We are planning a 11 night trip to Iceland during Memorial Day weekend. We still have not yet planned every step of the way but would like to surely do the ring road and some detours along it. I am not sure if Westfjords is accessible in end of May. Would we be able to access Westfjords if we rent a 4x4?
Will we need a 4x4 to visit places like Dettifoss, Selfoss, Haifoss? Are F66, F208, F570, F575, and F735 be navigable in end of May?
Thanks.
Probably not, my guess is that it will just be a waste of money. While four wheel drive is required for the mountain roads I would not count on them being open in May.
The F roads will not be accessible then.
As for the ring road itself, you can get by with a regular vehicle, but we always rent a 4WD/AWD for the extra clearance. Once you get off route 1, quite a few of the roads are gravel and can have lots of potholes, and the extra clearance is especially nice. Dettifoss for instance, if you do the east side you absolutely want extra clearance. We had a Land Cruiser on the trip that we went there and I can't imagine having anything less for that road. The west side is paved, but the east side is not and is quite rough.
The Westfjords are accessible, but with 11 days you won't have time to include that.
The eastern road to Dettifoss is just a normal gravel road, you do not need a Landcruiser just because the road isn't paved. And when you look at the eastern parking lot in Google street view there are several normal cars there. https://maps.app.goo.gl/LHLXSsZX92wtmkYM8
Just to. be clear, I did not say you needed a vehicle with extra clearance because it is a gravel road. I said the extra clearance was good because it was a very rough road, not a simple typical gravel road when we drove it. I also did not say you had to have a Land Cruiser, but rather that we were happy we had that.
