Mona at iceland unlimited organised an excellent tour for us. The itinerary was complex and over... read more
Mona at iceland unlimited organised an excellent tour for us. The itinerary was complex and over... read more
We wanted to visit Greenland, but had no idea where to start. My google search brought me to... read more
(Long review sorry, but I want to rave about my trip!) Fantastic company! I recently decided to travel for to Iceland for a week-long trip with my 3 children (a 13-year-old and two 11-year-olds). Given that I had never been there, that I would be the only adult (and driver), that they really haven't traveled outside the US, that I don't have much free time to plan a trip, and that we wanted to pack in a bunch of activities to make the most of our time, I decided to look for help in planning. I came across Iceland Unlimited on a web search and noticed that they had really great reviews. So I went for it!
The company replied to my email right away, and Auður became my contact. Throughout the few months before my trip, she was always very responsive, very resourceful, and, importantly, very reassuring in addressing all my concerns with traveling with my children.
Auður helped me to plan a 6-day south coast self-drive tour of Iceland. The car rental was taken care of -- it included a Car WiFi device, which was really great because I could use my cell phone without paying for international service. She booked all the hotel rooms, finding us rooms big enough for 4 people in every location (I chose mid-level accommodations, and all turned out to be great). And it was nice that all included buffet-style breakfasts, so it was one meal of the day I didn't have to worry about, logistically or financially (food in Iceland is very expensive!).
She also helped me to choose and book extra activities/tours, based on our itinerary and on the ages of the kids -- everything was booked and paid for through my total cost to Iceland Unlimited so it was very simple. The activities we chose included: a walking tour of Reykjavik, a cultural session on food/language/culture/history in Reykjavik (a really nice introduction to Iceland!), a tour in a lava tunnel, paragliding, hiking up a glacier, & a boat ride in a glacier lagoon. Amazing experiences. My children loved all of them.
Auður provided me with an itinerary in email which I printed (but upon arrival, the itinerary was printed and also everything was drawn out and highlighted on a large road map, which was really nice to have), filled with suggestions of driving routes and stops to make along the way for food and attractions. Transfer to/from the airport was arranged before we got there. The taxi driver was waiting for us right as we got through customs. Incidentally, the driver was the same in both directions and was very nice. He works closely with Iceland Unlimited.
Iceland Unlimited also provided us with an Icelandic cell phone, which was really nice to have. It made me feel more secure on the road with my kids, knowing I had at least one phone that would work in remote locations. It allowed me to call ahead to hotels to let them know we'd be checking in late sometimes. It also allowed Iceland Unlimited to reach me in case of a last minute schedule change. (Auður did call once just to check in on us, but I missed the call while out doing a tour.)
This trip was absolutely seamless, thanks to the help I received in planning/booking. I can't thank Auður and Iceland Unlimited enough for giving me and my children such an outstanding and memorable trip.
We, a six member family of older adults, took an 11 day guided tour. We had Geiri Johannsson, an experienced tour guide and driver with us for the entire time. Driving a "super jeep" (actually an extremely large Ford), he took us to all the hot spots from the west coast and the Snaefellsnes Peninsula through the Golden Circle, across the south coast to Jokulsarlon, inland to Thorsmork, to the Westman Islands, and to frequent thrilling off road adventures. Geiri was a fine story teller, an expert driver, and knowledgeable professional who was able to change plans quickly responding to our individual needs. We had been scheduled to drive into the Landamannalaugar area but changed plans in the morning due to heavy rain. Heading into Thorsmork, that day was better than we could have hoped. Geiri did a stellar job.
The itinerary and hotel reservations had been arranged earlier through agents at Iceland Unlimited. Two different agents helped us plan initially but Lisa Zacchia was the person who took over for us and completed our plans. She listened carefully to our requests, responded quickly to all our emails, met with us when we arrived in Reykjavik, and kept tabs on us as we traveled though this magnificent country. The hotels at each stop, while not the most expensive, were quiet, clean, and well situated, She met our needs perfectly! Lisa did an outstanding job.
The weather in Iceland while we were there, June 16-27, offered us a range of precipitation and occasional sun and clouds. At no time did we slow down; plans and our guide were flexible enough to keep us walking, hiking, driving, sightseeing, and eating. Oh, the food is good!
