The roadtrip of a life time and what a way to try camping for the first time!
I took my girlfriend with me on this amazing adventure and we decided to save some money and push this trip to its limits by sleeping in a roof tent instead of an airbnb... here is what you should know before you leave to Iceland and want to do the same thing we did:
1. Wild camping is illegal, you are only allowed to sleep in designated camping grounds.
2. Iceland has dozens of campsites spread out all over the country and nearly none of them require a prior booking. You can just type "camping" on google maps and you will find several in your area for anything between $10 and $20 per person per night.
3. You can rent everything you need for camping. When you rent a car or a van, the basics of camping are included (sleeping bags, stove, pans etc...). Look for your car on northbound.is which is a website that reunites all Icelandic rental companies on one platform (not sponsored obviously)
4. If you don t intend to go in the highlands but instead stay on the main road then you do not need a 4x4 car vehicule. However, if you intend on taking ANY F road then you will need one.
In terms of the itinerary that we did during our road trip, we basically followed the ROAD ONE (also called ring road) counter clockwise when starting from Keflavik. Here is our exact itinerary if you need inspiration (let me know if you re making this trip):
DAY 1 (aprox 5hours)
- Búðir, 356, Iceland
- Djúpalónssandur, Iceland
- Ytri Tunga
- Arnarstapi, Iceland
-Svörtuloft Lighthouse, 356, Iceland
DAY 2 (aprox 4hours)
- Olafsvik whale watching (add 3-4 hours)
- Kirkjufell
- Selvallafoss
- Kolugljúfur Canyon
DAY 3 (aprox 4hours)
- Akureyri
- Goðafoss
- Skútustaðagígar
- Lake Mývatn
- Grjótagjá ( Game of thrones Cave where. John does you know what...)
- Hverfjall
DAY 4 (aprox 8 hours)
- Leirhnjukur
- Viti Crater
- Dettifoss
- Stuðlagil Canyon
- Bakkagerði (puffin colony between end May and begin August)
DAY 5 (6-7h)
- Hengifoss
- Fjallsárlón
DAY 6 (1-2h)
-Jökulsárlón
- Diamond Beach
- Múlagljúfur Canyon
DAY 7
- Svinafellsjokull
- Skaftafell
- Lómagnúpur
- Fjaðrárgljúfur
DAY 8
- VIK
- Reynisfjara Beach
- dyrhólaey
- Kvernufoss
- Skógafoss
- Seljalandsfoss
- Gluggafoss
DAY 9
- Secret lagoon
- Gulfoss
- Geysir
- Bruarfoss
- Thingvellir National Park
DAY 10
- Reykyavik