Cost travelling to Amsterdam with Reykjavik stopover

jeffybboy wrote: ↑So, I'm thinking about biting the bullet and travelling for the first time in my life. I've found a flight deal leaving from Toronto to Amsterdam with a return stopover in Reykjavik, Iceland at the end of August/early September. As this is my first time doing this, I'm completely oblivious as to how much something like this will cost me, with the exception of the flights, of course. I'm a 25-year-old male who will be travelling with a buddy and would like to travel frugal, yet still have fun and explore. The flights alone I've found for $625 all-in, which I think is reasonable. Any suggestions on how to be smart with my money and what kind of cost I should expect from this trip? Also, any suggestions of activities, how long I should stay in each country, and places of interest would be awesome! P.S. trip will likely be 10-14 days.

How long in each depends on what you want to see/do. What interests me, may be boring to you. For example, I generally avoid museums because I'd rather be out exploring the city given my time is limited.
Have you looked up an of the tourism boards/sites?
Check out Viator for some tour ideas.
Wikitravel is also worth looking into.
Many European cities have free talking tours or tours that are based on tips or pay what you can.

In Europe, lunch is cheaper than dinner so try to have your big meal at lunch. It's cheap to grab decent stuff at markets and convenience store.
Those are some general tips, but you need to do research too.

I'm also looking into Reykjavik except I'd only be there 3 days.

There's also a thread in Hot Deals discussing these flights.

If you are looking for a party atmosphere, you should try be in Amsterdam and Reykjavik on the weekend. For lodging, check out airbnb, hostels, or guesthouses. For food, cheapest would be to cook for yourself (assuming airbnb), although you can usually grab some cheap meals at grocery stores. Amsterdam, I remember the beer to be quite expensive (at least after coming from Germany/Austria). I have heard the same about Iceland.

Have you booked the flight and already set aside the time in Iceland? Is the 10-14 days in mainland Europe or considering Iceland?

IceBlueShoes wrote: ↑How long in each depends on what you want to see/do. What interests me, may be boring to you. For example, I generally avoid museums because I'd rather be out exploring the city given my time is limited.
Have you looked up an of the tourism boards/sites?
Check out Viator for some tour ideas.
Wikitravel is also worth looking into.
Many European cities have free talking tours or tours that are based on tips or pay what you can.

In Europe, lunch is cheaper than dinner so try to have your big meal at lunch. It's cheap to grab decent stuff at markets and convenience store.
Those are some general tips, but you need to do research too.

I'm also looking into Reykjavik except I'd only be there 3 days.

Thanks for the insight. I feel like I'm fairly open-minded and up to try just about anything.

I haven't checked out those sights but I'll be sure to do so!

whistlepig wrote: ↑There's also a thread in Hot Deals discussing these flights.

Hence why I'm inquiring about this deal

soty_614 wrote: ↑If you are looking for a party atmosphere, you should try be in Amsterdam and Reykjavik on the weekend. For lodging, check out airbnb, hostels, or guesthouses. For food, cheapest would be to cook for yourself (assuming airbnb), although you can usually grab some cheap meals at grocery stores. Amsterdam, I remember the beer to be quite expensive (at least after coming from Germany/Austria). I have heard the same about Iceland.

Have you booked the flight and already set aside the time in Iceland? Is the 10-14 days in mainland Europe or considering Iceland?

I have also heard that both places are fairly expensive when it comes to food.

I haven't purchased any tickets yet . Want to cover all my grounds and figure out what I'm looking at in terms of cost before committing.

Length of stay in each place isn't set in stone either. Thinking maybe 5-7 days in each, but that can be changed.

Unless you're planning on getting a vehicle in Iceland, 3 days in Reykjavik is probably enough time. A beer is around $8 if I recall. Dining out is pretty expensive. Accommodation isn't all that cheap either. Food and drink will cost you less in Amsterdam and you'll have a much wider variety of accommodation available too at all price points.

go to a site like Booking.com and plug in your dates and locations to get a sense of the range of accommodation prices.

Personally I'd spend only a few days in Iceland and spend the bulk of your time in Amsterdam ... booking maybe a few nights there at the start and then travelling elsewhere in the region.

'cheap' prices for flights don't last too long either so you may want to quickly figure out affordability and book the flights at that price before they disappear.

Well if you book the flight, you need to know how long you want to stay in Iceland and if you plan on moving around mainland europe, it would make more sense to depart a different city, assuming cost doesn't skyrocket.

With the Iceland stopover, you probably also have the option of not staying in Iceland either, just doing a layover? For Iceland, if you just want to visit Reykjavik, I'd agree you probably need 3 days (i'd say just 2 on the weekend), and I would suggest doing it on the way back as the flights from YYZ to KEF get you there at midnight or 6am. On the way back, they probably are midday. If you want to get outside Reykjavik, you either have to rent a car (100$/day) or start joining tours ($$$). A typical 4-5 day tour would do Reykjavik, golden circle, skaftafell national park (glacier walk tours) and glacier lagoon. You have to decide whether this interests you.

I'd also suggest you probably don't need to spend more than 3-4 days in Amsterdam. You should check to see what other cities Icelandair flys into because a seperate city departure might not be that much more and save you travel and time back to Amsterdam. Maybe plan around that. But in reality, that deal probably won't last long, so book soon.

