[rst89]

The trailer of what this travelogue will serve you ahead.



This travelogues is divided in easy sections which will serve as index.

Index:

Waterfalls

Canyons and Geysers

Glaciers and Diamond beach

Natural Parks and scenery

Miscellaneous

End Note

[rst89]

Waterfalls:

When we were drafting what we wanted to visit in Iceland, we thought will we get waterfall fatigue in Iceland?
Well well, we were completely wrongly and fascinated by uniqueness of each and every waterfall.

Let's start with the least visited but magnificent water fall in South Iceland.

Kvernufoss

A small dash from the ring route 1 lands you here. You can be comfortable and snug behind this waterfall without getting wet.

Hiking efforts: Low








Hengifoss and Litlanesfoss.

This lies in a small and beautiful valley of North East Iceland. But the waterfall is huge and among the highest ones in Iceland. Those red stripes in the cliffs makes that hike and long drive worth the effort. Those red stripes are layers of clay formed due to multiple volcanic eruptions which creates sandwiches between the basalt rocks.



Litlanesfoss just has those huge basalt columns and is below Hengifoss.



Hiking efforts: Moderate-Difficult.

Note: Elevation gain is around 250m from base of the parking lot and is continuous up gradient to reach to Hengifoss amid sheep grazing grounds.





Gullfoss

You will be amazed by the water flow and roar of the waterfall dropping down the valley. The mist thrown by the Gullfoss while you go to the first tier of waterfall is amazing even in the cold. It’s a two tiered waterfall on the golden circle.

Hiking efforts: None or low







Brúarfoss

Earlier Brúarfoss was an offbeat waterfall but now they have built a paid parking lot near the waterfall. What separates this for others even though it’s small is the blue glacial water falling through multiple small waterfall. This was our first spot to visit in whole Iceland. It used to be a hidden gem but given construction of parking lot, it will start getting more visitors.

Hiking efforts: None or low



Svartifoss

These basalt columns of Svartifoss is the main attraction of this waterfall. It’s roughly 2 km hike from parking lot of the waterfall. Those black columns of the waterfall is main inspiration for the famous church in Reykjavik. The hike gets better and better as you gain elevation. There is also campground near the visitor centre and it was a warm day, 16 degree celsius, the hottest day of our trip.

Hiking efforts: Moderate





As you can see, you have to hike a little bit and are literally facing the Atlantic ocean



Kirkjufellsfoss

If you google search Iceland, this waterfall with Kirkjufell mountain will make an appearance as first image. This is a small waterfall but has put Iceland on the touristic map.

Hiking efforts: None or low





Seljalandsfoss and Gljufrabui

This was crowded the most with it’s narrow trail. Full rain gear is recommended to be worn here.

Hiking efforts: None or low





Gljufrabui is hardly 500m from Seljalandsfoss and here also rain gear is recommended to be worn completely.



We saw Godafoss through car as it’s near the ring route 1, Bjarnarfoss in west Iceland and few in Thingvellir national park.

[rst89]

Glaciers

There are so many huge glaciers in South Iceland that you can see so many of them from the road. Some of them are huge and magnificent.



The friendly receptionist at our hostel in second day of Iceland recommended Fjallsjökull, the smaller sibling of Jökulsárlón glacier.

Fjallsjökull from one hike



We were so mesmerised by these glaciers that we visited Jökulsárlón glacier that we visited it twice. The first time i ventured out just wearing hoodie in front of those glacier to get frozen feeling. The second time i got sunburnt as sun was shining the brightest at 2100h that heat reflected from the ice sheet burnt my nose and face.

The below one is captured as we were nearing 2230h









We were lucky to witness waves getting formed due to huge chunks of glacier breaking and creating a deafening sound. Also seals in natural habitat was something I liked.





Sunburnt face after this shot.


Some glaciers that I captured in South Iceland when I was in the car.



Diamond Beach

The diamond beach is one of the most unique thing in Iceland. It’s at the mouth of Jökulsárlón where those large chunks of glacier meet the Atlantic ocean.

These chunks wash to the shore the beach


The contrast

[rst89]

Canyons

We wanted to hike one Canyon in Iceland we chose the less crowded and slightly difficult Múlagljúfur Canyon. You start walking through a path which climbs up and down before climbing steep to a point where Canyon opens up and you see two huge waterfalls dropping into the canyon. The fauna as you climb higher was completely different, like Tundra.

Múlagljúfur Canyon





This canyon is kind of dangerous for slightly old people, saw a bad case of a woman who was injured and limping. The road is little bit rough to reach to the base of the parking lot from ring road 1.

Geyser

The wind blowing in you face, the Geyser has erupted and you are standing at the point of impact of the spray, what will be the outcome?



Is the water hot that you will get scalded with the spray?

Well the water is boiling hot when it erupts but the air is so cold that half of that becomes steam and the remaining water is just lukewarm to cold.

It’s in the end a game of patience, you never know when the geyser will erupt. You remove the gloves, hold the camera amid the freezing cold wind and wait for the magic happen. We visited Strokkur, an area where few geysers are located. And geysers have been harnessed to provide a clean source of energy in this country.



Kolugljúfur Canyon
Canyon waterfall in North Iceland

[rst89]

National parks and beaches

Grjótagjá

Game of Thrones..cough..Game of thrones.

