Iceland itinerary renting car March
 

Hi, I am visiting Iceland with my boyfriend in March for 4 nights. Below is the itinerary I have planned. We are renting a car and I know that the weather may be difficult. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have only booked places to stay for the first two nights. Thank YOU!

DAY 1: Rekjavik
- Arrive at 4:35am in Rekyjavik
- Book flybus ticket to hotel? 40 min to airport
- Glo in Reykjavik
- Hallgrimskirja church (360 degree view of city)
- Sleep in Reykjavik

DAY 2 (Friday, 3/3): Golden Circle
- Wake up in Reykjavik
- Pick up rental car
- Drive ring road towards Vik
- Head south towards Ring Road – stop at Seljlandsfoss (btwn. Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss) (1 hr 32 min)
- Skogafoss – second waterfall (26 min)
- ADD Gullfoss (waterfall) – snow mobiling on a glacier?
- Black sand beach (30 min)
- Secret lagoon? Kerid Crater?
- Vik (28 min) – eat at Halldorskaffi
- Sleep in Vik

DAY 3 (Saturday, 3/4)
- Maelifell Volcano (1 hr 46 min) – too far?
- Spend the night in Kirkjubæjarklaustur (1 hr 26 min) (closest)/Skaftafell area (53 min) or Jokulsarlon (43 min)/Hofn (1 hr) (farthest)?
- Asbyrgi (Jokulsargliufur Naitional Park)
- Glacier Lagoon in Southeastern Iceland/tour the Ice Caves of the glacier near the lagoon - Crystal Ice Cave Tour through Glacier Guides (1 hr 30 min from Kirkjubaejarklaustur/ 3 hr from Maelifell and 2 hr 19 min from Vik)
- Spend the night where?

DAY 4 (Sunday, 3/5)
- Wake up
- Drive to:
1) Strokkur Geysir near golden circle? (9 min)
- Spend the night in Arborg?

DAY 5 (Monday, 3/6): Blue Lagoon
- Drive ring road back to blue lagoon
- Blue Lagoon (1 hr 10 min)

On day 2 - visit Seljavallalaug. It's one of the oldest pools in Iceland and very close to Seljalandsfoss. I highly recommend it as I do on my blog:

http://www.mustsee.is/seljavallalaug-geothermal-pool/

On day 5 - Skip the Blue Lagoon - it's rubbish nowadays. Do Secret Lagoon on day 2 instead. Use day 5 to explore the Reykjanes peninsula. I wrote a blog about it for tour operator Saga Travel and the trip was amazing. You can easily do it yourself if you have a car:

https://sagatravel.is/have-we-landed-moon-no-reykjanes/

Strokkur Geysir is a part of the golden circle. You can easily drive back to Reykjavík after the golden circle and stay there. I recommend Tryggvaskáli restaurant in Selfoss though since you're in the Árborg area:

http://www.tryggvaskali.is


Remember to pack a lunch - always. Prices in the countryside, even in grocery stores, can be very, very, very high and sometimes you can't find everything you need.

Also - no off-road driving and please be careful. Follow signs and obey them. And make sure you get a decent car if you want to venture into the highlands - otherwise you will get in trouble :)

Happy journey and feel free to contact me for any questions :)

We did a similar trip in February a few years ago. This was our itinerary:
- Day 1, arrive to RJ in the morning, drive south to Vik stopping at the waterfalls you mentioned along the way. However, Gullfoss is not on the way to Vik and we did that as part of the golden circle. We also went to the Dyrhólaey lookout which I recommend.
- Day 2, Jokulsarlon lagoon and black sand beach, and ice cave photography tour in Skaftafell. Another night in Vik
- Day 3, drive the golden circle, and walk in Thingvellir park, then evening in RJ
- Day 4, RJ cathedral and walking around the city, then flying out.

The ring road was well maintained and driving wasn't an issue, but it didn't snow while we were there. We did get pulled over for speeding and I can say it was a VERY expensive ticket, so watch out for that.

I agree that you should try to keep food in the car - the south area in the offseason had very limited options for food. One night we even just cooked ramen in our B&B kitchen.

One thing I would say is that I found the golden circle a bit underwhelming - it was a lot of driving for just one waterfall and a geyser. If you've been to Yellowstone, etc, you may not find the geysers impressive. The national park did have some interesting scenery and buildings though.

For me, the highlights were definitely the glacier bay area and cave tour, as well as catching the northern lights one night while we were jet lagged.

Check this out. Well worth the stop!https://earthincolors.wordpress.com/...tion-with-map/

and here: Fridheimer tomato farm http://fridheimar.is/en Not far from Gulfoss

Bookmarking...

<<One thing I would say is that I found the golden circle a bit underwhelming>>

Us too! Didn't get what all the fuss was about.