The Best of Iceland’s Ring Road in a Week

Driving Time: Approximately five hours
I recommend arriving in Reykjavik the day before you start driving and getting a good night’s sleep before hitting the road!

Today’s drive takes you northeast from Reyjavik, with the end destination of Siglufjordur and plenty of enticing stops to break up the journey. Once you hop on the Ring Road (also known as Highway One), Reykjavik quickly recedes behind you and you’re quickly immersed in expansive scenery.

Possible stops between Reykjavik and Siglufjordur:

• Grabrok crater - A short but VERY windy hike to the top!

• Krauma Nature Baths - An alternative to the Blue Lagoon, requires a detour off the Ring Road, bookable online in advance

• Hraunsnef Country Hotel for a charming and stylish coffee break

• Sjavarborg restaurant for lunch - A bit of a detour off the ring road, but worth it

• Glaumbaer farm museum - This collection of heritage turf-covered homes is really delightful and will be a highlight of the day

• Hofsos for gorgeous coastal views and another scenic thermal pool opportunity

And then you’ve made it to the North Coast of Iceland and the fjordside town of Siglufjordur!

We loved the Siglo Hotel - cozy, charming, one of our favorites of the trip.
Consider having dinner at the neighboring Siglunes Hotel - unexpectedly good Moroccan food, featuring local Icelandic lamb. Advisable to book ahead.

Driving Time: Approximately two hours

This is a lighter driving day as you continue along Iceland’s austerely beautiful north coast, with the end destination of the Myvatn Lake area. Possible stops:

• Dalvik, for photo opps of the coast and coffee at Gisli Eirikur Helgi

• Akureyri, the biggest town in North Iceland - A good place to get groceries, a key money saver in pricey Iceland

• Godafoss waterfall

• Myvatn Nature Baths, recommended to book in in advance online

This itinerary allows for two nights in the Myvatn area, the only part of the road trip where you stay somewhere more than one night. This gives you the opportunity to catch your breath and detour off the Ring Road to explore the incredibly scenic Tjornes Peninsula and other sights in the region. Possible stops:

• Dettifoss Waterfall

• Asbyrgi Cliffs

• Coastal drive around the Tjornes Peninsula

• Town of Husavik for the GeoSea baths - It’s quite something to soak in a hot pool while gazing out at the North Atlantic. Advisable to book online in advance

• Husavik itself is quite charming, and we enjoyed our local craft beer at Husavik Ol

Driving Time: Approximately three hours (note: limited services along this route - make sure you have gas, snacks, and water before hitting the road).

This section of the Ring Road takes you inland as you make your way towards the east coast.

Possible stops:

• Coffee fix at Vogafjos Farm. Flat whites with milk from the cows on the premises!

• On the way out of Myvatn, visit Namafjall geothermal field, where the steaming sulfuric pools and bubbling mud holes make you feel like you’re walking on the surface of Mars.

• About halfway through our drive to Seydisfjordur, we detoured off the Ring Road to have lunch at Fjallakaffi. To be honest, we were disappointed in the food there, but the setting was spectacular, so we felt it was a worthwhile excursion.

• Continue eastward until you approach the turnoff for Seydisfjordur. The drive to this fjordside town involves a high mountain pass followed by a descent through the thickest fog I’ve ever seen in my life! Drive slowly and carefully.

• Seydisfjordur is as cute as can be and fights back against the fog with an array of brightly colored houses and shops. We stayed at the cozy and super central Vid Lonid, right on the photogenic rainbow street and had a stylish dinner right down the road at Hotel Aldan’s restaurant.

Driving time: Approximately four hours

Today is a big drive as you navigate the lonely and dramatically beautiful Eastfjords en route to the South Coast. The Ring Road follows the curves of the fjords, as jagged green cliffs rise from the sea. It’s a landscape that makes one feel small - cars are few and far between and nature rules here.

Possible Stops:
We had lunch at Langabud Kaffihus and then pulled over every time the view demanded a photo, which was often.

It makes sense to stay somewhere on the South Coast in between Hofn and Skaftatell, which puts you in a good position for the incredible sights that await the next day. Our accommodation was an adorable and memorably situated little red cabin on a working farm, with views of the Vatnajokull Glacier.

Driving time: Approximately four hours

This day of the road trip is quite special, as you’ll see some of the most characteristic and stunning natural beauty Iceland’s South Coast has to offer.

Possible stops:

• The famous Diamond Beach and the Jokulsarlon Glacier. It’s quite something to see entire chunks of crystalline ice glimmering on the beach underneath the summer sun.

• You can do boat trips around the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, but we opted to do our boat trip at the smaller Fjallsarlon Lagoon, which means you actually get closer to the glaciers themselves. It was an incredible hour on the water - book online in advance.

• Get back on the Ring Road. Shortly after leaving Fjallsarlon, you’ll see a turn-off on a gravel road (on the right) for another viewpoint over the glacier - take it (and drive carefully!) for a spectacular panoramic view.

• Svinafellsjokull glacier - easy 15-minute walk for more glacial beauty

• pizza at Systrakaffi

• the Reynisfara black sand beach - this beach is gorgeous and very popular - be prepared for crowds

• the Seljalandsfoss waterfall - there are many waterfalls in Iceland, but this one is unique because you can actually walk around behind it. It is astonishing.

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There are a couple of ways you can approach this day. If you want more time in Reykjavik, you could make a beeline for the capital and be there in under two hours. Another option is to visit the sights along the well-known “Golden Circle,” which is a popular day trip route for travelers who don’t have time for a full Ring Road experience. There are some beautiful waterfalls along this route, but I found this area to be the most crowded of all the places we went in Iceland, and it did diminish my enjoyment a bit. It seemed like everywhere we went, there were 17 tour buses ahead of us.

And this is the trade-off when you’re traveling in Iceland in late July and early August. It’s the absolute best weather for sightseeing, days are long and generous, but you’ll be sharing the stunning natural beauty that Iceland has to offer with a lot of other people.

As a general rule, the further you get from Reykjavik, the less busy the sights become, so that’s my top tip - get out into the hinterlands where people and cars are fewer and farther in between!

Possible Golden Circle stops:

• Gullfoss Waterfall

• Geysir Center (to see the geysers in the area, not recommended for lunch)

• Lunch at Heradsskolinn Guesthouse in Laugarvatn

• Thingvellir National Park