Iceland 8 Days Help needed

The host of this site has some suggestions: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/iceland/itinerary

It is rather late to be making reservations for a summer trip, as Iceland is very busy and things book up 9-12 months ahead in summer. It literally may come down to whether you can find accommodations. I recommend you not do a lot of heavy driving on your arrival day if you are coming from the US as jet lag and driving don't mix (in my opinion).

Thank you so much! hopefully I will find the accommodations that make me nervous. Based on your comments.

This is a tough one. With just 8 days, I would not recommend the Ring Road. You can drive it in that time, but you will be having to push on each day and won't have time to actually stop and see the things that are unique to Iceland.

That said, the day of arrival it is wise to only drive about an hour, so driving to Reykjavik is perfect and then check into your lodging and explore the city on foot. The next day venture out.

Most people book their lodging 9-12 months in advance, and you are coming at the height of the summer, so you will be hard pressed to find anything in your budget, I am sorry to say. You won't find anything with stunning views in that price range, and probably not a private bath.

To give you an idea, on my most recent trip there last September, we booked it on a whim, so only had 5.5 months before our trip. Even in September many places were booked out, and we did have to top for shared baths at once place. We paid around $200-$250 per night. I also had to finagle the itinerary just to find lodging.

Ok, now that I have been the Debbie Downer, here is a good alternative. With 8 days, a really nice trip is the south coast, the Golden Circle and Snaefellsness. This will fill your time.

Thank you for the advice and it is truly appreciated!

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I will arrive June 27 early morning and leave July 6 early in the morning,

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in fact we have 9 days, however, I want to leave the last day July 5, just open and near Reykjavik, just in case.

If you guys can help me out with what to see and do on those in fact 9 days, that will be appreciated!
I am considering the suggestion below, I just need suggestions to plan in out and for the experienced travels to recommend should be stops for accommodation, once i know that, I can look for accommodations. Thanks again!!!

Originally I was considering the following: Based on a travel tour found on the internet, either on a self drive trip, however, I need to determine accommodations on each day or bus tour. Please feel free to comment based on the below.
Day 1
• Þingvellir National Park (Thingvellir)
• Geysir Hot Springs
• Gullfoss Waterfall
• Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
• Skógafoss Waterfall
• Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
• One-night hotel accommodation (Kirkjubaerklaustur)

Day 2
• Vatnajökull National Park
• Glacier Hike (tentative)
• Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
• The Diamond Beach (Crystal Beach)

Day 3
• Djúpivogur Fishing Village
• The town of Egilsstaðir
• The Wilderness Center
Day 4
• Stuðlagil Canyon
• Lake Mývatn
• Myvatn Nature Baths (Tentativel)
• Námaskarð Geothermal Area
• Dimmuborgir Lava Formations
• Goðafoss Waterfall
Day 5
• Akureyri
• Whale watching experience
• Glaumbær turf houses and museum
• Hvítserkur sea stack
• Laugarbakki
Day 6
• Grábrók
• Glanni waterfall
• Hraunfossar waterfalls
• Sturlureykir horse farm
• Deildartunguhver hot springs
Day 7
• Snaefellsnes Peninsula
• Kirkjufell mountain & waterfall
• Djúpalónssandur black sand beach
• Arnarstapi fishing village
• Búðir Black Church
• Reykjavik
Day 8
• Landmannalaugar Highlands
• Landmannalaugar hot springs
• Háifoss waterfall
• Reykjavik
Day 9 Free- rest before departure
Day 10 depart early morning

Here are my thoughts on your proposed itinerary.

Day 1 is wayyyyy too much. Jet leg is real, especially when you are in a car. Accidents due to tired tourists is a big problem in Iceland so it is wise to keep that arrival days driving to a minimum, like an hour or so at the most. So basically day 1 should be just an arrive and settle in day.

It would make more sense to do Landmannalaugar at the beginning of the trip to save on backtracking.

Your day 7 is a really long day. It will be a minimum of 6-6.5 hours of driving with no stops. There are so many great stops on Snaefellsness so this could easily turn into a 15 hour day if you are not careful.

As I mentioned earlier, your day 8 doesn't make sense, so do that at the beginning.

This is still all extremely rushed. On the trip that we did the ring road, we had 12 nights, and while we did a lot and are not slow travelers, we also missed so much. I guess that is one reason why we keep returning. Our 8th visit is this summer, and we will be returning for more, just to give you an idea.

Have you looked into lodging availability at all yet?

Day 1 is wayyyyy too much. Jet leg is real, especially when you are in
a car. Accidents due to tired tourists is a big problem in Iceland so
it is wise to keep that arrival days driving to a minimum, like an
hour or so at the most. So basically day 1 should be just an arrive
and settle in day.

I urge you to heed mikliz97 as they have been to Iceland many, many times and know the drill. I have only been for a 7 day trip and your suggested itinerary above makes me exhausted just thinking about it. I appreciate the desire to "see it all" but it looks like you would mostly see it from the inside of a car as you rush past to get to the next thing. If that is your travel style, great, but it wouldn't be my preference.

Again, at this late stage your choices for lodging may be very limited. And you haven't mentioned it but if you don't have a car rental secured that should be taken care of immediately.

In May 2019 as a graduation gift for our daughter we drove the ring. We used the Express Iceland tour company. Our tour was 8 days and included airport transfers, nightly hotels, and car rental at a reasonable price. The beauty of the tour was that the reservations were made for us, but we were able to drive at our own pace and see the things we wanted to see. Whether you could make arrangements for this summer is questionable, but there are several companies that have similar tours.