Iceland's Magical Northern Lights

Tour manager, Heidi, was the best. She gave us a lot of background history and local culture information as we drove to each place. She also assisted 3 different tourist who became ill while on our tour. In doing so (one broken hip, one fall with cut to head, one with kidney stones), she had everything under control that the rest of us did not miss anything. Heidi was fantastic! Needless to say, the tour of Iceland was great!

Everything was perfect.

the ease of getting to the airport and transfer of luggage was a huge plus. Also getting to all the attractions without having to worry about the driving in a foreign country is a great add on!!1

The Icelandic scenery was beautiful. The mountains and the waterfalls will remain in my memory forever.

The waterfalls are outstanding, and the Blue Lagoon was wonderful.

Tour manager she’s excellent The scenery are beautiful Love the heated Blue lagoon they’re the best I’m a vegetarian they have more choices vegan food than I can eat My friends and I had a wonderful trip from Collete tour co., Thanks again

Blue lagoon , more of northern lights which is beyond your control,beautiful scenery.

Our Tour Manager Antonija really made every site a favorite. We were not able to see Northern Lights, but she tried so hard to make it happen, but the Glaciers and icebergs made up for it. To be that close and actually touch an iceberg and then be able to use the ice in our drinks later at the hotel is definitely a memory we will have forever.

The Glacier Lagoon and the icebergs and using the iceberg ice for our drinks back at our hotel.

Emiliano was an outstanding lead tour guide! Our local guides were also excellent and we visited many geographically impressive sites in Iceland. Just know that there are more rainy days than sunny days in Iceland so dress appropriately. We would definitely consider returning!

The nature was outstanding. Emiliano was a great guide. Since I had recently had a stroke , the fact that I was even there was amazing. All the sights, despite the constant rain, were amazing. Some highlights included the lava fields, the Lava Museum and the one sunny day, having the glacier and lagoon on one side of me and the North Atlantic Ocean on the other. Amazing!

It was a beautiful tour of natural beauty. One memorable experience was walking along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge with the Atlantic Plate on one side and the European-Asian plate on the other.

Our tour was excellent. Our tour guide went beyond what was expected. Our favorite place was the black beach.

Being outside of the city going to the Black Beach, Glacier, and recent volcano eruption. Food outside the city was excellent! Bus driver was excellent, however, helping people down from bus with a hand would be helpful. Tour manager could talk less. Said the same information 3 times.

The tour was fine for a not active person so we added our private tours that we paid for out of pocket.

I was so interested in the Katki eruption in 1737 and how it played into world events.

Everything was perfect. Tour guide was excellent telling us history and folklore about Iceland. Answering our question, taking pictures for us and with us. We were given plenty of time at each sight to enjoy. Excellent trip.

More than anything, we really enjoyed learning the culture and Icelandic traditions from the personal stories and sharing from our fantastic guide, Goula, and our wonderful driver Alli!

The country of Iceland in itself is a place that should be visited. It is unique and offers natural sights that one seldom sees. Unfortunately, our tour manager gave us little information about Iceland's history, culture, customs, etc. and that is what we want to know when we visit another country! Our hotels had a number of issues with phones, showers, and cleaning. On the plus side, we did have an excellent local guide in Reykjavik by the name of Lara. I think Colette could change, for the better, the issues we had and make future tours good/excellent ones.

I liked the walks along the beaches, black sand beach was fun. I also liked our accommodations and location in Vik. The food prices were high as was the shopping. I realize much of the food is imported but I was still shocked by the pricing.

The Blue Lagoon was a highlight. And Seeing all that lava everywhere. But what I liked most was our tour directors historic facts and stories about everyplace we went. The only complaint I had was we didn’t see the northern lights. But, that’s the weathers fault, not the tours.

Loved the Glacier Lagoon

Lots to see and do in Iceland! Gulla was very informative but hard to understand. Title it with Iceland's Best or similar, not just Northern Lights. 5/7 days of rain is tough….

Blue Lagoon & seeing the northern lights, black sand beaches & waterfalls everywhere!

Overall good but would have liked a more active tour.. getting to explore more. Needed more time in Reykjavik. Great food, scenery and history

too many to list, great trip

The hotels were difficult for an 82 year-old, especially the bathrooms No grab bars No place to put soap or shampoo except on the floor I couldn’t reach the towels that were on a shelf The meals at the hotel were no more than average I would prefer smaller tables instead of long skinny ones where by you can only talk to people on either side Round tables are always good because you could fit in another chair and talk to people all around the table Didn’t buy anything Colette didn’t give me time. the bus driver was darling efficient good driver very pleasant news his work. I’d like to think of him as my baby daddy! I take him home with me in a minute, an adopt his wife and children. I would Enjoy seeing more of little towns and meeting local people perhaps a beer at a local pub Too much black sand and lava unfortunately for me it all looks alike, and I can’t remember any of the names Especially enjoyed the geysers, including the tiny little ones The blue lagoon was better by far than expected Lovely, changing rooms and great attendants

Loved the waterfalls, the Blue Lagoon, the Reykjavik walking tour and the welcome/farewell dinners. Director and bus driver were both excellent.

would have liked to have more time at the museum and blue lagoon, felt like we were rushed because of other things planned. Thoroughly enjoyed the trip and may go back

I wish there were some later starts in the day , but there was a lot of driving. Our driver, Martin was outstanding. We feltlije Arna and Matty really liked us Hotel Delholery was okay , but we saw the Northern Lights there. The food was fair. It was like the same thing three nights in a row

Our tour guide (Luiz) and bus driver (Olivia) were outstanding. They were friendly, informative, knowledgeable, and professional. They worked so well as a team. They truly made an awesome trip more special.

Swimming in the Blue Lagoon

Seeing the nrthern lights

That's a tough one. My favorite was making lots of new friends.

Glacier lagoon

Blue lagoon

Our Tour Manager swapped itineraries on two dates so we could experience Diamond Beach and the spectacular Glacier Lagoon on a clear day. She also took us to a remote parking lot one night to see the Northern Lights. Our tour manager also took us to meet and feed her very own Icelandic horses! Marianne our tour guide and ViVi our bus driver were great!!!

Our tour Guide really made this vacation great. You have a wonderful employee in Antonia. Restaurants and Hotels were very nice. She gave us lots of great Information about Iceland.

The tour was amazing! Our tour company, guide and bus driver did a great job. We got to see amazing natural sights in Iceland, check out the city, participate in thermal features and see the northern lights!

I enjoyed the tour very much! I really liked the Sky Lagoon, the glaciers with the seals, and walking behind the waterfall. All the stops were great, and beautiful scenery to view from our motor coach along the way! Also the efforts to view the Northern Lights were appreciated, and it did finally clear enough to view them one night. Also really loved exploring Reykjavik, a great city! I am a travel agent and will definitely recommend this tour!

Seeing the glaciers

Our tour guide Antonija was extremely knowledgeable and feleible adjusting out tour for weather and road conditions. The power of the Black Beach was amazing, the movement of ice washing ashore and moving out of the lagoon was incredible and the geothermal lagoon experience was unique.

Even though it rained every day and we didn't see the Northern Lights, Madeleine made sure we saw as much as humanly possible. I love the floating icebergs the best.

Walking under the waterfall, standing on an iceberg, seeing the glaciers and black beach. Did not see the northern lights.

A guided tour is the only way to go. The waterfalls and the glacial lagoon were favorites, but the entire trip was outstanding.

Amazing tour!! Highly recommend, itinerary was well organized & planned out. We saw everything & anything, beautiful scenery, friendly people, delicious food. No complaints about anything

The northern lights, glacial and black beaches. Hard to pick just one thing Our guide had a wealth of information for us. First day was VERY long. Would have been better to do the boat northern lights excursion at the end rather than the beginning Welcome and farewell dinners both wonderful.

Wonderful experience. Great tour manager and excellent, easy booking. Will recommend to friends.

seeing Northern Lights and SPA experience

The unique sites of Iceland. This includes the glaciers, muesums, geothermal area, and the Sky Lagoon.

Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable. I would have given him excellent if he'd have enforced the seating rotation on the bus. The land of fire & ice was gorgeous! Glaciers, waterfalls, sky lagoon, geysers, and more. Our travel group was full of amazing people too. It was warmer than anticipated at 41 degrees daily. But unfortunately no Northern Lights due to clouds :( Less time eating would have been wonderful. For example, lunch could be fast food instead of fancy sit down eating. Too much Cod and not enough variety in foods at out sit down meals with limited menus.

