Iceland Travel Guide - A Ring Road trip around Iceland

Iceland, the land of fire and ice. There are not many places on earth that offer the same level of natural diversity than Iceland. Impressive waterfalls, hot springs, 50 mile long hikes with no civilization in sight. Iceland has something for any type of traveler. From the lush green summer months where the sun never sets to the dark cold winters illuminated by northern lights, Iceland offers a host of activities no matter the season. I was able to explore this impressive country, spending 10 days driving around the famous ring road, visiting the many different attractions along its route. If you're looking to do the same or just need a bit of inspiration for your own upcoming Iceland trip, then this video is made for you. Before we go on this road trip, here's a few things you need to know before arriving in Iceland. Although considered a part of Europe, Iceland is not a part of the EU. The country is, however, part of the Schengen Agreement, which means visa-free for most EU citizens. To check whether you need a visa before arriving in Iceland, visit utl.is. The country's official language is Icelandic. The country's currency is called krona, where 1000 krona is about 8 US dollars or 7 euros. Iceland is known to be an expensive country to travel in. Prices here are around 60% higher compared to the European average, so if you're on a budget, carefully planning out your travel expenses is a good idea. So what is the best season to visit Iceland? Well, it depends. Summer is the most popular season to visit Iceland. It's also the best season for anyone interested in hiking or exploring the highlands, as many of the activities are accessible during the warmer months. However, since it's high season, expect inflated prices and tons of tourists. Alternatively, you can lower your costs and avoid the crowds by visiting during the shoulder months of spring and autumn. Prices are substantially lower due to it being off-season. However, the highlands and the major hiking trails will be unavailable during this time. Winter is the best season for northern lights, and if you're interested in exploring ice caves, as some of them are only available during the winter months. The winter may not be ideal for a ring road trip due to the unpredictable weather, but it's still possible if you really must. And most would argue that Iceland is more scenic during the warmer months, but I think that's totally subjective. The best way to see Iceland is by car, and you have three options. A regular car is the most affordable option as long as you stay at campgrounds. That means you're sleeping in the car or you're bringing your own tent. You can opt for hotels, but that's going to increase your overall cost by a large margin. You can also go with a four-wheel drive, but in my opinion, they're not really necessary unless you plan to explore the highlands or drive on F-roads. Renting a four-wheel drive will also cost an added premium, so overall it could be the most expensive option on the list. But it is the ultimate adventure car in Iceland, so if you want the added feel of security and not worry about where you can or cannot explore, then go with a four-wheel drive. Lastly, a camper van. This is also the option I opted for. It's not the most expensive nor the most affordable. It sits in the middle in terms of price, but it has the advantage of being your accommodation and transportation rolled into one, with included benefits such as heating, gas stoves, etc. to make life easier at campgrounds. Regardless of what vehicle you choose, it's important to know the driving laws in Iceland. While I won't go through everything, these are the things you need to know. The general speed limit in cities is 50 kilometers an hour. It's 70 on gravel roads, and while on roads outside of urban areas such as the ring road, it's 90. There will be plenty of speed cameras set up all around Iceland, so I recommend not to risk it unless you want a heavy fine at the end of your trip. You also have to be 20 years of age to rent a car, and 23 for larger vehicles. Car headlights must be on at all times, and off-roading is illegal in Iceland. If comfort is the most important thing for you, then go with hotels. They're by far the most comfortable stay you can get. As for the downsides, other than the high cost, you might find check-in times to be restrictive, especially if you arrive late at night, so you may have to adapt your schedules accordingly. Hostels or guest houses are a more affordable option, but sacrifices some of the comforts you'll get from a regular hotel. Expect shared bathrooms, kitchens, or in some instances sharing rooms with other travelers depending on your accommodation choices. You can book hotels and hostels on price comparison sites such as bookend.com. I will be leaving a few recommendations in the description box below. Finally, campgrounds. By far the most budget-friendly option and ideal if you're going with a camper van or bring your own tent, since wild camping in Iceland is illegal. It can be the least comfortable option depending on the person, but what I like most about campgrounds is that you can arrive at any time, so if you arrive late at night and you find the reception to be closed, just find a free spot, stay for the night, and make sure to pay