While my most recent road trip was to Asheville and Blue Ridge, my first road trip as an adult was actually in Iceland – and nothing can quite compare to that adventure! In March 2018, a small group of us decided to meet up in Reykjavik to tackle Ring Road (Route 1) in a camper van. With a lot of planning (and a lot of last-minute plan changes), we were able to see a ton of the country in just 10 days. Here’s how we did it:
Day 1: Reykjavik and the Blue Lagoon
We arrived at Keflavík International Airport very early in the morning and bussed into Reykjavik right away. We quickly found that our room at Kvosin Hotel Downtown wasn’t yet ready, so we had some time to explore the city. Highlights of this included Bergsson Mathús for breakfast, HARPA concert hall and the Perlan museum.
We were able to check in early and take a nap before bussing over to the Blue Lagoon, which I definitely felt was worth visiting. Our group was there at the same time as a coworker and her boyfriend, so we were all able to hang out and enjoy our spa treatments (and free drinks). We then drove back into Reykjavik for dinner at Fiskmarkaðurinn, where we tried puffin for the first time. Afterwards, we called it a night.
Day 2: The Golden Circle and Selfoss
We started the day with breakfast at Café París before we checked out of our hotel. The concierge helped us grab a taxi to Campervan Iceland’s Reykjavik office. Our road trip around Iceland involved camping along the way so we could be flexible with our itinerary, so we opted to rent a car – specifically, a camper van – as both our transport and hotel. We also opted into getting the highest level of insurance they offered and their portable WiFi, which we felt was important in truly unknown terrain. After we picked up our van, we grabbed groceries from Kronan, a discount grocery store, and hit the road!
On our way through the Golden Circle, which is definitely a must-do if you’re in Iceland for more than a day or two, we hit all three key attractions: Thingvellir National Park, Geysir and Gullfoss waterfall. In our exploring, we also enjoyed Drekkingarhylur, Lögberg, Öxarárfoss and Silfra. Iceland offers plenty of places to pull off and explore, so take advantage of the opportunity!
After the Golden Circle, we briefly stopped at the not-so-Secret Lagoon in Fludir before wrapping up our day at Gesthús Selfoss. Our flexible travel plans ended up benefiting us, as we had a last-minute change of plans for our upcoming ice caves tour. It turned out that it would be too warm to take the Vatnajokull glacier ice cave excursion (the cave had flooded) we had planned for two days later, so we ended up switching into a new ice cave tour for the next day’s afternoon…
Day 3: Selfoss to Skógafoss
We now had an ice cave tour to account for, so we got a quick start to ensure we stayed on time! We kicked off the morning with a visit to Seljalandsfoss, a beautiful waterfall that we could actually go behind. We then made our way to the Solheimasandur plane wreck. While this made for some really cool photos, I don’t think I would go again – especially since it requires walking ~8km round trip through the black sand beach. We hustled at the end to make sure we had time to eat before our tour.
After a quick stop at a gas station grill for lunch, we were able to meet up with our tour group in Vik. Based on Arctic Adventure’s recommendation, we had switched our excursion to the Katla Ice Cave, which involved exploring the Myrdalsjokull glacier, as well as the ice cave of Kötlujökull glacier on Mt. Katla (a volcano). This was an amazing adventure, with beautiful ice caves, and we had a great time taking in the black and blue ice. I would definitely recommend it.
After our tour, we made another stop at Kronan for food – since eating out is expensive in Iceland, we tried to cook and snack a lot along the road – and checked out the Reynisdrangar rock formations before setting up camp at the Skogar Campground, which is right next to the Skógafoss Waterfall.
Day 4: Skógafoss to Skaftafell
We couldn’t stay at Skógafoss without exploring it a bit, so that’s how we started our day! We then drove out to Dyrhólaey, taking in the rock arch and the lighthouse. After spending a bit of time there, we found what would end up being one of our most talked about parts of the trip, even now: Hjörleifshöfði.
Google describes Hjörleifshöfði as an “inselberg,” but it is definitely a mountain. We popped into the cave at the base (better known as the “Yoda Cave”), located along the black sand beach, before we began our hike to the top. This is not a hike for the weak, but we eventually made our way to the viking tomb at the top. This tomb belongs to Hjörleifur Hróðmarsson, for whom the mountain is also named; he was the brother of Ingólfur Arnarson, who is considered Iceland’s first Viking settler. It’s no wonder the mountain is often considered haunted!
Our way back down was a bit easier, as we took a different path through the farm ruins. After returning to the van, we drove through the Eldhraun lava field before exploring the Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon and taking in the basalt columns of Kirkjugolf (“church floor”). We called it a night at the Skaftafell campground in Vatnajokull National Park.
Day 5: Skaftafell to Egilsstaðir
Our morning kicked off with a visit to Svartifoss, a waterfall surrounded by dark lava columns, before heading to Svínafellsjökull, an outlet glacier of Vatnajökull. This is a very popular hiking location, but we enjoyed just walking around, taking in the views and exploring the nearby lagoons. We stopped at both the Fjallsárlón and Jökulsárlón lagoons to get up close and personal with some ice and some seals.
