Only excellent reviews on Trip Advisor say everything
wow, our daughter and I spent a weekend on Iceland. touring the island with Stefan and it was an amazing experience. I don’t know what else to expect from a guide: knowledgeable, fun, customer oriented, friendly, … we strongly recommend him.
Trip Advisor March 2019
Professional, experienced, knowledgeable
After researching our options on Trip Advisor, and based on his excellent ratings, we chose Stefan Helgi Valsson to be our private tour guide for our February 2019 trip to Iceland. Our tour group included nine adult family members, who were all extremely pleased with our choice of tour guide.
Stefan greeted us promptly on our arrival at Keflavik Airport in his immaculate 16-passenger Mercedes van complete with Wi-Fi, a central PA system, and plenty of room to carry our luggage. We hit the ground running, as Stefan carefully followed our four-day itinerary, guiding us through the most beautiful natural wonders Iceland has to offer. Stefan explained in great detail everything we were seeing from our warmly heated van, stopping at sights along the Golden Circle, South Coast, Reykjavík City, and Blue Lagoon tourist routes.
Each day, Stefan arrived promptly at our hotel after checking the weather reports and road closures to ensure our excursions went smoothly, and he managed to get us to our destination at optimum times. Either by luck or by his careful design, Stefan arranged our arrival to the Seljalandsfoss Glacier in time for a spectacular sunset. Our arrival at the Mýrdalshreppur waterfall was at dusk beneath a full moon. What a breathtaking sight!
We hoped to chase the Northern Lights in our private van, but Stefan expertly advised us to abandon the outing due to poor visibility and low chances of seeing the Lights on our scheduled evening. We appreciated his honesty and practical advice–and we actually got an eight-minute glimpse of the spectacle from the rooftop of our Reykjavík Canopy Hilton hotel on our last night. Our trip to Iceland exceeded our expectations, due mainly to Stefan’s knowledge and professionalism. We highly recommend contracting Stefan at valsson@centrum.is for your next trip to Iceland! A+
Trip Advisor February 2019
The two bike tours Matt & I took with Stefan truly made our trip to Iceland. We can’t rave enough about them to all our family and friends. Stefan, we loved hearing all your stories and insight and knowledge of your home. We finished our trip in Iceland with a “South Shore Adventure,” but unfortunately, while the scenery was beautiful, nothing compares to the intimate settings of your tours. The larger tour bus setting just wasn’t for us. While the tour guide was great nothing beats the warm, welcoming atmosphere of your tours. – Meghan and Matt
Cousins fun weekend!
9 of us – cousins, spouses, and adult children – met in Iceland over Presidents Day weekend. Traveling with Stefan had been booked based on his stellar Trip Advisor reviews, and let me tell you…everyone was right! As a native Icelander who himself has traveled extensively, Stefan was a well versed travel guide. His passion for what he does is palpable, and he is meticulous with the maintenance and cleanliness of the vehicle we rode in. He was timely, informative, professional, funny, knowledgeable, and safe. The sights we saw were perfectly timed to see them A) at sunset, or B) at moonrise – and that added to the breathtaking quality of those sights. Stefan can accommodate your suggested itinerary, or propose one to you. He is a consummate professional, who absolutely loves his job, and I highly recommend his services. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trip Advisor February 2019
Awesome experience, I highly recommend Stefan’s tours!
My family and I spent several AMAZING days with Stefan touring Reykjavik, the Golden Circle, and Southern Iceland. If Stefan is available while you’re visiting Iceland do yourself a favor and book him quickly!
Stefan was incredibly knowledgeable, professional, punctual, funny, and genuinely kind! We may need to bring him on all of our family vacations 🙂 His vehicle was very comfortable, clean, and safe for the entire family. Due to Stefan’s expertise and guidance, we were in the perfect places at the perfect time to experience the best of what Iceland has to offer.
I thought it was very cool that Rick Steves also toured Iceland with Stefan and highly recommends his services. I’ve found Rick Steves guidebooks of Europe to be very helpful in my travels! His recommendation, along with stellar online reviews is how we were lucky enough to find Stefan. 5 stars!
Trip Advisor February 2019
Stellar!
Our friends booked a Northern Lights tour with Stefán months before our early Feb arrival in Reykjavik. The forecasts for clear skies during our visit were iffy, except for the day we arrived. Stefán was marvelously flexible, and responded quickly to our request to reschedule our tour for optimal NL viewing. Although Stefán was already booked, he arranged with his longtime friend and fellow guide to take us out that evening. John, too, was wonderful — knowledgeable, enthusiastic, eager to share history and local color, and happy to indulge our requests for yet more photo time. He was a pleasure to be with — genial, with a ready sense of humor. We stayed out well beyond the allotted time and saw magnificent NL displays.
Stefån also arranged a last-minute Golden Circle Tour with John, who took us out in a comfortable van with excellent visibility. The afternoon was clear and cold, with a fresh layer of snow that made Gullfoss, Þingvellir, and Geysir yet more spectacular. Once again we spent a very interesting, informative, and enjoyable time with John.
Winter driving in Iceland can be deceptively treacherous. We saw a half-dozen cars,
a small tour bus, and a camper stuck along the road during our outings with John.
Although we typically prefer to drive ourselves, and have toured Iceland on our own during the summer, we highly recommend using local guides in winter.Kudos & Thanks, Stefán and John!
Trip Advisor February 2019
Good call! Stefan moved our planned trip date up one day, to benefit from ideal Aurora Borealis viewing conditions. Terrific call…next night, our scheduled night, was cloudy! We got to see them in all their glory…which was the primary purpose of our winter trip to Iceland. Oh yes, he was punctual, personable and informative, and our four door pickup truck was comfortable and safe in the snowy and windy conditions. Trip Advisor February 2019
Great visit!We had read about Stefan, and contacted him about guiding our family during our vacation at the end of December. He was very helpful and responsive to our emails, recommending an itinerary and working with us on scheduling. He was already engaged personally at the time we were going to be there, so he had a colleague, Simone, take us on our tours over several days. She was fabulous — a great traveling companion for our family whether it was for a restaurant tour of Reykjavik or travel around the island. She was tremendously knowledgeable, philosophical, fun to be with, entertaining — everything we could have asked for. It was a wonderful time (even if we didn’t have luck seeing the Northern Lights, though we tried!). We would strongly recommend Stefan and Simone.
Trip Advisor January 2019