Hidden Iceland’s personalised Iceland package trips are becoming more and more popular among our guests. This is thanks to our expert trip planning team who can turn your hopes, dreams and personal research into a full package trip while you are in Iceland. But what exactly does an Iceland package trip entail? How much do they cost? And what is included?
This blog post will hopefully serve to reveal everything that is and isn’t included in your tour as well as giving you an understanding of our planning process. So read on to learn all about our Iceland package trips.
Keep scrolling down to learn more!
ICELAND PACKAGE TRIPS
CONTENTS
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What is a Hidden Iceland package trip?
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What’s the difference between a private tour and a package trip?
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Can I do small group tours on my Iceland package tour to save money?
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What is and isn’t included in a package trip?
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Luxury package tour vs Comfort package tour.
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What is the cost of an Iceland package trip?
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How do I book?
What is a Hidden Iceland package trip?
In a nut shell, Hidden Iceland’s package trips are designed to assist you from the moment you step off the plane until the minute you step back on it.
The level and type of service between these two points is entirely up to you. You can request a luxury Iceland package trip, a comfort private tour, or even request a collection of our small group tours. One thing is for sure, each day will be planned out for you to maximise your time in Iceland. We always try to include the must see sights, a little adventure and a few hidden spots along the way. The hotels and restaurants that we recommend are always hand-picked. We’ve been to them all (many times, for research of course).
Our Hidden Iceland package trips were designed for the travellers who have a few ideas of what they want to do while in Iceland but would prefer to leave the nitty gritty planning to the professionals (that’s us). Thankfully, we’ve been doing this for a long time now and are getting pretty good at it. Feel free to check out our hundreds of 5 star reviews on TripAdvisor.
Arial View of the Westman Islands
Remnant glacier ice washed up on ‘Diamond Beach’ by Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon at sunrise. Photo by Scott Drummond, Hidden Iceland
What’s the difference between a private tour and a package trip?
Firstly, our dedicated private & package tour page is your one stop shop to pick out your favourite tour itinerary. Once you’ve found the right itinerary, fill in the form or send us an email. Whether you are wanting a stand-alone private tour or a full Iceland package trip, this page does it all. Simply tell us in the contact form at the bottom if you want us to arrange your entire vacation or just part of it. Easy as that!
Hidden Iceland Private tours
Keep in mind, when browsing the private tour itineraries you can decide to have them as a stand-alone tour if that is what you desire. For example, you might have already arranged your hotel in Reykjavik, researched great restaurants and booked a few excursions yourself. But, maybe you heard about our ‘Best of the Best’ awarded Essential South Iceland 3 day tour and want to squeeze that into your overall vacation? That’s great! We can easily give you a personalised quote with all activities, guide, vehicle and hotels included. The rest of your holiday is up to you (though we’re still here to give you some hints and tips for the rest of the time too).
Hidden Iceland Package tours
On the other hand, we are increasingly seeing that our guests prefer that we plan out their entire vacation for them these days. With travel restrictions, vaccination concerns and such uncertainty we can see why. Take away the stress of planning things and let us do it for you. That’s what we’re here for.
So, instead of just requesting our Iceland Must See 6 Day private tour for example, you can ask us to plan your entire vacation around that itinerary. This works well if you are still trying to figure out what to do on the days that you aren’t joining our private tours.
In this case, we would likely plan out your accommodation in Reykjavik, get you back and forth from the airport and even suggest restaurants and free time activities in between. We won’t necessarily be ‘guiding in person’ every day of your vacation, but we will be there to plan things and provide assistance.
How do I pick one over the other?
That’s easy. Simply find the private tour that you really want to join. Then, when you are filling in the form make sure to mention that you want us to arrange the rest of your trip as well. Not just the set-itinerary. If you don’t specify in your email or form if you just want a private tour (and not a full package) we’ll likely provide a full itinerary for you anyway. Then it’s up to you if you want that level of service or not.
Can I do small group tours instead of private tours to save money?
Absolutely!
