And we had arrived, our dreamed destination during the last year. The land with endless nature, the empire on which the sun may never set, the place where the summer is cold… but still you can swim staring at the sky and surrounded by gigantic mountains. Iceland is the land where holidays are never long enough!
We had everything ready: our backpacks full of supplies, warm socks, a good raincoat each of us… and of course a lot of layers as we were (luckily) recommended! We landed in Keflavik airport and rapidly headed to get our camper van. We got small but cozy camper van, a magnificent Volkswagen Caddy, brand new, with the odometer pointing barely 100 km… that could only mean one thing: we needed to get it full of km and adventures! After putting our belongings inside and few instructions of how everything worked, we headed to a campground close to Reykjanes peninsula, our first stop. Of course, on our way, we stopped in a Bónus supermarket, as we still needed to get some food (really easy to pack inside the camper van, with full of places to organize our food, clothes, sleeping bags, etc.). Although we are both Spanish, we live in Belgium and brought some of the most precious Belgian specialties: Beer! We placed a six-pack in the small refrigerator connected to the van and we felt we were finally ready.
Once in the campground, we made use of the camping gas we got with the camper van, cooked a delicious dinner and got ready for the night. However, we were actually never sure if, during summer Icelandic nights, these can actually be called “nights”… We didn’t see a single second of darkness during our stay in Iceland! The first of the many amazing details Iceland offers.
Early in the morning of the next day, we visited the National Park of Reykjanes peninsula: Kleifarvatn, Seltún, Grænavatn and Krysuvikurberg. But we still had time enough. Perhaps due to the long walking, or because the temperature was not as cold as we expected, we really felt like taking a bath. Then, after a quick check of our travel guide book, we took our Caddy and drove to the amazing Reykjadalur hot springs. After parking, we walked around 45 min. The views were amazing, full of smoke from boiling hot springs, but the path was hard: mainly uphill, the temperature had decreased to around 8 degrees Celsius and it seemed it was going to start to rain… Our doubts raised, but once we got there, put our swimming clothes on and stepped into the hot water… OMG! We were bathing in the middle of the nature, how nice was that!!
As our plan was to make the complete tour around the island, we decided to do it counterclockwise and headed east. Hence, our next stop was the Golden Circle. Our Caddy drove us through Þingvellir, Öxaráfoss waterfall, Geysir and the incredible waterfall of Gullfoss. Thereafter, we went to the Kerið crater. But it happened again, we still had time and once more we felt like sinking into hot water in the middle of the nature. That’s why we visited the geothermal natural swimming pool of Seljavallalaug. Please, if you visit Iceland, go to this natural swimming pool. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! Absolutely sensational, highly recommended if you are visiting Iceland.
The next day, it was expected to be a “Waterfalls day”, and again, what an amazing day. We visited the waterfalls of Seljalandfoss and Gljúfurárfoss, and then, a bit further, the spectacular Skógafoss. Just behind this one, we made part of a route called: Fimmvörðuháls. Until a bridge on the route (it’s quite a long walk but absolutely recommended for people liking hiking), there are like between 15 and 20 waterfalls. Maybe a bit boring to say it again, but please, visit all these places, they are incredibly spectacular, all of them.
During the following days, we did some of the probably most unique things that Iceland can offer. And this is that after watching in a row some of the most remarkable waterfalls we had ever seen (competing probably with Niagara and Iguazú falls), we could make a walk on a glacier (Sólheimajökull), sailing with a kayak a lake surrounded by icebergs (Jökulsárlón) and then visiting the caldera of volcano of Askja (a still active volcano where it is believed that the increased geothermal activity during the last years is heating the lake, and therefore melting the ice on it).
During our trip, we also visited Fjaðrárgljúfur, Skaftafell National Park, Mývatn lake, Snæfellsnes peninsula, Snæfellsjökull National Park, Landmannalaugar… and plenty of other places whose long names were so difficult to pronounce or write that it could take half of the text here.
Read more: National parks in Iceland
The thing with Iceland is that it does not only have specific places that make you say a big “Woooow” almost every time, but it also has these views from the road driving from one point to the next which are really nice. It is for this that we were so happy of being able to enjoy Iceland from the Caddy. We had the freedom to stop wherever we wanted to enjoy the views, sleep surrounded by nature and have the chance to enjoy fully the experience of such a country. We’ve got hundreds of stories that we brought back home with us and definitely this has been, for sure, one of our best holidays.
Everyone has heard that Iceland is a fantastic destination for holiday, but once more, you must hear it again. It really is! Despite the weather is not the best, you can certainly forget about it and not to care. Because it is true that you forget about the weather while you are staring at these beautiful landscapes, sailing through lakes full of glaciers, hiking mountains and volcanoes, swimming on geothermal natural pools, looking to the sun at 02:00AM… Iceland is unique: all you need is love… and a camper van to visit it all!
Lots of love,
Jimena & Javi
Read more: Short but sweet: Our 4-day road trip in Iceland
Happy Camping! #CamperStories
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