Iceland Lures Visitors with Cheap Off-Season Packages

Iceland calls. I've been there, except that airports don't count

A lifetime ago, Icelandic Airlines had a $135 off-season roundtrip youth fare to Luxembourg, with a mandatory stopover at Rekjavik's Keflavik Airport, where sleepy passengers stumbled into the terminal, wrote postcards en route to Europe and bought woolen garments and canned fish on the way home. Beyond that, the great thing was that Icelandic considered you a youth until you were 30. I was living and working in New York and would fly to Europe for long weekends. For very little money, I felt like a jetsetter.

If I still lived back East, I could practically replicate those long-ago prices -- even so many years later. Icelandair, as the carrier is now called, is marketing a getaway package starting at $469 per person that includes airfare from New York or Boston, two nights' lodging in three star FossHotels in the historic center of the capital city of Reykjavik and huge Scandinavian-style breakfasts both mornings. The same package in October is only $90 more. September travel is somewhat higher, the cost is still generally 20 to 30 percent lower than peak season rates. Plus taxes, service charges, etc.

With such a short time there, I'd probably never get out of Rekjavik, so I'd jump on the city's Welcome Card for discounts at some of the capital's restaurants, shops and tours, plus free admission to museums and thermal pools. Available for 24-, 48- or 72-hours, the Welcome Card reportedly starts at about $11.

Even though the days would be getting shorter and colder then, I could finally get to see a bit of Iceland, which fascinates me from afar. These days, I wouldn't go just because of the bargain price, but rather to see some of the unique culture, dramatic landscapes and outdoor actvitivies that I've heard so much about -- and maybe whet my appetite for more.