Oh and make sure when you are searching flights you are using 2 seats. Sometimes cheap prices are for 1 seat remaining on flights.

jeffybboy wrote: ↑Hence why I'm inquiring about this deal

Hence why I posted a link

Reykjavik is quite expensive and not a super interesting city in itself. The charm of Iceland are the geothermal areas (for instance Reyjanes peninsula, Geysir area), the waterfalls (gulfoss, skogafoss are closer to Reykjavik), the glaciers (skaftafel glacier, the beautiful ice berg lagoon jokulsarlon). You can rent a car starting at about $50-60/day but it's hard to find these deals. We found one for a small car from a small company (Route 1) via vipcars.com . Accommodation in Iceland is not cheap either. Count on $100/day for basic but clean and well maintained accommodation with shared bathroom (double room). Hostel might run at $50/night for a bed in a dorm. Food is expensive. Basic burger with fries is $15 at gas stations. For a restaurant count on $40 or more. Supermarket food is also pricey.

In Amsterdam supermarket food is cheap (outside of the tourist areas), hostels will be a bit cheaper, you can cook your own food there. Beer that you buy in a supermarket is dirt cheap. In pubs and especially clubs it's gonna be more expensive. If you visit Amsterdam also try to visit Utrecht, a similar city but a bit smaller, more authentic, less tourists and lots of students partying it up on Thursday nights. Only 30 min by train. From Amsterdam you can get to anywhere in Holland within about 3 hours.

There is a huge theme park called 'De Efteling' that most visitors really like. The dunes on the North Sea coast just 30mins west of Amsterdam are beautiful too.

Western Europe also has a lot of huge rock and dance festivals (some of them multiple days, camping on site) that you might be interested in. 2 examples of possibilities in Holland, but there are many more in Holland and neighbour countries:
http://lowlands.nl/en/ ~$200 including camping for 3 day festival
http://tickets.mysteryland.nl/ ~$160 for a weekend, excluding camping

You can find hostels at hostelworld.com or hostelbookers.com

barbmans wrote: ↑Reykjavik is quite expensive and not a super interesting city in itself. The charm of Iceland are the geothermal areas (for instance Reyjanes peninsula, Geysir area), the waterfalls (gulfoss, skogafoss are closer to Reykjavik), the glaciers (skaftafel glacier, the beautiful ice berg lagoon jokulsarlon). You can rent a car starting at about $50-60/day but it's hard to find these deals. We found one for a small car from a small company (Route 1) via vipcars.com . Accommodation in Iceland is not cheap either. Count on $100/day for basic but clean and well maintained accommodation with shared bathroom (double room). Hostel might run at $50/night for a bed in a dorm. Food is expensive. Basic burger with fries is $15 at gas stations. For a restaurant count on $40 or more. Supermarket food is also pricey.

In Amsterdam supermarket food is cheap (outside of the tourist areas), hostels will be a bit cheaper, you can cook your own food there. Beer that you buy in a supermarket is dirt cheap. In pubs and especially clubs it's gonna be more expensive. If you visit Amsterdam also try to visit Utrecht, a similar city but a bit smaller, more authentic, less tourists and lots of students partying it up on Thursday nights. Only 30 min by train. From Amsterdam you can get to anywhere in Holland within about 3 hours.

There is a huge theme park called 'De Efteling' that most visitors really like. The dunes on the North Sea coast just 30mins west of Amsterdam are beautiful too.

Western Europe also has a lot of huge rock and dance festivals (some of them multiple days, camping on site) that you might be interested in. 2 examples of possibilities in Holland, but there are many more in Holland and neighbour countries:
http://lowlands.nl/en/ ~$200 including camping for 3 day festival
http://tickets.mysteryland.nl/ ~$160 for a weekend, excluding camping

You can find hostels at hostelworld.com or hostelbookers.com

A few tips for Reykjavik. (I was there in Oct 2014).

Food is pricey even at the grocery store. if you stay in a hotel, take the buffet breakfast and load up on meats, cheese, eggs and bread.
Beer at the grocery store was cheap, $1 for a 473 ml can of Viking beer. not great, but drinkable.
Save $ on tours and airport flybus by buying it on the plane.
3 days should be good if you're not planning to venture far from Reykjavik. enough time to do a couple day tours and check out the town.

I've been to both places and this June, I will be going back to Iceland but not Reykjavik. If you're into nature, then Iceland is the place to go. You can see most of Reykjavik and Amsterdam in 2-3 days. I would recommend renting a car and checking out the entire Iceland if you can instead of just Reykjavik.

Expect to spend ~$100-$150 for a hotel room in Reykjavik and Amsterdam during Aug-Sept, $40 for a dormitory in a hostel, or $60-$100 for AirBnB. Food and gas is expensive in Iceland. I would recommend planning most meals using the local supermarkets. Amsterdam has good public transportation but Iceland does not. They do have the BSI Bus that goes through out the country.

Most hostels in Iceland are pretty good and clean if you're worried about that.

If you want to go to Amsterdam, make sure you get out of the city as well. There are some neat villages in the vicinity (pretty touristy actually), like Volendam and Marken. It's easy to rent a bicycle and bike around, the countryside is quite pretty.The Netherlands have some beautiful cities, it's a shame that most people like to stay in Amsterdam alone. Utrecht was mentioned already, but closer to Amsterdam you have Haarlem and Alkmaar. The Hague is an interesting city where the government buildings are and also the most famous of the Dutch beaches: Scheveningen. Actually, there are tons of nice beach locations in Holland, but be prepared on a warm day: it's packed.

I grew up in the Netherlands (on the east side, not too far from the German border), so if you need more info, let me know.