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Iceland

The country of ice and fire

By Tomas Derner

2 weeks itinerary in pictures

The country of ice and fire...we would add rain, wind, but also stunning views, different kinds of spectacular landscapes, waterfalls, geysers and altogether vast nature in its purest kind! It´s just unbelievable, what this mysterious island can offer.

Before we left we saw tons of pictures and videos, so the expectations were pretty high, but the reality was way beyond the expectations. For those of you, who love nature, photography, or adventure, Iceland is the place to visit. We are definitely not experts on Iceland and neither hardcore explores, but we have decided to share our itinerary together with some recommendations, remarks, and pictures we have collected on our journey, so it might help some of you during the planning of your very own Icelandic adventure.

How did our trip begin?

Besides accommodation, which if you are not planning to go camping is definitely needed to book upfront. It's also super important to book a suitable car at least 3 months before your trip otherwise you will pay a fortune. And I mean serious fortune! Iceland is very, very expensive, so plan ahead! Anyway, we have booked small, but super practical Suzuki Jimny. Without this little workhorse, we would miss a lot of stunning places, which only 4x4 could reach. The only downside was a super harsh ride, so maybe for next time, we would go for something bigger and more comfortable (yeah, we are getting old :)).

The Ring Road is the way how to get around the island and almost all the places we have visited were near this road. The road itself is pretty much paved the whole way; however, there are minor stretches here or there that are gravel. We would definitely recommend grabbing one of the tour guides where you can find all the information you need for proper planning (we went with Lonely Planet).

Weather is a big topic in Iceland. Locals are saying that if you don't like the weather, just wait for 15 min...The fact is that it can change super fast and you need to be ready for that. Usually, it´s very, very windy, often rainy and with the highest average temperature around 11°C in July. Waterproof clothes shoes, but also gloves and hat together with many layers are highly recommended. Do not underestimate it!

Icelandic glacier water with floating ice in jökulsárlón.

Day 1 - 2

Our first accommodation was fairly close to Grindavik Airport. New, cozy and very stylish cottages with typical Scandinavian design. Same as almost every other accommodation we have had on our trip including this one was having a shared kitchen and bathroom. Everything was super clean, so no need to be worried about this.

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Our first adventure...

started just a few Kilometres from Reykjavik, The Blue Lagoon. We were completely stunned by the unique combination of black lava fields, milky blue water, and white edges around the lake. Thanks to thermal springs you can take advantage of this remarkable place and relax in an outdoor swimming pool even if the weather is very iceland-ish. This place is usually quite crowded and also relatively pricy, so it´s worth to book the ticket online. If you won't make it here, don't worry, there are many other places in Iceland with natural baths.

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

We were completely stunned by the unique combination of black lava fields, milky blue water it looked so unreal

Iceland

DAY 3

Our plan for the next day was The Golden Circle. In one day, we visited a national Park Pingvellir, see the Geyser and feel the power of Gullfoss Waterfall. The Golden Circle and The Blue Lagoon are probably the most touristic places in Iceland, but in our opinion, you don´t have to be too worried about the crowds. Even if there are some tourists, you can still enjoy and admire the natural wonder - especially if you avoid peak hours. No darkness during the summer means that you can also visit those places during the night. Yes, it's a bit weird, but it works :)

Iceland

This part of Iceland felt amost Scotland-ish

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Day 4

Landmannalaugar – „Colourful Mountains“. This trip was a nice example, that 4x4 car was a good choice. The road was really rough and very exhausting. General tip, be ready, that most of the trips require way more time than it might seem from google maps. This trip required more than 3 hours driving from our accommodation and at the end, our body felt like James Bond's vodka martini...super shaken, not stirred :) It might be challenging for beginner drivers as the road to the mountains demands some advanced driving skills. Take food and water supplies! Landmannalaugar mountains are really “in the middle of nowhere” and there is neither a restaurant nor petrol station. Just a small bistro, where you can buy a map and some basic refreshment. Due to the time of the year, we didn't see much colors as you see on some pictures, but still...wow.

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Day 6-7

Vík region is another great location where you can see a lot in a relatively small area. This time we have chosen our accommodation in a very strategic location. It was very close to all of Iceland's must-have "insta-spots".

Our first one to tick from the list was Seljalandsfoss Waterfall and Skógafoss Waterfall. Rain jacket and tons of wipe cloths for your lenses is needed even if you catch a sunny day. Especially Seljalansfoss, where you can walk behind the waterfall.

During this day we reached one more spot, insta-famous United States Navy DC-3 plane wreck. According to the description, the plane crashed in 1973. The plane ran out of fuel and crashed on the black beach at Sólheimasandur, in the South Coast of Iceland. Fortunately, everyone in that plane survived. Later it turned out that the pilot had simply switched over to the wrong fuel tank. Thanks to him Iceland has one more tourist attraction. It´s about an hour walk to get there, but I have to say that especially for Iceland standards, it's an unbelievable boring walk (completely flat area with nothing around). Despite the boring walk, this place can be very busy, so in case you want a nice photo you need to come very early or very late.

Iceland

Our next point was the famous black beach in Dyrhólaey. This whole place is a national park and they close the gate at 19:00 and unfortunately for us, we didn't have much time to fully explore this beautiful place (next time)

We have finished our day in a Seljavellir geothermal pool surrounded by beautiful mountains. Taking a bath in this place is a really nice way how to relax after a long day, but I have to admit that the cleanliness of water is not the best one. Luckily the view will compensate heavily.

