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Driving from South Iceland to the Westfjords

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Driving from South Iceland to the Westfjords

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Old Sep 9th, 2015, 09:31 PM
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Driving from South Iceland to the Westfjords

Hi there - I know there are a lot of self-driving itinerary questions so forgive me if this has already been asked! (or feel free to point me in that direction!)

I'm planning an 9-day/8-night trip in May 2016, with a flight landing at KEF in the early AM and departing 9 days later in the evening time. My rough itinerary is:

Night 1: Reykjavik
Drive to base in South Iceland
Night 2 & 3: South Iceland - perhaps base near Vik
Drive to base in the Westfjords
Night 4 & 5: Westfjords - potentially base near Drangsnes
Drive to Snaefellsnes Peninsula
Night 6 & 7: Snaefellsnes
Drive back to KEF for evening departure

So my question is this...

Obviously this leaves me with one unpleasant day of tremendous driving, from Southern Iceland to somewhere in the Westfjords. Is that drive possible in 1 day? Is there a route that would NOT take me back through Reykjavik? Any pointers for taking this on?

I don't feel like we have enough time to attempt the Ring Road, and one-way car rentals and one-way domestic flights just don't seem worth the price and hassle. And it's our first time to Iceland so obviously we're way overeager to cram in as much as possible
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Old Sep 10th, 2015, 02:15 AM
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Obviously this leaves me with one unpleasant day of tremendous driving, from Southern Iceland to somewhere in the Westfjords. Is that drive possible in 1 day?

Short answer - no. But you are right that you don't have time to get round the whole island - not and see anything on the way, that is.

I note that you have omitted the Golden Circle, [The waterfall at Gulfoss, the Geyser, and the parliament/meeting of the tectonic plates @ Phingvellir] which IMO is well worth visiting and would make a good stopping off place on the way to the Fjords.

you could do this:

Day 1 - arrive Kef. Drive to Vik, stay 2 nights.

Day 2 - Stay Vik. from here you can do a day trip to the inland glacier lake - well worth it.

Day 3 - drive to Gulfoss for Golden circle. Stay one night.

Day 4 - drive to western fjords. Stay 2 nights. [we stayed in a hotel near the ferry port - see below, which worked very well for us]

Day 5 - Day trip to birds cliffs at far western end of the fjords.

Day 6 - get Baldar ferry across to Snaefellnesses. http://seatours.is/Tours/

Day 7 - stay Snaefellnesses - one/2 nights - [depends whether you want to stay in Reykjavik or not]

Day 8 - explore Snaefellnesses/Drive to Reykjavik

Day 9 - Depending on the time of you flight, you could use this as day to see Reykjavik or the area south of there.

we had a few days more than you, and we didn't achieve a lot more than this, but I still think that it's doable, and the bird cliffs are definitely worth going a long way to see.

[there are lots of trip reports on Iceland for you to search for at the moment, but if you want to know more about the trip we did, just click on my screen name and look for Iceland under the trip report section].
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Old Sep 10th, 2015, 08:08 AM
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Annhig gives good advice. A stopover around the Golden Circle area is a great way to break up the drive. And it is a looong drive. And Iceland is filled with interesting things you'll want to stop and explore!
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Old Sep 10th, 2015, 09:12 AM
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Brilliant, thanks @annhig! I think we'll stopover for a night in Gullfoss to break up the drive. I'm wading through the many glorious trip reports now - and you can bet I've read yours multipe times as well

Thanks @greendragon for your input as well! Always hard to find that balance between fitting everything in and taking time to relax!
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Old Sep 10th, 2015, 12:51 PM
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the good thing is that in May, you'll have quite long daylight hours, so for example at Gulfoss you can still see the "sights/sites" in the evening, in fact it's nicer then as most people have gone home and you have the geyser etc to yourselves. There is a hotel just opposite or there are a few guesthouses in the area like the one we stopped at that do dinner.

The drive to the western fjords is quite strenuous but so worth it when you get there, and getting the ferry back was great - I am not a good sailor but it remains one of my favourite boat trips ever.
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Old Sep 10th, 2015, 01:24 PM
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Thanks Annhig! I think I'm sold on the ferry. We're planning to dedicate 2 nights to the Westfjords. Would you recommend staying in 2 different places - or is it fairly easy to get around once you're actually there?

We've been looking at Hotel Djupavik but are a little nervous of the remoteness of it that we wouldn't get to see much of the Westfjords if we stayed there both nights then took off via ferry.
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Old Sep 10th, 2015, 01:51 PM
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milehigh - the problem with your plan as you say is that that hotel is pretty remote. the western fjords are NOT easy to get round, and our plan to stay near the ferry terminal worked pretty well not least because it gave us a 2 night stay which IME experience is far preferable to a one night one.

We stayed here: http://www.flokalundur.is/?lang=en

you could take most or all of the first day to get there [booking in advance of course] so plenty of time to see things on the way there, then spend the second day driving out to the bird cliffs and the waterfalls at Dynyandi on the way back.

