~ICELAND JULY 2024~
TRAVELING TO:
They have direct flight from several location! Often people will do a few day
layover in Iceland on their way from the US to Europe too.
We took Iceland Air, they had discounts for children under 12 and all the girls were under 12. Most flights are overnight- some people will book a hotel for
the night before so they can go sleep a bit once they arrive- we just tried to struggle through
it and did the blue lagoon right after arriving which was great for being able to shower and
relax.
TRANSPORTATION/TRAVEL IN ICELAND:
Many people decide to rent a campervan and
have the freedom of campsites as they make their way around the Island. We decided with
the 5 of us to go the car rental and lodging route. For more info on a camper van experience, check out my travel-loving friends at fivewanderingsouls.com with Ten Amazing Days on Ring Road: Iceland by Campervan
VEHICLE RENTAL:
My recommendation: Blue Car Rental (use the link for 5% off your rental!)
It may seem pricier than others, but the insurance covers everything which is important in
Iceland! Wherever you book, book early! Especially if you want a 4×4 automatic that fits a
lot of people and luggage! Most places allow free cancelation up to 24 hours before the start
date.
I looked into a lot of car rental options, the number one best advice I saw was that no matter
what/where you rent make sure to take out the full insurance on the vehicle. There is rarely
not damage of some sort on the car when you return it just because of the weather, roads,
wind etc. Some people are covered by their credit cards but make sure that if you donât
have full coverage just pay for it when you book the car. I read this several times and then
when we returned our car the people ahead of us were told they had damage (probably just
scratches) but they did not have the insurance and this can cost thousands of dollars. I paid
for peace of mind for ours.
We went with Blue Car Rental and had no problems! It was easy to book online and had great customer service.
We had agood experience with booking and customer service. I actually booked when they had
deals running around thanksgiving (actually called it black Friday deals). I had read that
Blue car rental was a bit more expensive but that the insurance truly covered any damage
and in some rental companies there is a lot of âread fine print to see what you are actually
paying forâ. The Wifi option was fantastic and it was a little hand held device you can bring
with you wherever you go even not in the car, worth every penny.
They are a quick shuttle ride from the airport just like most all the other car rental
companies. When you arrive at the airport just head out to the car rental shuttle pick up
location and the shuttle goes to several car rental places.
I had also read Lotus https://www.lotuscarrental.is/ was a good option. A quick good search
will give you several other options to pick from too.
If you plan to go on any F roads you must rent a car that is 4×4. F roads are often gravel
roads heading towards the center of Iceland off the ring road. They are usually gravel and
depending on location and weather they can be very bumpy, have lots of potholes and
sometimes deep water. We traveled on F35 to get to the central highlands and there is a
popular one in the south to get to Landmannalaugar which is similar to the central highlands
that also would need 4×4. Keep this in mind when choosing the car.
WHERE TO GO/TRAVELROUTES:
Link to the saved locations/points of interest on my Iceland google map:
Iceland points of interest on Google Maps
See the Itinerary at the end for more details on what we did each day!
HOW TO PLAN YOUR TRAVEL ROUTE IN ICELAND:
When planning the first thing you will want to decide is do you want to try to wrap
around the whole island or stick to a few locations (south and the SnĂŠfellsnes
Peninsula could be done without the loop) If you decide you want to loop around, then
decide if you want to go clockwise or counterclockwise. âș
The loop: Counterclockwise will have you seeing the exciting south right away and in a
general sense longer driving with less stops as you wrap around. Clockwise will have you
doing a longer drive right away but some like this as they have less stops while they are
adjusting to the jet lag.
We decided to go counterclockwise as I was eager to see the south and this worked
great for us/the route I decided on including the central highlands (this cut out the
north/west) and then driving through the golden circle out to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.
There wasnât much I wanted to see in the North West and we didnât include the Westfjords
as they are a whole trip themselves unless you want to take a puddle jumper plane up
there.
If you decide to skip the full loop: Doing part of the Island- I would recommend the south
and the SnĂŠfellsnes Peninsula. The only spot in my top 5 must-sees that was not in these
areas was StuĂ°lagil Canyon (StuĂ°lagil Cyn, 701, Iceland)- this is in the East on the way to
Myvatn. If you want to see the highlands (central area) you can head to Landmannalaugar
from the south too which is similar in landscape to the central highlands we visited from the
north.
If you have more questions on this it would be easier to discuss then trying to list out all the
route options. There are also several online, you just have to decide how far you want to
drive each day and how many stops you can fit in one day. I felt like we did the most we
could have/wanted to do each day and wouldnât have added anything. I felt like we didnât
need that much time in Reykjavik but I love nature and not so much cities. I think Reykjavik
could be done in a half day.
