Our big family trip this year allowed us the pleasure of spending 4 days and 3 nights in Iceland. We spent the first few days of our trip in Reykjavik before heading to Denmark, then we made our way back to Iceland at the end of trip for our return flight home. This being our third trip to Europe, I knew good and well that our energy levels would be low after such a big trip so staying near the airport made sense. As it turns out, I was right.
The Base Hotel is rated as a 3-star hotel just a few miles from the Keflavik airport. It is aptly named since it was actually a former NATO base used by the US Navy and US Air Force until 2006. The buildings that make up hotel were once housing for families of U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force servicemen and servicewomen.
The reception area is not big but check in was very easy. I had booked our room ahead of time and everything was seamless upon arrival. I wanted an accessible room however that note didn’t come across in booking. It was not a problem though and hotel staff remedied that quickly and easily. We were very grateful.
As an added convenience, airport shuttles can be arranged and prepaid at the desk with pickup being outside in the parking lot. I started to worry when I saw so many people waiting outside with us since we had the wheelchair. Thankfully the bus was larger than I expected and my fears were quelled. We boarded and took off in just a few minutes.
While there is no restaurant onsite, there is a vending machine and a quaint coffee shop with a few snacks. If you want more than snack food, I recommend Langbest which is a 10 minute walk at most. We walked over for lunch and ordered pizza to be delivered for dinner.
The walk was a cold one for us in July. It was very windy and temps had dropped to the 40’s. We had Peanut wrapped up in her wheelchair so she enjoyed the ride snuggly warm. We knew we were returning to the brutal Texas heat so we decided to make the best of our cold walk.
We stayed in a triple room on the first floor closest to the reception desk. It was also an accessible room which was quite roomy and accommodated Peanut’s wheelchair very well. We were able to fold it up and put it aside leaving ample room for the three of us.
Being a triple room, Peanut slept on the sofa bed. She was exhausted and was quick to get comfortable watching movies on her tablet. The hotel had plenty of pillows, sheets, and blankets ready for us to fix the sofa bed.
The biggest and most pleasant surprise was the bathroom. I typically don’t get too excited about bathrooms but this one was deceptively large. The doors slid open to a spacious area leading to the toilet.
The shower was a roll in shower with enough width to accommodate a shower chair easily. It is not visible in the photo but there is a drain that worked well and prevented the floor from being flooded.
