Self-driving in Iceland
 

Hi!

My family and i are planning a trip to Iceland in October 2015. Really appreciate if we could get some advice on self-driving in this beautiful country!

This is our first time embarking on a self-drive trip overseas! Was wondering whether it is recommended to use an apartment in Reyjavik as a base to explore the surrounding countryside? Is it practical to drive back to Reyjavik from our daily destination every evening?

Or is it better for us to book and stay at different places along our drive?

What are the recommended and fairly easy places/sights to drive to?

Thanks in advance!

how long as you going for, deesit?

if you want to do a trip round the whole island, you need at least 10 days. [there is a road that goes all the way round which is very well maintained and goes to most places you would want to see]. some people say you can do it in less but that would mean a lot of driving every day.

if you have less than that, there are a number of routes you can do - have a look at some of the trip reports here, or look at tour companies like Discover the world to see what they suggest, not to take one of their offerings, but to see what is possible in the time you've got.

http://www.discover-the-world.co.uk/...eland-holidays

another good place to look for accommodation and tour ideas is Iceland Farm Holidays - you can use as much or as little of their services as you like including custom-made self-drive tours:

http://www.farmholidays.is/?gclid=CI...FfLJtAodxd8J8g

Main sights are Reykjavik, the Golden Circle, the many waterfalls, the iceberg lagoon, and the wonderful bird-life. Given the number of people here asking about Iceland it probably would be good idea to book accommodation in advance, even in October.

Hi annhig!

Thank you for your response.

We will probably be there about 8-9 days. The road around the whole island, are you referring to the ring road?


I'm a little confused about the Ring Road and the Golden Circle. May i know what is the difference between the two?

If i base myself in Reyjavik and do day trips to the following areas (just to name a few):

Thingvellir National park
Strokkur
Gullfoss
Seljalandsfoss
Myvatn area

Will that be wise? Roughly how long is the journey from Reyjavik to each attraction?

Thanks for the recommendation on the tour companies. Will check up on them!

Kind regards

deesit

Hi deesit,

sorry about my lack of precision - it's been a while since we were there and we had about 10 days too, which IMO is the minimum you need to do the ring-road, which is indeed the road that goes all the way round, more or less. [you might like to read my TR - just click on my screen name and look for the trip reports - you'll soon find it. There are also some more recent TRs well worth looking at].

The golden Circle is not the same as the ring road - it is the term used for the 3 sites that are all conveniently grouped together i.e. The Geyser, Thingvellir, and Gulfoss [anything with "Foss" at the end means a waterfall]. They are about 2 hour drive from Reykjavik and require a detour off the ring road, but a very worthwhile one.

it is possible to do quite a lot of Iceland by day trip, but it involves a lot of driving and isn't very efficient. Myvatn however is about 6 hours to the north east so that isn't an option. it is however quite possible to do a lot of the west of Iceland in 10 days, which is effectively what we did. We did have the long days however as we were there in July/August which could make a difference.

Why not have a look at what the tour companies suggest, and have a look at map [google maps driving distances for Iceland seem pretty accurate]

Why not have a look at what the tour companies suggest and come back with an itinerary?

happy planning!

Hi annhig!

Thank you so much for your recommendations and advice :) Time to get down to some concrete planning..

I'll definitely read up on your trip reports!

Cheers!

deesit

deesit - don't just read mine - there are quite a few others too including a current one:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

they also had 10 days so it's very relevant for your trip.

Realistically, you can't do Myvatn area as a self-drive daytrip from Reykjavik (it's at least a 4-hour drive away). You CAN fly to and from Akureyri (near Lake Myvatn) on a daytrip from Reykjavik - we did this during our recent trip, but it was rather expensive (because, to get the most out of our 11-hour stopover in Akureyri, we decided to book a private tour). There are afternoon-only tours to the Lake Myvatn area, so it's possible to fly up there, go on an afternoon tour and fly back, but you want have much time to see the sights.

If I were organizing my trip again, I probably would still arrange to fly to Akureyri from Reykjavik, but I would stop over for at least one night up there. For example, I might have flown from the US into Keflavik (the international airport), connected by bus to the domestic airport and then flown to Akureyri to stay for our first night or two, and then flown back to Reykjavik.

If you look at my recent mini-trip report, you'll see that we had a 5-night stay in Reykjavik (not the best way to see Iceland, but it was convenient for other reasons). We did the day trip to Akureyri (by plane) as mentioned above, and we also did a day trip along the south coast (as far as Vik) as well. The South Shore trip was lovely and it was practicable to go as far as Vik in a day, but it was a fairly long day of driving (by our tour guide).

It is also possible to visit the Snaefellsness Peninsula in a long daytrip, but again that's a lot of driving without a lot of time to stop and explore. You probably won't have the time to pursue some of the more interesting features of the area (e.g., taking a ferry to Flatey Island for the afternoon, or go on a puffin tour at night) if you limit yourself to a day trip.

I don't know how big your family is, but another option for you to look into (at least for a few days) is to book a camper van. See, for example:

http://www.happycampers.is/

Annhig is right - 10 days is a minimum for the Ring Road. Myvatn is far away from Reykjavik. I'll be leaving for my trip in 10 days, taking 16 days around the Ring Road, and I still feel rushed :)

I would say for 8-9 days, take 2-3 days each in two places in addition to Reykjavik, such as Snaefellsness, Westfjords, Hofn, or Lake Myvatn area. Each one offers a great variety of things to see and do!

I'll be posting my own trip report when I get back.

Hi!
I'd suggest to do a Golden Circle tour and explore the South instead of rushing around the country, especially if it is a family trip.
You may find this blog - http://www.iceland24blog.com - pretty useful.
It would be better to stay in different places instead of Reykjavik, as the mileage is quite big. But book everything in advance, as October is not a peak season, at least to make sure that someone will be there to meet you ;)
If you plan to rent a car you may contact Cars Iceland (www.carsiceland.com) - they are really customer-friendly, so they can consult you about the itinerary and anything else.
Good luck!