PARKING AT COMMON TOURIST SPOTS AROUND ICELAND:
Most of the tourist places (waterfalls, or any popular site) have parking and there is not a fee to be there but there is a
fee to park. There is often a sign in the parking lot with a QR code that will take you to pay
online. There is a Parka app for most of them, but also an easy park app that we uses a
few times. They do have cameras and I read that if you donât pay in 24 hours of parking the
rental car company then charges you more. It seemed to cost 5-10$ at each location we
parked and I assume the money goes towards allowing all of us crazy tourists to come and
go while supporting the beautiful nature sites âș.
SPEED LIMIT IN ICELAND: I read several places that there are cameras around the island (we saw most
near the towns) and if you are speeding they take a photo of your car and you get a very
hefty fine later. We followed the speed limits and havenât gotten any fines yet but read they
can come later after you are done with your trip so we followed the speed limit âș
LODGING AROUND THE RING ROAD IN ICELAND:
We had a pretty tight itinerary to see as much around the ring road as we could in 10 days
so we changed lodging every night. I thought this might feel crazy but honestly it wasnât bad
at all and I enjoyed seeing all the different lodging options/areas. We were very efficient
with packing up in the morning and moving on. Some cottages/cabins allowed 4 but when I
contacted them, they were fine with us having a 3rd kid. Some offered extra bedding, but we
also brought our own blow up mattress which was fantastic to allow for an extra bed when
needed. Here is a link to the one we used and it was awesome- Self blow up mattress
We bought it when it was on sale and it blows up by itself when plugged in.
If changing locations every night seems too daunting or you prefer less moving around, you
could do a couple nights in the south and the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. The south is where
there is the most to see, and I would also highly recommend at least one night in the
SnĂŠfellsnes Peninsula area. We loved the Arnarstapi area. See our itinerary for links to
the lodges/cottages we stayed at.
Here is a list of my favorite Lodges we stayed at around the Ring Road and why:
â Panoramaglass lodge-Frigg premium family in West Iceland. This was amazing all around for families. Very pricey but was worth every penny for us, if cost is not an issue I
would stay more than one night.
â Seljalandsfoss Horizons Great location for touring in the south and great
inside and out
â Myvatn Hlid cottages Great option in the north/east and had laundry
that they did for us overnight, was the only place with an easy laundry option. Great view and inside of
cabin
â Hestasport cottages (or on booking.com): basically to be close to the F road we
would be doing the next day. Great lodge with a geothermal pool right by the cottages and very
reasonable in price. Also had a great horse riding option nearby.
â Highland Base Lodge: If you want to see the highlands this place is fantastic.
You can pick a less expensive hut or they have some expensive luxury hotel/lodge options as well.
â Arnarstapi Center: loved this for its location near the beautiful cliffs and
they have a variety of lodging options depending on how many beds are needed. They have adorable
cottages but they only sleep 2 people so we went with the hotel family room option which fit us great.
If you are looking for a place in a very specific area you can start with Booking.com but also
I found things just by zooming in on google maps and they usually show all lodges. There
are so many great options we didnât use simply because of the location we decided to look
into but I remember seeing so many unique great options!
We didnât stay at too many hotels since we had 5 people and parking and bringing bags
in/out was easier with a cottage option.
TIPS FOR VISITING CERTAIN AREAS IN ICELAND:
â If you are looking to capture a perfect photo of something, I would highly recommend
staying close to it so you can be there either at sunset/sunrise or at least before or
after many other tourists are there.
â We only ran into extreme crowds in the Golden Circle and at Godafoss. Both of
these locations bring a ton of tour buses. The Golden Circle was the worst, most
likely coming from Reykjavik, and Godafoss comes from tours coming off cruise
boats landing in Akureyri.
â The south also has some tours to the waterfalls and Glacier lagoon but for some
reason it didnât seem as bad. Nowhere near the crowds you might find the US
national parks these days. If you want no crowds then go to places early morning
before 8am or after 6pm when the tour buses are not running. The worst was the
Golden circle-the only spot I loved in the Golden circle was Bruarfoss so if you
skipped that for crowds I donât think you would miss much.
â Reykjavik was less family friendly if you wanted to stay in the center and tends to be
very expensive. If you donât care about staying in the center I would recommend
staying out of Reykjavik for cost and more unique lodging options. I felt like we could
have seen Reykjavik in a half of a day but I enjoy nature over the city so if you like
the city feel maybe you will want more time here.
LAGOONS:
This question seems to come up a lot. So man options there and from what I read they are
really all awesome in their own way. It was a great option for being able to take a shower
and work off some jet lag right after we arrived (at 1am our time, 6 am Iceland time). We
picked up our car and headed right there.
