When I sat down recently with Helga Kristin Fridjonsdottir of Iceland Unwrapped in Reykjavik, the conversation confirmed what I have been seeing in the Indian travel market for several years now.
Iceland has moved from exotic curiosity to serious bucket list destination. And for good reason.
As someone who has been organizing travel to Iceland from India for years, I want to share what Indian travelers should know before they go who is already going, what draws them there, and the practical realities that turn a good trip into an unforgettable one.
Helga Stina’s perspective as a local who has been running personalized travel in Iceland for eleven years brings an invaluable insider dimension to this, and I have quoted her extensively here because her candour is exactly what Indian travelers need.
Who is travelling to Iceland from India and why?
The typical Indian traveler to Iceland is between 30 and 60 years old, mid-to-high income, based in one of India’s major cities, and has already ticked off most of Europe and the United States. Iceland represents the next frontier, something genuinely different.
But it is not just the experienced traveler. We are seeing strong interest from honeymooners and couples celebrating milestone occasions, drawn by landscapes that look like they belong in a painting. And increasingly, senior citizens are expressing interest too.
The motivations are clear. Around 70 per cent of our clients list the Northern Lights as their top priority when choosing Iceland. After that, it is the raw natural beauty the waterfalls, glaciers, Diamond Beach, Black Sand Beach, the Blue Lagoon and other geothermal spas.
Then come the adventure seekers: people who want ice caves, whale watching, puffin sightings, and photographs that simply cannot be taken anywhere else on Earth.
What makes Iceland remarkable?
When I asked Helga what makes Iceland most remarkable, her answer surprised me. She did not lead with any of these.
“The possibility of peace and quiet,” she said. “You have places where you don’t have any people.” Having travelled in India,
she understands why that kind of solitude is something Indian visitors find transformative.
The Bollywood and Hollywood effect
Never underestimate the power of film in shaping Indian travel decisions. Game of Thrones, Star Wars, James Bond, these have all showcased Iceland’s otherworldly landscapes to a global audience. But for Indian travelers specifically, Bollywood carries enormous influence. The film Dilwale was shot partly in Iceland, and those song sequences featuring colorful saris against Iceland’s rugged volcanic terrain are still widely watched on YouTube.
Clients regularly come to us asking to visit specific locations they have seen in films. The DC-3 plane wreck site, the glacier , the dramatic coastal backdrops — these are powerful motivators. As Helga noted, when Justin Bieber shot a music video at
Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, it transformed an obscure location into a must-visit destination overnight.
The same happens with Bollywood. A picture truly does sell more than a thousand words, and those Bollywood songs set against Iceland’s landscapes are some of the best marketing the country has ever received. Helga herself recalled watching the Dilwale shoot with amazement: “I remember thinking about the actors freezing, because they had sari, and it was beautiful, beautiful colors combined with the Icelandic landscape.” She described their work at the plane wreck and on the glaciers as “extraordinary courage.” Iceland’s tourism authorities have now learned to anticipate these surges.
“If something comes in a film or in a music video, Bollywood, Hollywood, whatever,” Helga explained, “we have now measures to be able to address it when a flow of people starts to come to places that are not used to be popular.”
How Indian travelers prefer to experience Iceland
Group sizes tend to be small, typically no more than 18 to 20 guests. Iceland is a destination you enjoy with people you know: families, multi-generational groups gathering from different countries, small friend circles, honeymooners. These are not coach-tour travelers; they want a curated, personal experience.
In summer months, couples and small groups of friends are comfortable with self-drive tours, provided they are prepared for driving on the right-hand side of the road — the opposite of India’s left-hand driving. In winter, self-driving is a firm no from our side. Snow and ice require experience that most Indian drivers simply do not have, and guided tours are both safer and more practical for Northern Lights chasing.
Multi generational family trips
The multi-generational family trip is a particularly exciting segment. With Indian families increasingly spread across India, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, Iceland works brilliantly as a central meeting point. It is not a long flight from
North America or from Europe, and it offers something for everyone: spas and tranquility for the elders, adventure for the young, and shared wonder at landscapes that none of them will have seen before.
Helga sees this trend from the receiving end and is equally enthusiastic. “We have a lot of huge diaspora of Indians all around the world, and Iceland is a good place if you want to meet,” she told me. “If you live in Europe and the US, it’s perfect to meet in the middle.”
Service expectations: what Indian travelers need to know
Part of my job is expectation management, and Iceland requires some honest conversation with clients. India is a country of 1.4 billion people with an extraordinary hospitality culture. Iceland is a country of 390,000 people on a volcanic island. The level of personal service you receive at an Indian luxury hotel, the porters, the attentiveness, the round-the-clock availability is not the norm here.
