Meet Valur Heiðar, one of Iceland’s leading private guides

A magazine like Stuck in Iceland should be a springboard for independent and authentic entrepreneurs. The people and the companies I work with should have proven themselves to offer the best service and value to people visiting Iceland. Somebody who fulfills both criteria is travel guide Valur Heiðar Sævarsson, who runs the top-rated travel company Your Friend in Reykjavik. Valur and I have had a partnership for a while. Many readers have joined the small group walking tours with Your Friend in Reykjavik.  If you subscribe to the Stuck in Iceland newsletter, you will instantly receive a promo code for their small group Reykjavik walking tours and Reykjavik private tours. There are also many other codes you will receive. The more discount codes you use, the more you save.

Getting insights from an experienced guide

Your Friend in Reykjavik is designed to be entertaining while providing insight into Icelandic history, folklore, and culture. Their guides are local experts and certified guides. I was curious about Valur Heiðar’s philosophy concerning traveling; after all, Your Friend in Reykjavik is rated as one of the best in the business on Tripadvisor.

Hey Valur Heiðar, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions. Please give my readers a little background information about yourself.

Hi Jon, and thank you for the opportunity to be featured in Stuck in Iceland magazine. I guess the magazine’s name got more gravitas after the storms in December 😀.

So, I’m originally from a tiny Iceland off the south coast of Iceland, the Westman Islands.  There are just 4000 people living in that fishing village, so it’s a small community where many things revolve around the fishing industry.

I got into music in my teenage years, and eventually, a couple of bars on the Island could not sustain an aspiring musician who wanted to make it big on the mainland of Iceland.  As a side note, the Islanders sometimes jokingly call Iceland North Island one of the small islands around Heimaey, the only Island in the Westman Islands cluster inhabited, but that’s another story.

A couple of my friends and I moved to Reykjavik, worked, and partied. After a bit of time, I found myself in a band called the great name, Buttercup that succeeded, touring all over Iceland, songs on top of the Icelandic hit lists, and releasing six albums.

This touring musician life got tiring after a while, so eventually, I found myself in tourism, which is a lot like a performance sometimes, and which I love to do in a personal manner. I am a father of two beautiful boys, Odinn Hrafn & Trausti Tyr.

How did you get the idea for Your Friend in Reykjavik, and what is the philosophy you operate on?

As I’m a big foodie and beer lover, companies, groups, friends, and sometimes travelers from abroad (based on recommendations) started asking me to do food & drink experiences for them.  Eventually, it grew from me just doing private tours. We now have various daily tours, like our popular Food Tour, the best introduction to Reykjavik & Iceland, Walk With a Viking, our City Walk, and more.

Your Friend In Reykjavik should always be personal, like meeting an old friend you haven’t seen in a while who happens to know ALOT about Reykjavik & Iceland.
Then it is up to us to provide value & fun with our tours and information given before, while, and after each experience with us.

You have an impressive rating on Tripadvisor. How do you achieve this?

Thank you, we can thank our excellent tour guides, who know how to Edutain (Entertain & Educate), but then I have to mention our partners for our Food & Beer tours, our excellent restaurants & bars.  Finally, it’s up to tour design, as I walked some of these tours hundreds of times before letting my guides do them, so I tried to optimize the tours to have a real story, beginning, middle, and end.

You must get all sorts of requests from the people who join your tours; what is the most memorable request you have had?

I once did a private Food tour for a family, and they liked our tour & me so much that they made me a VERY reasonable offer to guide them for the rest of their two weeks in Iceland.  Unfortunately, I was juggling a day job & family at the time, but it was still hard to say no.

What are your favorite activities or places in Iceland?

Thingvellir is a national treasure, as it reminds me of the Icelandic Sagas while also being a beautiful work of nature.  Snaefellsnes peninsula is another favorite, and Ásbyrgi canyon is to the North.  I also have to mention my hometown in the Westman Islands, which is beautiful.

What advice do you give to those visiting Iceland for the first time?

Take time to enjoy it if possible, don’t snapshot your experience with Iceland.  Try to breathe in where you are and enjoy the nature & views, read & listen to the stories.  Try the food & drink, and talk with the locals.

Look at our Facebook page, which features a steady stream of information & fun facts about Iceland:

And you can also join our Facebook group, where it’s easy to ask questions about anything & everything related to Iceland.

Reykjavik Walking Tours with Your Friend in Reykjavik

• Walk With A Viking Tour in Reykjavik
• Reykjavik Food Lovers Tour
• Reykjavik Folklore Tour
• Reykjavik Beer & Booze Tour
• Reykjavik Christmas Walking Tour
• The Reykjavik CatWalk

Private versions of the small group Reykjavik walking tours

• Private Walk With a Viking Tour
• Private Reykjavik Beer & Booze Tour
• Private Reykjavik Cat Walk
• Private Reykjavik Shopping & Sightseeing Walking Tour
• Private Reykjavik Folklore & CatWalk
• Private Reykjavik Folklore Walking Tour
• Private Walking Food Tour in Reykjavik

Your Friend in Reykjavik is a top-rated company on TripAdvisor, just like all the other partners I work with.