Over the last couple weeks I put together a self-drive itinerary based on several I saw online, and after some slight tweaking, I think I came out at something I'm pretty happy with...if it's actually do-able. I'm looking at some of the drive times, not to mention hike times, unplanned stops, getting gasoline, eating, and I'm worried it's a bit too ambitious on a couple of the days. I figured this would be a good group to ask.
To be clear, when I say "too ambitious" I'm asking more along the lines of "that literally is not possible to see in one day" and less along the lines of "if you really want to enjoy seeing all of this, you'll need 3 weeks instead of 2." I know people have wildly varying travel styles, and ours is more of a go-go-go style, but even with that, sometimes too much is too much. So with that caveat, here's what we're planning for a trip in July:
Day 1
- Arrive late in the evening, pick up our 4x4, overnight in Reykjavik
Day 2
- Golden Circle, overnight in Selfoss
Day 3
- Visit the highlands (Sigöldugljúfur, Blahylur, Landmannalaugar), overnight in Hella
Day 4
- Take a tour of Thórsmörk and Valahnjúkur (which should end around 16:00), then visit the sites on the south coast in and around Vik, and overnight in Vik
- This one seems like it will be long because of the tour, but it seems like a lot of the sites in around Vik are quite close, and we could see some of them after checking into our hotel and having dinner if we want/need
Day 5
- Visit sites between Vik and Hofn, such as Fjaðrárgljúfur, Svartifoss, Jökulsárlón (where we'll take a lagoon cruise at 17:50), overnight in Hofn
Day 6
- Eastern part of the country, with quite a bit of driving, but not too many sites (Stokksnes, Hengifoss, Seydisfjordur, Stuðlagil Canyon), overnight in Grímsstaðir
- This one seems like quite a lot, especially if we want to walk around Hengifoss and also Stuðlagil
- We picked Grímsstaðir so that we can get an early start the next day, and we figure we'll arrive quite late in the evening
Day 7
- The North (Dettifoss, Ásbyrgi Canyon, whale-watching tour in Husavik, Hverir, Lake Myvatn, Godafoss), overnight in Akureyi
- This seems like quite a lot as well, but with less driving than the day before
- Again, we'd expect to arrive very late (meaning after dinner) in Akureyi
Day 8
- A (relatively) light day after several busy ones in a row, circumnavigating the Troll Peninsula, Sauðárkrókur, overnight in Blönduós
Day 9
- Heading out to the northern part of the Westfjords, with no planned excursions, but plenty of stops to take in the scenery, overnight in Bolungarvik
- This is a ton of driving, but a little easier to gauge the time, as there aren't any hikes or tours or other items that would be an indeterminate amount of time
Day 10
- Driving through the Westfjords from north to south, with the main sites being Dynjandi and Latrabjarg, overnight in Flókalundur (right by the ferry)
Day 11
- Take the early morning ferry across to Snæfellsnes Peninsula, see the sites on the northern part of the peninsula (Kirkjufell, Grundafoss, Selvallfoss, etc.), overnight in Snaefellsnes
Day 12
- Explore the western and southern portions of the Snaefellsnes peninsula, maybe do a couple short hikes, overnight in Snaefellsnes again
Day 13
- West Iceland, including Deildartunguhver, Hraunfossar, Barnafloss, and an early afternoon excursion of the ice caves in Langjokull glacier, then overnight in Reykjavik
Day 14
- Currently nothing planned, maybe just some rest and relaxation, maybe "clean-up" of anything "close" to Reykjavik that we couldn't/didn't see at the beginning of the trip
Day 15
- Fly home
It's days 4-7 that give me the most pause, as they involve a lot of driving, but also some fixed excursions, some hikes of indeterminate time, etc. Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated.