Iceland road trip Itinerary

We spent a fantastic week in Iceland during our summer vacation. Here is our itinerary.

Day 1. Arrival in Keflavik, Iceland

The best way to explore Iceland is by car. We haven’t booked our car in advance, so had to check several rentals at the airport. Luckily, we found a good price/quality offer in BlueCar rentals.

Don’t hesitate asking for a discount and take the full coverage insurance even in summer.

Currently (summer 2022) there are no Covid restrictions or checkups upon arrival and because Iceland is part of EU there is no visa for EU residents. I’ve read in travel guides that it is better to change some money to Isladic Kronas but we haven’t done this and were surprised that even in the middle of nowhere you can pay with Visa card.

We booked only the first night in Reykjavik in advance and decided to book the rest upon arrival, to give ourselves more freedom. We were booking in the morning or noon our stay for the night, because even in summer weather is unpredictable and it is hard to plan in advance how much you see/drive in a day.

We arrived afternoon so there wasn’t much time, we just explored area around our hotel and had dinner.

Day 2. Sky Lagoon and Golden circle.

Start the day in hot spring lagoon. It is absolute heaven! We’ve chosen a new lagoon in Reykjavik – Sky Lagoon. If you schedule your visit to morning you have high chances to avoid crowds. We stayed there around 4 hours then headed back to Reykjavik for a walk and lunch.

Then we headed to Gullfoss waterfall (translates as Golden fall), which is part of the Golden circle road and located 1 hour 40 min drive from Reykjavik. If you’ll be lucky enough to visit it in a sunny day, you can see a thousand of rainbows, but even in a cloudy day the view is spectacular. It is impossible to show it in the photos but you can feel the power of nature. Where you stand there you realise how little we all are.

There’s a famous story about a girl who walked barefoot from Reykjavic to Gullfoss to protest the use of the falls for the purpose of generating hydroelectric energy. She is said to have kept the falls safe from inference, and as such, a statue has been erected in her honor near the falls.

The next stop is Geysir Hot Spring Area with boiling mud pits, exploding geysers. A favorite is lively Strokkur geyser, which spouts water 30 metres (100 ft) into the air every few minutes.

If you visit after 3pm-4pm you will avoid crowds and touristic bus groups.

for the night we booked a tent on the coast in Camp Boutique in Loftsstaðir, which sounded like a cool and romantic idea, but with Icelandic weather it’s a pure lottery. We experienced such a strong storm during our stay in a tent, that it wasn’t much fun, and we couldn’t enjoy surroundings and a beach walk because of the storm. Although, tents are pretty nice and comfortable inside, and well prepared for the cold weather it was still very loud and windy.

I hope next time the weather will be good, because I want to stay there again.

Day 3. Beach walk and drive to Brú

Next day the weather was still pretty rough, so we couldn’t do much. Tried to stop for birdwatching and beach walk and then stayed in Bru Guesthouse. Cabins are super nice and cosy, equipped with everything you might need. We had good rest and dinner.

Day 4. Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss, the Abandoned DC Plane on Sólheimasandur and Vik black sand beach.

If you have more time, it definitely worth to stay couple days on the south and enjoy more waterfalls and hikes. We missed one day because of bad weather, that’s why day 4 was pretty busy.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall is simply breathtaking. Don’t forget your raincoat because you can walk behind the waterfall, it is stunning.

From Seljalandsfoss to Skógafoss is about 20 min drive. First we went up to enjoy the view from top but to me Skógafoss looks even more breathtaking from the bottom. By the way, in the restaurant near the parking lot I’ve tasted one of the best lamb shanks ever!

If you are short in time I wouldn’t recommend going to the Abandoned DC Plane on Sólheimasandur, because it’s 4 km one way from the parking lot, and because of the wind and rocky path it’s quite tiring. But if you have time, the landscape around is pretty surreal and it might be interesting to visit. Another option is to take bus which costs 38 euro per 3 persons, we had to take it on the way back just to save time and strength for the Vik beach.

