Wheelchair accessibility in Iceland (major sights, etc)
 

We are hoping to visit Iceland summer 2017 for 7-10 days. We are a family of four (with one in a power wheelchair) that loves road trips. We're hoping to do the Ring Road which would let us see all the major sights of Iceland. Are most of these sites wheelchair accessible? I understand most of them are off the side of the road?

We are thinking of this rough itinerary (maybe cut a night from Reykjavik).
Reykjavik
Reykjavik
Vik
Hofn
Egilsstaoir
Myvatn
Hvammstangi
Heydalur
Thingvellir
Reykjavik

Also wondering about renting a minivan with a stowaway seat. I looked at rentals and didn't see what their equivalent of a minivan would be. Can anyone help me with this?

Just want to get some feedback on the overall accessibility of Iceland and how much we'll be able to take in and experience.

Honestly traveller, I'd like to be able to be more positive but I'm not sure how much help you'll be able to get from people here, as the few of us who have been to Iceland were not, as I recall, disabled or in a wheelchair. you're right that most sites are just off the ring road, but my recollection is that to see anything worthwhile, you normally have to walk a little way and paths may not be wheelchair friendly.

I think that your best bet will be to contact the Icelandic and Reykjavik tourist boards to see what information they can give you:

http://www.iceland.is

http://www.visitreykjavik.is/search/...abled+visitors

I also did a bit of googling and came up with this from Frommers:

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...h-disabilities

and finally, lonely planet's thorn tree forum has what may be a useful article from someone in the same boat:

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntr...ssible-iceland

and the best of luck.

I wish I could offer more information, but we were just in REykvanik for 4 nights. We did a Golden Circle tour and pretty much everywhere we went on it required walking and as mentioned the area did not look wheelchair friendly to me.

Good suggestion to visit the tourist offices and see what they say. We did our tour with Discover Island and they couldnt have been more helpful or nicer. You might contact them and ask if they know if there is wheelchair accessibility on any of the tours. Another idea would be to contact Icelandair which offers tours thorughout Iceland. They might have information.

Most of the sights off of the ring road are not paved. And there is usually some walking to get to the waterfalls etc.
The places I went really did not seem wheelchair accessible.

Thank you all for the information!

It is an automatic wheelchair so distance isn't really an issue if some of these sights require walking a bit. The main issue is the type of terrain to get to these sights, and whether there's stairs or not. I understand most aren't paved, but can you remember what type of surface it is?

traveller - my recollection is that most of the terrain isn't really wheelchair friendly; most paths are quite bumpy. but for the specifics of each of the places you want to go to, I think you need more specialist information than we can give you.

If you have access to Netflix, they are currently streaming two Icelandic television series, Case and The Lava Field.

Much of the action takes place outside Reykjavik, and you will have the opportunity to see roads, parking lots, gas stations galore.

If you don't have Netflix, I would look on You Tube for videos that tourists have taken on your itinerary and the sites along the way. The famous ones should be pretty well covered.

Have a look at this website. www.icelandunlimited.is and plug in accessible travel.

Try Google Maps and click on Street View. I just tried it on Skogafoss waterfall and was able to "walk" right up close to the waterfall. You can clearly see what the surface of the path is like.

If you have Netflix, they are currently running two Icelandic TV series, Case and Lava Flow (?). Both have lots of scenes along roads in the country and small towns.

Failing that, look for traveler videos on YouTube for the places you want to visit. You will know from them what is wheelchair-friendly.

The website I referenced actually offers tours but by studying the website you will find that many places are accessible by wheelchair. If the tour companies can do it, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do the same.

I agree with what people have said about asking the tour companies. I remember thinking that Reykjavik would be possible but challenging for my mom, but she gets intimidated easily by slopes and does not have a motorized wheelchair. I think if your family member is more adventurous it might be better.

I'd kind of wonder about eating out and shopping. A lot of places seemed to have one or two steps going in or in the middle of the place- I didn't notice any really handicap ramps or bathrooms but of course they could have been there, sometimes those can be kind of obscure.