the fee the next morning. The price range is between 1,500 and 3,000 kronas per person for a night. You can search for or you can search for one on google maps, which I did a number of times when I was on the road. So how much did it all cost? I get a lot of budget questions when I do these type of videos, so I wanted to give you guys an idea of the total cost for such a trip. So by far the most expensive thing was the camper van, but in total I spent about 2,300 US dollars on this Iceland trip. Your cost might vary depending on the season you visit in, as well as the vehicle you plan to rent while you're in Iceland. We land in Keflavik, Iceland's main international airport. Straight away we get to our camper van and start our journey. We jump on route one, the famous ring road that loops around the entire island. Just 50 kilometers from Reykjavik, we find the ever-popular golden circle. The golden circle isn't an officially recognized route, but it's a popular tourist destination as it includes a number of attractions along its 300 kilometer loop. It's arguably the most popular tour destination in all of Iceland and works well as a day trip outside of the city. I won't cover everything, but here's some noteworthy highlights. Fingvalir National Park. Located between two tectonic plates, the park is a UNESCO world heritage site and perhaps the most important historical place in Iceland as it saw the birth of the national parliament. It's a nice place to take a stroll and witness some of the unique natural landscapes of the area. Karit Crater, with its striking red cliffs and aquamarine colored lake. Karit is a relatively young volcanic crater lake. Its age plays a key role in its colorful appearance as the striking colors are due to the remaining minerals in the rocks as well as the minerals seeping into the water below giving it its green tone. The famous brothers Geysir and Stoker. Although it's been years since the great geysir last erupted, you'll find that his younger brother gladly picks up the slack, erupting between every five to ten minutes. The majestic Gullfoss. Its name translates to the golden waterfall. It's also where the golden circle gets its name from and it's an impressive waterfall and one of the main highlights of the loop. Although there is a more famous hot spring in this region, my personal favorite has to be the Harunalag hot spring. It's warm. Not bad hot spring and it comes with a view. This small secluded hot spring is nestled away between hills and requires a little bit of searching to find it but it's well worth it in the end as it's a charming little place that's absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I've heard from multiple sources that the hot spring has been dried up due to tourists leaving trash all around and the landowners understandably being sick of it. It's a real shame if it's true but it just goes to say that we should all show a little more respect towards these places and the people who owns them. Otherwise, more wonderful places such as this will disappear. Nature here is fragile and we should all make a little effort preserving it for future generations. Friedheimer is a geothermal tomato farm famous for its tomato themed menu and it's a beautiful place for lunch. Other than food, you can also pre-book a visit to the greenhouses and learn more about the process of greenhouse horticulture here in Iceland. For example, you can learn how they're able to cultivate their tomato crops in such a cold climate by using the earth's geothermal energy. After finishing the golden circle, we continue towards the southern part of Iceland and find one of the most iconic waterfalls, Seljalandfoss. With its 60 meter waterfall drop, Seljalandfoss is part of the Seljaland river that has its origin from a volcano glacier. It's unique as you can walk behind the waterfall itself and really get a sense of its scale. Just make sure to bring a raincoat. There's also a nearby cave with a hidden waterfall of its own worth paying a visit while you're here. Further along the route, you can find one of the many pools here in Iceland and this has a particular difficult name to pronounce and I think that's going to be a common theme here in this Iceland video. It's quite a bumpy road to get to the parking area of this pool and from there, it's a relatively short 20 minutes walk to reach the pool and to be honest, it was a rather warm pool rather than a hot pool and it's also a bit crowded at least when we were there so if you want to enjoy the place for yourself, get here early. Not too far from the pool, you'll find Skogafoss which is another famous waterfall here in Iceland. It's one of the biggest waterfalls with a width of 25 meters and a drop of 60 meters. It's said there was once a hidden Viking treasure behind the waterfall itself until it was forever lost with only a chest ring remaining which is on display at the Skogafoss museum. Continuing along the route, you'll find the Solheimersundur plane wreck. This is where you'll find the abandoned US Navy plane which crash landed here in 1973. You have probably seen plenty of photos of this place so I won't talk too much about it. As always, get here early to avoid the crowd as it will take a good 20 to 30 minutes walk from the parking area to reach the plane site. If you are unable to walk, there is a