A short break in one of the most awe inspiring and beautiful places on earth. We'll be staying in a gorgeous house right in the heart of the golden circle. We'll be hunting for the Northern lights, swimming in a hot river, hiking, eating local, catching some live music, visiting a punk museum in an underground toilet and between all of that activity, they'll be a whole lot of guitar playing.

Your ticket includes

Transfers to and from the airport

Accommodation

All meals enjoyed in the house cooked for you

A ticket to a 6 hour golden circle tour

Transport to and from Reykjavik (50 minute drive one way)

All guitar workshops

A printed workshop book full of resources and links to videos

10% off any guitar social eight week course in London

A one to one with your host, Thomas Binns

Travelling with a guitar is easy. Your options are

1. The Guitar Social can provide a guitar for you in Iceland for around a hundred pounds. You would leave this guitar in Iceland as a charity donation. Get in touch to explore this option

2. When you book your flights, book your guitar on as sports equipment. Put it in the hold in a hard case.

3. Buy it a seat-you get a guitar next to you, like a true rock star

If you have any questions or need support in this area, please don’t hesitate to get in touch — we’re here to help.

On a Guitar Social retreat, all the action happens in our communal spaces — the kitchen, the lounge. Your room is simply a place to store your clothes and get ready for your next musical adventure.

Room shares are allocated with age, gender, and identification in mind. We also consider people’s personal interests and do our very best to match guests well. For example, on one retreat, we organised a room share for three women — those three still holiday together, and two of them even lived together in London for a year. You never know who you’re going to meet on a Guitar Social retreat!

If you prefer your own room, we’re totally here for that. All of our accommodation options include private rooms, and if single rooms are sold out, just send us an email — we’ll explore alternatives, like buying out a twin room.

Most of all, we want you to trust that we take the care and wellbeing of everyone who books a retreat with us very seriously. That’s why we take more than 150 people on holiday each year and why, no matter where you are in the world, if you type “guitar retreats” into Google, it’s The Guitar Social you’ll find right at the top of the list.

We welcome all levels of players onto our retreats. The Guitar Social is a specialist in making mixed groups work; there isn’t an advanced song that can’t be made simple, and there isn’t a simple song that can’t be made complex. Every player has a place in a Guitar Social jam.

Furthermore, once you have booked, your retreat tutor will be in touch to get an understanding of where you are with your progress, and the workshops will be designed around your, and the wider group’s, needs.

We pride ourselves on being non-elitist, inclusive, and creative in the way we approach our workshops.

This retreat has a limit of ten people on it.

The suggested flights for this trip from London are

London Heathrow 7.35am landing at KEF 10.50am

Returning KEF 4.05pm landing at 7.05pm

If you are brining a guitar, add it as a sports item

The Guitar Social can provide a basic guitar for you in Iceland for one hundred pounds.

Arrivals

All in the Guitar Social tour bus from the airport for an hours drive to our new home for the week.

The accommodation is in the heart of the Golden Circle. As you unpack your bags, mountains and vast views on the other side of the window. Someone down the corridor is already strumming a guitar.

Afternoon

After some lunch and drinks at the accommodation, we'll be getting our guitars out and doing three hours of workshops and jams.

Evening

Sunset smells of dinner and as the night draws in, the music continues with jams and songs as food is prepared. Our accommodation has a hot tub, so some may enjoy a pre dinner dip. Light pollution is almost at zero so if the stars align for us, the Northern Lights are a distinct possibility.

Workshops

1. Icelandic pop music explored

2. 18th century folk traditions with a focus on Rimur music

3. Technical studies; we will spend 45 minutes each day exploring key areas of playing that meet the groups requirements and playing levels. This will vary depending on attendance and group playing level.

Afternoon

A four hour tour of the golden circle, an area of incredible natural beauty including stunning waterfalls, exploding geezers and rolling landscapes created by millennia of volcanic activity. This jaw dropping tour is done via coach and covers a vast area of the island, providing you with the opportunity to get a true feel for this one of a kind location.

Evening

Drinks and music back at the house

Workshops

1. A study of Nordic forms in music

2. Icelandic punk music

3. Technical studies

Late afternoon

It's time to explore the compact and fascinating city of Reykjavik. As it's December there'll be plenty of opportunities for some Christmas shopping in this permanently festive place and, somewhat less festive, a trip to the Icelandic punk museum, housed in an underground toilet and staffed by two anarchic genuine teenage punks. Expect to be told to f%$k off on entry.

Evening

There's an array of interesting places to eat in Reykjavik with some rare items on the menu for the carnivorous adventurer and plenty on offer for those who like to stay on familiar ground.

From there we'll head to see a live band or two before making our way home for some late night jamming.

Morning

Reykjadalur Hot River

We’ll leave the house early and head into the Icelandic countryside for a morning adventure in Reykjadalur, a spectacular geothermal valley just outside Hveragerði.

We’ll hike through the volcanic landscape, passing steaming ground, hot springs and the dramatic mountains of the Hengill area, before reaching the natural hot river hidden in the valley.

Once we get there, you have the option of getting into the warm water and spending some time sitting in the river surrounded by the Icelandic landscape. In November, with the possibility of cold air, frost or even snow around us, this should be a particularly memorable Icelandic experience.

After the hike back down, we’ll head into Hveragerði for lunch before returning to the house for a relaxed afternoon before the workshops start.

Workshops

1. Jamming pop songs from 90's and 00's Iceland

2. Creating an ethereal sound on guitar using alternate tunings

3. Technical studies

Before we head to the airport, we're going to take a short trip down to Eyrarbakki, a tiny historic fishing village on Iceland's south coast.

Once one of Iceland's most important trading ports, Eyrarbakki is now a wonderfully quiet place, with old wooden houses, colourful buildings and a wild stretch of Atlantic coastline. We'll have a wander through the village, head down to the sea and take in the views before making our way towards the airport.