My man and I are planning our honeymoon for June this year. Hoping to drive the Ring Road in Iceland. I would appreciate any help with our proposed itinerary, especially the distances we're traveling. We're planning to skip Reykjavik on this trip, in order to focus on the countryside, since we're interested in the unique landscape and figure we can take a less expensive long weekend in the winter to see the big city. We'd like to be able to stop along the way on our drives to take photos, so we'll probably make slow progress.
Day 1: Arrive at KEF early morning. Pick up car and drive to Snæfellsnes. Spend two nights here, with ferry trip one day and hike the second day.
Day 3: Drive to Akureyri. Spend one night here.
Day 4: Lake Myvatn. Spend two nights here.
Day 6: Drive to Höfn. One night here
Day 7: To Hella. Base for three days exploring the golden circle & southern coast.
I have a few extra days to play with, so if you feel we need an extra stop between some places please let me know. I'm most worried about the drive between Myvatn and Höfn. Should we stop in Egilsstadir? I've heard it isn't worth the visit, but please let me know if I've heard wrong!
Thanks very much!
Help with Iceland Itinerary
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Also, if anyone has recommendations for hiking trails or bird walks that would be great too!
Alternatively, we might go in the opposite direction, with the same schedule in reverse.
Just bumping this back up to try for a response!
Myvatn to Höfn would be do-able as a longish day, but you would miss a lot as you would be on the Ring Road most of the time.
Egilsstadir area is pleasant enough with a fair bit of farmland which is interesting to see and it might make a good place for a stop.
From Myvatn you could go the long way round via Vopnafjördur then take 917 over Hellisheidi which is quite an experience. The drive over Ósfjöll to Bakkagerdi is also good. Just beyond Bakkagerdi is Höfn (a different one) with a puffin colony with viewing platforms.
South of Egilsstadir the road round the coast (92) also has some very good scenery.
This may interest you http://homepage.mac.com/wasleys/faroe_iceland_mw/iceland/
Thanks for your reply, wasleys. I will add a day at Egilsstadir based on your recommendation. We are planning to rent a VW Golf. Is it possible to drive the 917 in a compact car?
It looks like we will be driving counter-clockwise (ie. beginning in the south) since several of the hotels in the north don't open until mid June.
Yes, although most of it like most roads in Iceland is unsealed. We took our own car from UK and had no problems (Volvo S70, so a bit bigger than a Golf) and encountered no problems with roads. Some of the unsealed roads are a bit rough when they get in need of maintenance but you just slow down a bit. You will see plenty of smaller cars around.
The only roads you won't be able to use are F roads which require 4WD by law.
Does anyone know how bad the bugs will be at Myvatn? I'm reading a lot of horror stories that spring summer are just unbearable. Should I pick up a netted hat for our hikes?
The bugs could well be bad in places. The consolation is that they don't bite (allegedly).
We were there in early June. In places the air was dark with them (fortunately we were in the car at that point so they just made a mess of the windscreen).
Walking in some places near the lake they were an unpleasant nuisance and a net would have been useful. In trees at Höfdi we had no troubles nor did we further away, though it was still fairly cool for much of the time.