I give my unconditional recommendation to Iceland Unlimited, Geiri Johannsson and Lisa Zacchia. If you are able to use these individuals on a professional basis your trip will be magical.
Giving Iceland Unlimited (IU) five stars seems unfair - the company and our representative, Giulia, were phenomenal and deserving of at least ten stars! We decided to look into an Iceland trip rather late in the game, knowing it could be tough to secure lodging in June given Iceland's rapidly growing popularity. We sent out feelers to several companies and Giulia from Iceland Unlimited promptly responded. She assured us that though the clock was ticking, she could still arrange lodging for us. From then on, the service provided by IU was exceptional. We reviewed what we wanted to see and do and Giulia put together a terrific 14 day self drive of the Ring Road and the Westfjords. We could not have been happier with the lodging she arranged (comfort level), the pacing she established for us in our trip, and the four tours we did (glacier walk, puffin tour, zodiac lagoon tour and an ice cave). When we arrived we met with her at her office and she gave us a big map with our route highlighted, along with highlighting our lodging and points of interest. Although I had done something similar, the map she provided was our "go to" map and an invaluable asset. The company also provided a personalized daily suggested itinerary, complete with GPS coords for our lodging. We appreciated being loaned a phone with minutes on it as there were a couple of times we needed to call our lodging about a later than planned arrival (so much to see and do)! Giulia checked in with us via email several tims during the trip, just to be sure all was going well. Every aspect of the trip ran like clockwork - from our pick up at the airport to our delivery (sadly) back to the airport. Due to Giulia's superb organization the trip was glitch free and we had a fabulous time. It was totally stress and worry free, allowing us to spend all our energy on enjoying every minute of this amazing country. She even managed to arrange phenomenal weather! We travel a great deal and have used many tour/travel operators and Iceland Unlimited and Giulia are the best we have ever experienced. We recommend this company 100%!!
We had a great time in Iceland. We saw so many beautiful sites and made some many memories along the way that it is hard to write them all down. We completed a 14 day trio around Iceland Iceland Unlimited did a great job guide us along in the planning process that it made the trip easy and we had more time to have fun and less time worry about what was next. Agnes did a great job listening to want to do and making suggesting on how to accomplished that. She was very patient answering our questions and making the changes we thought of. She selected a wide varity of accommadations. I would recommend using Iceland Unlimited to assist you in planning your trip to Iceland.
We were debating what sort of trip to do in Iceland for over a year. We thought we would do a self driving 10 day tour around the island then finally decided on a 22 day tour around the island. We wanted an extra day on each end of the trip in Reyjkavik to relax, and we wanted a few days where we spent more than one night in a place. Lisa put together our trip and it was fantastic. Never a worry about showing up at a hotel at the end of the day wondering if your reservation was good or if they had a room. If we had any problems they assured us that a call to their number would rectify anything. We had one minor glitch with a reservation that was fixed within a few minutes with a call to their number.
Our itinerary was filled with things to do each day. The only "problem" if you could call it that, was limiting your day to some of the things on each days list. In 22 days, you can't see it all.
Every accommodation they had chosen for us was top notch. Some of the places are way out of the way and absolutely beautiful. Everywhere we stayed was great.
The trip was a long time in the thinking and Iceland Unlimited made it very easy to bring that dream to fruition. Thank you so much, highly recommended.
I worked with Agnes for a customized 7-day self driving tour. She was great to work with and very patient and helpful. I found it oddly surprising that it was actually cheaper and way easier to go through Iceland Unlimited than to book all the hotels and rental car on my own. They get better prices due to their relationships and booking bulk. She also gave us a helpful map that highlighted the route with things to see and do along the way, a daily itinerary and restaurant suggestions. All were very good ideas and suggestions. We had a couple of hotels that were substandard. One of them is basically the only option for where we were along the Golden Circle, and the other was a miscommunication in the booking. On the ladder, she was very kind in giving us a small refund to make up for the error. The package we bought also included a local cell phone/number which came in handy, though we rarely used it at all. We also got wifi in the car which was amazing. I would highly recommend Iceland Unlimited, and I do think it is the cheaper and easier way to go than trying to book everything on your own.