Iceland – Around the Ring Road
Detailed Itinerary/Sights
DAY 2: KEFLAVIK TO VIK
We arrived in Iceland a few hours later than planned (around 7 AM/8AM) after our WOW air flight was delayed due to over fueling. We then headed down to arrivals to catch the shuttle to pick up our rental car from Iceland 4x4. There was an area where many rental car company representatives were waiting. Since we arrived later than expected, we waited 30-40 minutes for our rental car company to come. At the rental car office we signed our paperwork, purchased extra insurance (and a GPS) and headed out in our maroon Jeep Patriot. The first GPS device we had was faulty, so we returned for a new one before heading on our way.
Note: Getting a GPS was definitely worth it! However, make sure to enter the Icelandic spelling of destinations (ex. Þingvellir instead of Thingvellir) as the English spelling won’t appear.
Þingvellir National Park
After leaving the rental car place, we stopped by a grocery store to pick up lunch food for the week (including delicious Skyr yogurt). The first stop on our Icelandic road trip was to Þingvellir National Park, which was the seat of the national Parliament from 930 until 1798. It is also on many must-see lists we found. The drive from the airport to Þingvellir took about an hour. At Þingvellir we parked and walked up to the overlook at the visitor’s center. Despite the fact that it is a major tourist attraction, compared to other places in Iceland, this one ranked low on my must-see list.
Þingvellir National Park
Note: We would have added Landmannlauger to our itinerary, but is is only accessible by a road that was still closed in late May due to snow.
Beach Plane Crash
The next stop on our way to Vik (where our hotel was for the first night) was to see a famous plane crash on Sólheimasandur black sand beach (directions courtesy of The Expert Vagabond can be found here). It takes around two hours to get there from Þingvellir. However, we took a wrong left turn on our way (onto a very bumpy dirt road) and ended up at the Sólheimasandur glacier. We walked around the area before getting back in the car. 10 minutes later, we finally found the plane crash, which is literally the shell of an old plane that crashed there many years ago. We took more pictures than were actually necessary and then headed the 30 minutes down the road to Welcome Hotel in Vik. We checked into the hotel and then walked almost next door to Halldorskaffi, a delicious restaurant we found on trip advisor that had amazing homemade bread. After a filling meal, we headed back to the hotel and passed out.
Famous beach plane crash
DAY 3: VIK TO HOFN
I woke up relatively early to go for run before starting on the long drive for the day. I ran up to a church at the top of a hill that had a nice view of the town and beach. The town was so small that I literally ran out of town on my run. Before checking out, we took advantage of our hotel’s free breakfast. We stopped for gas on the way to our first stop, Black Pebble Beach.
Note: We usually filled up on gas when we had a quarter or half a tank. While there are a lot of gas stations in Iceland, we didn’t want to take any chances.
Black Pebble Beach (Reynisfjara)
The drive to Black Pebble Beach (or Reynisfjara if you are typing it into a GPS) took 10-15 minutes. It was raining when we arrived so we didn’t spend much time there. However, it is a cool black sand beach with unique rock structures. It was definitely worth stopping at.
Black Pebble Beach
Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon
The next stop on our day’s adventure was the Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, which was an hour away from the Black Pebble Beach. The canyon is 2.5 km off the Ring Road. When we got close to the canyon we had to turn on to a dirt road. The original route we looked up to get to the canyon (via the F206 road) was closed because the mountain road was impassible (it was too early in the season). However, instead of turning on that road, we went straight and found a parking lot that was a 15 minute walk from the picturesque canyon.
Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon
Note: Iceland has several mountain roads that are impassable certain times of year or require a 4x4. When planning your road trip make sure to check the road conditions (here) as you may not be able to access some attractions if roads are bad.
Glacier Lagoon
It took an hour and 40 minutes to drive from the canyon to our next destination, the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, which was formed by the recession of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier. We took an amphibian boat tour (i.e. a vehicle that starts on land and turns into a boat) on the stunning lagoon that is full of icebergs. On the 40 minute tour (that cost $33) we cruised around the lagoon and tasted glacial ice.
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
Note: The latest tour time that they have is 4:00 PM. Departures are frequent but not scheduled.
Vatnajökull National Park
Following the glacier lagoon tour, we back tracked 45 minutes to get to Skaftafell/Vatnajökull National Park (we didn’t have time to stop there before our glacier lagoon tour). The national park has a lot of hiking trails and would be great place to camp for the night! We went on two trails while there. The first one we went on was an uphill trail to Svartifoss (the “Black Waterfall”), which was 4 km round trip and took about 2 hours. The second hike, which was flat, was to the Skaftafell glacier (Skaftafellsjökull). It took an hour and was 4 km round trip. After hiking we returned to the car and drove the hour and 40 minutes to Hofn. We ate at a lobster place in town and then checked into Hotel Edda Hofn.
Skaftafell Glacier
We accidentally booked the hotel for 2 people instead of 3. When we checked in my friend asked if they had rooms for 3 people. When the concierge said no, my friend panicked, pointed at me, and since I was the only blonde one, said that I was from Hofn and wouldn’t be staying in the room. For the next hour we were paranoid that the man was going to check to make sure there were only two of us. The next morning as we were going to leave, the man came outside after we checked out and asked if I, the “Icelandic” girl, had stayed in the room. As an excuse, my friend told him I was too drunk and had to spend the night (meanwhile I’m was sitting in the driver’s seat of the car alert and ready to go), which is how I became the drunk Iceland mute (mute because I clearly can’t speak Icelandic) of the trip. Before we left, the guy just said, "next time just tell me."