The majority of our guests who request full Iceland package tours prefer the intimacy of a private trip when with their Hidden Iceland guide. However, this isn’t necessarily for everyone. After all, private trips can be rather expensive compared to our small group tour options. Others might just prefer to mingle with fellow travellers when on vacation. I know I certainly do.
Our small group tours have a maximum group size of 12 persons so it often feels like a private tour half the time. Especially with your Hidden Iceland guide taking the time to get to know everyone throughout.
The one thing to keep in mind though is that our small group tours cannot be personalised. They leave on set dates and follow fairly strict itineraries. We think they are already pretty great anyway. In fact, most of our private tours simply mirror these itineraries.
How does this work if we want a full Iceland package trip with small group tours?
Well, you could just send us a quick email to info@hiddeniceland.is and tell us what you are after. However, what I would personally recommend is to still pick out your favourite private tour here and just mention that you prefer the small group version. We can often mix and match our tours quite closely to your preferred itinerary. For example, our Private Essential South Iceland 3 Day Winter trip very closely resembles our 2 Day Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon & Ice Cave tour and our Golden Circle: Platinum tour.
Then, on the days that you are not on our small group tours we’ll plan that out for you as well. We’ll arrange your hotels, airport transfer, give you restaurant recommendations and utilise our trusted partners to bulk out your activities while in Iceland. A full package without the price tag.
Ice cave on Falljökull glacier by Tom Archer. Feature
Gullfoss waterfall into canyon by Norris Niman * Featured
Fjaðrárgljúfur gorge is on the south coast of Iceland. Photo by Marc Hoey
What is and isn’t included in a Hidden Iceland package trip?
INCLUDE IN OUR ICELAND PACKAGE TOURS
This answer is more flexible than you might originally believe. Just because we’ve come up with a whirlwind itinerary for you, complete with bells and whistles, it doesn’t mean you need to do everything. With that said, here is a run down of what is typically included on these Iceland package trips:
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One or more of our multi-day private tour itineraries.
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Entry to all activities and museums while on tour with us.
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Passionate Hidden Iceland guide while on tour with us.
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Comfortable and spacious vehicle while on tour with us.
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Airport transfer either by us or trusted partners such as Icelandic Taxi Tours.
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A collection of trusted partner tour operators if needed for an activity.
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All accommodation and breakfast (including Reykjavik based hotels).
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Restaurant recommendations.
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Suggestions of things to do in the Reykjavik (during your free time).
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Dedicated office support staff.
NOT INCLUDED IN OUR ICELAND PACKAGE TOURS
Again, bear in mind that everything is customisable so if you specifically want some of the items below to be included just let us know (with the exception of international flights, we don’t get involved there). The reason we don’t normally include the items below is because preferences and price fluctuations change massively between groups. So we decided it’s best to leave these bits up to you.
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International flights in and out of Iceland.
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Personal bus and taxi fares.
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Meals unless they are part of the attraction like at the Friðheimar Tomato Farm.
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Tips for the guides or servers (this is not mandatory in Iceland regardless).
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Alcoholic beverages or snacks.
Friðheimar Greenhouse Farm Lunch. Hidden Iceland. Photo Kat Craats
Scott Drummond. General Manager, Guide, Co – Owner. Hidden Iceland
Pablo Mercedes Benz Sprinter. Hidden Iceland. Photo Dennis Stever
Luxury package tour vs. Comfort package tour.
Just because you want an immersive private package, it doesn’t mean you necessarily want to spend an arm and a leg doing it. We can personalise any of our itineraries to be luxury trips or more basic comfort packages. However, bear in mind that whether you choose luxury or comfort, one of the biggest costs (and benefits) while on a private tour is your tour guide and private vehicle. So the price difference, depending on what extras you add on, can be more similar than you might imagine. If a truly budget experience is what you are after then I would recommend our small group tours instead.
Luxury Package Tour
As always, when filling in our private tour forms make sure to state your preference for luxury. Especially when it comes to room type. If you can give us an indication of budget too, that always helps.
