We have made 2 trips to Iceland, one in November 2013 for a week touring the South, and one in March 2016 for 12 nights driving the “Ring Road”.
Both involved winter driving, with a fair bit of snow cover on many of the roads. We had great cars both times, in November a Ford Kuga, and in March a Mazda CX5, both had winter tyres and heated seats.
The days were short in November with sun rising around 10am and setting around 3.15pm, but we loved this, and saw some amazing sunrises (after having breakfast) and sunsets without having to head out later in the evening. We did not see the Northern Lights on this trip, but saw sunrises and sunsets that we will remember forever! (Especially the ones at Jokulsarlon).
In March the days were stretching out with sunrise around 7am and sunset around 8pm. This allowed more time for exploration and driving, with the nights still dark enough for a good sleep!
On this trip we saw the Northern Lights a few times, but no spectacular sunsets.
We equally enjoyed both trips, it would be pretty difficult to choose one over the other. The lagoon & beach at Jokulsarlon, definitely the highlight of our first trip, was without doubt more spectacular on our November trip. There were both more, and bigger, icebergs in the lagoon and on the beach.
In March we were a little disappointed in it, due to our high expectations. It was not helped by the rather dreary weather we had there the second time, but we were shocked how few icebergs there were (and how small they were) in March.
For our March trip our highlight was Seydisfjordur in the East Fjords, the stunning drive there and our magical accommodation (see our Top 10 Places to stay).
But of course, with so many places we visited, the whole trip was just stunning, and we would highly recommend the ring road if you have time (12 days worked well as it gave us just a little bit of contingency).
PLANNING
First question was when to go? We wanted a winter experience and a chance to see the Northern Lights, so we chose November for our first trip as it fitted in well with other plans, and March for the second trip as the days start to stretch out. Of course, we were aware there could be a possibility in either month of roads being closed, so I would definitely recommend you build in some contingency plans, as this does happen (we were very lucky both times that when it did, it didn’t affect us).
We looked into flights first and had 2 choices: from Glasgow with Icelandair, or from Edinburgh with EasyJet.
Normally we would always choose to fly from our local airport in Glasgow if at all possible, but the flight times were pretty horrible. The flights from Edinburgh were good timing, and cheaper also, so we opted both times for the Edinburgh EasyJet flights.
Next was accommodation. We used Booking.com for the majority, and some United airmiles for our first & last hotels on our March trip. We were pretty happy with most of the accommodation, though if we were to go to Snaefellsness again we would possibly stay somewhere a bit more upmarket. Also in Hali, we preferred the Hali Country Hotel to the Skyrhúsid Guest House (mainly as the latter was shared bathrooms), but both were good.
Finally after checking all the “usual” websites for car hire (rentalcars.com etc) we opted for a direct booking (something we have never done anywhere else, as it is usually more expensive), with Thrifty. We were very happy with both the bookings with Thrifty. The staff and pleasant and the cars are good. Coupled with that we got a free upgrade both times! On out first trip, when we asked about where to buy fuel for our camping stove, they even gave some for free that previous people had left, as you can’t take it on the plane.
TIP:- as we got a free upgrade the first time, I emailed to ask if it was likely to happen again. Obviously they can’t say yes, but they made a note of our request, and once again we got upgraded for free! (I just said in my email that we couldn’t afford the car that we wanted the CX5).
PACKING
The only holidays we ever take hold baggage on are the winter ones (such as Iceland & Lofoten) due to the need to bring bulky warm weather gear, and welly boots (rubber boots). In addition, as these are expensive countries, we brought some alcohol & food supplies, since we had all that extra baggage space anyway.
So here are the items we would recommend taking to Iceland for a winter trip:
CLOTHING
- Welly boots (rubber boots) – we lived in them during both trips!
- Base layers & Fleeces
- Hat, Gloves & Scarf
- Swimwear for the hot tubs and geothermal pools (& Blue Lagoon if you go – highly recommended!)
- Flip flops (again for hot tubs / pools)
- Warm socks
- Fleece leggings
- Sallopettes (thick padded ski trousers)
- Warm jumper
- Warm jacket (a down jacket or down body warmer under a waterproof jacket)
- Waterproof / Goretex jacket
MISC
- Camera / Drone equipment
- Toiletries and basic First Aid kit
- Flask & plastic cups
- Winter grips for boots
- (Optional) Stove & accessories (remember you can’t bring the fuel on the plane)
- (Optional, but useful) tripod stools
- Food such as teabags, coffee, pasta, micro rices, curry mixes, biscuits / snacks, etc – anything easy & light to pack (if self catering anywhere)
- Duty Free alcohol
COSTS
Iceland is relatively expensive compared to the UK, expect to pay around double (on average) for most things, alcohol in particular.
