Here are the available villas for rental in Iceland.

The isle of natural wonders

My first reaction when my daughter suggested Iceland for a holiday was disbelief, as we had previously visited places like Malta and Madeira.
However, I found myself on the plane to Reykjavik and as it landed, passengers peered curiously through the windows for a glimpse of what awaited them.
It was different from anywhere I have seen, with brown lava rock everywhere and sparse greenery, mainly around the coast.
Our courier told us that a few trees in a clump were considered to be a wood. Some tourists said that they were missing their gardens already.
On the coach from the airport to the hotel it looked like an end-of-the-world scene until we came to Reykjavik. As much of Iceland is uninhabitable, almost half the population lives here. It has the distinction of being the most northerly capital in the world.
The air was cleaner and there was no over-crowding, no queueing, no litter and hardly any graffiti.
We had no trouble making ourselves understood, as most of the people we encountered spoke English. Surprisingly, there were Filipinos working in the hotel in Reykjavic, in spite of the very harsh winters.
There were plenty of familiar foods to choose from, including chips, and of course, fish. Icelandic delicacies of putrefied shark's meat and ram's testicles were, we considered, more of a threat than a promise.
There was a lot to see, including natural wonders like glaciers, churches, shops, and good nightlife. We also saw a building where pagan marriages were held. The local tourist centre was a mine of information on excursions.
We visited the Blue Lagoon, assuming that the description of it as "a totally unforgettable experience in supernatural surroundings" was typical guide book hype.
We were wrong — it was exactly that. We bathed in the outdoor lagoon in very cold weather in this soothing warm water in surroundings which were like something out of this world. Unforgettable.
Wearing two of everything, except boots, we went on a whaling boat, listening for the crew member's urgent shouts: "Whale at 12 O'clock," and "Whale at four O'clock."
Whaling in Iceland is being discouraged on the grounds that taking tourists whale-spotting is more profitable.
Although I was initially impressed by the exchange rate, receiving 123 krona to £1, I found that it disappeared quickly. A pint of beer costs £5 and a cup of coffee is £2.40.
But my test of a good holiday is whether I would go again. Given the chance, I most certainly would. ... more

Chill out in Iceland's hotspots and hotpots

From the Daily Mail

'And if you are lucky, the waiters pour soup on you and throw you in the lake.' My guide Gunnar, a retired paediatrician, was telling me about a lunchtime play that has been packing Reykjavik's Idno Theatre with eager soup drinkers.
'Perhaps it's our tempestuous climate, but we Icelanders do nothing by halves.' At first sight, Reykjavik looks short on period charm, with few old buildings and most of the city built of earthquake-proof concrete.
Heritage often involves corrugated iron, once a luxury import, which covers the wooden frames of many 19th-century houses. In today's newly wealthy Iceland, these represent the last word in nostalgia chic and are being lovingly restored and reproduced.
Gunnar's fierce pride in his city soon had me converted. The city may lack ancient monuments, he says, but its medieval blockbusters, the sagas, live on in hearts and minds, revered in the same breath as Shakespeare or Sophocles. The whole city turned out to welcome the Danish destroyer which escorted two of the precious manuscripts home from Copenhagen in 1971.
In the bookshop on Austurstraeti, I flipped open a new Penguin edition and found myself gripped by tales of elopement, hidden treasure, a bride married off to the wrong man, a witch ride, revenge.
The same respect for the harsh past, the non-stop battle against the elements, comes across in every one of Reykjavik's fine collections: from the Viking relics in the National Museum (closed for renovation until June 2001) to the myth-ridden sculptures of Einar Jonsson or the landscapes in the airy National Gallery.
On endless summer evenings, it seems to be the Reykjavik bars that have fallen heir to the Icelandic passion for talk, stories, heated discussion and any other throwing in the lake that's going. The pub scene exploded after beer drinking was legalised in 1989, and Reykjavik's nightlife is billed as being among the coolest in Europe.
The streets around Adalstraeti heave until about 3am. If I didn't actually hear Bjork DJ-ing in Cafe Thomsen, or hang around Kaffi Barinn for a glimpse of its co-owner, Blur singer Damon Albarn, let's say it was because my stamina and wallet had given out long before. ... more

