Iceland Ring Road guide - how to cover the entire island in 10 days or less
Please note that this post may contain affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward us a small commission – at no extra cost for you. The services or products offered by these third-party sites are not related to this website and we are not responsible for any services or products offered by them.
Out of the 43 countries I have visited to date, the Iceland road trip has got to be the most epic (second most, perhaps. I can’t decide whether the Hokkaido trip or the Iceland one is my personal best). Iceland has a breathtakingly beautiful quality that cannot be found anywhere else on earth. From majestic waterfalls and hot springs to glaciers, Iceland is a paradise for nature lovers. To make the most of a trip to Iceland, we highly recommend exploring this incredible country by taking a car and do a road trip around the famous Ring Road.
The Ring Road is a 1,332 kilometre road that circles the entire island, connecting all of Iceland’s major cities and sites. It takes you through a stunning array of landscapes, from volcanic terrain to moss-covered lava fields and rugged coastlines.
If you’re planning on taking a road trip around the Ring Road, it’s best to give at least 10 days to explore all the incredible sights along the way. We only took 6 days and regretted it because we were always in a hurry. Such a waste because you need time to absorb in the beauty of nature slowly and to make time for unexpected contingencies (read on to find out about ours!).
Here’s how we did the Ring Road:
We arrived at around 11:45 pm at Keflavik International Airport so we stayed next to the airport at the Courtyard Marriott Keflavik. Best decision because you won’t have any luxury and just about comfortable when you hit the wilderness in the next few days or week.
The Golden Circle
We started our trip by going to the Golden Circle, leaving the capital city, Reykjavik, at the end of our trip. The drive to the Golden Circle from the airport is about 1 hour 15 minutes. We started with the Thingvellir National Park where parts of Game of Thrones were shot. (Note how I and everyone was dressed despite this being the middle of summer in July!)
We then visited the majestic Gulfafoss where the sound of waterfall was so loud beyond my expectation. I’ve been to Niagara Falls twice and it was bigger but it was nowhere as loud as the Gulfoss. It was a very powerful waterfall so make sure to bring raincoats because you will surely get wet (see my packing list here).
Finally, we visited the Haukadalur Valley, where the famous Great Geysir featured in every geography related books and magazines can be found. We did see the geysir eruption but was too slow with our phone and cameras so only captured the post-eruption.
If you are not driving, there are lots of tours going to the Golden Circle from Reykjavik from Get Your Guide or Viator
Expect to spend around three hours on these three sites. We chose not to complete the Golden circle but to continue driving East to Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls.
Take a hike up to the top of Skogafoss for a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside.
We then head to the famous Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach and it was around 6pm when we reached there. There were walls of impressive basalt columns and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of puffins but I saw none when I went. Do note that the beach was actually quite narrow and most of the beach was closed off for safety reason when I went. It was also extremely foggy with very low visibility when I went.
We stayed the night at Hvoll where I took this epic picture at the back of the guesthouse at around 9pm.
Accomodation: Hvoll Guesthouse
Beautiful lake view behind the guesthouse as you can see from this picture. Accomodation wise, it was okay but when we went, there were a lot of students/backpackers and was very noisy. Advise to bring earplugs if there are no other accomodation choices.
Fjadrargljufur Canyon —> Jokusarlon Glacier Lagoon —> Egilstadir
We started early in the morning because there was a long itinerary ahead of us and a lot of driving. From Hvoll, we drove to Fjadrargljufur Canyon where you could see some impressive canyons and river running through them. A little hike is required to get up there but it was only short hike. The moss was very slippery though so be careful!
We then arrived at the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, where you can take a boat ride among the icebergs and seals. Seals can pop up but do not expect to be able to marvel at them as they usually try very hard to hide. Next to the Glacier Lagoon speedboat adventure, you will find the famous Diamond Beach where large cubes of ice lie on the beach.
If you are not driving, you could also find tours to see Jokulsarlon from Reykjavik, but given the long distance, it cost some to do this tour.
Glacier lagoon ride:
Diamond beach:
The sand is all black
We drove 3.5 hours to Egilsstadir to spend a night there. Driving in Iceland is not like any drive elsewhere as there are beautiful waterfalls to chase and plenty of places where you could pull your car over to take beautiful pictures, sit on the grass and marvel at the scenery. This is where I regret spending only 7 days there, I want to sit for hours at some places to absorb in the beauty of nature!
Accomodation: Hótel Eyvindará
Charming little red cottage with everything we need. We had a nice stay there and you can find some restaurants and shops in nearby Egilsstadir.
Seeing the puffins, EMERGENCY struck (!!) and visiting more volcanic geysers
From Egilstaddir, we made a detour to the eastern tip of the country so I could see the puffins and this was the most magical experience I ever had. I didn’t want to put this place on my social media and blog because I don’t want to contribute to bringing more tourists to this place. You can DM me on Instagram if you seriously want to go there. There are more than 10,000 puffins nesting and living there and this is perhaps the only place you get to be within 20m from the puffins. No boat to take you to some island, no binoculars, it is you standing right next to the puffins and they are not even flying away. There are some other places in Iceland where you could find the puffins, but this is the place where you could stand next to them at their natural habitat. I took a few hundreds pictures and videos of these beautiful birds. With puffins, you barely find them in zoos so this experience up close with them was extra precious.
I reluctantly said goodbye to the puffins after spending a morning with them :( We drove back to the
completely unpaved way back to the Ring Road and then, a little disaster! A small sharp rock on that unpaved road had punctured a hole on the car wheel. We were heading over to Lake Myvatn where I wanted to do my hot spring bath in MILKY BLUE WATER! You will probably notice before that I have so far not mentioned the Blue Lagoon and that’s because I wanted to do the real blue water at Lake Myvatn and avoid the crowd of tourists at the Blue Lagoon.
