Iceland is an amazing place and has become an extremely popular place to travel, find adventure, and get amazing photos, and for good reason. Around every corner is something wonderful, whether it’s a spectacular waterfall or a breathtaking sunset.
When we were planning our Iceland adventure we knew we wanted to travel the Ring Road but it can be a bit daunting planning the trip, especially if you’re the kind of person who likes to have an entire trip planned before you leave. We had a fairly detailed itinerary before we arrived but with flexibility built in and the knowledge that our whole schedule could change depending on what we ran into on our journey.
While researching the trip we read from quite a few sources that 7 days was the minimum for the Ring Road, which I definitely agree with. We planned on 8 days around the Ring Road and 2 days at the end in Reykjavik, which ended up working out perfectly for us.
Vehicle choice is huge in Iceland and I would highly recommend a 4×4. We chose to rent a truck and camper from KuKu Campers, and it worked out great. Having a camper we didn’t have to worry about making any reservations along the Ring Road and it gave us the flexibility to go explore where we wanted and if we got tired we could pull of the road and find a spot to camp.
One of our “mistakes” we made with this trip was that we packed light with the expectation that we would be able to find a spot to do laundry half way through the trip. While we were able to find washers, we didn’t see a dryer our entire time in Iceland. And the weather was damp enough even in July that clothes took forever to hang dry. So be aware and pack accordingly.
Here is our favorite things from our Iceland Ring Road Adventure.
Day 1: Arrival to Seljalandsfoss
Our schedule changed almost immediately after arrival into Iceland. We had scheduled our first stop after picking up the camper to be snorkeling at Thingvellir National park in the Sulfra Springs. Unfortunately our flight was 5 hours late arriving into Keflavik so we didn’t have time to pick up our camper get groceries for the week and make it there in time. Luckily we were able to call and change our reservation to the end of our trip after we made it around the island.
One very important note when you’re picking up your vehicle from where ever you rent it from make sure and go through everything you need to change a tire and if you have any questions about it the process get it strait before you leave. We ended up having two flat tires on our trip and discovered that we were missing a couple of key tools that we needed to change said tires while we were in the middle of nowhere.
After we got our camper and our supplies for the weeks road trip it was the early afternoon so we decided to skip the golden circle and head strait for our camp spot for night 1 which was at Seljalandsfoss. There is a huge campsite right next to the waterfall and its an amazing spot to spend the evening exploring the falls. Expect to get wet when you go behind the falls for the iconic picture!
Day 2: Skogafoss to the Highlands
We woke up to a rainy cloudy day which we were to discover is exactly what you should expect in an Icelandic summer. After a quick hike to a hot spring just down the road we stopped by Skogafoss, which while an amazing waterfall was very crowded.
I would recommend if you’re traveling in the summer time visit popular sites like this in the late evening through early morning, this is what we did most of the rest of the trip. The busiest places in Iceland will be deserted and it never gets dark! From around 10pm to 4am is the best light for amazing photos anyways.
After Skogafoss we headed for the black sands beaches of Reynisfjara, unfortunately is was so socked in with clouds, rain and wind it was difficult to enjoy, or even see the view.
At this point we decided to try and get out of the rain by driving up into the highlands. While most people get to the highlands from the Reykjavik side after studying the map we discovered that we could get to Landmannalaugar from the south coast. It was an amazing drive with dozens of river crossing, definitely a 4×4 mandatory drive.
Day 3: Landmannalaugar, Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, and Jökdulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
This was possibly the busiest day of our trip. We woke up late and enjoyed a nice dip the hot springs of Landmannalaugar before hiking around the surreal landscape.
After our hike we started our drive back to the south coast, the drive back was amazing and offered a totally different but equally amazing site as the same drive the night before in the storm
Next stop was Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, again a highly trafficked site but totally worth it.
Then on to Svartifoss which was one of countless amazing waterfalls we saw on our trip. This was another site we got to at around midnight and had to ourselves!
Last stop of the day was Jökdulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. We arrived here at around 3am there were still people up and about taking photos. This is probably one of the most photographed places in Iceland and it’s easy to tell why.
We camped in the parking lot across the street from the glacier lagoon on the ocean side.
