Iceland: 10 day Itinerary
Are you ready for 10 days in one of the most beautiful place on Earth? This is an itinerary for a self-guided road trip across the southern and western coast of Iceland, going from Reykjavik to Höfn to Stykkishólmur! Included in this itinerary is an estimate daily budget and hotel recommendations that I have personally tried and tested through booking.com. Let's get going!
Day 1: Arrive in Reykjavik @ 4:55 AM
Go through Customs and pick up rental car. Rental car is around $400 for mid-sized with tire spikes. Ours ended up being $580 after adding extra warranties and taxes.Day 1: Arrive in Reykjavik @ 4:55 AM
Get breakfast in a local Café and start sightseeing!
10 free things to do in Reykjavik:
• A City Walk Tour- a
2 hour tour through the city with great information.
• Perlan – look at
the view of Reykjavik from the viewing deck
• The Tjornin pond
and feed the ducks
• Hallgrimskirkja
(cathedral)
• Laugavegur – one of the oldest shopping streets in Reykjavik. Full of Icelandic culture and art. RECOMMENDED*Café Tiu Dropar* One of the oldest café’s in the city.
• Sun Voyager
Sculpture – 5 minute walk on a path from the cities center
• Reykjavik Concert
Hall
Have dinner at a local
restaurant.
Our expenses for the day: Food-$60, Hotel - $87Day 2: Drive to Höfn
Wake up early in Reykjavik and check out of the hotel. Grab some breakfast and start the drive to Höfn (5.5hr drive). If you leave Reykjavik around 9:00AM, we will arrive in Höfn around 2:30-3:00PM.
You will spend a majority of today driving. Arrive in Höfn, we can go ahead and check into the hotel and proceed to walk around the harbor and visit the Höfn art museum. There is a sculpture in Höfn dedicated to the seamen and fishermen of Iceland.
Höfn is widely known for being the lobster capitol of Iceland, so we
need to get a fantastic langoustine dinner at any of the surrounding restaurants. (this was one of 2 expensive dinners for the trip)
After dinner, take a night walk around the town and search for the
northern lights. Höfn is one of the best
places to see the northern lights!You may need to fill up your car. Fuel in Iceland is about 2-3X more expensive than in the US.
We had reservations at Nyibaer Guesthouse for $70/night. Breakfast was not
included.
Day 3: Ice Cave Tour at Jökulsárlón and Skaftafell National Park
Wake up in Höfn and leave the hotel no later than 8AM. Drive to Jökulsárlón (1hr drive) and be ready at the Jökulsárlón Café no later than 9:15AM. (We had reservations to take an Ice Caves tour starting at 9:30AM and it will last for 3hrs.)
Get some lunch and the Jökulsárlón Café, enjoy the Glacier Lagoon, and make your way to Skaftafell National Park (40min drive).
There are hikes all around the park and they range from easy (a hike that goes to the water fall) and challenging (goes up by the glaciers). Drive towards Kirkjubæjarklaustur (50min drive). We are staying at Hörgsland Guesthouse for $106/night. Breakfast was included.
Expenses: Food-$60, Ice Cave tour -$330 , Hotel -$106.
April 1, 2016: Day 4 Vik and the Skogafoss
Waterfall
Leisurely wake up and drive from Kirkjubæjarklaustur to Vik (50 min
drive).Drive to Skogafoss (30min drive) and see the 197ft tall waterfall.
Continue on to Hella and stay the night at Café Arhus for $71/night
Expenses: Food -$60, Gas -$0, Hotel -$71
The Thingvellir area is part of a fissure zone running through Iceland, being situated on the tectonic plate boundaries of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The faults and fissures of the area make evident the rifting of the earth's crust. Leave Thingvellir and drive back to Reykjavik (45min drive). Have dinner and check into Guesthouse Borgartún $80/night.
Expenses: Food -$60, Gas: $70, Hotel -$80
Expenses: Gas -$0, Food -$60, Hotel -$86
April 4, 2016: Day 7 Stykkishólmur
and Reykjavik
Leave Grundarfordur and head to Stykkishólmur
(30min drive). Stykkishólmur is a small fishing town, but has been and
increasingly popular place to visit.
"Due
to increasing number of tourists visiting the town, the tourism operators and
restaurants have been able to prolong their season as well as starting to offer
an impressive selection of local products, both in food and raw material for
arts and crafts. One can visit a pottery
studio where only local clay is used. The studio is housed right beside a dry
fish factory and a mussel production. After the tour one can
visit the local restaurant which serves the mussels and the local fish
on plates and jugs from the local potter. The pottery studio is
called Leir 7."
Once we are done in the Stykkishólmur
area, drive back to Reykjavik (2hr drive). The road back to Reykjavik is a toll road, I believe it was 8 Krona. Check into our AirBnB.
*The AirBnB that we stayed in was a great location, about 10 minute walk to Hallgrímskirkja and the host, Henning, was SUPER nice, would definitely recommend.*
Grab some dinner in Reykjavik.
*The AirBnB that we stayed in was a great location, about 10 minute walk to Hallgrímskirkja and the host, Henning, was SUPER nice, would definitely recommend.*
Grab some dinner in Reykjavik.
Expeses: Gas -$0, Food -$60, AirBnB
-$50
*Note: Pre-booking is required to visit the Lagoon*
It is around 40 min depending on traffic to get here from Reykjavik.
Click here to go to the official Blue Lagoon website to plan your visit.
Expenses: Food - $60, Gas-$60, Blue Lagoon-$67/person, AirBnB-$50
April 6, 2016: Day 9 Flying Home
Check out of our AirBnB apartment and take a last tour around
Reykjavik. Have breakfast in a café and get last minute souvenirs. Drop rental
car off at the airport by 1 o’clock PM and our flight takes off at 3:30PM.
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