Iceland Paperback – October 21, 2014

The short version: Don't buy this book.The long version: I decided to buy this book as a way of branching out from the usual Lonely Planet/Rough Guide rut. Here's why I regretted it. 1) It's poorly organized. Logic suggests that places should be listed either clockwise or anti-clockwise, given that the country is dominated by a Ring Road, but instead they're following some other, indecipherable system that renders it an immense pain when you're trying to drive from one place to another. I was constantly flipping around trying to find things, folding down pages, re-flipping, etc. 2) Some of that might have been mitigated had locations been well indexed. Spoiler: They're not. No entry for 80% of the towns I tried to find? No entry for horseback riding/horses? Nearly half this book was background/history; maybe take away a bit of that, and plump up the index by a page or two (doesn't take much), and we'd be (slightly more) in business. 3) When I *did* find things, they were often wrong. Keep in mind this book was published in October 2014, and I took my trip in June 2015. Bit of a lag, sure, so you expect the occasional restaurant to go out of business. You don't expect the (very, very few) maps to put things in the wrong locations, or label roads wrong, or misprint the text so it's cut off at the bottom. And frankly, the number of restaurants I found that were either not there or entirely not-as-described made me question whether this had been properly updated at all since the first edition.

Very helpful. Have been to Iceland twice for 3 weeks in 2012 and 4 weeks in 2017, respectively. We used this book on our second trip because the earlier edition turned out to be the best book for our first trip. We've lent it to a couple other people who traveled to Iceland and they agreed. The background information is good. The tips on things to do are excellent. Its organized well and covers the whole country. Easy to read, accurate and helpful. What more could you ask for in a travel guide?

If you are truly curious about your destination - and you SHOULD be curious about Iceland - this is THE guide book to have. I found a few things out of date about Laugarvatn (the old steam bath has been taken over by a modern spa, which is not new news) but otherwise this book has complete, interesting background on history, culture, nature, and more - something trendy guides skimp on. There were interesting facts and context provided for locations and the restaurant/lodging info that we used was correct. Perfect for the trivia-lover or naturally curious, someone who wants to do more than the ring road (go to the West Fjords and the Snaefellsnes Peninsula!).

There is a lot of information, which of course is good. However, my issue is that I felt a bit overwhelmed. If you just want to read text on Iceland and plan to study, then this is for you - over 50 pages of history. However for me, it's an information dump, the layout and usability is substandard. Not user-friendly, very few visuals, not concise. This type of guidebook is from 25 years ago. Maps are not very usable. There are pages of restaurants, but I want to have some further ranking\rating.

Would have given a 5 star however;This book is tiny only 4 x 7 inches, which would be great if I planned to carry it with me. But I was looking to do research before I went to Iceland.It does have great information, is well laid out and is beautifully illustrated.The pull out map is redundant as the front cover folds out with the exact same map.

Good book but some of the information is out of date regarding restaurants and hotels. The general information is very helpful though.

There aren't as many current travel books on Iceland as I had hoped. But I finally came across this one, and it is everything I need. I also bought the Insight Guide book, and though it has a lot more pictures, the Brandt version is way more informative.

Fabulous informative book. Highly recommend.

Quite detailed so should be of help not only in planning trip to Iceland but also when getting around after we arrive there. Lots of helpful hints, especially for those of us who will be renting a car, as well as how to cut down on costs for both eating and accomodation in what is generally an expensive country for visitors to travel around

Bradt guides are always a mixed bag. Some are wonderful, even better than Lonely Planet of Rough Guides. Ethiopia and Albania are good examples. This one wasn't bad, but I found myself leaving it in my bag, and using the Rough Guide more. The maps are poor, and there isn't a lot of information about the smaller places you pass on the road. But, as always, it's written well, and is great as a secondary option.

I usually like Bradt guidebooks but this one would be more suited to someone looking for a good read before travelling. It gives good general information about Iceland, history, geology, culture, wildlife etc. Unfortunately on the ground - ther is insufficient specific information to help you travel - maps, logistics etc. I hate to say it but I really regret not buying the lonely planet! Good as a second guidebook.

very imformative

This guide is written as a book to be read, not referred to. It is hard to find specific information; the index is difficult to use, We need to read the guide, in order to guess where we will find the information we want.For example: to find thermal pools, one must look up "pools" which is followed by 3 lines of numbers, There is no indication of the type (swimming pool, thermal pool) or the place. Lonely planet, on the other hand, had a full page with a map of Iceland showing all the thermal pools.To find information about taxis, there is nothing in the index, but, intelligently, we are expected to guess that we can look under the city name, and then look for where the information might be. The same is true for busses.And some page numbers are wrong.My guess is that this is a computer generated index, with no idea of the needs of travellers.The same problem exists in the Uzbekistan guide. My guess is that it is a problem with Bradt guides in general.The maps are horrendous - for the map outside Rekjavik city center, most of the street names are unmarked. Try to find your way with unnamed streets and only lines. Was the ink too expensive to write names in?The only saving quality of Bradt guides, is they exist for countries for little-written up countries.