If you donât want a touristy feel then you can always seek out the ones that are off the
beaten path. The main ones are geared towards tourists and I thought the Blue Lagoon
was super cool. Some say itâs too touristy and busy, but if you go early or late that helps
and I thought it was awesome and I donât usually like touristy things or crowds. Sky Lagoon
could also be a good option near Reykjavik but kids are not allowed so check ages are
allowed. Otherwise there are lots of geothermal pools throughout the Island easily found
with a google search.
My favorite geothermal pool off the beaten path was Seljavallalavg Swimming
pool- It’s in the south between the two famous waterfalls Skogafoss and
Seljalandsfoss. There is a parking area off the ring road 1 and a short hike there.
They donât have any
âwater closetsâ (bathrooms) but here is a changing area. Just bring a towel and
swimsuit and camera for amazing photos with a backdrop of the valley behind.
PACKING LIST RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ICELAND:
â Waterproof case for phone near waterfalls or lagoons
â Portable phone charger- I bring this on all vacations now and is great to have when
you arenât able to charge during the day (and maybe like to take lots of photos or use
the phone for directions and map)
â Plugin adapter for US to Iceland (and bring a converter if you have anything you
need to charge that would need the converter). We brought one of each, the phones
work with the adapter, but things like our plug in blow up mattress or toothbrush
charger needed a converter.
â I appreciated having a foldable cooler to put store bought food in when needed. We
didnât have any ice to keep it cold but it helped keep it organized. I had also brought
a few pieces of disposable silverware which was great for making the PB&Jâs.
â We brought a large foldable bag that we used to keep all jackets and rain gear in for
easy access since the weather can change all day.
â Depending on the time of year, bring warm gear- In July we did bring out ear bands
and gloves once or twice, but could have probably been ok without. Girls were happy
to have them when they were chilly. It wasnât super cold (40-60 deg each day) but
when its windy and/or misty it can feel colder.
â What to wear: every day I wore a tank/T-shirt, athletic long sleeve layer and light zip
up or puffer jacket. Depending on temp/wind/rain we always had our rain jackets on
hand if needed. There were times when we were able to be in the tank/t-shirt and a
few times I pulled out the puffer jacket. I always had leggings (capri or full length
depending). People often recommend a quick try hiking pant which would also be a
great option. Wear comfortable active clothes with lots of layer options and you
should be good! I did pull out rain pants once and had the girls in them if they were
cold or we were doing a lot while it was raining or by a waterfall. The great thing
about Icelandic weather is you donât typically sweat that much so you can easily
re-wear things!
Side note- doing laundry is hard to come by and we only had one lodge have an
onsite option so plan accordingly!
â Shoes: Waterproof trail running shoes or a light waterproof hiker is a MUST! We
each brought two hiking/trail runners. This was helpful if one got wet. These my absolute favorite waterproof trail runner: Salomon Speedcross
I love these for running on snowy trails in the Midwest in the winter too!
I had a hard time finding a good waterproof option for the kids and ended up
with the kids speedcross and they worked great
FOOD!
I was extremely impressed with the food. And know that we are not âfoodieâ people. While on our adventures
we eat so that we are not hungry, but we donât seek out special food options or restaurants.
We typically ate out once daily and then did snacks from the grocery store for the other
meals. Several of our lodges had breakfast options so at times we would do the breakfast,
but no meal was ever under 100$ and typically more. Some type of bread, and peanut
butter and granola were always in the car with us. You will often see a Kronan or Bonus in
towns and those are the grocery stores.
We only had one not-so-amazing meal in all the places we ate.
Here were our favorite restaurants if you happen to be in those areas:
â Vojafjos: In Myvatn, and there is a cow parlor
attached and you can watch them milk the cows and visit them while you wait for
your food. The food here was also amazing and their specialty is farm-to-table.
â Kaffi KrĂłkur (no website) AĂ°algata 16, 550 SauĂ°ĂĄrkrĂłkur, Iceland: this one is located
in Saudarkrokur in the north. We happened upon this randomly looking for
something while in the north and the food was just amazing!
â Black Beach Restaurant (no website): this is located at the Black Sand Beach near
Vik. Itâs a common beach visited with the basalt columns and was super convenient.
The food was amazing! Sometimes we didnât know if the food was amazing or if we
were just hungry and didnât want another snack from the car bag âș.
Is it as expensive as people say?
Car rental, food and gas were the most expensive/surprises for us. The food was the
biggest surprise of feeling crazy expensive. You will pay 20$ or more for anything you order
at a restaurant, even for a bowl of soup ect. Gas was also more than we are used to and
rental cars in general are pricey. You donât really know how much you are spending
because it’s listed in Krona but we kept the conversion easy access on our phones. You
need to eat and the car needs gas so those ended up being more than expected but
necessary. Otherwise I didnât think the lodging was too crazy and you can often find flights
at a reasonable cost.
