Help me plan 5 day road trip in Iceland

Tusky

Hey folks,

Heading to Iceland for 4.5 days at the end of September and looking for some help planning an itinerary. Will be flying in and out of Reykjavik and will rent a car for the entire trip.

I've put together a rough itinerary below. Am I being too ambitious trying to do the Golden Circle immediately after landing? I'm worried we won't have enough time and it will get dark. I don't mind not seeing absolutely everything on the Golden Circle, would be happy with the highlights. Another option would be to do Blue Lagoon on day one and then do Golden Circle on last day instead.

Thoughts?

DAY 1 (Wed) : Arrive 1:40pm. Pick up car. Drive the Golden Circle. Stay the night in Reykjavik.

DAY 2 (Thur) : Drive from Reykjavik to Vik. Stops at: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, Skogafoss Waterfall, Sólheimasandur Airplane Wreck. Stay night in Vik.

DAY 3 (Fri) : Drive from Vik To Hofn. Stops at Reynishverfi Basalt Column Beach, Vik’s Black Sand Beach, Skaftafell National Park. Stay the night in Hofn.

DAY 4 (Sat) : Hofn to Reykjavik. Stops at Stokksnes, Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. Stay the night in Reykjavik.

DAY 5 (Sun) : Spend some time in Reykjavik and then head to the Blue Lagoon. Stay the night Reykjavik and fly home at 6am on Monday morning.

Wyldwood

I'm just back from 6 nights in Iceland and it's a stunning country, you'll love it.
I'll give you our itinerary to give you an idea:

day 1.
Landed in Keflavik at 1.30 local time and picked up hire car in the airport.
Spent the afternoon/1st night in Reykjavik. That was plenty of time to see most touristy things. We're not interested in too many museums.
day 2
after breakfast drove north around Hvalfjörður, most people take the 4km long tunnel under the fjord but the drive around is superb and well worth it. Having completed the circuit of the fjord we came back to Reykjavik via the tunnel which has a toll on it and stayed another night in Reykjavik. This gave us the opportunity to see some more of the city.
day 3
We started early to drive to Þingvellir National Park on the Golden Circle, then on to Geysir and Gulfoss. This took most of the day. We were booked into Icelandair Hotel in Flúðir that night and it was about 7pm before we got there. I know people say you can do the Golden Circle in a day from Reykjavik but you would be rushing it.
day 4
We visited Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss enroute to Kirkjubæjarklaustur for an overnight. The two waterfalls will take you a couple of hours as they are spectacular. You can walk behind the first one (make sure you have waterproofs as you'll get soaked) and you can climb up to the top of Skógafoss and walk up the mountain/volcano along side the flowing river which is well worth it. Also along that route, near Vik, there's an exhibition/video shown by family who were living right under the Eyjafjallajökull volcano when it erupted in 2010 and caused chaos. It well worth the stop. A must visit is also the Sólheimajökull glacier. stayed that night in Kirkjubæjarklaustur.
day 5
we visited Skaftafell national park and then drove on to Jökulsárlón where we took an amphibian boat trip. The scenery on this side of Iceland is indescribably beautiful. Black deserts, moss covered lava fields, glaciers, waterfalls, words don't do it justice. We then drove back to Vik for an overnight.
Day 6 we spent some time in the morning on Reynisfjara Beach watching the puffins and viewing the amazing basalt columns. You can see the rock formations of Dyrhólaey from here so it's not essential to visit that beach to save some time. We then drove back towards Reykjavik stopping at Hvolsvöllur for some shopping in the local crafts shop. We carried on to the geothermal park in Hveragerdi where we spent some time and then onto Keflavik for an overnight before flying home early the following morning - exhausted.

The one thing we learned was that each day took a lot longer than we thought. It was quite late when we reached our hotels each night. The itinerary planned out was added to as we drove along and spotted other things we wanted to see. Driving is quite straightforward. Route 1, the main ring road is fairly straight and just one lane each way. Speed limits are generally lower than here 90 being the fastest. The side roads to the waterfalls and parks tend to be dirt roads but are fine for driving if you take it slowish.

