Iceland Insight Compact Guide (Insight Compact Guides) [Paperback]

Book Description

Series: Insight Compact Guides | Publication Date: June 15, 2005

This 106-page guidebook covers Iceland's highlights for the visitor, ranging from its anonymous 13th-century saga authors to its gushing geysers and bubbling thermal pools. The key features include: top ten sights; itineraries for tours and excursions; leisure-time suggestions; practical information section, listing hotels, restaurants, essential contact addresses and numbers; dozens of top-notch full-colour photographs; and detailed maps of main regions and cities.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'It is hard to fault the Insight Compact Guide...... it packs a lot of cultural punch into its featherlight 80+ pages.' The Sunday Telegraph --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 106 pages
• Publisher: Geocenter International Ltd (June 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9812581774
• ISBN-13: 978-9812581778
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,021,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Compact Guide To Iceland, December 2, 2004

By 

Robert I. Hedges - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Iceland Insight Compact Guide (Insight Compact Guides) (Paperback)

I have been to Iceland several times and find it to be the most unique country imaginable. This book is very thin, but is packed with generally very accurate and always extremely useful information as well as great color photography. This book is wonderful to use as a starting point for planning a trip to Iceland, and it is small enough to carry with you everywhere when you are there.

The book provides an overview, geographic information, hotel, restaurant, and nightlife recommendations, and multiple road trips of varying lengths that see all the common sights and many that are substantially off the beaten path. These road trips are from one to four days endurance, and are very well designed from my experience, although I can't personally attest to the attributes of the ring road between Hvammstangi and Neskaupatadur. I can say that the southern routes, and the routes to Pingvellir and the Snaefellsnes peninsula are very well designed. My favorites of the tours are numbers three and four. The coverage of the Skaftafell National Park, Jokulsarlon glacial lake (a must see: take the boat ride), Hvannadalsshnukur, Kirkjubaejarklaustur (one of my favorite little towns), Porsmork, and Stykkisholmur is particularly good. I was also amused by the coverage of the Vesturfarasafnid a Hofsofi, the only museum in the world that focuses exclusively on herring. (Iceland is known for many similar oddities, and that is one reason I love it so much.)

My only minor critiques of the book would be that the index is rather sparse, and some of the hotel and restaurant information (and a few prices) are out of date (which is to be expected.) One thing the book entirely failed to mention in the money section is that most businesses will take Icelandic kronurs and also US dollars.

This is a great little introductory tour guide to Iceland, with the emphasis on brevity and utility. I recommend it highly.