Then you are in the right place for the ferry, which takes about 3 hours. of course, you could spend 2 nights at the Djupavik but I think that you would find the driving very hard work and you might find yourselves racing to get to to the ferry which would be a shame.
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Old Oct 1st, 2015, 07:56 PM
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We just did a stopover in Iceland Aug 29-Sep 3. We are a family of four with a 6 and 2 y/o. I don't think our itinerary is at all normal but I am so happy we did it.

We arrived KEF, did the obligatory dip in the Blue Lagoon, rented a camper van and drove straight to the campground at Styykisholmur and spent the first night. (3 hour drive give or take)

Caught the early ferry (schedule might be different in May, but there were two per day through August 31) and drove to the red sand beach Raudisandur. It was unbelievably beautiful. The beach is separated from the land by a river about 100m wide, but at low tide the river was only knee deep all the way. No one else had tried to cross. We had it to ourselves with no footprints.

Spent the night near there and visited the bird cliffs in the morning (Latrabjarg) and then drove much of the fjord lands that day to get to Dyjandi waterfall, where we spent the night #3.

We went on to Isafjordur the next day and looked out on the Hornstrandir peninsula, snowy and daunting in the distance. Isafjordur is a great town, entirely underrated by most guidebooks.

We drove on through the fjords, saw arctic fox, and spent the next night in Reykjanes. If I had known, I would have pushed on to Hornavik, which I thought was another underrated place.

As it was, we drove Reykjanes to KEF and flew out in the same day at 5:15 PM.

What am I trying to say besides I loved Westfjords.
1) Ask me about any of these places if you are interested. People on this board have helped me and I owe, but I'm not a good generalist trip reporter.

2) We did what the commenters here advise, we didn't try to see too much. I don't mind going to Iceland and not seeing Reykjavik and the Golden Circle. You never see it all anyway. I drove a lot and I would not have wanted to drive from Vik past Hornavik.

3) Westfjords is very, very slow going to get around. Take note of the paved roads and unpaved roads if you have a road map. The unpaved roads are extremely slow. I can't imagine seeing much of the Westfjords in two nights, particularly staying in the same hotel. I think it would be a drive-fest.

4) The beauty of the westfjords is its massive, rugged, ridiculously beautiful landscapes. I'd plan to stop in a few places and sit on a rock or a beach or a promontory for a while. There are a couple of passes (the one coming into Patricksfjordur, and the one north of Dyjandi headed toward Isafjordur) that are just stunning.

5) The ferry is a great way to get into the Westfjords, but I don't see how it makes sense if you stay over on the east side. If you go the landward way up, then take 60 to 61 to get the ferry, you miss most of Westfjords.

6) I said it above, but I loved Isafjordur. Remote in that it takes a long time to get there, but it has natural beauty and interesting sites and food.

7) The bird cliffs are awe inspiring, but the congregation of nesting puffins happens in a relatively short window in August. There are great birds, but I'm not sure the puffins will be on nest in May. Do check.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 01:29 AM
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lots of very good points, jas. Iceland is one of the places where I think i agree that staying in one place for a few nights and using it as a hub may not be the best idea; however we had our kids with us and they HATE moving around every day, even now [aged 28 & 24].

I think that we did miss out on the northern fjords for that very reason, but OTOH it is possible to just keep driving and driving and doing that every day can be exhausting.

good point about the bird cliffs in May - we were there in August so got to see puffin city at its busiest.
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Old Oct 5th, 2015, 07:50 AM
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Thank you all for your input!! Based on all the trip reviews I've scoured and your advice, here's the itinerary we've decided on (and a few lingering questions!!):

Wed 5/25 - Redeye to Kef

Thurs 5/26 - early am arrival, pickup 4wd rental, make our way to Vik. Potentially stop in Reykjavik for lunch or take our time exploring the southern coast en route. Overnight at the Volcano Hotel outside Vik.

Fri 5/27 - potentially explore Jokularson, Fjadrargljufur, Skatafell and Svartifoss... the list goes on (see question below!) overnight at the Volcano Hotel

Sat 5/28 - checkout and make our way to Reykjavik, stopping to hike on the way, overnight at the Reykjavik Residence Hotel (apartments)

Sun 5/29 - Self-drive some of the Golden Circle, overnight at the RRH

Mon 5/30 - Drive to the Westfjords, overnight at Hotel Djupavik

Tues 5/31 - Explore Strandir Coast, Kronesslaug, overnight at Hotel Djupavik

Wed 6/1 - checkout, head south, hike along the way, overnight at AirBnB NW of Drangsnes

Thurs 6/2 - Explore Snaefellsnes Peninsula, overnight at AirBnB

Fri 6/3 - Checkout, make our way to Kef for an evening departure.

Questions: Now that we're driving from Reykjavik to Djupavik, how realistic is it to stop for sights/hikes along the way? Or is this long/tedious enough that we'd want to focus on just getting to our destination?