shuttle bus that goes from the parking area to the wreck site for a small fee. Reynisfjara is the most famous black sand beach here in Iceland. The black sand is formed by lava hitting the ocean waves and turning the lava into small volcanic rocks and stubbles giving the beach its black color. The beach is also famous for these basalt columns formed by lava as well as these two nearby sea stacks which according to Icelandic folklore used to be trolls which were turned into stone when they were pulling ships into shore. Not far from Reynisfjara, you'll find Dyrhole which means the door hill island. It's known for its rock art and the lighthouse of the same name. Once you reach to the top of the lighthouse, you'll have a fantastic view of the southern coastline which is well worth the short hike and the best thing it's free. As we continue east, you'll come across this beautiful canyon with a very difficult name to pronounce so I'm not even gonna attempt but this canyon was believed to be formed at the end of the last ice age. Unfortunately, when I was there, the canyon was closed so you might have better luck than me but I think it's definitely worth paying a visit. Onwards from the canyon, we reach one of my personal highlights of the trip, the Svinafellsjökull glacier. This glacier is what's called an outlet or tongue glacier of the much larger Vatnajökull glacier which is said to be Europe's largest ice cave. It's quite the surreal experience getting to see the glacier up close and it's a place where you can really see the impact of global warming as many of the glaciers are unfortunately shrinking or even at least one having completely disappeared, highlighting the importance of us all contributing in the fight against global warming. Nearby Svinafellsjökull, you'll also find Fjällsalon which is another outlet glacier. The unique thing here is you can get on a boat tour and really get up close to the icebergs and the glacier itself if you're interested. Not too far from the two glaciers, you'll find Diamond Beach. Although it's not officially named that, but it's a name it's rather picked up due to the many washed up pieces of glacial ice which creates a stark contrast between its black sandy shores. Diamond Beach also marks the end of southern Iceland. As we continue along the road, we start entering the eastern part of Iceland. Vestahorn is one of my favorite places in Iceland. It's also known as Stockness which is a set of pointy mountains often the subject of many landscape photos here in Iceland. It's known for its reflective shores where you can take some really cool shots. It cost a small fee to visit the place but the fee also includes a visit to a nearby Viking village film set which apparently was never used. The view of the mountain itself to be honest is well worth the entry price. As we continue with this Iceland road trip, we head northeast following along the cliffside roads until we arrive at the small town known as Sidisfjordur. Sidisfjordur is known for its rainbow colored street which leads up to the town's landmark the blue church. The town itself is surrounded by mountains and located near a fjord. I also recommend popping into the Nordic restaurant for a nice solo brunch before you continue on your journey. You may also want to pay a short visit to a nearby small waterfall called Gufu. It's located just outside of the town on the main roads that leads to here. We sidetrack a little off the ring road to find Henkefoss. It actually takes a good 30 to 40 minutes hike from the parking area to reach the waterfall and I actually had to do this twice because I forgot my camera but I do not regret it all because this is a stunning waterfall thanks to its red clay and black basalt patterns creating that perfect backdrop to its 128 meter fall. As we unfortunately won't be covering the highlands in this video, a consolation would be the waterfall circle hike at Lagerfell. Just getting to Lagerfell was an experience in itself and the hike was a great surprise with some wonderful waterfalls during the route. I highly recommend doing this short two to four hours hike if you're in the area or at all interested in hiking. As we finish up our hiking at Lagerfell, we move back towards the ring road and head into the northern part of Iceland where we make a stop by the mighty Dedifoss. Located in what's known as the diamond circle, Dedifoss is regarded as the most powerful waterfall in Europe. The waterfall is made of glacial water from several glacier outlets and it's a great display of the power and scale of Iceland's remarkable nature. As we continue back on the ring road, we arrive at the Muðvarn area which is known for civil attractions. First is the geothermal area known for its bubbling pools of mud and steaming fumaroles. The smell here is not surprisingly pretty bad due to the sulfur but it's a unique location that is worth visiting at least once while you're here in Iceland. You can also find this quirky shower located at the side of the road towards Krafla. I don't know the exact purpose of this other than the water is quite warm and nice but I wouldn't necessarily recommend taking a shower here. Not too far from here, you can find the Krafla VD crater with its own colorful crater lake that is very similar to the Kerit crater found in the golden circle. If you didn't manage