Seljalandsfoss

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Day 8-9

Jökulsárlón

For the second half of our road trip, we needed to do quite a bit of drive from Vík to Hoffn. Our aim was to find accommodation close to Jökulsárlón Glacier, but again due to highly protected natural parks, there was no other option than Hoffn. Luckily the road is paved, so it's quite a relaxing ride. Our original plan was to drive directly to Hoffn and come back the following day (1 hours drive), but we could not resist. Even though that day the weather was just awful the view was simply breathtaking. Imagine glacier lagoon filled with thousand-year-old water, floating, massive chunks of ice, seals and all that surrounded by mighty glacier...We could hear the sound of breaking ice followed by a big splash of water and flying birds. Unbelievable!

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Even though that day the weather was just awful the view was simply breathtaking...

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

For the following day, we book a trip with the inflatable boat aka "Zodiac" to get closer to that huge glacier wall. Like almost everything in Iceland, it's a bit pricy (~70 EUR), but it's definitely worth it. On top of all that just a few hundred meters in the opposite direction we found another stunning place called "diamond beach". Here the ice cold glacier water mix with much warmer (still called) sea. Due to the temperature difference, those big ice chunks brake into small pieces, which come out from the sea to the black lava beach. It´s really beautiful to watch. This place was probably the highlight of our trip!

Iceland

Iceland

We could hear the sound of breaking ice followed by a big splash of water and flying birds

Iceland

DAY 9

Our next stop was a nice colorful village Seydisfjordur. To get here we needed to drive down from almost Antarctica looking frozen landscape to green sunny and as already mentioned super colorful village. The road is surrounded by waterfalls and it's just magnificent. Later on, we found out that this road is the very same one which Walter Mitty was crashing down on his longboard (surprisingly nice movie). We spend the night in the very charming blue house, made some pictures and continued on our way to capture Iceland's most precious bird. Puffins! We didn't really plan this stop in Borgarfjörður, but we simply could not resist. How we could say no to those flying cuties...

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Day 10-12

Mývatn area...This time we picked Óli´s Homestay which we can only recommend. The location is brilliant, it was 10 min to Hvevir, 5 min to Mývatn natural baths 20 min to Víty and Leirhnjukur and last, but not least about 40 min to Dettifoss which is the most powerful waterfall in Europe. Yes, yet another waterfall...this is exactly what we thought as well. However, once we saw the enormous amount of water falling endlessly from the cliffs...we had to admit that this one is definitely the big boy. It's absolutely enormous! It even made us feel a bit dizzy after staring at it for a few seconds...

Iceland

Dettifoss

Dettifoss

One extra stop was Grjótagjá Cave. For geeks like us just could not miss this spot. In this cave John Snow and red hair wilding woman were having their romantic moment :)

Grjótagjá Cave

Well, this place is hard to miss even without any navigation or navigation. Long story short, this place stinks like old eggs. We could actually smell the typical sulfur odor far before we reached our destination near Reykjahlíð.

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

DAY 12

West Fjords was our last stop before Reykjavik. As we were a little bit confused with dates and we almost missed this location, which would be a real pity. In this case not because of nature or landscape, but because of the accommodation we booked. It was just superb, probably the best we had on our whole trip. As we were at the end of our trip we didn't have much time fully explore west Fjords, but we still managed to reach Kirkjufell Mountain. To be very honest this was a bit disappointing. It was quite a detour, but I'm not sure if it's really worth it. Maybe if you are planning to spend only a few days in Iceland and want to extend Golden Circle that might make sense, otherwise unless you really have time to spare we would skip this place. Sorry, West Fjord.

Iceland

day 12

West Fjords was our last stop before Reykjavik. As we were a little bit confused with dates and we almost missed this location, which would be a real pity. In this case not because of nature or landscape, but because of the accommodation we booked. It was just superb, probably the best we had on our whole trip. As we were at the end of our trip we didn't have much time fully explore west Fjords, but we still managed to reach Kirkjufell Mountain. To be very honest this was a bit disappointing. It was quite a detour, but I'm not sure if it's really worth it. Maybe if you are planning to spend only a few days in Iceland and want to extend Golden Circle that might make sense, otherwise unless you really have time to spare we would skip this place. Sorry, West Fjord.

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

day 13-14

The final destination of our holiday was Reykjavik. We had two days left to see the highlights of the capital. Honestly speaking, except the church, famous for its modern architecture and the Concert Hall, there was not much to see, but that was not the reason why we came to Iceland, so who cares. Luckily they have quite a lot of nice pubs with great beer, which compensates heavily :) In case you didn´t make a whale watching during your journey, you can book a boat trip from Reykjavik and try to catch some last shots. Also, not a bad idea is to book the tickets to the Blue Lagoon and have a nice chill before you leave...Góða ferð og gangi þér vel

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

All the locations we have visited including the accommodations are listed here.

Footnotes

Big thank you to my wife for all the patience, support and driving while I was trying to capture all the roughness and beauty of this mysterious country.

FootNotes

Big thank you to my wife for all the patience, support and driving while I was trying to capture all the roughness and beauty of this mysterious country.

© 2026 Tomas Derner

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