Next - around staying in Vik. How much is feasible to do in a day? Jokularson and back and not much else? We have a lot on our wish list for the South, including Jokularson, Fjadrargljufur, Ingolfhofsdi, Skaftafel, Nupsstadur, and Cape Dyrholaey, understanding of course that we won't fit it all in!

I think we could spend a whole trip in the Westfjords so we're going to focus on the northern Westfjords as our hearts are set on Djupavik. We'll save the bird cliffs an ferry for another trip (as brilliantly as you've sold it Annhig!!)

Thank you all again!
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Old Oct 5th, 2015, 04:15 PM
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We're hoping to go to Iceland next June or July, and I've just started to look into itineraries. This appeals to me. I know that we can't see everything, plus we don't like to move to new accommodation every night. I like the idea of spending a couple of nights in 1 bed!

Do you need 4 wheel drive to go to the Westfjords?
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Old Oct 5th, 2015, 07:46 PM
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@susan I've heard we definitely do and I've heard we definitely don't We found a great price through Cars Iceland on a 4wd and we're also traveling in late May when there may be more snow on the ground still.

All that to say... maybe someone else has more definitive advice?
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 06:43 AM
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There are definitely places where a 4WD was appreciated, but I don't think it was necessary, unless you explore a lot more than we did (we stayed 3 nights). Lots of the main roads are unpaved, but fairly even.
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 07:27 AM
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we had a 4WD and were glad that we did when we hit the gravel.

that said, we saw many ordinary non-4WD cars driving on the same roads with no apparent problems.
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Old Oct 13th, 2015, 01:05 PM
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Reposting my questions in case anyone here has any insight

Questions: Now that we're driving from Reykjavik to Djupavik, how realistic is it to stop for sights/hikes along the way? Or is this long/tedious enough that we'd want to focus on just getting to our destination?

Next - around staying in Vik. How much is feasible to do in a day? Jokularson and back and not much else? We have a lot on our wish list for the South, including Jokularson, Fjadrargljufur, Ingolfhofsdi, Skaftafel, Nupsstadur, and Cape Dyrholaey, understanding of course that we won't fit it all in!
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Old Oct 13th, 2015, 02:02 PM
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Now that we're driving from Reykjavik to Djupavik, how realistic is it to stop for sights/hikes along the way? Or is this long/tedious enough that we'd want to focus on just getting to our destination?>>

the first bit of this is pretty boring - through the suburbs of Reykjavik, up through the Borganes tunnel then according to google maps, you've the choice of the western route [5 hour 20 mins in total] or the eastern [via Laugerbakki] which I suspect is more scenic but takes nearly 6 hours. [these are all per google maps and are clearly dependent on weather/driving conditions].

none of the roads that you are planning on taking should be particularly difficult with the exception of that eastern route if you decided to take it.

no reason not to stop of you find something interesting, but just be aware how far you've got to go!

as for what you can do from Vik, I would suggest going to Jökulsárlón first [about 2 ¼ hours drive plus time to look round, do a trip on the lake etc] and then seeing what else you want to do. Remember that however far you go, you've got to get back, but OTOH, at that time of year the daylight will last a looooong time.
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Old Oct 14th, 2015, 08:11 PM
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)Now that we're driving from Reykjavik to Djupavik, how realistic is it to stop for sights/hikes along the way? Or is this long/tedious enough that we'd want to focus on just getting to our destination?

We drove Reykanes to Reyk in about half a day. It was faster than I expected. I think you will find going through suburban Reykjavik unexpectedly slow and tedious, but from the tunnel on I was pretty fascinated by the landscape. Again, I'm a misanthrope so I'd drive the ring road portion fast, get onto 60 and then consider stops. I think the ring road (1) has a totally different feel than 60 and everything beyond. It is beautiful at the junction of 1 and 60, cliffs of columnar basalt and waterfalls everywhere. 60 is like that, beautiful views, as you drive north. The area before you reach and around Budardalur is rich in history, many of the sagas played out in this landscape and early Icelandic power struggles happened over these valleys.

Budardarlur has a great Tourist Info center by the harbor, coffee shop is great, good history display.

If any stretch is slightly less intriguing, it is 61 from the junction with 60 on up to Holmavik. Maybe just make time there.

I liked Holmavik. I thought the coast and lands from Holmavik to Stadur, and the area around Stadur looked really amazing. I'd focus your stretch-the-legs time there and back in Budardarlur. Keep in mind I've not been up the Strandir coast so I can't compare that stretch. I think I remember reading about a great community hot spring pool right after you turn on to 643, but I've not been there.

Lastly, Iceland is a place I think it makes sense to orient your itinerary around the weather. If it is a sun break or sunny, hike, wherever you are. If it is rainy, make time.

We didn't have a four wheel drive and I never wished for one. The unpaved roads were solid. We did not drive any F roads though. We drove a Renault Trafic camper van from Campervan Iceland. It was great. I tried hard to research camper van rentals online and had mixed results. If anyone reading this is thinking of a camper van, I'd strongly recommend Campervan Iceland - the van was clean and well maintained, and they helped us out when we needed a lift halfway to the airport.
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