Your luxury tour will include a dedicated guide while on tour with us. We will travel Iceland in a spacious Mercedes and we will pick the best hotels in each location. Iceland actually doesn’t really adhere to the ‘star’ system so it’s difficult to say what quality each hotel is. The majority of the remote hotels we use will be similar in level to 4 star. Examples of hotels we like to work with are Hotel Búðir, Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon, Skálakot Luxury Manor and Retreat at the Blue Lagoon to name a few.
Often, our tours become even more personalised on luxury tours. For example, many of our guests like to indulge by adding in helicopter tours to remote settings. We can even add in a private helicopter ride to a distant ice cave in the mountains. Other activities like snowmobiling and horse riding can be made private.
The restaurants we choose for you will be our absolute favourite like Ox Restaurant or Dill Restaurant. In fact, we made a list of Best Restaurants in Reykjavik for you to check out if you’re interested.
Comfort Package Tours
Surprisingly, our comfort package tours are not very different from our luxury ones (unless you opt for small group tours). You’ll still have the same level of passionate service from your private guide in a comfortable Mercedes vehicle. You’ll also follow the same itinerary and can of course add in any extras you want if budget allows. The big difference here is that we may choose comfort level hotels when possible like at Hotel VOS, Lilja Guest House and Hotel Egilsen. All the hotels in the comfort package are chosen for their location, their comfort and their cleanliness. Trust us, the quality is very high. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Often on comfort package tours we will join non-private activities. For example, although your itinerary is private with Hidden Iceland you may join groups of other travellers while on a superjeep tour of the highlands or an ice cave tour.
Apart from that, it’s all the same really. Feel free to ask us for the price of both to compare.
Geothermal Heli Tour
Snowmobiling Tour.
What is the cost of an Iceland package trip?
Sadly this answer is harder to quantify than a simple list of numbers.
When every package is personalised, that means the price is going to be personalised too. Everything from room size, to number of days, kids in the group, group size and comfort level all changes the price. And that’s before we even take optional add-ons into account. Not to mention seasonal price changes for some of the hotels we use.
The only way to get an exact price for your package tour is to fill in the forms on our private tour pages and wait for our trip planners to get back in touch within 72 hours. Hopefully, this reassures you that our prices are as competitive as possible. Each price is meticulously worked out to cover exact costs plus our margin.
I know you were perhaps hoping for a per person fee here for your budget. However, as soon as you drop us a quick email we can come up with a preliminary quote for you. To offer a cookie cutter price would potentially be hazardously wrong. It would also betray our personalised and customised point of view too.
One pro-tip for keeping the price down though. Hidden Iceland has some fixed costs regardless of customer number. These are guide wages, fuel and vehicle costs. These costs don’t change much whether you are a solo traveller or a group of 12. So if you are hoping to keep the per person price down then consider recruiting a few friends to join.
How do I book?
I’ve mentioned this a few times throughout this post but I’ll reiterate here in case you’ve skipped to this section.
The best way to book is to fill out our private tour contact form. Within the form, answer all the questions you can. Be as detailed as possible and when it comes to the ‘Message’ box make sure to mention if you want us to plan an entire Iceland package trip, just the private tour itinerary or you’d prefer a budget friendly small group tour itinerary.
The second you click submit we’ll get to work creating a personalised itinerary just for you with price included.
If you prefer to just drop us an email then that’s fine too: info@hiddeniceland.is. Just give us as much information as you can because ultimately we’ll ask for more before we can create the perfect trip.
Then, when it’s time to pay we accept a 50% deposit to guarantee departure and hotel availability. The remaining 50% is due 8 weeks before departure.
That’s it! See you soon!
GET IN TOUCH!
Check out our private and package tour page for all the different options available to you. Or you can look through our small group tour itineraries or even our self-drive itineraries.
Hi, I’m Ryan Connolly; Co-Founder and Marketing Manager of Hidden Iceland.
I’ve guided in multiple countries around the world and stepped foot on all 7 continents. My passion for the outdoors, science, nature, glaciers and volcanoes has led me to study and write about Iceland. I have been interviewed in Forbes, Conde Nast Traveller and Travel Pulse on various subjects.