Day 4: Glacier Kayaking to thru the East Fjords
We awoke to the view of the glacier lagoon then it was off to glacier kayaking. We used company Iceguide.IS and it was a truly amazing tour. Just the two of us with one guide and kayaking through a huge glacier. One of the best guided tours we have ever done.
After the Kayaking we took advantage of one of Iceland’s numerous hot springs!.
We didn’t have much planned for the East Fjords and enjoyed the sites as we put some miles in to get to the North of the Island. We didn’t have an exact destination in mind and we just kept driving until we found a place we felt like stopping. This brought us to possibly the most spectacular sunset/rise I’ve ever seen.
We found a camp ground in the small town of Vopnafjordur.
Day 5: Myvatn Natural Baths, Dettifoss, Godafoss to Aldeyjarfoss
Northern Iceland is the land of huge waterfalls. We had to backtrack a bit this day but we wanted to hit Dettifoss in the evening so we decided to head to Myvatn Natural Baths to treat ourselves first.
After we were nice a warm from the natural baths we headed back to Dettifoss. There is an East and West viewing area for Dettifoss. I highly recommend the East side, here you can get right down next to the falls while on the West side there is a viewing platform a few hundred meters from the falls. This was probably the coolest waterfall I’ve ever seen.
Next stop was Godafoss.
Then about an hour detour off of the Ring Road to Aldeyjarfoss. We got here around 1am and we were the only people in the area. We camped in the parking lot to the waterfall. This is also a 4×4 drive.
Day 6: Whale Watching Text Here
This day brought us to the largest city in Northern Iceland Akureyri. We stopped here for a nice lunch before we moved further North to the town of Dalvik where we had a whale watching tour. The tour was a fun, seeing a few whales while the highlight was when the crew handed out fishing rods and we dropped lines over the side and as soon as the bait hit the bottom a fish would be on. In about 15 minutes we had enough fish for the whole tour to eat and we headed back into the harbor where the crew grilled up all the fish for everyone to eat.
Heading back to Akureyri we got a good dinner and while originally intending to get a hotel room in town for the night we decided to keep moving towards the West coast. We stopped at Hvítserkur rock for some photos then on to the village of Hvammstangiwhere we found a campsite for the night.
Day 7: Snæfellsnes Peninsula
While heading toward the Snæfellsnes peninsulawe got a flat tire on a long stretch of gravel road in between small towns. That’s when we discovered we were missing some key tools to change our tire. We were able to get ahold of the car rental company who contacted the closest mechanic. After waiting about 2 hours the local mechanic showed up and since he also didn’t have the tool to get our spare tire down he did as best of a patch as he could and followed us as we drove the hour plus to his shop, having to stop many times to refill the leaking tire.
After getting the tire patched at his shop we headed out to the peninsula. We stopped at the town of Stykkishólmurwhere we got one of the best meals of our trip at the restaurant Sjávarpakkhúsið, possibly the best mussels I’ve ever had.
Then on to Grundarfjörðurwhere we camped.
Day 8: Snæfellsnes Peninsula
This was one of the worst weather days we had on the trip. We were hoping to get some good photos of mountain Kirkjufellbut the weather was so bad we decided not to get out of the car. We explored the Peninsula and found a local hot spring before heading towards Reykjavik. We camped about an hour North of the capital.
Day 9: Silfra Springs Snorkeling, Reykjavik and the Hot Springs River
First stop was Snorkeling at Silfra Springs. We headed into Thingvellir National Park which is very crowded. The snorkeling experience was awesome swimming in between the shifting apart continental plates. The water while cold is the clearest in the world and it was an amazing experience.
Our snorkeling guide gave us two very good recommendations for the rest of our day in Reykjavik. First was to eat at the restaurant Public House, highly recommended. Second was to visit the Reykjadalur Hot Spring Thermal River. This is a little over an hour drive outside of Reykjavik and about an hour hike into the river, but it was totally worth it. We went there in the evening and we had the whole river to ourselves.
We stayed at the Icelandair Hotel Reykjavik Marina which was very nice and in a great location to be able to walk to tons of restaurants
Day 10: Blue Lagoon
This was our treat ourselves day after travelling around the whole island for the past 9 days. We had the premium reservations, reservations are required for the blue lagoon, and we enjoyed everything the blue lagoon had to offer. This was the perfect way to end our trip after over a week of camping and exploring the island.
