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ICELAND
Travel Guide

This is our ULTIMATE ICELAND TRAVEL GUIDE FOR YOU TO PLAN your trip to one of our favourite countries in the world. Hope this itinerary helps you plan your trip to Iceland in a better and easy way. 

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Day 1

REYKJAVIK

  • Reach Reykjavik and rest for the day as it is going to be a long flight from India

  • Take it easy and relax. If you have the energy, you can walk around your stay a bit and explore the surroundings

  • Reykjavik city exploration is to be done at the end of the trip before your flight back to India so you dont have to rush as soon as you land

  • For food, you can maybe try Icelandic local hotdogs (Both vegan and non-veg options are available) near you.


Important things to do on the first day after you land:

  • Download applications: Parka - for Car Parking, Vedur - for Weather updates and realtime Road Updates

  • Go to a nearby super market and grab things to eat on the go when you are driving.

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Day 2

REYKJAVIK to SELFOSS
 

  • Start your day early and post breakfast, head to your car rental office to pickup your car.

  • Finish all the formalities and do understand all the terms and conditions properly because if you break and driving rules in Iceland, it can cost you a fortune.

  • Once you pickup your car, drive to your airbnb, checkout and hit the roads

  • There will be several view points on the roads so feel free to stop and take pictures or just look at the views wherever you want.

  • Drive from Reykjavik to Gullfoss which is around 2 hour drive.

  • Spend some time at the Gullfoss and walk down close to the waterfall if you wish to. It takes around an hour.

  • From Gullfoss, if you want to spend money on a very fancy and unique restaurant, you can drive to Fridheimar which is one of the largest greenhouses in Iceland growing Tomatoes all year round. You can find its location in the map shared with you.

  • Post Gullfoss, head to your stay in Sellfoss which is approximately a one hour drive

  • Once you checkin, you can head to Hrunalaug and take a relaxing dip in the hot water spring there. Post that, you can call it a day and have dinner at your stay or choose to eat outside at a recommended food spot.

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Tips:
 

  • Take a proper video of the rental car in your phone as well to avoid any disputes later

  • Carry your poncho or rain jackets if you want to go close to Gullfoss Waterfall

  • Airbnbs in Iceland offer checkin time usually after 3PM so plan your arrival accordingly

  • Hrunalaug hot spring is a paid one which cost 3000ISK per person.

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Day 3

SELFOSS to HRIFUNES
 

  • Start your day early and post breakfast, hit the road.

  • Head to Skogafoss waterfall, which is one of the most famous waterfalls in Iceland. You can get some good pictures and videos there.

  • Post spending some time at Skogafoss. Head directly to Vik and explore the Reyfinsjara Beach which is famous for being features in the Game of Thrones having beautiful basalt columns.

  • Very close to Reyfinsjara is another black sand beach Vikursjara Beach. Not many tourists stop by that beach and hence it can be a very good spot to get some amazing photos with no crowd in the background.

  • Post Vikurfjara, you can either have your dinner outside or directly head to your airbnb and call it a day post dinner because the next day is going to be very long.

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Tips
 

  • Wait for a little longer and skogafoss and reyfinsjara if you want to get good pictures. You will definitely be getting an empty frame if you wait for sometime.

  • At Skogafoss, you can cross the water and get to an island like dry patch which is exactly in the centre of the frame if you take a picture from there. If you can not wearing good waterproof shoes, remove them before you cross.

  • At Reyfinsjara and vikurfjara, please stay away from the waves as it can be dangerous.

  • Try and end this day early and sleep well because the next day is going to be long as you will now be entering the highlands of Iceland.

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Day 4
HRIFUNES to LAUGARFELL
 

  • Start your day very early and hit the road by 7AM max.

  • There are a lot of attractions once you start driving towards the highlands. We have pinned all major attractions on the map that is shared with you

  • The first proper stop that we took was at Svartifoss. It is again a beautiful waterfall with basalt columns. The walk up and down the waterfall from car parking is around 2 hours so manage your time accordingly as this day is going to be long.

