10 Useless Icelandic phrases you should not bother to learn

While visiting Iceland it's useful to know some key phrases in Icelandic, like góðan dag/good day, takk fyrir/thank you and matseðilinn takk/the menu please. Then you have some you should not bother with.

1. Hvar er næsti McDonald’s? / Where is the nearest McDonald’s?

Nope, no Big Mac for you. There are no MacDonald’s restaurants in Iceland. The fast food chain used to run three outlets in Iceland for a while, but they closed their doors in 2009, the owner maintained it was due to the economic crisis. We believe it was because local burger joints beat off the competition with their tasty burgers (you don’t’ find Starbucks either in Iceland. The local cafes whip up much better coffee drinks).

2. Hvar er næsta lestarstöð? / Where's the closest train station?

There are no trains in Iceland. Domestic travel is by car, plane, boat, bike or foot.

3. Hvernig verður veðrið í kvöld? / How will the weather be tonight?

The weather in Iceland is notoriously unpredictable. You better pack both shorts and a raincoat. And it is not unusual to experience the wind blowing from all directions within the same hour.

Read the other seven over at icelandmag.com.