Icelandair, Iceland's national airline, offers seasonal nonstop flights to Keflavik International Airport from 12 gateways in North America, including the Twin Cities. Between mid-October and mid-May, Icelandair's timetable lists no flights from MSP, but you can get to Iceland in winter via other gateway cities. Flying time between Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Keflavik is six hours. According to Icelandair, the fare for a round-trip from MSP to Keflavik in May 2015 would be $749. All of Icelandair's international flights stop at Keflavik, and travelers to Europe can add a stopover in Iceland for up to seven days for no additional airfare. Find and book flights at www.icelandair.us.
Winter or summer, Iceland's dramatic landscapes, cultural life and colorful history have made it a tourist magnet, particularly for adventure travelers. For information, go to the National Tourist Office site, www.visiticeland.com. Reykjavik and Akureyri also have their own tourism offices, as do the country's various regions.
For a sense of modern Iceland, including a look at its folklore, try "The Windows of Brimnes,'' a memoir by the late poet Bill Holm, a Minnesotan of Icelandic descent.
To read Iceland's sagas, the thousand-year-old accounts of Iceland's earliest settlers, start with the Icelandic Saga Database, at www.sagadb.org.
Catherine Watson
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