Itinerary Review and Feedback Help Requested (long post)

Posted by ATLGirl (Atlanta, GA) on 05/26/26 05:14 PM

Hello Forum –

Warning, this is a long post so feel free to move on if you get tired of reading! I’d like your feedback on two possible itineraries for travel to Iceland. The current plan is to travel in early September next year (2027). Here are our particulars:

Group of friends traveling together from the US

First trip to Iceland for all of us

Ages around 60, pretty active with good energy levels

Preferred travel pace is to stay 2-3 days per location which I understand and accept isn’t the best for Iceland unless we spend a lot of time in the car each day.

Will stay in hotels.

Looking forward to sightseeing, walks and moderate hikes, a couple of adventurous activities, and some relaxing between the running around.

Ok to drive ourselves.

Time available is about 7 days on the ground in Iceland, including arrival day.

I am initially trying to arrange a Snaefellsnes Peninsula, Golden Circle & South Coast itinerary, but am concerned it’s going to be too much daily driving and moving around for it to be enjoyable. Here’s the general itinerary:

Day 1 – Morning arrival, slow day exploring Reykjavik and getting to bed early. Overnight Reykjavik.

Day 2 – Head to Snaefellsnes in the morning. Visit Borganes, Kirkjufell and the Falls. Overnight in Stykkisholmur or Borganes (Borganes is farther from the sites but slightly reduces the drive on Day 4 so not sure which is best)

Day 3 – Explore Snaefellsnes. So much to do, will have to make some tough decisions. Overnight in Stykkisholmur or Borganes – wherever we stayed the night before.

Day 4 – Morning departure to Golden Circle. Overnight in Selfoss. I know this is a long drive, what activities would you recommend to break up the day but gets us to Selfoss late afternoon?

Day 5 – Early start to beat the crowds at the Golden Circle highlights. Overnight in Selfoss or should we head to Glacier Lagoon area that afternoon?

Day 6 – South Coast sightseeing day (full day, so much to see). Stay near Glacier Lagoon area or Kirkjubaejarklaustur? Vik seems too far from Glacier Lagoon as a base, especially if we want to do the zodiac boat tour – what do you think?

Day 7 – Long drive back to KEF area, but it’s our last day and so I think that would be ok if we run out of steam. Maybe there is time to visit Reykjanes?

Day 8 – Morning flight back home.

I know lots of people do a similar itinerary with even more moving around or daily driving, but for anyone who has done this, how tiring was it? I have plenty of energy for walking around and exploring, but long days just in the car exhaust me.

The other option I am considering is to cut out Snaefellsnes and focus more time on the South Coast. It seems like there is a lot to do there and we could do some other activities such as a super jeep tour or snowmobiling or a glacier walk.

If you've made it this far, I would appreciate your thoughts on both options, or if you would arrange this differently. Thanks so much in advance!

Posted by mikliz97

Snohomish, WA

05/26/26 09:18 PM

3959 posts

I assume you are coming from the US? If so, keep the arrival day slow and easy as jet lag hits hard. The wisest choice is to pick up the rental car and stay in Reykjavik. It is a 45 minute drive, which is about tops for arrival day. Then you have all day to explore on foot and there is a lot to see. The fresh air will help to keep you awake.

That leaves you with 6 other full days. One of our trips was similar, but we had an extra day or two. With your limited time, I would not try to stay out for 2-3 nights as that will significantly limit what you can see. Things are very spread out, so basing in one place is a LOT of backtracking each day. Instead, I would just suck it up and know that it is a tradeoff to see and do more.

September is a beautiful time there, but note that the weather starts to turn then so you need to be even more aware of that.

With all that said, I would suggest this:
Day 1 Reykjavik and sleep there

Day2/3 Head up to Snaefellsness. You do have time to stay 2 nights up here and there is much more to this area that most people realize. I would not stay in Borgarnes as it is not close enough to most of the sites. Stykkisholmur is always our choice, but anything up in the northern area would work.

Day 4 Head back down and this is where you have a couple of options. One, see the Golden Circle this day and stay in the general area. Or, head up to Vik and see the GC at the end of the trip.

Day 5 Head up to Jokulsarlon. The zodiac boat tour there is a lot of fun, we have done it a few times. I would not stay in Vik for this though as that is a 3 hour drive each way. Just find something in the general vicinity.

Day 6 Head back down and stay in Selfoss or in the GC and see the GC this day if you did not do it earlier. Doing the GC at the end would be my suggestion since there is a pass coming back down from Vik and it can get snow and be closed and you don't want to chance that at the very end of the trip and miss your flight home.

Day 7 You could see the Reykjanes Peninsula, or stay in Reykjavik again. Either of these would work for an early morning flight, but if you stay closer to KEF that is easier as it save you the 45 minute drive in the morning. Two places that are great of the last night depending on budget etc are Northern Light Inn, which is about a 2 minute drive to the Blue Lagoon and 20 minutes to KEF, or the Aurora Hotel which is right next to the airport terminal and you only need to walk across the parking lot. We have done both of these several times each. NLI is a favorite of ours, and they have an excellent restaurant on site which is a nice way to end the trip. They also have float pods which are absolutely heavenly!