10-12 Day Ring Road in Late May. What are best places to stop for 2 nights?

That will mean some much longer driving days. We have been many times and the time we did the ring road we had 12 nights and that was still quite rushed and we moved every night, just to give you an idea. Your 10-12 day time frame is good for that, but if you want to do any excursions such as whale watching, hiking, zodiac boat ride, etc you will be rushing. I just mention this in case you did not know.

Since you are coming from the US/Canada, then you will want to make the arrival day just to Reykjavik. Don't try going to the Golden Circle or anywhere else, it is too much driving. So that is day/night number 1. That would leave you will 10 days, assuming the 12th day you fly home. I would not miss Snaefellsness. Definitely do not short change this and do stay the night as a day trip is too much to try and squeeze it all in. Two nights would be good. If I had to squeeze in another two nights somewhere, it would be around Akureyri as there is so much to see up there, especially on the Trollaskagi Peninsula. Then the other nights I would opt for places in/around Seydisfjordur, Hofn, Vik, the Golden Circle, and then the last night would depend on what time your flight in the morning is. If it is very early, then stay near KEF. If it is a late afternoon or evening flight, you can stay as far out as Selfoss. You definitely want to be back at KEF at least 3 hours before your flight. The last day would be good to wander the Reykjanes Peninsula as there is quite a bit there to see.

Thank you for the input. I am trying to sort through what I've seen online. I have seen 7 day ring road tours promoted. That seems stressful and is why I thought 10-12 days would not be so rushed. It probably depends on what one is trying to accomplish as well. We wouldn't be doing "activities" , tours, or hikes every single day of the vacation.

The 7 day ring road trips I see are frankly insane, IMO. What are you looking to see/do?

We've been to Iceland three times. When we drove the whole Ring Road in 10 days, we had already been to the Golden Circle and Snæfellsnes Peninsula on previous visits. On our Ring Road trip we had two two-nights stands, but the rest were one-night stands. It's really hard to stay multiple nights in one place, because that means that you are driving out and back over the same roads that you'll be driving again when you move on (I hope that makes sense). I suggest that you lay out a tentative itinerary based on what you want to see and do, and then plan overnights from there. Add at least 20% to the Google maps drive times to allow for the many stops you'll make along the way.

BTW, you may be too late to find lodging at this late date. You really do need to get your itinerary planned ASAP and start looking for places to stay. We used booking.com for most of our reservations.

Wow, have had a lot of interesting feedback from various folks. Including my son in law and his wife who went there 3 years ago in November and stayed in 3 locations for 3 nights each location. They said the "backtracking" didn't bother them, because everything was so beautiful, and you got to see it in a different light as you backtracked! The reason I had the ring road in mind is because, 3 out of the 4 of us are pushing 80, so we were looking at this as our one chance to do Iceland! Perhaps we should focus on just a couple of places instead. My idea of what i'd like to do, would be to alternate a day of sightseeing, with a day of rest & soaking in hot springs.

naalehuretiree brings up a good point. Most lodging is booked 9-12 months out in Iceland so you are really late to the game for this year. You can do it, but it just means you may have to move your itinerary around a bit, or take lodgings that would not be your first choice, etc. I would just urge you to get that booked asap though.

If this is possibly your only chance to see Iceland, I would opt for the ring road vs just a couple areas. The sites are just so amazing so why limit what you see? Our 9th trip is in just over a month, and that will put us at over 70 nights in the country. We have done a real variety of trips, and FWIW, this is what I would do based on my knowledge now, if that makes sense.

The hot springs are fabulous! We try to go to as many as possible on every trip. Hvammsvik so far is our favorite, with Forest Lagoon a close second. There is a brand new one in the Golden Circle that just opened, Laugaras, and we have reservations for that for our upcoming trip. Secret Lagoon is good, as is Fontana, but Fontana is undergoing renovations and is due to open in June again, so keep an eye on that. Blue Lagoon and Sky Lagoon are both good too. Geo Sea is nice as well. Don't overlook the local pools that each town has, or the more rustic hot springs. I really like those since they are often very small and depending on the locations, you may have the entire thing to yourself. If you do the Trollaskagi Peninsula, do not miss Hauganes hot pots. I could go on and on about the lagoons/hot springs:)

Julia, we all travel differently depending on our interests. Posters on this forum speak from personal experience, but we know nothing about you. You have reasons for travelling the way that you've stated, so just do what feels good for you. Do your research, decide what you want to see, and get those accommodations booked ASAP!

mikliz97 Thank you for those tips on the hot springs. Your love affair with Iceland sounds like my love affair with Italy. I've been 14 times..most trips were 2-3 weeks and one trip I stayed for 2 months. Still want to go back of course. Maybe the Iceland ring road is the way to go...see as much as we can on this trip and save the relaxing for another trip to Italy :)

Julia—I like the way you think! That is what I would do. BTW I keep wanting to go back to Italy, but get sidetracked with Iceland. My daughter and I will go again and we are actually trying to see when we can work it in. I may message you for help.