Our family went to Iceland with kids during the summer. We took a 10-day trip on the Ring Road, which is Highway route 1 that goes around the entire island country. We also took a detour to the Golden Circle. In order to complete the road trip in 10 days, we drove between 3-5 hours each day and stayed at a different place each night. We stopped mostly at places that were only a few minutes off the Ring Road, with the exception of a few detours. In a short time span, we were able to see as much we possibly could of Iceland. We flew into Keflavik Airport began there.
Here are the places we stopped, by region.
Southern Peninsula:
- Gunnuvher Hot Springs - largest geothermal mud pool in Iceland with large clouds of steam coming up from the ground.
- Blue Lagoon - swim in bright blue, hot geothermal pools bright blue color due the minerals in it. One of National Geographic’s 25 Wonders of the World.
Southern Region:
- Golden Circle - region in interior of Iceland
- - Thingvellir National Park - large park is the location of where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
- - - Oxarafoss - a trail inside a canyon, which is the fault line tectonic plates leading to a waterfall.
- - - Efstidalur - a farm hotel and restaurant where we stayed one of the nights. Has ice cream shop, farm animals, playground, and a giant inflated trampoline.
- Arbaejarfoss - small waterfall, we were able to walk through a field right to the top of it.
- Seljalandsfoss - 200 foot tall waterfall with a path that goes all the way around it, allowing us to walk behind the waterfall. There’s a path that goes along the cliffside where we could see multiple waterfalls.
- Skogafoss - 200 foot tall and 82 foot wide watefall.
- Reynisfjara Beach - black sand beach with columns of straight rock on cliffside and volcanic pillars sticking out of the ocean.
- Vik - Southern most town in Iceland, where we stayed the night.
- - Vík i Myrdal Church - charming church with red roof that was built in 1934, sitting on top of a hill overlooking the town.
- - Vik Apartments - modern and spacious apartment hotels that have a full kitchen and great surrounding views of the town.
Eastern Region:
- Jökulsárlón - a lagoon filled with tall icebergs as they break off from a glacier. We walked down to the water and could play with some of the ice that had washed on shore.
- Diamond Beach - next to Jökulsárlón, where the icebergs float out to the ocean and wash back onto the shore of a black sand beach.
- Bragdevellir Cottages - a group of cabins surrounded by beautiful landscape. Near Snaedolfoss waterfall via a dirt road.
- Haifoss - a small waterfall with old metal bridge. Small canyon, along with scenic views of the town in the valley below.
- Gufufoss - 88 foot tall waterfall. Short trails to both the bottom and the top.
- Seydisfjordur - small town on the water in a fjord.
- - Seyðisfjarðarkirkja - a light blue church built in 1920
- - Rainbow Road - a small colorfully painted stone path in from of blue church.
- Rjúkandafoss - 305 foot tall waterfall broken up into multiple levels.
Northeastern Region:
- Hverir - a collection of hot springs and boiling mud pots. The sulphur in the ground creates a thick rotten egg smell.
- Mývatn Nature Baths - swim in a lagoon created by water drawn and heated from underground. It ahas minerals that make it a light blue color.
- Dimmuborgir Lava Field - multiple paths through large rock formations from a volcanic eruption.
- Godafoss, a massive waterfall that forms a semicircle.
- Akureyi - a port city with a main street with lots of shops.
Northwestern Region, we stopped by the an old church and a waterfall.
- Víðimýrarkirkja - a turf church (roof covered in grass). It’s one of 6 remaining turf churches in Iceland, and this one was built in 1834.
- Kolugljúfur Canyon - a large gorge with multiple waterfalls
Western Region
- Deildartunguhver - one of the most active hot springs in Iceland, where we could see the boiling water bubbling on the surface.
Capital Region
- Reykjavik - capital city with multiple attractions
- - Hallsgrimskirkja - the largest church in Iceland
- - Rainbow Street - a colorfully painted street with shops and restaurants.
- - Nautholsvik Geothermal Beach - beach with a small lagoon with hot water pumped in from underground.
iStay Cottage - collection of studio cabins with clean, modern interiors. Conveniently located just a few minutes from the airport, making it easy to get to our flight the next morning.
00:00 Iceland Intro
01:10 Southern Peninsula
05:30 Southern Region
13:46 Eastern Region
20:50 Northeastern Region
25:04 Northwestern Region
27:45 Western Region
28:49 Capital Region
31:04 Iceland Conclusion
