Iceland and Holland

[LoraLoo]

I'm very lucky to be visiting both this year, as well as Turkey (but been before)

Just wondering if anyone's been and any must sees or tips etc ☺

 

[xxmyheartxx]

My bil and new sil went to Iceland for their honeymoon, they raved about the blue lagoon 😀

 

[LoraLoo]

Yeah i was looking at there but worried it'll be heaving?!

 

[LoraLoo]

Did they enjoy iceland btw?

 

[xxmyheartxx]

They loved it, they went in Feb 1/2 term and said it was busy but not too busy if that makes sense x

 

[LoraLoo]

Yeah it does. Did they manage to see the Northern lights? Im hoping to see them on Eves birthday x

 

[AmeliePoulain]

Where are you going in the Netherlands? I’ve done Amsterdam a few times.

 

[xxmyheartxx]

That would be beautiful 💗 they did see them, They did it as part of a dinner/tour excursion x

 

[xarlenex]

If the kids are going with yous to Holland then Madurodam is an excellent day out.
https://www.madurodam.nl/nl
As is Eftling Theme park.

 

[loeylo]

I have done both.

The blue lagoon was okay - we went in February and yes, it was busy. The changing rooms and showers are open (gender specific though) however the locals weren’t shy about having a good wash in the shower. They were circular so it was hard to avoid. Not a major thing but it was a bit awkward! The blue lagoon was also quite dirty with plasters and such floating 🤮and it’s quite a distance.

We didn’t see the northern lights despite that being the main reason for our trip.

Food wise, it was pretty expensive. Actually, really expensive. A two course meal for two with a glass of wine each in a standard restaurant (nice but not fancy) was £80 or so. For one dominos pizza we were £25. I spent £20 on a cheap bottle of wine in a supermarket which would be a fiver at home. This was years ago so I don’t know if it’s quite so bad now.

I didn’t like Amsterdam much, if that’s where you are going in Holland. It was quite hard to avoid the stench of cannabis in the city centre. Again, it was quite pricey but there were more affordable eating options than in Iceland.

 

[LoraLoo]

I have done both.

The blue lagoon was okay - we went in February and yes, it was busy. The changing rooms and showers are open (gender specific though) however the locals weren’t shy about having a good wash in the shower. They were circular so it was hard to avoid. Not a major thing but it was a bit awkward! The blue lagoon was also quite dirty with plasters and such floating 🤮and it’s quite a distance.

We didn’t see the northern lights despite that being the main reason for our trip.

Food wise, it was pretty expensive. Actually, really expensive. A two course meal for two with a glass of wine each in a standard restaurant (nice but not fancy) was £80 or so. For one dominos pizza we were £25. I spent £20 on a cheap bottle of wine in a supermarket which would be a fiver at home. This was years ago so I don’t know if it’s quite so bad now.

I didn’t like Amsterdam much, if that’s where you are going in Holland. It was quite hard to avoid the stench of cannabis in the city centre. Again, it was quite pricey but there were more affordable eating options than in Iceland.

I heard it was very expensive. Our apartment thing has a kitchen area so can do some cooking to save a bit of money. Do you recommend anywhere different to the blue lagoon? I wont cope if it's dirty! Did you hire a car?

We're staying in Wassenaar but was hoping to maybe to a day trip into Amsterdam x

 

[xarlenex]

Are you staying at Duinrell? If so we stayed here last year, had a fantastic time! Recommend hiring the big go karts and taking them to the beach for a day, we were knackered but the kids loved it.

We also fancied going here, but sadly never made it. Just not enough says there as we moved onto bekseebergen for the second half of our holiday.
https://www.linnaeushof.nl

 

[LoraLoo]

Are you staying at Duinrell? If so we stayed here last year, had a fantastic time! Recommend hiring the big go karts and taking them to the beach for a day, we were knackered but the kids loved it.

We also fancied going here, but sadly never made it. Just not enough says there as we moved onto bekseebergen for the second half of our holiday.
https://www.linnaeushof.nl

Yes we are! Glad to hear you enjoyed it. We were originally hoping to travel ffom Holland through Luxembourg onto Swizerland and Italy, but uts just not doable this year. Hubby doesn't have enough holidays and cant really keep the kids off school that long, especially at the start of the year. Maybe xo thst next year. Thanks for link will look now! X

 

[AmeliePoulain]

With Amsterdam for the day I recommend booking anne frank house online to beat the queues. We did the a’dam tower this time and the highest swing in Europe and really enjoyed that. You can just about avoid the drug culture if you want to.

We also visited Bols the cocktail experience which was really fun.

 

[LoraLoo]

With Amsterdam for the day I recommend booking anne frank house online to beat the queues. We did the a’dam tower this time and the highest swing in Europe and really enjoyed that. You can just about avoid the drug culture if you want to.

We also visited Bols the cocktail experience which was really fun.

Oh wow ive just googled the swing! I have a huge fear of heights but I've made it my life's mission to try anything once!

 

[xarlenex]

I'm not a big ice cream fan but if you've been reading reviews for duinrell you've probably saw Luciano's being mentioned. It's an award winning ice cream store about a 5-10 minute walk from the park, just beside the near by Jumbo supermarket, you HAVE to treat yourselves, it's very cheap (in comparison to what I pay for an ice cream off out local ice cream van) and its the best ice cream we've ever had! It's always busy but the que goes down pretty fast.

 

[LoraLoo]

Thanks! I was disappointed there isn't a fb page for druinell. We visited croix vieux de pont in France last year and there is a brilliant page on fb inc places to eat, days out etc but not one for Duinrell.
I've joined a few of the Iceland pages too!