After cruising around Iceland last summer with 4 ports of call, we immediately fell in love with the country. The hiking while on land and the scenery viewed while circumnavigating the island left us wanting more. We have booked flights for this summer and will be renting a campervan for 3 weeks with zero start to a plan on what to include. We would be so appreciative of any help on itinerary ideas from others that have enjoyed such a trip. Also, do you feel 4x4 is the way to go? Or is there enough, I'm sure, things to do without having to use the F roads? Thank you in advance for any help provided :)
Posted by
Snohomish, WA
3020 posts
We too love Iceland and keep returning! A camper is a really fun way to explore. With 3 weeks, you will be able to see a lot! I would suggest to allow 2 weeks for a ring road trip, and then the other week head up to the Westfjords. We had 10 days in a camper in the Westfjords on one trip and had the best time! We did opt for the Happy 4x4 from Happy Campers and were glad to have it as some roads we were on were rather rough, even though we did not do any F roads.
Since you love to hike, take a look at www.boreaadventures.com for some great hiking at Hornstrandir. We also did a short kayaking trip with them right there in Isafjordur. The Hornstrandir hike we did was the Green Cliffs of Hornstrandir and it was excellent!
Also take a look at Thorsmark. You will not be able to take the camper in to there, but use the Southeast Adventure bus (need to book it ahead of time) from Bru Base (right down the road from Seljalandsfoss) and stay there for a night or two and hike. You can camp, book a yurt, or book a hut. They have bedding for rent, but since we had our sleeping bags we brought those in.
Posted by
Orinda, California, United States
319 posts
We are off to Iceland for 3 weeks this August as well. We enjoyed an 8-day winter tour in February 2024 touring Reykjavik, Akureyri - north and east of the city, and the Golden Circle. We could not wait to see the country without the snow, enjoy warmer weather, and take one of our geologist friends with us! We used the latest Rick Steves book to plan our stops around the Ring Road, knowing my husband insists each overnight stop be no less than 2 nights.
The only areas we skipped this trip are the Westfjords and Snæfellsnes Peninsula - we'll save those areas for our 3rd trip!
I would suggest Rick's book to help plan your trip - we had to book hotels and farm stays that had several nights available with 2 rooms. This more or less defined where we'd be stopping. We found farm stays or smaller hotels with restaurants had unique and tasty food rather than the larger restaurants in Akureyri.
YouTube videos offer ideas as well.
Posted by
Snohomish, WA
3020 posts
Gail take a look at both Iceland With A View as well as the Lonely Planet Ring Road trip. Those have been the best resources I have found and use both on all of our trips. This will be our 8th trip :)
Posted by
Orinda, California, United States
319 posts
Thanks, Mikliz97! Next week we're off to Finland, but will definitely check out your suggestions. Still working on day plans for Helsinki.