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September itinerary

Posted by (Midwest) on

I’m traveling for the first time to Iceland this September and here is a rough draft of my itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in Iceland, bus to Reykjavik, go to hotel, Reykjavik food tour?, sky lagoon?, bed early to recover from jet lag
Day 2: Get rental car and start ring road adventure, first stop- Golden circle (Thingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss, etc). Try to go to Fridheimar for lunch, sleep in Selfoss Airbnb
Day 3: Drive to Landmannlaugar (weather-permitting), short hikes, stop at Sigolduglufur. If weather isn’t favorable, do some hikes around the Golden Circle, sleep in Selfoss Airbnb
Day 4: Drive further along the South coast- Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss Waterfall hike (weather-dependent), Dyrholaey, Renisfjara, Fjadrargljufur canyon, sleep in Vik (Add/subtract stops depending on weather/time)
Day 5: Travel to Hofn, Svartifoss Trail, Fjallsarlon or Jokulsarlon zodiac boat, Glacier hike???
Day 6: East Iceland, itinerary to be determined-Hengifoss hike?, sleep in Seydisfjordur

Day 7: Drive to Lake Myvatn area, stops- Studlagil Canyon?, Dettifoss, east side, Selfoss, Myvatn nature bath?, stay in Airbnb in Myvatn area
Day 8: Diamond circle sites, whale-watching cruise?, Geosea?, same Myvatn Airbnb
Day 9: Drive to Trollskagi Peninsula, visit Siglufjordur, stay at Airbnb in area
Day 10: Drive to Snaefellsnes Peninsula, Kirkjufell, Snaefellsjokull National Park, stay at Airbnb
Day 11: Snaefellsnes, Londrangar Cliffs, Arnnastapi, Skardsvik Beach, stay at Airbnb
Day 12: Borgarnes, Glymur?, Husafell?, return car, sleep in Keflavik
Day 13: back to US

Thoughts? Is there anything that I should add/delete? Is my itinerary too ambitious? I know that this will be a ton of driving, but I’ve driven from the Midwest to both coasts quite a few times, so I think (I hope) I’ll be okay. Thanks! :)

Posted by
3047 posts

The food tour is a perfect thing to do on day of arrival. I have done it twice now, and there is enough food to cover you for both lunch and dinner, so time it accordingly. Sky Lagoon is wonderful! Another option would be a local pool that you could easily walk to. Obviously not as luxury as Sky, but if you are too tired it is a great option.

Day 5 has good options, but to add in glacier hike might be too much depending on how early/late you get moving that day. The glacier hikes take quite a while, and sunlight will be around 7:15 or so, so keep that in mind with driving around. If you do a glacier hike and skip a few of the other things, those are a lot of fun! We did it on Solheimajokull and had a great time. Our guide asked us if we wanted to go further, so our tour went longer. The zodiac boat ride is a blast!

We loved hiking Hengifoss.

Myvatn bathes are our least favorite in all of our travels, but we loved GeoSea. Myvatn was very busy and we could not find even a warm area of water, and well I will just say that many couples there needed to get a room. Even our kids in their 20's were commenting on that, and they are not prudes. Not sure what was up with that that night, but geez it was all over.

Another option instead of Husafell is Hvammsvik. That is actually our favorite commercial hot spring in all of our travels, FWIW.

I don't think you are driving too much, and I am pretty conservative with that. You are being smart and not driving until the day after arrival, and that is the biggest thing.

Posted by
17 posts

Hi, thanks for your feedback. I had read a post from you about Myvatn, so that’s why I added it with a question mark at the end. Are there any hikes that you would recommend besides Hengifoss? I love hiking, but I don’t want to do anything too crazy, since I’ll be solo. I’ve bookmarked quite a few on Alltrails, but I read in another post that you said it’s not the most reliable. Are there any good Iceland hiking guidebooks that you would recommend instead of Alltrails?

Also, if you had to choose between going to Landmannalaugar and Thorsmork, which one would you choose? I’m interested in both, but without completely reworking my itinerary, I don’t think I can do both of them. I was looking at this https://midgardadventure.is/tours/thorsmork-hike-open-tour/, but it’s 7-8 hours and the only day I really have available is Day 3 that I had set aside for Landmannalaugar. I was also thinking about trying to do this hike, https://www.earthtrekkers.com/skogafoss-waterfall-way-hike/ on Day 4, to try and squeeze in a sampling of both. Thoughts?

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