  • After exploring Svartifoss, again start your journey towards the glacier areas of Iceland. We headed directly to the Diamond beach. Exactly opposite to the diamond beach parking is another parking facing the glacier flowing in the river. We recommend you to park there and then you can walk from there to the diamond beach.

  • Spend some time to explore and take pictures and then again start your journey straight to Vestahorn and Stokknes , the place where the famous Gerua song was shot. You can also visit the Viking village on the way to Vestahorn and Stokknes if you are interested.

  • After this attraction, we decided to climb up the Highlands and then stay there. Alternatively, you can also choose to stay in the Hofn town in the south near Vestahorn if you feel that a total of 7 hours of drive in a day is too much for you.

Tips
 

  • If you want to do any glacier activities like, glacier hiking or glacier boat tour. You can have those at Svartifoss or Diamond beach area because these are close to the glaciers. If you dont have the tours on this day, you will have to drive back for 3 hours to have these tours and then one whole day will be only about the tour. So plan it in advance

  • Again, stay away from the water and waves at diamond beach.

  • DO NO TAKE any shorter route other than Route 1. Google might suggest those to you, but those will be gravel roads. For your ease, we have also provided driving routes in the Map shared to you.

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Day 5

LAUGARFELL to AKUREYRI

  • You can choose to start your day easy depending upon where you stayed.. If you are already in the highland you can chill. If you stay in the south, you will have to start your day early to drive into the highlands.

  • The first attraction that you can visit is the Hengifoss waterfall, it takes 2 hours to hike up and down so manage time accordingly. Hengifoss is one of the most famous waterfalls in Iceland.

  • After exploring Hengifoss you can head to Studlagil which is again famous for its basalt column view facing a river. You will again have to hike for around 2 hours to get down to take pictures. If you dont want to hike

  • down, you can choose to go to the Studlagil Canyon View point where you can take pictures from the top.

  • After Studlagil, drive directly to Dettifoss which is the most powerful and the biggest waterfall in iceland. You will have to spend some time and wait for a picture there as there are a lot of tourists. If you wait, you will definitely get good pictures without any crowd in the background.

  • Post Dettifoss, head towards akureyri. You can visit the Myvatn Nature Baths on your way if you wish to. There are a few other attractions on the way to Akureyri which we have mentioned in the map, you can choose according to the amount of time you have.

  • If not Myvatn, you can choose to either go to Forest Lagoon in Akureyri (Paid) or a place in your map called

  • Foss this is a natural hot water pool at a cliff on the top of a waterfall

Tips

  • You can cover all the attractions between Highlands and Akureyri only if you start early because a couple of attractions need hiking around 1-2 hours.

  • Carry your rain jackets when going to Dettifoss, going close to the waterfalls almost like walking in the rains.

  • If you are not able to go to the Foss waterfall thermal bath on this day, you can also choose to wake up early in the morning and visit there the next day. It is a very good experience to be in a pool at the top of a waterfall.

  • Be careful about the winds when driving in and out of the Highlands.

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Day 6 and 7

AKUREYRI to SIGLUFJORDUR
 

  • Start your day easy in Akureyri and head to the town. Park your car in the central car parking and walk around the city. It is a beautiful town and is also famous for its heart shaped traffic lights.

  • Post exploring Akureyri head to Sigfjordur in the North. You will have to cross several tunnels on your way.

  • Siglufjordur is a very beautiful town in the north Iceland, you can easily walk around and enjoy some amazing views. There are a few hikes as well if you wish to explore. We stayed in Siglufjordur for 2 days to relax.

  • The next day, you can either choose to go to some hike or just relax like we did.

    Tips:
     

  • Some tunnels are two ways. But two tunnels on your way to siglufjordur are ONE WAY TUNNELS. So as soon as you see a car light from the opposite side, you will have to stop in the lay by areas built in the tunnel and let them cross. You will see an “M” sign in the tunnels, which means its designated area to stop and let the other car pass.

  • Also check the Tunnel.is website/app and pay for the tunnel entry before you enter. There is only one tunnel which is paid.

  • Siglufjordur has a Seagull brewery. If you are into beers, you should definitely give it a try. Its the cheapest there when compared to any other town/city in Iceland.

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