ICELAND ITINERARY
| Day # | Activities/Schedule |
| Day 0 | 6 hr 10min flight |
| Day 1 | Arrive at 6:35 am Iceland time Pick up car rental at Blue Car rental https://www.bluecarrental.is/ 9am Blue Lagoon https://www.bluelagoon.com/is Grocery store-Bonus or Kronan (south Rey, geoth park, sellfoss, or near lava center) Reykjadalur Hot Spring Thermal River, Reykjadalur 816, 816, Iceland (didnât do- was raining and we were tired) Drive to Seljalandsfoss falls area Stay at Horizons https://seljalandsfoss.is/ (4 beds) Drive time 3h 30m |
| Day 2 | Seljavallalaug Swimming Pool Rutshellir Caves, Island, DrangshlĂĂ° 2, Iceland Skogafoss and Kavernufoss Black sand beach and Dyrholaey view point Town of Vik Possible Kalta ice cave tour from Vik (cost is 1,000 for family of 5)- didnât do Gigjagja cave FjaĂ°rĂĄrgljĂșfur Stay at Horgsland Cottages http://horgsland.is/ (6 beds) Drive time 2 h 50m |
| Day 3 | Svartifoss Mulagljufur Canyon, XGQR+RFP, 785, Iceland Jökulsårlón Glacier Lagoon Diamond Beach Hofn Vestrahorn (view points, Viking village) Stay at Bragdavellir Cottages https://bragdavellir.is/ (4 beds) Drive time 4h 28m |
| Day 4 | Seydisfjordur- cute little town (adds 60â to drive time)- skipped StuĂ°lagil Canyon- make sure to park at the lots before the main access area. StuĂ°lagil Cyn, 701, Iceland If you park at the main access area you have to pay to park and you donât get to go down into the canyon. If you park at the other location you will walk a ways to get to the canyon but then can do down into the canyon which was really cool. Dettifoss, Myvatn area (pools, theramal area, baths, Grojotagja, crater) Stay at Myvatn Hlid cottages https://myvatnaccommodation.is/ (4 beds, 5 sets of bedding) Drive time 5h DO LAUNDRY âthis was the only place with laundry option for us! |
| Day 5 | Godafoss (ate breakfast at the Godafoss hotel, was a great buffet and quiet. This would be a great spot to book lodging if you wanted to be close to Godafoss while no bus tours were crowding it out in AM/PM) Akureyri- drove through, great photo opportunity overlooking the city on your way in! Horse riding at Hestesport ( group ride 30â at 2pm)- if you are not trying to get here by 2pm for a horse ride you could spend more time in Myvatn in the morning and expore Akureyri longer. Akureyri is a common place for people to stay too but we wanted to be closer to the F road the next day so we continued on. Stay at Hestasport cottags https://riding.is/cottages/ (4 beds) Drive time 2h 15m |
| Day 6 | Drive to Highlands and explore Kerlingarfjöll, Hveradalir (must have 4×4 car to take the F35 road down) Stay at https://highlandbase.is/ – made us rent two rooms- we did a hut and family room (cheapest option available, only place that was not ok with us adding one kid to a 4 person room. Drive time 2h 45m (1 hour going 40mph on ok gravel road, then 1 hr going 20mph on very bumpy gravle road) on F35 |
| Day 7 | Drive through golden circle stopping at Gullfoss, Bruarfoss, thingvellir NP Stay at https://panoramaglasslodge.com/ Frigg premium family in West Iceland (coolest lodging we have ever stayed at!) (5 beds) Drive time 3h 22m |
| Day 8 | Drive to snĂŠfellsnes peninsula and explore all around this area: Kirkjufell, BĂșĂ°ir, RauĂ°feldsgjĂĄ Gorge, Arnarstapi, Gatklettur Stay at Arnarstapi Center https://arnarstapicenter.is/ (6 beds) Drive time to arnarstapi through kirkjufell 2h 10m |
| Day 9 | Finish any peninsula sites and drive to Reykjavik â look up must sees in Reykjavik (rainbow road, church, Perlan, lava show) Stay in Reykjavik- Center hotels Arnarhvoll (had to rent two rooms, wish we had stayed in an apartment style option instead. Kvosin downtown hotel looked like a good option on cost and location for families- wished we had done this option. Drive time 2h 30m |
| Day 10 | LAVA Centre, Austurvegur 14, 860 Hvolsvöllur, Iceland Brunch near airport at Kef restaurant at Hotel Keflavik (great food!) head to Airport to drop off car by 1pm Plane leaves at 4:45pm, arrive home at 6pm CT. |