That is not a criticism of Iceland; it is simply a different reality. What Indian travelers should expect and plan for: English-speaking drivers and guides are readily available, which is important.
Dietary requirements need attention
Many Indian travelers are vegetarian or vegan, and Helga confirmed that Iceland has embraced plant-based eating in a significant way, with good options widely available. “A lot of people are vegans, a lot of people are vegetarian, so it’s not a problem to find food here,” she assured me. Indian restaurants exist in Reykjavik and even in northern Iceland, run by people from India. On the food front, Helga also surprised me with the caliber of dining in small-town Iceland: “You have a small village of 100-something people, and you have a fancy place with amazing quality and great chefs.” She even mentioned a Michelin-level Moroccan chef working a restaurant in the north of the country.
Expectation management
Helga was candid about accommodation expectations, too. “Iceland doesn’t have a lot of five-star hotels,” she said, “but the level of the three- and four-star hotel is generally good.”
She recommended what she called expectation management: “Is there gonna be a piccolo at your hotel, or do you have to carry your luggage yourself? These kinds of things.” That kind of honesty is refreshing and exactly what our clients need to hear before they arrive.
Temperature-controlled vehicles matter, especially for travelers from western India’s tropical climate. Rooms need to be reasonably spacious. Indian travelers tend to carry more luggage than visitors from other countries, and they need room for it.
Drive times should be kept to two to four hours rather than marathon seven- or eight-hour stretches, with regular breaks. And backup plans are essential: if the Blue Lagoon is closed due to volcanic activity, there need to be alternative geothermal experiences ready to go.
The cost question and how to manage it
The number one question we receive is: why is Iceland so expensive?
Clients know it is not a budget destination, but they want good value, even at a premium level, they expect a reasonable return on their investment.
Helga was refreshingly direct about this. “We are 390,000 people on a rock in the North Atlantic,” she said. “We have to import a lot of our things, so that puts the pricing of food up. The salaries are high here, so that keeps the service level high as well.”
But she also shared practical strategies that we can now pass on to clients. “In Iceland, in theory you don’t need to buy any tours,” she pointed out. “If you’re self-driving, you can just drive to a place and look at a waterfall.”
She was emphatic that over-planning is a budget killer: “Having activities constantly your whole trip, two tours a day, that is gonna put the budget up.”
Her advice is to choose season carefully. July is peak pricing, September and October dramatically better and to venture beyond the south coast, where prices and crowds are highest.
From our side, we educate clients upfront. Iceland is not India. The cost of a meal, a hotel room, and a tour will all be significantly higher. But once expectations are set honestly, travelers consistently report that the experience was worth every rupee. The value lies in experiencing something genuinely unrepeatable.
Safety and volcanos
I can speak from personal experience on the volcano question. Two years ago, I was heading to Keflavík International Airport for my flight and saw an active eruption near the Blue Lagoon with my own eyes. The flight took off on time. Everything was normal.
Iceland’s infrastructure and emergency preparedness are genuinely world-class. Helga
put it perfectly: “We are very used to this in Iceland.”
She told me about one eruption that sent lava over the Blue Lagoon’s parking lot. “Within days, they had made a new
road and a new parking spot,” she said. “We have the possibilities of reacting to it without a lot of drama.”
Her advice to concerned travelers: “When you see it on the news, sometimes it looks dramatic. But because of modern equipment and resilience and know-how, we are very used to dealing with these situations.”
Women travelers
For the growing segment of Indian women travelling solo or in women-only groups, Iceland is one of the safest destinations on the planet. Helga was emphatic on this point: “We have the president, which is a woman, the prime minister is a woman, the coalition of three parties are all led by women. The bishop of Iceland is a woman, the head of the
courts is a woman.” She described how this representation at the highest levels reflects a broader culture of equality and respect. “Respect is something that we have here, and we’ve had it for many years,” she said.
For Indian women exploring the world independently, it does not get much better than this.
Beyond sightseeing – special interest travel
Iceland’s potential for special-interest travel from India is largely untapped. We organize “Run cation” trips running holidays that combine marathons with tourism and the Reykjavik Marathon in August would be a natural fit. Hiking, trekking, and trail running in Iceland’s highlands and dramatic terrain are extraordinary possibilities for active leisure travelers.
Helga described the geothermal landscape as Iceland’s true differentiator from the rest of the Nordics: “I work with guides here who are doing amazing things with the geothermal energy. They are cooking in it with the guests,
they’re making their own pools for the guests on the spot.” Norway has glaciers and fjords, but only Iceland has this living volcanic energy running through everything.