As we drove further north, the snow started. It started as we made a quick stop at the Kirkjubaer Guesthouse – an adorable converted church – and kept going as we finally made it to Egilsstaðir, the largest town in East Iceland. After all the ice and snow, we were in need of a hot meal, so we popped into the Icelandair Hotel Herad’s in-house restaurant. I enjoyed a reindeer burger with dinner, which I would definitely recommend (even if we had just seen reindeer off the side of the road earlier in the day). We made camp at Camp Egilsstaðir and cozied up for the night.
Day 6: Egilsstaðir to Akureyri
Our first stop of the day was the Rjúkandi Waterfall, followed by a very, very snowy drive to Dettifoss, the second most powerful waterfall in Europe. Shout out to Aaron for handling the driving conditions way better than the rest of us would have; if you’re driving around Iceland in winter (which March is considered), you’ll want a driver who can handle the snow and ice.
We then made our way to Lake Mývatn, which gave us access to the Grjótagjá Cave – both Jon Snow and I would recommend it as a stop – and the Mývatn Nature Baths. If you skip the Blue Lagoon, this is a great option to get in a thermal bath. Our drive also brought us by the Krafla shower and Goðafoss before we arrived in Akureyri, Iceland’s Northern Capital. This city turned out to be a highlight of the trip, and I would absolutely visit again.
While there, we made stops at both Santa’s Workshop in Iceland and Bónus, an Icelandic supermarket chain, before we wound up at Strikið for dinner. This gastropub was a great stop for seafood and views of the city, including the heart-shaped traffic lights that Akureyri is known for. We ended our evening at the Hamrar campground.
Day 7: Akureyri to Búðardalur
Our campground offered some great trails, so we spent the morning exploring them before we hit the road again. Stops included Viking Brugghus and some more heart-shaped traffic lights before we made our way to the day’s main attraction: Bjórböðin, the Beer Spa. This is a must-do!
We opted for beer baths, which are available for either one or two people at a time. While you’re bathing in beer, you also have access to beer on draught for your 25-minute session – you don’t want to drink the bath “water.” After that, you have another 25-minute session in the relaxation room. After days of taking campground showers, this sort of pampering was just the luxury we needed. We wrapped up with some beers at the bar before heading out.
En route, we stopped at the Gudrunarlaug geothermal pool, which is definitely more off the beaten path than any of the others we went to (though does have a changing room). This involved parking at Hótel Edda and walking over, but it’s definitely a good option if you want a free pool. Our day ended at Camp Dalakot in Búðardalur.
Day 8: Búðardalur to Reykjavik
We had an ambitious start to the day by deciding to take on the Raudfeldsgja Gorge. This is supposed to be a beautiful hike in the summer, but it turned into a rather treacherous one for us. Tears were shed – by me, anyway. After we slid back down the hill in the snow, we kept our stops on the way back to Reykjavik a little more low-key.
We saw a wedding take place at Búðakirkja, admired the seals at Ytri Tunga Beach, and grabbed a drink at the Ölkelduvatn Mineral Spring – I would not recommend actually drinking the water. We also made stops at Snorralaug, also known as Snorri’s Pool, which is fed by the Skrifla Hot Spring; as well as Glymur Waterfall, the second-highest waterfall in Iceland.
When we finally returned to Reykjavik, we were ready for a good meal. We ended up eating dinner at Sæmundur í Sparifötunum and exploring Gym & Tonic. Our evening would have been perfectly lovely, if we then weren’t pulled over for a breathalyzer test… Too shaken up to do anything after that, we made camp at Reykjavik Campsite and called it a night.
Day 9: Reykjavik and the Northern Lights
While we had gotten a taste of Reykjavik on our first day, this really gave us the chance to explore the city. We started our day with breakfast at a local cafe before popping into a few of the local shops, like Geysir and Cintamini, as well as several museums, including the Freddi Arcade and Toy Museum, the Icelandic Punk Museum, and the Icelandic Phallological Museum (aka the Penis Museum).
The rest of our day went by pretty quickly. We made our way to the Höfdi House and further explored the HARPA concert hall. We snacked at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, which is known for having the best hot dogs in Europe (side note: the hot dogs in Copenhagen were pretty competitive). After a few drinks at the Icelandic Craft Bar and dinner at Íslenska Hamborgarafabrikkan – literally translated to “The Hamburger Factory” – we were ready to see the Northern Lights.
We bundled into pretty much every coat we brought with us before joining our Northern Lights tour. It was especially freezing, as it was late at night, but we managed to catch a glimpse of the magical Aurora Borealis. We napped on the ride back into the city before returning to the Reykjavik Campsite for our last night in Iceland.
Day 10: Reykjavik to Home
We worked our way through the bulk of our leftover groceries for breakfast, then stored our bags at the BSI bus terminal, which is super convenient. We then had to return our campervan to Campervan Iceland, which ended up being an adventure in itself because they tried to double charge us for our rental – keep your receipts, y’all!
The rest of our day was spent walking around downtown Reykjavik, though we did make a stop at Aktu Taktu for lunch. We eventually made our way back to the bus terminal, then bussed back to Keflavík International Airport for our flight home.
I had such a great time exploring Iceland with Tyler, Liz and Aaron that our group chat is still called “Iceland Adventurers.” I also found that keeping this itinerary made it easy for me to pick out the highlights for my mom and sister when we had a 27-hour stopover in Reykjavik on our way home from London. It might not be soon, but I can’t wait to go back and see what else Iceland has to offer.