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Solo Tripping

Hello, I am a senior lady, vegetarian, who does not eat anyone that had lungs or gills, not vegan however. I am planning a 10 day ring road tour in August 2026, quite probably alone. Considering renting a vehicle and camping so will need to find places near bathrooms for showers and multiple visits in the night and obviously safe. Suggestions welcome!

Also, I understand lamb, hotdogs and fish are on the normal menu, I will need other than that. Is it easy to find places to eat for vegetarians? Is it easy to find a loaf of bread and just live on pb&j? I would prefer to experience local food, however.

I would also prefer to avoid crowds but understand that will not always be possible. Having said that, what are your must sees, must dos? Off the beaten path is always exciting! What are your don't bothers? I've read that the sun sets very late or not at all and it's easy to see things much later when many folks are long gone. What are your thoughts here?

This is a once in a life time trip that I've been dreaming of for years, I don't want to miss a thing and I've got 10 days. I'm gotten Ricks guidebook, will study it! We took his Prague/Budapest tour many years ago and it was AMAZING! I will follow his suggestions but would love yours as well as some of you might have seen/done things he didn't. Many thanks!!!

Posted by
8763 posts

Hi Karen,
My daughter, Karen, is a vegetarian, and her family had a wonderful time in Iceland two years ago! She didn’t have any issues eating there. I haven’t been to Iceland, myself - just wanted to encourage you to go for it! …and glad to hear you enjoyed the RS Prague/Budapest tour. I am doing that one next year, along with some time in Italy beforehand to attend a large festival, etc.

There’s some people on this forum who’ve been to Iceland several times; you will get some great advice!

Posted by
813 posts

August 2026 is the eclipse and Iceland will be very crowded. If you are not going for the eclipse, you might reconsider your dates. August 12 is the specific date of the eclipse, but obviously people will be coming early and staying after.

Regarding camping, you must camp only in campgrounds. They have bathrooms and most have showers and they are all safe. One of the posters here does a lot of camping and she will have some good advice for you.

You really can't go too far off the beaten path because then you are getting onto roads that you can't go on without a 4WD and some real off-road experience. Some places will have crowds but under normal conditions they aren't overwhelming.

10 days is a good amount of time to see a lot as long as you keep moving around the Ring Road and Snæfellsnes Peninsula and perhaps even Westman Islands. August 7-9 is the tentative dates for the BIG music festival on Westman Islands in 2026, so be aware of that.

Posted by
3415 posts

I will write more tomorrow but we are here now on our 8th trip. We have done the camper van and think it is a great way to go. Every restaurant has a vegetarian option so no worries there.

Next August you’ll want to really plan your itinerary as the eclipse is bringing hoards of people and then the largest music festival is on Westland island the first full weekend of August. We will be back again next summer but trying to avoid both of these things.