Music
Music festivals are another draw.
Indians travel internationally for events like Tomorrowland in Belgium, and Iceland’s own Airwaves festival in November, combined with a country that has produced globally famous artists relative to its tiny population, could be a compelling proposition.
Helga lit up when discussing Iceland’s music scene: “Everybody in the Icelandic schools are learning music,” she explained, pointing to artists like Laufey, who has modernized jazz for a younger global audience, as well as Sigur Rós, Of Monsters and Men, and Kaleo.
Wellness and photography
She also described a trend that struck me as quintessentially Icelandic: “The newest trend in Iceland. we have a sauna, and
running to the ocean.”
Wellness and spirituality in Iceland’s vast, empty landscapes offer yet another dimension.
And for photographers, amateur and professional alike, Iceland is simply unmatched. The landscapes look like they were designed for the camera.
There are even unique accommodation experiences, such as glass igloos for watching the Northern Lights, that add a genuine wow factor for Indian travelers seeking something extraordinary.
Plan early, plan with locals
Indian travelers are not always known for planning well in advance, but Iceland demands it.
Helga’s advice is clear: for a summer trip, start planning at least six months ahead. Three months is the minimum. Less than that, especially during peak season, and you will struggle to find the accommodation you want in the places worth visiting. A
solar eclipse in August 2026 has already booked out accommodation two years in advance, which gives you a sense of how far ahead demand runs.
Helga also offered a crucial piece of driving advice that every Indian traveler needs to hear. “A 100-kilometre drive is not realistic in one hour,” she warned. “You’re gonna have five or six stops to see something amazing. That is the biggest mistake people make. They are assuming that they’re just gonna drive on a highway for an hour or two, and they forget that there is so much stuff to see that you don’t want to miss.”
Roaming sheep and the importance of a travel planner
She also cautioned about uniquely Icelandic hazards: sheep that roam freely across roads in summer, one-lane bridges where you must wait for oncoming traffic, and the temptation to slam on the brakes when the Northern Lights suddenly appear overhead while driving in darkness. “We are always advising people to stop securely, not to just stop and jump
out of the car,” she said.
The strongest piece of advice I took from our conversation is the value of having a local travel planner. Helga told me a story that stayed with me: “Just this last week, I met two couples that were travelling. They had four days, and they were in a place where I thought, what are you doing here? This is not where you should be when you’re in
Iceland.”
She also recounted arranging emergency accommodation through her personal network when a group was stranded by flooding and nothing was available online.
“Hidden gems. That’s what we can offer,” she said. But perhaps most compellingly, she shared why she started Iceland Unwrapped in the first place: “I met Americans who had been to Iceland four times and never met Icelandic people. I think
that was such a pity.” Now she arranges dining in Icelandic homes and cultural evenings that connect visitors with locals.
“That,” she told me, “is the icing on the cake.”
The bottom line
Iceland is not cheap, it is not tropical, and it is not easy to reach. That is precisely the point. For Indian travelers who have seen the great cities of Europe and the landmarks of America and are asking “what is truly different?”
Iceland is the answer. A volcanic island where you can swim between tectonic plates, watch the sky turn green with the
Aurora, stand on a black sand beach in total silence, and soak in water heated by the earth itself.
As Helga reminded me, the highlands are so otherworldly that NASA astronauts used them to practice for the moon landings. “You could stay for three months,” she said, “you wouldn’t see everything. It’s impossible. I haven’t seen everything.”
One final thought she offered that I think captures the spirit of what Iceland can be for Indian travelers: “You don’t need the same Instagram picture as everybody has. You can find a new spot where you can find your own beautiful pictures.” My conversation with Helga made clear that Iceland is ready for Indian travelers. The food options are
there, the safety is there, and the willingness to adapt and welcome is genuine. The question is not whether Iceland belongs on your bucket list. It is whether you will plan early enough to do it properly.
Helga Kristin Fridjonsdottir (Helga Stina) is the founder of Iceland Unwrapped, a Reykjavik-based travel planning service specializing in personalized itineraries that connect visitors with the authentic Iceland beyond the tourist trail. Contact: icelandunwrapped.com
Subhash Motwani is the founder of Namaste Tourism, a Mumbai-based travel company specializing in curated international travel experiences for Indian travelers, including Nordic and Icelandic itineraries – namastetourism
This blog is made in cooperation between Iceland Unwrapped and Namaste tourism, promoting Iceland as a destination for Indian travelers.
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Photos by Helga Stina at Iceland Unwrapped