Gps, Speedlimit and Info for Iceland's Ring Road
 

Planning June 10-19 in Iceland.

June 11 - Saturday - First day - pickup car and begin the Ring Road trip.
June 17 and 18 - Fri and Sat nights - stay in Keflavik at the Blue Lagoon Clinic before flying home on Sunday.

Does anyone think it would be too much to try to complete the Ring Road Saturday by Friday?

Does it matter which direction we take - clockwise or counter-clockwise?

Do we need a GPS?

What is the speedlimit?

How many miles could we comfortably complete each day?

I am a photographer and plan to make many stops for photos.

THANKS

"Does anyone think it would be too much to try to complete the Ring Road Saturday by Friday?" As you then say "I am a photographer and plan to make many stops for photos" I would say it would be too much, especially as there a plenty of places off the Ring Road that are a photographer's delight.

"Do we need a GPS?" No. There aren't many roads in Iceland and with a decent atlas you will be fine. (This assumes a 2WD car on ordinary roads, F roads which need 4WD by law are a different kettle of fish.)

"What is the speedlimit?" 90kph on pavement, 80kph on gravel (optimistic on some roads), 50kph in settlements. Iceland's roads are empty but can be deceptive, sadly quite a few tourists have accidents.

There will be days when you stop the car with your jaw wide open about every 10-15 minutes..... so how long the ring road takes is pretty subjective. We did it in 6 days, and that was probably enough for us. A friend that went the year before spent twice as long and thought that was perfect. He also went more inland in his 4x4 than we did though.
We headed from Reykjavik to the Golden Circle, then spent the first night on the south end of the island at Vik. Depending on when you head out, that will be a very full day. Lots of sights to see, and the roads are flat out terrible. Heading counterclockwise around the island I would suggest that if you have to rush any part, the section after Akureyki all the way to Reykjavik was our least favorite. We may have just been in a rush to get to the Blue Lagoon too though. ;-)

GPS?? uh..... no. Once you're out of Reykjavik (and the golden circle area) it's pretty tough to make a wrong turn. The car company will provide the only map you're likely to need. A few days in you will probably have a chuckle at the thought of needing a gps.

Dont speed in the tunnels..... there's photo radar in them. (yes, speaking from expensive experience)

"90kph on pavement,"

Crikey, the pedestrians have to move fast to get out the way then!!

POSTSCRIPT - Due to a bout with kidney stones in June, we rescheduled our trip to July 15-24. We drove the Ring Road clock wise from Saturday to Thursday. We had planned to spend 2 nights in the Golden Circle area but didn't find enough sites to warrant that. We decided to take in the Snaefellnes Peninsula on Friday and the Reykjanes Peninsula on Saturday, including a stop at the Blue Lagoon. In all we drove over 1,400 miles with plenty of stops. Every night was a different hotel with the last two in Reykjavik at Hotel Laxnes - a bit outside the city but convenient to route 1. Highly recommend it.