Whales ahoy

When it comes to watching whales, luck has never been on my side. My travels have taken me to many places where there should have been whales but somehow they always managed to evade me.
In New England, Newfoundland, South Africa and California I was too late, or too early, or the weather was too bad.
So those words 'Thar she blows' remained unspoken on my lips - which is rather sad for a patron of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
But now my luck has changed and I can hold my head high in front of fellow WDCS supporters - and friends - like Michaela Strachan, my co-presenter on BBC One's Countryfile, and Mark Carwardine, the Radio 4 wildlife expert and contributor to The Mail on Sunday travel pages.
They have seen all kinds of whales umpteen times, as they have often told me.
Undeterred by all my previous failures, I booked a short holiday to northern Iceland because it included two whale-watching trips, and this time I took with me a lucky charm - my six-year-old granddaughter, Jessica.
It worked. Scarcely an hour after leaving the port of Husavik, 30 miles south of the Arctic Circle, in a 50ft converted fishing boat we hit the jackpot.
Everyone on board had been asked to keep a lookout, and when one eagle-eyed spotter called that he had seen something, the engines were cut back and 50 pairs of eyes scanned the sea.
Then up came a huge spout of water and there was my very first whale.
To make the moment perfect it was not just any old cetacean but a mighty humpback, one on the whale A-list.
The magnificent creature, much the same size as our boat, came within a few feet of us, splashing its flippers and flashing its fluke, or tail.
Jessica and her mum, Victoria, were just as thrilled. 'Will we see the big whale again?' asked Jessica after it had dived to the deep, and six minutes later we did. ... more

Iceland – a real diamond geyser

Until a decade ago, the idea of going on holiday to Iceland would have been as outlandish to most Brits as taking a break on one of the rings of Saturn .
Through word of mouth about the country's startling beauty and thriving nightlife, it's rapidly become one of the most fashionable places to go for a long weekend, notably for young people.
A country of just 290,000 people, it's easy to envy the few who live there.
Even before landing at Keflavik airport Iceland's unique beauty reveals itself.
The volcanic landscape is startlingly lunar, and almost anywhere in Iceland has sumptuous views of its mountains.
For a capital city with such a bustling nightlife, Reykjavik itself is also unspoilt away from the main town centre. It also has a pleasant beach. The temperatures are broadly similar to the UK, about two degrees colder.
Reykjavik is most suitable for a weekend break for young people, with the compact town centre having bars and clubs at every third building.
These tend to be classy, yet welcoming and unpretentious. One of the first to champion Iceland was Blur's Damon Albarn, who owns the Cafe Barrin bar.
Typical of Reykjavik, the Barrin is ultra-relaxed. Be warned: drink is dear in Iceland, averaging £6-£7 a pint.
If you're planning a big night out, it's wise to get a siesta in first. The clubs don't start hitting their peak until around 1am, with most staying open until 6am. There are plenty of quieter pubs and bars dotted about if you'd rather take it easy. ... more

Meet the cool geysers

The explorer Eirik the Red, whose son Leifur probably discovered America before Columbus, was something of an early spin doctor.
Outlawed from Iceland for a murder too many, he set sail in AD980 and found an icy land to the North West.
Anxious to entice other settlers, he decided to give it a good name and called it Greenland, which has served ever since to confuse travellers like me about the relative hospitality of the two countries' climates.
My friends and relatives were equally confused when I came back after three days in Reykjavik with a healthy suntan - 'But I thought you'd been to Iceland?' they said.
So I had, mopping up the sunshine in a three-day break with whale-watching, bird-watching, horse-riding and camera-snapping around Iceland's spectacular mountains, glaciers, lakes and thermal springs.
Iceland is a land of surprises. The first is that it has a mere 280,000 inhabitants - most of whom speak perfect English - spread across the same area as the 60 million in Britain.
The second is the sheer space and majesty of much of the landscape.
The comparatively late arrival in the world of this volcanic country, where some 75 per cent of the inhabitants have their homes heated by naturally occurring hot water, has left it with some spectacular scenery.
Whether you are in Iceland for a fortnight, a week or a day you should not miss a trip around what they call the Golden Circle.
This takes in Gullfoss, Iceland's most thunderously exciting and picturesque waterfall, and the geothermal area of Geysir, whose spouting hot springs have given its name to blowholes all over the world. ... more