We had a wonderful five-night trip to Iceland through Great Value Vacations. Our package included airfare, hotel, airport transfers, the Golden Circle and South Coast tours, and a Northern Lights boat tour.
The Golden Circle and South Coast tours were the highlights of the package and absolutely worth doing. They were well organized and gave us a chance to see an incredible range of Iceland’s landscapes — waterfalls, geysers, glaciers, black-sand beaches and volcanic terrain — without having to worry about driving or planning the logistics ourselves.
Unfortunately, our Northern Lights boat tour was cancelled twice because of rain and poor viewing conditions, so we never got to experience that. Obviously, the weather is beyond anyone’s control.
The airport transfer was probably the least convenient part of the package. Rather than being taken directly to the hotel, the bus takes you to a central terminal, where you transfer to a smaller bus that drops you near your hotel. With luggage, we found the process a little arduous. We had vouchers for the return transfer as well, but ultimately chose to take an Uber instead. This isn’t really a criticism of Great Value Vacations, as that seems to be how airport transfers generally operate in Iceland, but it would have been useful to know beforehand.
Everything else we did — including the Lava Tunnel, Sky Lagoon, Perlan, Lava Show, Saga Museum and FlyOver Iceland — we arranged independently.
Overall, we were very happy with the Great Value Vacations package. Having the flights, hotel and two major sightseeing tours taken care of gave us a very good framework for the trip, while still leaving us plenty of time to explore on our own. For a first visit to Iceland, it worked extremely well for us.
In terms of value, Great Value Vacations was still considerably cheaper than booking a comparable Icelandair package, which was about $600–$700 more for the two of us. However, it is worth looking carefully at what is included when comparing prices. Our United flights through Great Value did not include seat selection or a checked bag, and by the time we paid for those, we had added roughly $450 to the cost. The comparable Icelandair package included seats and one checked bag, so the difference was not quite as large as it initially appeared.
Also, be prepared for Iceland itself to be expensive, particularly food and transportation. While we were there, gasoline was around $8.33 a gallon, and because so much has to be imported, everyday costs can add up quickly. So I wouldn't necessarily describe this as a “cheap” vacation. Great Value did, however, give us a competitively priced package and took care of the major pieces — airfare, hotel and two excellent sightseeing tours — while leaving us free to plan the rest of the trip ourselves.