We had a great time. Our tour guide and our bus driver were great. They told us interesting stories about the places we went to and tales of the areas past. The food was very good. We will be back one day.

Everything was absolutely amazing.

Through the fault of no one, we were able to see the lights on the very last day of our tour, and only then just barely. Going into the tour, we knew that we were @ the tail-end of the season to see them, but it was disappointing to hear about the cloud cover night after night. The tour, itself, was fabulous, and Phillipe was a terrific guide: accommodating, pleasant and knowledgeable. While Iceland was never a destination I would have considered (it was my dau's idea), it's certainly worth a visit, and certainly w/Collette!

The trip to the Skye Lagoon was absolutely wonderful. Everyone in my group (including myself) loved it and we all want to return.

Hot water spa outside

Favorite - Sky Lagoon Hotel and food 3 nights in middle of trip was below standards All 3 Northern Lights attempts were cancelled - No substitute event was offered by Collette as a substitute. NO outside the normal trip, excursions were offered.

Sky Pool was a perfect and very relaxing time at the end of the trip.

Antonija Buntak was wonderful! She provided us with all the information we could have asked for and was very knowledgeable, upbeat and personable. Having a "seat rotation" every day was a little annoying but was the only remotely negative issue. When we didn't see the Northern Lights on the cruise the first night, she arranged for our tickets to be valid for the same cruise on the final night before departure. The weather was really nice up to the day of departure when we got a bit of rain. Walking tours of town were informative, and the sights were spectacular throughout. I loved Sky Lagoon, Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon, and all of the glaciers and waterfalls. Dinners in Reykjavik were good, especially the final night. CenterHotel Plaza was nice in spite of the construction. Hotel Dyrholaey was OK but some of it was showing some wear, especially carpets. The food there was OK. Oh, and before I forget, I also need to compliment Robert, our driver. He did an excellent job for us and was also a pleasure to talk to. The primary reason for our trip was to see the Northern Lights. They were not as spectacular as I expected, but then I suppose maybe I over-anticipated. Still, getting to see them was an experience I won't forget. I thought the size of the group was just right, and we had a really friendly bunch. I'm looking forward to sharing all of the photographs with them.

We had a wonderful time. The weather cooperated, and our tour team (guide & driver) were both excellent. I think the cliffs over the black sand beach by Vik were my favorite. Stunning ocean views.

Sky lagoon diamond beach Glacier lagoon the geyser and walking behind the waterfall.

Our tour guide, Fillipio, was OUTSTANDING! He made Iceland not only feel like a tourist spot, but a living breathing community. The tour was absolutely amazing and full of amazing things.

Filippo is fantastic! We were very lucky to have him as our tour manager. I feel like our days and nights were jam packed and that’s good! The Sky Lagoon definitely stood out as a memorable experience. But all of it was great!

Too many people on the tour! Tour director could not manage that many. She was ineffective. Told different people different things. Different times and different places to different people. Her ENGLISH Was POOR and she was hard to understand., she lost her clients on more than one occasion. Definitely a no no. Th bus driver was amazing. He made the trip great! Perhaps with a smaller group and a different tour guide it could be a great trip., but this was not. I got what I went for! I saw the Northern lights!

Collette did not send our pre-tour information until a few days before we were to start the tour. We were told that we would receive a packet of information (itinerary, luggage tags, etc) about three weeks before our tour was to start. About 2 1/2 weeks before the start of the tour we called Collette to let them know we had not received anything. We called again several times after that. They did not overnight the information. We finally received the packet a few days before our flight from the US to Iceland. This left little time to prepare the appropriately. We were very disappointed in Collette as one of the reasons we booked a tour was so that everything would be taken care of and we would be free to enjoy this long awaited vacation without the stress. We most likely will not use Collette again and will relay our experience to fellow retirees who ask. A favorite memory was the Sky Lagoon. Breath taking!

Everything was perfect!

Iceland’s landscape is amazing! So many natural formations on this small island country!!! The natives are very nice and welcoming. I wish I could’ve gone around the whole country!

Every view was beautiful. I think the Sky Lagoon was wonderful. But the natural scenery was just breathtaking.