Note: A lot of hotel rooms in Europe have either 2 single beds or 1 queen, so they only accommodate 2 people.
DAY 4: HOFN TO AKUREYRI
Dettifoss
We had a long day of driving as we made our way from Hofn, on the east coast, to Akureyri in northern Iceland. The ever-changing Icelandic landscape made the 4.5 hours drive to our first stop, Dettifoss, fly by. We passed by ocean/beaches, through tunnels in mountains and past slightly scary snowy overpasses before making it to Dettifoss, the largest waterfall in Iceland. Once we arrived at the parking area, we had to walk 20-25 minutes through a thin layer of snow (since it was late May and still early in the season) to get to a viewing spot for the waterfall.
Dettifoss
Hverir
You can’t go to Iceland without checking out some of the hot springs located there as Iceland is a hot spot for geothermal activity! Our next stop was an hour away at Hverir, hot springs located near Lake Mývatn in northern Iceland. The smell takes some getting used to, but they are a unique feature that was cool to walk around. Close by are Lake Viti (a beautiful blue crater lake) and Leirhnjúkur (a geothermal feature). Unfortunately they were covered in snow when we went, so there wasn’t much to see.
Hverfjall/Lake Mývatn
Because seeing hot springs and waterfalls weren’t enough, we also decided to go to a volcano. Hverfjall was a 20 minute drive from Hverir and is a tuff ring volcano that you can hike around the rim of. It is a steep hike up to the rim and then a windy, 45 minute walk around the top of the volcano. There are beautiful views of the surrounding area from the top. After hiking we stopped at Lake Mývatn on our way to Skjaldarvik Guesthouse in Akureyri.
Hverfjall
Note: We only spent one night in Akureyri. However, it was a cute and more populated town that we would have loved to have spent more time in.
DAY 5: AKUREYRI TO REYKJAVIK
Golden Circle
We took advantage of the free breakfast at our hotel and then started the long drive back to southern Iceland to hit up part of the Golden Circle before checking in to our hotel/apartment in Reykjavik. It took 5 hours to get to Geysir, a famous (you guessed it) geyser. Sadly Geysir erupts infrequently. However, a nearby geyser, Strokkur erupts every 6-10 minutes. Up until this point on the trip we hadn't seen many other tourists. However, the Golden Circle is a very popular tourist route in Iceland as it is close to Reykjavik. After watching Strokkur erupt twice, we drove the 10 minutes down the road to Gulfoss, a two-staged waterfall that frequently has a rainbow.
Strokkur
Glymur
At this point in the day we were a little tired from the long drive and large quantity of tourists, but decided to make one more stop, at the Glymur waterfall. We thought it would be similar to most places we’d seen in Iceland and be a 10 minute walk from the parking area. We could not have been more wrong. It ended up being a 2 hour round trip hike, including crossing a river on a log and climbing a mountain. However, we were rewarded with stunning views of the canyon and surrounding area, not to mention a good workout. We then drove the hour and 10 minutes to Reykjavik, where we checked into our hotel (which was a mini apartment), bought groceries, cooked dinner and went to bed.
Hike to Glymur Waterfall
DAY 6: REYKJAVIK
Icelandic Horse Ride
In the morning we went for an Icelandic horse tour (~$90) with Íslenski Hesturinn, a family owned Icelandic horse tour company. We went on a 2.5 hour (1.5 on the horses) Volcanic Landscape tour. Our guide was amazing and my horse enjoyed being in the lead, so I had uninterrupted views.
Icelandic horse tour
Blue Lagoon
In the afternoon we decided to treat ourselves and spend time at the infamous Blue Lagoon (Bláa Lónið if you need to type it into a GPS), which is a 45 minute drive from Reykjavik (or even closer if you are coming from the airport). We splurged and purchased the comfort package (for around $60). For all of the hype, we were a little underwhelmed by the Blue Lagoon, but still enjoyed soaking in the lukewarm water and applying mud masks.
Note: Prices vary depending on if you go during “summer” or “winter.” Pre-booking is required.
Blue Lagoon
Following our spa afternoon, we cooked dinner at our hotel and then went out for a night on the town. Reykjavik is a hopping place and we were out dancing until 4 AM. We capped off our night with AMAZING lamb hot dogs (with everything on them) at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur (located at Tryggvagata 101 Hafnarstræti).
DAY 7: REYKJAVIK TO BOSTON
Our flights from Reyjavik were at 3:55 PM and 4:50 PM. We woke up and had breakfast in our “apartment” before checking out and heading on our way. We walked around Reykjavik quickly in the morning (sadly not too much was open) and then got Icelandic hot dogs at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur again before leaving town (I don’t know why but they are sooo good!). Our original plan was to stop by a bridge where you can be in two continents at once (Leif the Lucky Bridge by Route 425), which was on the way to the airport. However, don’t always trust the GPS, because we ended up in the wrong place an hour out of our way and almost didn’t make it to the airport in time for our flights. Despite the interesting end to our trip, I think we could all agree that we can’t wait to go back to Iceland again!