Vik beach is an amazing place, next time I’ll plan to stay in the area longer, to have more time for the slow walks and bird watching.

That was a pretty long day, in hotel we arrived after midnight. Every night new place to stay, it was fun. Klausturhof Guesthouse we got nice 2 rooms suite. Hot shower and warm bed after the long day felt like heaven.

Day 5. Glacier lagoons and Dimond beach

This day was about admiring glacier lagoons. Curious seals swam as you walked past. We were watching them but I had a feeling that actually they are watching us. So much fun.

For lunch, on the parking lot near the lagoon are 3 or 4 food tracks, we choose lobster soup and Icelandic hot dogs, it was 10 out 10! I would like to spend even more time, but it was quite cold and we had long drive ahead.

Next we headed to the north, on the way we stoped in random beautiful spots along the road to take some photos and enjoy the view, because most of the way was along the ocean. One of the advantages of visiting Iceland over the summer is – the Midnight Sun, also known as ‘polar day’, is a natural phenomenon that occurs during the summer months when the sun remains visible 24 hours a day, meaning the sun never fully sets. 
If you are into photography, the Midnight Sun period allows for more ‘golden hour’ and ‘blue hour’ opportunities. During the height of the Midnight Sun, ‘golden hour’ can last up to 7 hours – perfect light conditions for photographers to capture unique and incredible shots. 

for the night we stopped in Lyngas guest house https://www.lyngas.is. I believe I don’t have photos from this place, but everywhere we stayed the was quite nice and very comfortable beds. Lyngas has shared and well equipped kitchen for its guests.

Day 6. Dettifoss, Lava fields and Wale Watching.

The next morning we continued our way to the north. The first stop was Dettifoss, there are 2 viewing point on both sides, to the one we choose the road was very bad and rocky, you can go there only with 4×4 car. Felt like a real adventure! The waterfall is huge, views are breathtaking.

Then we stoped for lunch on a family owned restaurant/farm, where we had delicious lunch and tried traditional Icelandic bread, backed in the lava field. It takes around 20 hours to bake this bread in the earth. Bread is very delicious, tastes a bit sweet. Most of the restaurants on the way offer Icelandic specialties: lamb and char.

Lava fields are also an extraordinary experience, feels like you are on another planet. But it stinks so much, like rotten eggs. So if you are very smell sensitive person, it will be hard to have a proper walk or hike.

The next stop this day was Husavik. We planned just to get some food for the dinner and go whale watching next day from Akureyri, but we saw a half empty ship is about to start the night tour and we went for it. OMG! One of the most memorable experiences in my life. On the ship we had a marine biologist who told us so many interesting facts and stories about whales. I really liked to that whale watching ships and boats respect animals, they don’t stay long near whales and don’t go all together to one animal. We were lucky that we saw many humpback whales. Incredible.

For the night we stayed in Engimyri Lodge, also no photos from there as we arrived around 3 am and fall asleep right away.

Day 7. Akureyri, waterfalls, saved bird and rest in a beautiful house on the cost.

During the summer time in Iceland you can see a many of species of birds. But birds are often getting hit by cars. On the north we saw one of the birds near our house and were able to help. Next day she felt better and flew away.

The last night we stayed in a beautiful house, right on a cliff. It’s amazing to watch seals and birds right from the terrace, though sometimes it is very windy. That was perfect stay after days of driving and hiking.

Day 8. Seal watching and Reykjavik.

On the way to Reykjavik we stoped on the beach for seal watching, they are so cute and relaxed, just chilling on the beach, enjoying summer time. You can come super close, but the sign on the beach is warning to keep 2m distance. On the way to Reykjavik is underwater tunnel, something new for us.

Then we had a beautiful stroll in Reykjavik, delicious lunch and headed to airport. Car washing stations is free on gas stations, which was a nice surprise. Although we had issues on flight home but it couldn’t ruin our amazing holiday.