to visit Kerit at the golden circle, then definitely pay the Krafla VD crater a visit. The Virfjall crater is a 2000 year old crater known as a tough ring volcano and about one kilometer in diameter. It's connected to the very active Krafla volcanic system and you can climb the crater and walk around its rim to get a better look at it. It's definitely one of the more impressive craters in Iceland. There are many other attractions to visit while you're here in Mivan including this beautiful lava cave with its own geothermal hot spring. The cave was famously featured in the game of thrones and you might be tempted to take a dip into it but that's unfortunately strictly forbidden so I recommend not doing that and following the rules as the cave is on private land. As we exit the Mivan area, our next stop is Godafoss. Godafoss has long been regarded as one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Iceland. Its name is literally the waterfall of gods. It was given the name from folklore when the country was converted to christianity with a prominent person pouring all of his statue of the gods into the waterfall itself, hence its name the waterfall of gods. The next one is yet another off the ring road side attraction but definitely one of the more personal favorites. The Krafla church is a small turf church and is apparently the oldest one in Iceland with the oldest account of the church being from around the year 1240. It sat on a picturesque backdrop of a wide open field and a mountain range. It's just a beautiful location for an equally beautiful small church and having it all to ourselves with no tourists around made things just even better. As we move towards the northwestern part of Iceland, we make a quick stop at Vitsiker. Located on the beach, this 15 meter tall sea stack is of volcanic origin. We arrived here during blue hour, which really helped set the mood and tone of the location. Some of my most favorite shots during my Iceland trip was taken here. As we head west, we enter a region known as the west fjords. Although the west fjords aren't technically a part of the ring road experience and definitely considered more of a sidetrack adventure, we decided to add it in our road trip. We rarely saw any tourists while driving around which really gave that sense of solitude that the area is known for. As for some highlights during our days here, this lovely hot pool was definitely one of them. You miss it if you didn't know it was there as it's located on the side of a gravel road. The water was scorching hot as I found it but it was nice to have the place all to ourselves after a long day of driving. There's also a short and easy 4 kilometer hike to the waterfall ravine called Balakil if you're aching to move your feet a little. While exploring the west fjords, you also don't want to miss Dindjani, the biggest waterfall in west fjords and considered the jewel of the west fjords. If you're into abandoned ships, then visit the Gardar BA64, which is a ship that was stranded here since 1981. If you thought that all the beaches here in Iceland were black, then you should go pay Raldassandur beach a visit. The name Raldassandur means red sand due to its orange red colored shores. There's a lot more to explore about the west fjords and I hope to be able to cover this area more in a future video. As we move out of the west fjords and back on the ring road, we then start to enter the Snefellnes peninsula. Here you can find several attractions but the most famous one is Kirkufell. Known as the church mountain, this 463 meter tall mountain is one of the most photographed places in all of Iceland and you can see why as this place is absolutely stunning. Not too far from Kirkufell, you'll also find this lovely church that we grabbed a few photos of as well. There's also the Svartalof lighthouse and the Gatacletur rock arch. There's also the buddha church, a small and beautiful minimalistic church. As we move out of the Snefellnes peninsula, we complete our loop around Iceland and spend our remaining time in Reykjavik. And while we were here, we spent a lot of time tasting a bunch of amazing food while exploring the many sights of the city. And there you have it, that was my Iceland ring road trip. Now obviously I couldn't cover everything there's to do on such a trip and I simply cherry-picked the activities and experiences that I wanted to have while I was in Iceland. I also do want to apologize for any name butchering occurring during the video. Icelandic is tough guys, so I do hope you cut me some slack. But I hope the video was helpful and at the very least gave you some inspiration if you're planning to do a similar trip. I do think that a ring road trip is by far the best way to explore and see the country if you're here for the first time. If you have any questions or feedback, do leave it in the comments below and I'll try to get back to them. I will also list a few additional links that you might find helpful in the description box, if you're planning a trip to Iceland that is. But yeah, as always, if you like the video, hit the like button, it truly does make the difference for my channel and subscribe for more content. I will continue to post these more informative videos after my travel films. But anyways, hope you enjoyed the video and I'll see you guys in the next one.