I recently visited Iceland and went around the ring road with a friend in a camper in 7 days! Many people told us we should not try the ring road in one week because it was not enough time. We felt like we saw everything we wanted but we certainly had everything really well planned ahead of time.
Can you do the ring road in one week?
Yes, absolutely (hopefully you have good weather)! You need to pick and choose the top destinations and map out everything ahead of time. We used google maps ahead of time to know all our destinations with miles (or km) and timeframes.
Tip: Always have a "plan b" in case of weather changes or if you want to spend a little more time in a specific site or anything unexpected comes up.
What places did you visit in 7 days?
Tip: I tried to add the names of the places I visited in the order I did, so you can add them to google map and map it all.
Day 1: I arrived at Reykjavik very early in the morning. Visited: Hallgrimskirkja Church, Harpa, The Sum Voyager, walked around Laugavegur and we wanted to see quite a bit of Perlan so we spent a few hours at the museum.
Day 2: Thingvellir National Park, Silfra (did not do the dive), Kerid Crater, Strokkur Geyser, Gullfoss, then we did a snowmobile and an ice cave tour (from Gullfoss), then we stop to see (pet) some horses, and we camped at Hamragarðar (close to Seljalandsfoss, a beautiful camping site).
Note: We went to Kerid before Strokkur and Gullfoss because we had a scheduled snowmobile tour. You may want to do the Geyser and the falls before Kerid depending on your plans.
Day 3: Seljalandsfoss, Wrecked DC-3 Plane on Sólheimasandur (Walked there and took the bus back to save time), Reynisfjara Beach, Skaftafell National Park (we did not have a whole lot of time at the park). Camped at Svinafell Campground.
Day 4: Diamond Beach (very early in the morning and it was stunning!), Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon (there are some stops along the way on the street, you have to walk to see the lagoon but it is well worth the view!). Then drove through the east (stopped a few times) and went to the north. Expect some dirt roads along the way. Then, Dettifoss, Krafla Caldera (looked like we were in Mars), Grjotagja cave (Game of Thrones Cave), Myvatn Nature Bath to relax after a long drive at night and camped at Bjarg.
Day 5: Visited beautiful Goðafoss Waterfall, Akureyri, Hvitserkur Vatnsnesvegur (stone beast), Camped at Hellissandur. One thing to point out, we did not spend a whole lot of time in Akureyri, but we took a break in the area and loved it. It was beautiful, clean and we loved the "quirky" items of the town, like the hearts in the red lights and the happy faces when a car is going at or under the speed limit. Hvitserkur was not in our original plans but because we had the time and wanted to stop along the way, we took this detour and it was amazing! The road is rough to get to it but once we were there, we were in love! Can you see the "stone beast" drinking water in the photos? The rainbow backdrop was fabulous too!
Day 6: Explore the Snafellsness Penninsula, Kirkjufell (the most photographed mountain in the island), Snaefellsjökull National Park, Malariff lighthouse, The Basalt Cliffs of Londrangar, Gatklettur and the Arnastapi Coastal Cliffs, Rauðfeldsgjá Ravine, Búðir "Little Black Church", Ytri Tunga Beach (we saw some seals), then drove to Reykjavik Campsite. This sounds like a lot in one day, but it was a nice drive with many stops along the way (not too far from each other). We took our time in each of the sites and went around in our pace. We ate breakfast in our camper and then stopped for lunch in a nice little restaurant.
Day 7: Explore some more of the city, checked-in at Silica Hotel and spent the afternoon and the night relaxing at Blue Lagoon, had some dinner and went around to look for the northern lights! (we got lucky enough to see the lights on our last night!). We even saw them from our room at the Silica hotel. If you are wondering about Silica hotel, it was a "no-brainer" for us. We slept in a car for a week, so paying for the Silica on our last night was so worth it! The place is beautiful and relaxing! (a bit pricey, but if you can afford it for a night, we recommend it).
Day 8 / Return Back Home : Returned our camper (took a taxi from the camper company) and went to the airport early in the morning to go home. It was an unforgettable trip that connected us with Nature. I loved every moment in this country! I am not one to visit the same place multiple times, but I will definitely go back to Iceland!
Message me if you have a question!
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