Reynisfjara, Raufarhólshellir, Leirhnjúkar, Hamragarðaheiði and Svartiskógur.

Tom Cruise, Russel Crowe and Ben Stiller in Iceland

Reykjavik or Tinseltown? Amazing number of big screen stars have decended on Reykjavik. Tom Cruise spent a couple of weeks filming his new flick - Oblivion. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were seen walking about in Reykjavik shortly before they announced their break-up.

Ben Stiller checked out the nightlife in Reykjavik last week-end. He's in Iceland filming The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. He was in Seydisfjordur where he kindly agreed to be in a photograph with the staff of the local supermarket.

Russell Crowe is presently in Reykjavik and went for a 20 km bicycle ride this morning. He's here to film Noah's Ark. The source of this information is mbl.is, that quotes Crowe's twitter. Crowe is in Iceland with Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson and Jennifer Connely, according to webmedia dv.is. Read Russell Crowe's twitter.

Darren Aronofsky directs the film. See one of Aronofsky's pictures from the set on Twitter. Protect the ancient moss.

Rent A Bike in Reykjavik

Need to rent a bike in Reykjavik?

Reykjavik Bike Tours has a wide range of bicycles that suit everyone's pocket and need. Reykjavik city bikes, Iceland touring bikes and racing bikes for rent.

You can contact Ursula and Stefan, see their website here.

Reykjavik Bike Tours

Bicycle Touring around Iceland

Austin and Stephanie Lehn from Canada are currently biking around Iceland on bicycles from Reykjavik Bike Tours and Bicycle Rentals in Iceland. They chose the sturdy Trek 4300 mountain bike for the Iceland journey as they were planning to cycle on the tarmac around Iceland as well as some gravel roads in Iceland. You can read about their bicycle journey on their blog website - Bicycle Touring in Iceland.

Their blog is called "whereisstheice."

Austin and Stephanie started in Reykjavik 3 July 2012. They then bicycled north and west around the Snaefellsnes Peninsula (Snæfellsnes), and had a close look at the Snaefellsjokull glacier. Then on Arnarstapi, then to Grundarfjordur, Stykkisholmur, Bildudalur and Dynjandi waterfall in the Western fjords in Iceland.

Bike ride on a winter's day in Reykjavik

Hilmar Guðmundsson and Josef Marek enjoyed a bike ride around Reykjavik with us in February. Frozen lake Tjörnin in the background as well as Fríkirkjan church and Hallgrímskirkja church.

Iceland northern lights

Northern lights are present above Iceland nine days out of ten. Sound too good to be true? Well, technically it is correct but there are several factors to consider.

1. Darkness – it must be dark. In summer it is 24 hour daylight in Iceland.
2. Cloud cover – it must be clear to be able to see the northern lights since they exist far above the clouds.
3. Solar activity – there must be solar activity for particles to be ejected towards the Earth.
4. Solar cycle – the activity of the Sun performs in 11 year cycles. In 2010 a new cycle has just begun.
5. Magnetic field – the right magnetic conditions must prevail around the poles.
6. City lights – can be a problem if the northern lights are faint. Best is to drive away from the city to a dark secluded spot, wait and watch.
7. Moon – can also be a problem, especially when it is full, because it can be quite bright and it may overpower the light from the northern lights.
8. Timing – as mentioned before, the northern lights are elusive. One day they may occur for a minute, or dance in the sky for hours. I’ve been giving northern lights tours for decades and always enjoy the last one just as much as the first one.

I’ve been giving northern lights tours for decades and always enjoy the last one just as much as the first one.

Mountain bike trail in Iceland

The first mountain bike trail in Iceland is to be inaugurated Saturday 4 September at 10 AM. The trail is in Kjarnaskogur forest, near to Akureyri. The route is about 12 km.

Bobby Fisher not the father of the girl

DNA - retrieved from the exhumed body of Bobby Fisher, proves that he is not the father of alledged daughter.
Bobby Fisher fell into disfavour with the US government for playing chess in the former Yugoslavia while the country was being boycotted. He was apprehended at an airport in Japan and imprisoned on the grounds that his visa was about to expire.
Sæmundur Pálsson, or simply "Saemi rock" who was Bobby Fisher's personal body guard during the world championships against reigning world champion Boris Spassky in Iceland in 1972 - single handed got him out of prison, with necessary help of Iceland's prime minister Davíð Oddsson, who granted Bobby Fisher citizenship without the usual 5-year application process.

Mit dem Fahrrad mobil – von Anfang an

Das Reykjavik Bike Tours-Team bekam Verstärkung! Kaum auf der Welt, ist Andri David (8 Wochen) schon mit dem Fahrrad unterwegs. Während Mama Ursula radelt, genießt der kleine Mann im Fahrradanhänger den Ausflug auf seine Art. Auch die große Schwester Anna Karlotta (4 Jahre) ist begeistert von dieser Art der Fortbewegung.

Von der Familie für Familien: bei Reykjavik Bike Tours sind Kinder jeden Alters willkommen – vom Baby über das Kleinkind bis zum Teenager. Ausgerüstet mit Fahrrädern und Fahrradhelmen in verschiedenen Größen, Fahrradsitz und Fahrradanhänger zeigen wir gerne auch Familien mit kleinen Kindern Islands Landeshauptstadt.

Bicycle path instead of parking spaces

Parking spaces will temporarily make way for a bicycle path along Hverfisgata street in Reykjavik on Friday.

The experiment will last one month and the idea is to promote bicycling in Reykjavik.

Some residents were not notified that parking along the street would no longer be available. They‘re told that they can use a parking garage for ISK 4,000 per month (GB 20, US$ 32, EUR 25). Residents complain as they have to walk much further carrying groceries and tools etc. Source; mbl.is, visir.is.

Reykjavik Marathon 2010

The 27th Reykjavik Marathon takes place Saturday 21 August in Iceland's capital city.

Over 700 participants from abroad have already signed up and couple of thousand from Iceland. Needless to say, some people were reluctant to sign up in May and June due to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajokull volcano. The volcano's name proved difficult for foreign news media professionals to pronounce. Some took a shortcut and just called it “The volcano”.

The inhabitants of Reykjavik and the whole of Iceland are very excited about the Reykjavik Marathon and Culture night which takes place on the evening of the Reykjavik Marathon. It is just perfect to run a marathon in the morning, rest, and enjoy free museums, music and fireworks in the evening.

Reykjavik Bike Tours departs at 10 AM as usual from Reykjavik‘s Old Harbour, next to Elding Whale Watching company, but there will be no scheduled evening departure. Private tours in Iceland are available HERE upon request.