If a road trip is not possible for you, you can also do a boat cruise to see the puffin from Reykjavik. You will be seeing the puffins quite a distance from the boat and no up close and completely natural interaction with the puffins, but it is still better than not seeing at all because you won't get them in the zoos.
This was the Lake Myvatn Geothermal Area, Hverir. We still walked around and this was before we realize the puncture on the wheel was so serious and could not be fixed by the pump in the gas stations.
We wanted to go to Dimmuborgir, where you could see some impressive lava formation and also where Game of Thrones was filmed, and of course the milky blue hot spring bath of Lake Myvatn. But alas, it was soon obvious that the wheel was losing air too quickly and we’d be lucky if we find a repair in Akureyri before the car completely broke down. We literally passed right by the Myvatn nature bath and I could see the beautiful, milky blue water from the car but we had to drive by and just miss everything. It felt so painful, I still feel the pain after five years.
Takeaway from the story: there was no shops nor car repairs along the Ring Road. You have to hit the towns to get anything.
Accommodation: Hafnarstræti Hostel in Akureyi
This is a capsule hotel and my only capsule experience! I loved it, I loved feeling snug in my own capsule. The blue light looked very futuristic and made me feel like I’m in an airship in space. Everything is clean in this hostel and the capsule had everything you need in a room. I would absolutely do it again.
Akureyi, seal watching, more hiking and waterfall
Luckily, our car could be picked up mid-morning. What a relief! After getting our car fixed, we had to head west because we only had two more days left in Iceland and we already had a hotel booked around five hours drive to the western tip of the island so we had to continue. I really would have gone back to the Myvatn blue bath if I had one more day to spare because it actually was just an hour drive away but we did not have time to drive back one hour to where we came from. That is why with a road trip in Iceland, you need more days to account for unexpected conditions!
We explored Akureyi a little bit, had lunch there, and drove on to the Snaefellnes Peninsula area where we booked a night at Olafsvik. If we had more nights, I'd definitely do a whale spotting tour in Akureyi. I've done a few whale tours in the past but haven't done one with killer whales so far.
You really want to stay there forever!
We randomly came across a beautiful waterfall on our way back to the guesthouse and decided to climb it and marvel at the scenery. It was moments like this that made everything worth it.
We stayed at Ólafsvík, the westernmost tip of Iceland.
Accomodation: Við Hafið Guesthouse
A beautiful and clean guesthouse. Several rooms in a big house with a nice large kitchen. Killer seaview behind the guesthouse and if you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of whales In a distance!
Olafsvik —> Snaefellsnes Peninsula —> Reykjavik —> Blue Lagoon —> Airport
We started the morning driving to THE Iceland landmark, the Kirkjufell mountain.
Did you know this is actually the most pictured scenery in Iceland?
We then drove to Vatnshellir lava cave to take a cave tour. The Vatnshellir lava tunnel is shorter than the more frequented Raufarhólshellir lava tunnel, which is just 30 minutes from Reykjavik. The Raufarhólshellir lava tunnel was actually closed in 2016 due to hazard from overtourism, but the changing light display in the tunnel look really impressive. The Vatnshellir lava tunnel experience I did was in almost complete darkness, so in a way it felt more authentic although I would imagine it is less pretty than the Raufarholshellir.
We headed back to the capital city of Reykjavik shortly after. As much as I loved the nature and the amazing landscape, I was also a bit relieved to be back to civilization after a week of being in the wild.
After dinner, we finally hit the bucket list item of many people, the Blue Lagoon. It is actually just a 45 minutes drive from the airport so we reserved it for last.
And here is another reason why you should reserve a couple more days when you do the Ring Road in case of contingencies. As soon as the accident hit and I realized we’re not going to make it to the blue bath in Myvatn, I immediately went online to try to book a spot for the Blue Lagoon. You guessed it! All spots were full at that point. So I visited the Blue Lagoon, took a look at the surroundings, and left.
Honestly though, I was not completely sorry to miss the Blue Lagoon because it is actually man-made and although it looked so pretty in pictures, I doubted that this would triumph the onsen (hotspring bath) experience in Japan where you go into the hotsprings without any clothings (!) In my personal experience, the onsen hotsprings in Japan are never crowded with tourists and the water are all from volcanic hot springs thereby making it a truly authentic and relaxing experience.
Ending words
Overall, Iceland was one of the two trips I’ve taken that I would say is truly life-changing. This one was a real adventure because the Ring Road is a wilderness and so many things can go unexpected, like getting your car tire punctured, your car door being blown away by the wind (yes it happens), maybe hitting a sheep on the way. Hopefully not the last one, and hopefully nothing majorly disastrous, but you have to factor in time for contingencies like these.
If I were to revisit Iceland and assuming I would not repeat a road trip with a car, I would be fly in to Reykjavik and then to Akureyi and join at least one of tours for what I missed on my first visit:
- See real, glowing lava from a volcano via a hiking tour with a geologist: Seeing real lava (not just lava moss fields) is high up on top of my bucket list. Fagradalsfjall erupted in 2021and I visited Iceland before that so there was no chance for me to see the lava from there even if I had the time but if I were to revisit Iceland, I’d love to see flowing lava.
My round-the-island road trip is still a huge win for me. Even though I didn’t manage to cover everything, I would trade hot spring baths for watching the puffins so up close any minute of the day.
If you are planning for a trip to Iceland, make sure to read my next blog post on list of things you must bring and you should take note of before going. Trust me, you will need this because Iceland is not like your average hike or nature escape. In any case, this road trip is guaranteed to be one you’ll never forget!
Pin this article:
Comments