so im heading to iceland for like 10 days in september and obviously bringing the mini 3. ive been reading about the rules and its making my head spin a bit. from what i can tell you need to register and get some kind of operator id through the transport authority website but honestly the website is a nightmare to navigate especially when its not in english

also curious if anyone has actually flown near the puffin colonies or around vatnajokull, i know theres restrictions near some of the nature reserves but cant figure out exactly where the no fly zones start. altimap shows some stuff but im not 100% sure how up to date it is

any tips welcome, especially if youve actually been there and not just googled it like me lol

went last summer with my mavic 3, the registration process is annoying but doable, took me maybe an hour total. just make sure you do it at least a few days before you go because sometimes the confirmation is slow. the bigger thing nobody tells you is the wind. like you read about it but you dont really get it until your drone is being thrown sideways near skogafoss and youre convinced its going in the waterfall. fly early morning if you can, its usually calmer and the light is insane anyway

stayed away from the bird cliffs mostly, didnt want to risk stressing the puffins out and honestly the rangers there are pretty active during nesting season so just not worth it

not iceland specifically but ive done a few nordic countries and the pattern is pretty similar, they all follow easa rules now so your a1/a3 cert should transfer fine as long as you have it. double check the specific national additions though because some of them layer extra stuff on top of the easa baseline