Iceland “Ring Road” Road Trip
Summer 2018
This summer, we’re going on an epic 10-day road trip around Iceland! The entire trip will take place from July 7th, 2018 to July 15th, 2018. We plan to rent a campervan, which we’ll live in while we drive the amazing “Ring Road” route a.k.a. the entire island! With the help of other travellers, we’ve created an adventure-packed itinerary that we’re really excited to share with you all! Note: the suffix–foss means waterfall.
Day 1: Our adventure starts in our apartment in New York City (as always). We’re flying out of JFK airport direct to KeflavÍk, Iceland. Before departing on our trip, we made arrangements to rent a campervan through Happy Camper, which includes pick-up from the airport. We’ll start the trip heading north towards Snæfellsnes peninsula (some prefer to go south around the Ring Road, so the choice is yours).
Day 2: From Hyammstangi, we’ll head northeast along the Ring Road. We plan to stop at Hvitserkur Rock before continuing our drive to the hidden Reykjafoss, and end our day at a campsite in Akureyri.
Day 3: We plan to start our day by seeing one of the most well-known and visited waterfalls in Iceland, Goðafoss. We also plan to search for a nearby fall, Aldeyjarfoss, which often deters travelers because of the dirt road that leads to it. Our next stop will be a beautiful volcanic lake in northern Iceland called Lake Mývatn (we’ve heard it compared to Yellowstone so we’re super excited). The Lake Mývatn area is also full of hot springs and pools, so we plan to spend some time here.
Day 4: We will now head towards the northeast peninsula of Iceland and plan to spend the day in and around the beautiful towns of Seydisfjordur, Húsavík, and Borgarfjarðarhöfn. Whales are rumored to hang out in Húsavík and puffins are rumored to hang out in Borgarfjarðarhöfn, so we’ll have to let you know. After the day, we’ll start to head south down the east coast to Gufafoss and Heiðarvatn and the magnificent Hengifoss. We’ll be staying on the east coast of Iceland for the night.
Day 5: As we continue south, there are a few picturesque points on the east/southeast coast. The town of Djúpivogur is the first stop of the day, but we plan to continue south on the Ring Road to Stokksnes for one of the most photographed mountains in all of Iceland, Vestrahorn Mountain. We plan to either stay around the town of Hofn or continue on to wake up to the Vatnajokull Glacier in Vatnajokull National Park.
Day 6: Now in the south/southeast area of Iceland, one of the major natural wonders is the Vatnajokull Glacier in Vatnajokull National Park. We’re thinking of doing a glacier hike, but the tour is pricey and we have a few adventures already planned later on (read below). After spending the morning around Iceberg Lagoon, Jökulsárlón, and Diamond Beach we plan to head west to the Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon and visit a few traditional Icelandic villages along the way. We want to take a short hike to Svartifoss Waterfall inside Skaftafell National Park and continue to along the Ring Road to Systrafoss, Kirkjugólf, Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon and to the town of Vik and Dyrhólaey.
Day 7: Before we start driving this day, we plan to spend a good amount of time at some of the coolest waterfalls in Iceland…Skógafoss, Gljúfurarfoss, Seljalandsfoss, and Gljúfrabúi. After the falls we plan to begin the famous “Golden Circle” route. There are smaller waterfalls (Gullfoss, Brúarfoss, Oaxafoss) and geysers/thermal pools (Stokkur, Geysir) galore. We even plan to stop at Kerið, a volcanic crater that is now filler with a lake! In the late afternoon we have a reservation to snorkel between two tectonic plates at Silfra in Þingvellir National Park!
Day 8: After the Golden Circle, we plan on going to Iceland’s second highest waterfall, Glymur, and spending the day in Reykjavik. There are plenty of public pools, restaurants, and shops to keep us busy after a week of camping.
Day 9: We’ll be spending our last day in Iceland relaxing at the famous Blue Lagoon! Our flight back to NYC isn’t until later in the night, so we’re going to take advantage of all the amenities at one of Iceland’s most visited destinations.
Make sure to follow our daily adventures on the “Adventure” section above!