Planning a family trip to Iceland? TripNest turns it into its own app: 10 narrated story podcasts about Iceland for the drive, games and a quiz for the kids, an audio phrasebook, and the day-by-day plan and map the whole family shares.
Start your Iceland trip - free
How volcanoes and glaciers share one island
Iceland has volcanoes hiding beneath sheets of ice, which sounds impossible until you hear how it works. We follow melted glacier water as it rushes out across black sand. By the end you'll know what to look for when the land starts steaming.
Settlers cross the sea and build a country
Over a thousand years ago, families packed boats with sheep, tools and children and sailed toward an island nobody lived on yet. What did they eat that first winter? We look at what archaeologists have dug up under Reykjavík's streets.
A meeting place between two continents
In the year 930, people from all over Iceland rode to a rocky valley called Þingvellir to make laws out loud, with no building and no roof. One man had to memorise every single law. We'll stand in the crack between two tectonic plates and imagine the crowd.
Stories written on calfskin, still read today
Long before films, Icelandic families passed winter by telling long adventure stories about real farms and feuding neighbours - then wrote them down. Some sagas name places you can still drive to. Pick your favourite character and see if you can spot their valley.
Why some rocks get left alone
Icelandic folklore is full of huldufólk, the hidden people, who are said to live inside boulders and cliffs. Some roads have politely curved around a rock rather than move it. These are stories, not scares - and they make every lava field more interesting.
Life around a very busy coastline
Humpbacks, minke whales and millions of seabirds all come to Iceland's cold, food-rich waters. We'll learn how a puffin carries a whole mouthful of fish at once and why it looks like a tiny rugby ball when it flies. Bring your binoculars.
Geothermal pools, steam and warm showers
In Iceland, the neighbourhood swimming pool is outdoors, warm and open all year, even in snow. The heat comes from rock deep underground, not a boiler. We'll also cover the pool rules - including why everyone showers first.
Farm life on a windy island
For centuries, Icelandic families lived in houses built from turf and stone, with sheep grazing the hills above. Every autumn there's still a big round-up to bring the sheep home. Find out how many sheep there are compared to people.
What's actually on an Icelandic plate
Skyr has been made here for a thousand years, and some rye bread is baked slowly in the ground using volcanic heat. We'll decode a bakery counter and a hot dog stand. Learn how to order yours "with everything".
Northern lights, long nights and midnight sun
In December the sun barely climbs over the hills; in June it barely leaves. And on clear dark nights, green ribbons can ripple across the sky. We'll explain where the aurora comes from and how families plan a night of looking up.
Akureyri / Reykjavík / Vík / Höfn
A Norwegian king / An Icelandic hot spring called Geysir / A type of boat / A kind of bird
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge / The Grand Canyon / The Sahara Plate / The Alps
The Iceland podcast has 10 narrated story episodes for the car or the plane: Fire Under the Ice, The First Farm, Parliament in a Valley, Sagas: The First Box Sets, Hidden People and Tricky Trolls, Whales, Puffins and the Open Sea, The Hot Water Everywhere, Sheep, Horses and Turf Houses, Skyr, Rye Bread and the Famous Hot Dog and Lights in the Winter Sky.
"Takk fyrir", said tahk FIH-rir. It's one of the phrases in the Iceland audio phrasebook, recorded so the kids can hear it before they try it.
112 (Emergency (all services)). TripNest puts it in your trip's contacts page next to your own contacts.
Every trip starts free: the day-by-day plan, map and contacts. Premium adds the Iceland podcasts, kids' games and the audio phrasebook for $24, once per trip - no subscription.
No. Your trip is one link that opens on everyone's phone, grandparents included, without an account. You can add it to your home screen so it works offline once you land.