Seeing the northern lights and the Sky lagoon

I will never do a Collette tour again. We had a problem with our flight in Philly. I know that’s not your problem. However, there was no guidance on what we were to do. We missed our flight in Iceland. Now we did not have an agent. At this point we really hadn’t gotten to know our other fellow travelers. When we got off the plane, my friend and I went right to American Airlines and they put us up at the Hilton overnight and gave us food vouchers, cause there was no food. We got there so late. Meanwhile, texting Colette and at this point, I guess everybody else on the trip was texting Colette but we got a notice saying just go to Icelandic tomorrow and everything’s taken care of. Well, when we got there, everything wasn’t taken care of. They did not have tickets for us. So now we’re calling Colette. And I guess because everybody was talking they did away with “if this is a travel emergency press one”. So of course we picked any number just to talk to somebody. When they put the message back on the phone, it was on a loop press one if this is a travel emergency, you press one and it went back on the loop press one if this is a travel emergency. Every time we talk to an agent, we were told their working on the problem. We’ll get back to you. Finally, we over heard someone from Icelandic airlines said the problem is the flight we had to take was more expensive than the flight that was missed. Someone finally got a hold of. Wendy from SUCS and they gave me the phone. I spoke with her, I told her about the scuttlebutt that I heard and she was like oh OK good to know and I’ll call you back. Five minutes later we were in the computer and we were able to board the plane. However, I can’t tell you how long this all took but we made it. When we finally arrived in Iceland, of course our agent wasn’t there because he was with a group that made it on the first flight. Now some of us are getting texts. Some of us are getting emails and we’re trying to figure out what to do and where to go. We take a tour because of things like this that we don’t want to deal with, that’s why you have an agent, that’s why you book a tour. I could’ve very easily bought my own plane, tickets book my own room and not have half the hassles that I had with this. I lost a day, didn’t get to see this Capital at all. I did not like playing travel agent. I received no compensation. I don’t have trip insurance because this wasn’t my problem this was Colette‘s problem and they didn’t take care of it. Once we did get to Iceland, I have to say Patrick, our agent, was wonderful. He was your saving grace, but I will never go on a Collette tour again and I will never recommend Collectte Tours. I tell everyone this story, because you get home and everyone asks “how was your trip”. I have traveled to every continent except Antarctica and never have had a problem like I’ve had with Colette.Tours.

While the tour guide was excellent, the experience with Collette was terrible. When we missed our connecting flight to Iceland, Collette's emergency services phone line was poorly staffed and inadequately trained to provide support or direction to our group of 17. We had to fend for ourselves in Boston at very late hour where we ended up spending the night. There is only 1 evening flight to Iceland daily, and Collette improperly arranged our next day re-ticketing. We were left in another confused and chaotic situation for hours at the airport check in and fully expected to be returning home. At the last minute, they finally paid and issued our tickets. After the stress, disappointment, and lack of support we endured, Collette refused any reimbursement for our missed first tour day. After the tour, we received a letter apologizing for our experience but came up short in acknowledging any responsibility and offered no reimbursement. The quality of any company is judged in the personal attention and support that individuals receive when things don't go as planned. There will be plane delays and related glitches but the purpose of using a tour company is the benefit of travel experts to seamlessly navigate these issues. Collette sorely failed to meet this expectation.

The beauty of the sites of the country was amazing! There was so much to see, and do. Gorgeous waterfalls, amazing glaciers and mountains everywhere! There was free time for shopping and walking around Rejavik, as well as numerous places to eat. It was a trip I'll remember always!

Experiencing all the highlights - northern lights, glacier lagoon, waterfalls and the food

I had a wonderful time! Great tour guide and bus driver. LOVED the spa experience and the beauty of Iceland. I might come back to experience it in a different season. I especially loved the waterfalls.

Great tour manager - kept group informed, entertained and secure. Accommodations were nice in both locations. Itinerary was busy but completely doable.

Seeing the northern lights and all their brilliance, the last two nights of the tour. Second most memorable was standing astride the mid-Atlantic Ridge, which had been a dream since childhood and I first Learned about plate tectonics.

Outstanding tour guide, well planned itinerary (hit the major sights), and — most memorable — the Aurora Borealis! Excellent trip. Food was surprisingly good everywhere we went, even the lunch stops, with lots of vegetarian options.