I think you might be stretching it to go back to Reykjavik on your first night I
would look for an overnight somewhere between Gulfoss and Selfoss. That will cut your journey the following day to Vik and make it easier to see all the things on your list. If you go back to Reykjavik you will be doubling back the same route the next day. Day 3 Vik to Hofn is quite ambitious with all the stops listed. We gave the plane a miss because it involved a 4k walk in either direction and would just have eaten into the day too much. There are plenty of other things to do. I think day 4 is a non-runner, Hofn to Reykjavik is about a 6 hour drive. If you want to stop at Jökulsárlón and do a boat trip you're looking at a couple of hours there. We didn't go to Stokksnes so can't tell how long that would take. Maybe look for a stop in Selfoss area and head to Blue Lagoon the next day before heading to Reykavik for your last night?
Just remember everything will take you longer than you think.

I should have added - be prepared for a shock when you see the cost of everything it's ridiculously expensive but well worth it!

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Following this thread

cdeb

Tusky wrote: »

Hey folks,

Heading to Iceland for 4.5 days at the end of September

Do check out the big thread on Iceland btw!

Tusky wrote: »

I've put together a rough itinerary below. Am I being too ambitious trying to do the Golden Circle immediately after landing?

Keep an eye on weather - if the day after landing is to be horrible (quite possible) and the day of landing is to be nice, I'd give the Golden Circle a try immediately.

It's certainly possible to go straight from the airport; I'd say you'd be back around 9pm through (Google Maps gives 3½ hours for airport -> Gullfoss -> Reykjavik; allow half an hour extra at the airport and an hour at each sight). Start at Thingvellir, then Geysir, then Gullfoss, not the other way around, to maximise the light. The road between Geysir and Gullfoss is shocking and I wouldn't want to be there at night; the rest is grand though, if unlit until you get to the main ringroad.

You are best off giving it a full day alright as suggested above, but I wouldn't waste a sunny day on Reykjavik.

The Blue Lagoon is something like sixty quid; it is very expensive. I don't know if it's worth it (my lack of knowledge is partly because I skipped it). There's municipal swimming pools in a lot of places if you just want a dip.

That aside, my route was -

Day 1 - Airport to Reykjavik via Seltun mud pools
Day 2 - Golden Circle
Day 3 - Reykjavik to Isafjordur, via Hraunfossar waterfall, Glynni waterfall, Ljosufjoll volcano crater and then up to Isafjordur in the Westfjords area in the north-west
Day 4 - Isafjordur to Dynjandi waterfall (spectacular) and on around the other side of the Westfjords peninsula, ending up in Borgarnes, a bit north of Reykjavik
Day 5 - Into Reykjavik for a bit of pootering around before heading for the airport. Decided to give Glymur waterfall a miss because the weather was too bad. This was in the middle of June, with midnight sun.

1,000 miles all told; twas a lot of driving in fairness.

So nothing to add to your specific route bar the Golden Circle (and trying to tempt you up to the north west! ), but some driving tips for what they're worth -

• Maximum speed limit anywhere in the country is 90kph. Generally - and especially on the ring road - people will exceed that, but maybe allow 80kph as a guide when planning driving lengths, and extra time for stops to look around. The ring road is by and large grand to drive on. There's plenty of useful signs indicating local landmarks, etc
• Take advantage of designated stopping areas by the side of the road. There's not a huge amount of traffic once you leave Reykjavik (Golden Circle aside), but there's enough that you don't want to be stopping in middle of the road, and there's generally no lay-bys. And you will want to stop and take in the scenery.
• If your petrol gauge drops below half, fill up at the next station. You don't know where the next one will be. All the ones I was at were self-service - put your credit card in the pump to start.
• Bridges are usually worth stopping at; rivers in Iceland are beautiful.
• Beware of the gravel roads!! They're marked on maps as the brown roads I think. Imagine the worst Irish boreen, with ruts and potholes to beat the band. They can go on for miles at a time too; they could easily reduce your speed to 30kph and add an hour onto your journey. Be careful too of damaging the car's undercarriage. Here's a random short video of Route 60 in the northwest as an example; it's perfectly ok to drive (I managed it in much worse weather, and with no extra charges when I returned the car ), but do take your time, and don't try keep up with the locals!