Please sign in to post.

10-Day Ring Road Trip

Hello,

My brother and I just booked flights to Iceland (8/27-9/9) for his 50th. I would appreciate your feedback as I'm late in booking accommodations. We arrive late morning on 8/27 and are planning to spend 2 nights in Reykjavík. We will explore the city on our first day and on Day 2, drive the Golden Circle. So, we now have 10 days to complete the Ring Road. I'm trying to figure out:

1) Should we do this clockwise or counterclockwise (it may not make much of a difference). This may end up depending on where accommodations are available on particular dates, especially the farther we go along the Ring Road?
2) I want us to see as much as possible but don't want to spend all our time rushing and not appreciating the magnificence of Iceland, so with 10 days, would you suggest we do the entire Ring Road or focus on a handful of areas? Could you elaborate on which areas you would stick to if it's the latter?
3) If we do the full Ring Road, I'm trying to figure out whether we stay more than one night at a place even if that means we would have to backtrack more and see less, or if you would advise moving to a different hotel each night which might end up being too much fussing around but we cover more ground but of course we have less flexibility in changing our schedule if weather becomes an issue on a particular day?
4) Which towns would you stay in if we plan to do the full Ring Road route?

I'm trying to research this myself online but feeling overwhelmed since I'm getting a late start.

Thank you!

Posted by
2972 posts

Either direction is fine. If you go clockwise it would put you on the south coast a bit later when families have mostly returned home for school. Save the golden circle for them so you are not backtracking etc.

You have enough time for he ring road and Snaefellsness, but yes you would be doing one night stays. This is the norm for Iceland which really throws people.

Weather should be ok at that time, but if not and you can’t travel, the hotels etc are usually very good at adapting. If you can’t travel that means others can’t either so you would still have lodging.

As for which towns, it depends on what you are interested in doing.

There is just so much to see and do in Iceland so don’t worry, you can’t do it all but enjoy what you do experience. We head back in August for our 8th trip and will still be seeing new things.

Posted by
773 posts

Ten days is good for a full Ring Road trip, but you will have very few two-night stays anywhere. That's what happens when you drive in a circle around an island :-)

However, if you are into more slow travel, then you could decide to spend your ten days going to the Golden Circle, South Coast, Reykjanes Peninsula and Snæfellsnes Peninsula. You will see plenty of beautiful sites without having to worry about packing and unpacking every day. It's your trip!

Posted by
2 posts

I had only 8-9 days in Iceland so just did a week long trip and followed this one week Iceland Itinerary by jetlygo.
it was mostly right on point but sometimes it seemed a bit rushed. So I would say take your time and don't try to do the most common mistake a lot of people do of touch and go where they want to cover max destinations in min time.