Here we are! Let’s go to a 10 days road trip around magical Iceland!
We’re two French friends, Cyrielle and Laetitia, 8 years relationship, dreamed about this trip like for 7 years. So we were really excited!!
Before leaving, we had anticipated our road trip. Already, we have chosen to leave in April not to be in the tourist season (prices are lower and there are fewer people), the weather is normally a little more clearl, AND we have a chance to see Aurora Borealis. Well, let me say it now, it’s our only disappointment of this stay: the aurora was not on the appointment.
But to return to our preparation, we bought a guide Lonely planet, it was perfect to guide us throughout our stay, in addition to these very important sites web: en.vedur.is for the weather, road.is for the roads, and Rent.is to base ourselves on testimonials, the campsites, and everything else.
We had planned the winter clothes: big coat, scarf, gloves, cap, big sweaters… We had read that the most important thing was to protect ourselves from the wind: we confirm, the wind is the worst!! Our hiking boots were also perfect for going where we wanted by keeping us warm. For food, we have bought by advance freeze-dried dishes, a pack of pasta, a pack of rice, tuna cans, sauces, cakes … So no need to go shopping! (Well, we just bought duty free beers from the airport, think about it!)
We arrived the 14th of Saturday at he airport, and we pick up our camper: our new friend for our trip, so we decided to name it Peter! 🙂
We wanted to do the trip in Iceland in the south, but we learned that a big storm would arrive in two days… So we choose to be careful and begin by the north, direction Borgarnes.
It was a bit rainy, but the weather change really fast. We were impressed by the different landscapes, and cannot resist to stop all the time to take photos… Lucky us there were not many people so we could stop everywhere to take the best one ! We stopped for the first night next to Hafnarfjall and tested our first freeze-dried food: beautiful view between the mountain and the sea, and delicious meal ! The following morning we visited Borgarnes and his really nice view point on the mountains under the sea:
Then we took the road to Hvammstangi to see the seals: we were very lucky and saw more or less 30! It was an amazing and so quiet place.
After that we drives to Akureyri. We had a great dinner at Akureyri backpackers: their burgers was amazing, and their cookies incredible!
The next day we discovered the great waterfall of Goðafoss: the first of a dozen others. We didn’t expect to see so many waterfalls, but were impressed every time.
We continue to Húsavík, where we booked a boat trip with Gentle Giant to see some whales: we were lucky to see one of them, so fast that we could not take a photo but we saw her! It was a Minke Whale, really famous over there.
In the end of the afternoon we came to two hot pot caves in the region of Mývatn: Stróragjá and Grjótagjá, really famous because of the cult scene in Game Of Thrones who was turned here (but Jon Snow wasn’t here anymore 🙁 ). We were ready the following morning to discover this part of the island: the famous Hverir (with its smell of rotten eggs) and Námafjall. Sadly we had a bad weather to see the Krafla lake, so we went to Dettifoss, another impressive waterfall.
On Wednesday we followed the road 1 and we were still amazed by the landscape. We arrived at Stokksnes and visited the sweet Viking village, and had a hot chocolate at the Viking cafe. Really good, but a bit expensive… Then we visited Höfn and slept next to it.
The next day was a really beautiful day ! On the road to the Diamond Beach we saw some reindeer, and take time to admired the Jökulsárlón and Fjallsárlón glaciers. We booked a zodiac tour for the next morning at Fjallsárlón Glacial Lagoon Boat Tours, who was really great. We were very close to the glacier and we felt like in Titanic!
Next we continued our way to Vik, visited the amazing beach of Reynisfjara and the famous DC-3 wreck airplane: be careful! You have to walk 8km from the carpark to see it… We didn’t expect
that!
We were merited with a good dinner at the Black Beach: I finally tried a good fish & chips 🙂 On Saturday we had booked an excursion next to Skógar to hike the glacier of Sólheimajökull. It was really great !! We felt like we were walking on the top of the world!
On the road to Flúðir we stopped by some waterfalls: Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss. It was cold and rainy, so we choose to go to the Secret lagoon: it was so good to swim in really hot water while the air temperature was around 5°C ! It was so relaxing.
We choose this place and not the Blue Lagoon because it was like 40€ less expensive… And we really needed at this time!
Next morning it was really sunny, perfect day to discover the Geysir, Gullfoss’s waterfall, and the amazing national park of Þingvellir:
We arrived in Reykjavik by the end of the day, and tasted the famous bread soup at Svarta Kaffið. We have dedicated our last day to visit and do some shopping in Reykjavik, and had a last night in our friend Peter next to the airport to take our plane at 6am the next morning.
We had a wonderful trip in our camper, we felt really free and in connection with the nature. It’s a really comfortable stay, nothing was missing (except shower and toilet but it was really easy to find a campsite, usually 500 ISK per person for both).
We saw so many different things in 10 days that we are totally disoriented and so sad to return to France…
It was an unforgettable stay! We are already looking forward to coming back 🙂
So… Thank’s Iceland ! And thank’s Rent.is for contributing to our adventure.
Cyrielle & Laetitia
Read more: Kiersten & Steve takes on Iceland
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