Eating out can be expensive, but not as much as Norway (for example) and the quality is very good. We ate out a few times. We didn’t drink as much wine / beer as we would when eating out at home (just 1 or perhaps 2 drinks each), and so the cost wasn’t too bad. It was a while ago, but i seem to recall perhaps around £50 for the 2 of us for a nice meal and 1 or maybe 2 drinks. The exchange rate varied between our 2 trips, in the November one we got around 200+ Kroner to the £1, but the March trip it had dropped to around 180 or a bit less.
The best way to keep the costs down would be to have self catering available, and to book your accommodations fairly well in advance as that is also usually cheaper (& allows you more options).
ITINERARIES
Below is a brief summary of the itineraries we used & where we stayed overnight, and we would highly recommend either of them, but if time allows you about 12 nights, then do the ring road trip.
TRIP 1
DAY 1 (Overnight Keflavik) – our flight arrived fairly late, around 8pm, so we decided not to drive far in the dark. We chose a nice B&B in Keflavik, close to the airport.
DAY 2 Start our trip heading to Vik for overnight, stopping at:
DAYS 3 + 4 Travelling on to Jokulsarlon via Skaftafell (staying 2 Nights in Hali)
DAY 5 Heading back the way and up to the Golden Circle to see the sights of Gulfoss, Geysir & Thingvellir (Overnight in Selfoss)
DAYS 6 +7 The last 2 nights spent in Reykjavik (at Reykjavik4you apartments – highly recommended!)
Only really 1 full day as we arrived late and left quite early, but it was plenty of time for a look around.
On our final day, we had plenty of time as the flight left in the evening, so we enjoyed using the pools at the famous Blue Lagoon (towels can be hired), followed by a lovely meal in their restaurant.
TRIP 2
DAY 1 (Overnight outside Reykjavik) We used our United Airmiles to book a hotel just off the main highway en route to Reykjavik. Again the flight arrived at night so we didn’t want to be looking in the city for a hotel in the dark. It was a very good hotel, easy to find, with a reasonably priced Thai restaurant just along the road, but unfortunately I can’t recall the name of it.
DAY 2 Driving north west to explore the Snaefellsnes peninsula (Overnight – Guesthouse Hof) with stops at Ytri Tunga Seal Beach, Búðakirkja Black Church, Snæfellsjökull Glacier, Djúpalónssandur Black Beach, Kirkjufellsfoss (especially famous for Northern Lights photography). This was the first night that we saw the Northern Lights, so we were very excited!
DAY 3 Continuing with our exploration of Snaefellsnes (Overnight at Hraunsnef Country Hotel, Bifrost – very nice place to stop over!)
DAY 4 Continuing driving the ring road, including Vatnsnes peninsula (Overnight at Hestasport Cottages, Varmahlíd – fantastic place!)
DAY 5 + 6 Driving the ring road, with a stop in Akureryri for a look around. Arriving for a 2 night stay near Lake Myvatn at Einishus Cottages, Laugar. We got another show from the Northern lights in the evening!
Photos in the slideshow below from the area around Lake Myvatn. Be sure to watch out for your car tyres getting packed snow / ice stuck around the wheel arch – we didn’t notice until the tyres started grinding! Then we had to chip off what we could with our tripod stools!
DAY 7 Luckily for us the road (which has been closed the day before) had re-opened i time for our trip to continue on to the East Fjords, with an overnight stay in Fáskrúðsfjörður at Fosshotel, East Fjords
DAY 8 Was the most scenic driving day yet, as we continued round the East Fjords to Seyðisfjörður, and our favourite place we stayed on the whole trip! (Overnight Langahlid Cottages, Seyðisfjörður). We were lucky once again to get a show of the Northern Lights! (And also lucky to get to Seyðisfjörður as the road had been closed due to snow the day before!)
DAY 9 We sadly left Seyðisfjörður to continue our journey round the ring road, stopping to overnight Ekra Cottages, Lagarfljótsvirkjun, a pretty place, kind of in the middle of nowhere.
DAY 10 And now we are making our way South, from Hali onwards we are re-visiting most of the places from our November trip. It was another dramatic drive as we headed to Hali (and Jokulsarlon) with an overnight at Skyrhúsid Guest House, Hali.
DAY 11 We headed to Vik (this time staying overnight at the Icelandair hotel in Vik town). We also drove out to the start of the walk to see the Solheimasandur plane wreck. It takes about an hour to walk from the roadside, and is en route between Vik and the Skogafoss waterfall.
DAY 12 Finally we are back in the Golden Circle for another walk around Gulfoss, Geysir & Thingvellir, then staying overnight at the Stracta Hotel, Hella.
DAY 13 more exploring the Golden Circle, then off to the airport with a stop in Keflavik for a Thai meal en route to the airport, after an amazing trip!
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