Aside from the summer, Christmas and New Year are among the best times to be in Iceland. Long Christmas traditions and New Year’s Eve parties are a big deal and you also have the possibility of chasing the northern lights. In addition, renting a car and driving out to the myriad hot springs for a winter dip in the warm is the Icelandic way this time of the year.
But this is also a good time to rent a car and head out into the countryside. While the unsealed country F roads are impassable and thus closed at this time of the year, the main Route 1 highway stays open. With a car you can get to explore the entire country and take in the icy landscape.
You can pre-book a hire car for Christmas and New Year in Iceland, with a pick-up at the airport or your Reykjavik hotel. Tours are best started from here or from the Blue Lagoon, from where there’s an easy introduction to Route 1. You can easily access the famed Golden Circle loop from these places to see Iceland’s most talked about waterfalls and geysers.
It is best to hire a four-wheel drive any time in winter as even parts of the highway get snowy and require good traction. Blue Car Rental supplies four-wheel drive vehicles and even fully loaded jeeps, though these are always worth booking well in advance as they are naturally in high demand. You could also go with a two-wheel drive car and these are also fitted with studded tires in winter.
Sample Blue Car Rental cars include the Suzuki Jimny 4×4, Suzuki Swift, the mid-sized 4×4 Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai, as well as larger Toyota Land Cruisers, minivans and even Land Rover Defenders and Mercedes Benz ML250s. To pick up a deal, your best chance is to book either of these well in advance of your Icelandic Christmas adventure.
For Christmas and New Year car hire in Iceland, visit www.bluecarrental.is.
Blue Car Rental ehf.
Blikavellir 3
235 Keflavik Airport
Iceland
Phone: +354 773 7070
blue@bluecarrental.is
Website: http://www.bluecarrental.is
