Follow this itinerary as you make your way around this breathtaking country! Whether you are also making the trip in a campervan, or if you're opting for the rental car with hotels/air bnb's, this itinerary is for you!
After this trip, Iceland will definitely be at the top of your list of favorite places!
My husband and I did this trip together and we had an amazing time. We were fortunate enough to have 9 days here, but if you have less time and still want to do the Ring Road, it is definitely doable. Take this itinerary, skip the Snaeffalsness peninsula and cut out a hike or two, and you can still see the whole country!
Day 1: Land in Keflavik, pick up rental car, drive to Snaeffalsness peninsula
Day 2: Kirkjufell, lava fields, lighthouse, crater hike, black sand beach
Day 3: Geothermal spa
Day 4:
Day 5:
Day 6:
Day 7:
Day 8: Ice Climbing!
Day 9: Return car, maybe go to an Icelandic church, and fly home!
Day 1
We landed in Keflavik airport at 7am, and then we took a shuttle bus to the rental car location. Once we picked up our little sprinter van, we took off. First, we stopped in Reykjavik to walk around a bit and to see the cathedral. It's a cute city, and you can certainly spend more time here if you'd like, but we wanted to prioritize getting out to nature instead of spending more time in the city. From there, we drove to our first hike. It was a scenic walk by a gorge with a few caves and a nice waterfall at the end. It was a pretty moderate hike, and a nice way to stretch our legs! After our first hike, we drove to our next stop, ***** waterfall. This was just a short walk to the overlook of the falls. We drove from here to these lava columns. ***. After stopping to see the columns, we made our way to our campsite for the night. It was a quaint campsite with a spot for us to park and a nice bathroom for us to use.
If you want to spend more time in Reykjavik, here are some things you could do:
The Blue Lagoon
Lava Show- these popular shows are a great way to experience Reykjavik
Perlan Museum- we met folks that did this and they raved about it!
Take a Puffin cruise to see hundreds of them on Puffin Island!
Views from Reykjavik
Our sprinter van for the week
First hike of the trip!
A rainbow on our hike
Waterfall *get the name*
Lava Columns
Day 2
Today started with a beautiful sunrise at our campsite, followed by filling our water bottles, and hitting the road!
The morning at our campsite
Views from our morning drive
Kirkjufell
Kirkjufell from another angle
** beach
Icelandic lighthouse and lava fields
Crater hike
Black sand beach
Parking lot at ***
***Gorge
Jake playing in the snow
Black Church
Spam, rice, and seaweed at the campsite
Day 3
Walking on a frozen lake
**falls
Geosea Geo-thermal Pools
The view from Husavik
An arial view of the pools
Fish and chips after the spa
***
The view from our campsite
Day 4
Viti Crater
____ cave, featured in Game of Thrones
Tuna, rice, and peas at our campsite
Day 5
Icelandic horse
Puffin viewing in ***
Lamb, Icelandic stone bread, veggies and rice
A short hike from our campsite with a view of ***
Day 6
**** waterfall
**** black sand beach
Batman mountain
Gas station hot dog
Glacier lagoon
Diamond beach
Dinner picnic at our campsite
Post dinner chess in our van
Day 7
****waterfall
Picnic at Skogafoss waterfall
The hike above Skogafoss
Double rainbow
Seljavallalaug geothermal spa
Day 8
Ice climbing day! From our campsite, we walked over to the meetup spot for the excursion. We checked in, and they fit us with shoes and handed us our gear. The group had about 8 people in it, and we all boarded a shuttle to take a 20 minute ride to the glacier. We hiked into the glacier, and then put our crampons on. We did a few climbs and marveled at the ice around us. It was amazing and such a great way to end the trip! Afterwards, we drove to our last campsite, making two stops first. We pulled off at Dyrhólaey, which has a great viewpoint of the water, beaches, and cliffs below. After that, we drove to Seljalandsfoss -my personal favorite waterfall in Iceland. This is a waterfall that you can walk behind, and I think it is the coolest experience! We stood behind the falls for a while, and then journeyed on to the campground while watching the sunset from the car. We stayed at Gata Free Campsite, and like the name says, it's a free place to camp. They have a nice little bathroom and shower and a great plot of land to park on. It was perfect for us!
Ice climbing!
Exploring an ice tunnel!
The ice pick I used to climb
Dyrhólaey cliffs view
Seljalandsfoss waterfall
Standing behind Seljalandsfoss waterfall
One last sunset
Day 9
We woke up at our campsite, packed up, and drove to the rental car return spot in Keflavik. We walked from there to a grocery store to pick up some breakfast, and then texted Gary, our friend from the campground in East Iceland. He picked us up from the grocery store in his campervan and drove us to an Icelandic church! The service was in English which was awesome, and it was amazing to worship with Gary and the rest of the Icelandic congregation. They invited us to stay for soup and fellowship after the service, and that was so much fun. We got to talk to the family that planted the church, coming all the way from North Carolina to do so. Everyone was really nice and we had a great time. After lunch, Gary drove us to the airport and we flew back to DC!
Walking to the grocery store
Icelandic church in Keflavik with Gary
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