I guess this show made many areas famous in Iceland.

Let’s start with this famous spot, the Myvatn area smells of sulphuric gas and this cave was no different.



Hverir

You can literally see a live volcano bubbling in front of you from a safe distance. The area has the smell of Hydrogen sulphide gas as it lies literally where the ground below is pushing each other due to movement of collision of tectonic plates.



You can see the gas hissing from various places of this area.



West Iceland

It’s called Snæfellsnes peninsula and I felt the crowds here are very less compared to South Iceland. We planned to spend two days over here but spent only one day. Our base was a small village named Grundarfjörður.

It’s a huge hub for fishing industry and lava rocks/fields are plentiful in this area

Saxhóll Crater

Formed due a volcanic explosion, couldn’t get the best pic as it was freezing cold.



Djúpalónssandur

It’s a beautiful pebble beach with good rock formations and remains of some broken fishing vessel.



Lóndrangar

Huge basalt rocks over looking the ocean, it has nice viewing decks to get good views of them.



Hellnar and Arnarstapi

These are two small villages, you can do a short hike between them. We just visited few view points around them and came back.









A small fishing Harbour Arnarstapi



Thingvellir national park.

It’s known for place where people from Iceland came to settle disputes and assemble, also had a few spots where it was shown how Icelandic people were punished for crimes like adultery. There are good viewing spots from where you can see huge area where assemblies used to take place.







It has major fissures, the famous one is Silfra fissure. Since it’s close to the capital city and lies on golden circle, it was crowded.



Stuðlagil Canyon

Brilliant basalt rocks with glacial water flowing through them, wish we had more time and gone to the base of the Canyon to take pics but we took them from the viewing point as we had a long day ahead and lot’s of driving.







Vesturhorn

One of the most photogenic places in Iceland, apart from that, there is a Viking village built over here for some TV/Movie set.





Lupine fields.

Since it was June and kind of Spring in Iceland, there was Lupine flower bloom, they were introduced to prevent soil erosion here.



Solheimasandur Plane Wreck

Shahrukh and Kajol didn’t walk 3.5kms one way to reach this spot to film ‘Gerua’ song, it takes good amount of money if you want to take the shuttle bus direct to the spot but we walked in cold headwinds to reach here. A good 7 kms of trek in middle of no where to see a reach old DC-3 plane lying in middle of nowhere. When you start the walk, you feel that you’re wasting time as I got dragged there by my travel mates but once you reach the plane wreck, you just realise the surroundings are surreal.



The long walk back to the parking lot.



Dyrhólaey

It was a washout for us as fog had got built up.



Reynisfjara Beach

It had yellow warning and was extremely cold and windy when were reached here. Also famous for some scenes in GOT series. An excellent place to do photoshoot standing amid the towering basalt rocks. The black sand beach was something unique.



The famous basalt columns of the black sand beach.




Caves on the beach


Lava fields of West Iceland



One of the least explored areas of West Iceland

[rst89]

Miscellaneous

Reykjavik.

Felt like a typical Scandinavian city, walked in the town a lot.



As we approach to this famous Hallgrimskirkja church which is inspired by the basalt columns of water falls of Svartifoss



Insides of the same church


The left most car in the below pic will mostly get fined in the capital city.


The Sun Voyager sculpture which resembles a viking ship.


The capital city is sparsely crowded, less population.


Kerid Crater
This lies on the golden circle and has entry fees.



Glacier lagoon

We visited Myvatn Nature bath, did a walk in, was not that much crowded, we had a peaceful time. No pics, kept phone in the locker.

Landscapes of Iceland

This if I remember was a hotel in south Iceland.


That huge gap between the mountains is a glacier.


This is at the top of pass in North East Iceland on the road no. 95 connecting to Oxi pass road 939.


The Kia on the gravel road on the top of the same pass.


Just look at joy of driving here

[rst89]

End note

Month/Year of visit: June 2023
Car rented : Kia Xceed PHEV ( No charging cable given)
We took insurance with Gravel, sand and ash protection option. The full insurance was costly. Car repairs in Iceland are costly, so drive and choose wisely.
Gravel one we took because we didn't want windshield damage spoiling our trip and we were going to travel on lot of gravel roads.



Amount spent on fuel = 43441 ISK (Since we were three, it came out to be roughly INR 8850 per head, total 26540 INR)
Amount spent on toll = None
(Tip: there is only one tunnel toll in the whole of Iceland and there are ways you can avoid it by taking a detour. It lies just as you enter the city of Akureyri from North East part of Iceland)
Total distance covered = 2800 kms plus
Amount spent over 9 days which includes flights, visa costs, stay, car rentals, food and other activities: Around 2,25,000 INR.

Roads: They are well maintained but have narrow width. The ring route 1 from Akureyri to Reykjavik is wide though.

F roads: It’s clearly written which roads are F roads and you can’t take 2 WD on them.

Positives:

1. Country has too much to offer from nature point of view, people from certain field might have guessed for where the name of the travelogue came to my mind. (This travelogue is not AI generated)
2. Each turn has something to offer.
3. North Iceland, West Iceland are least crowded.
4. We were invested the whole time during the trip with mind always occupied of things around us.
5. This was the best stay, Paradise cave hostel, our dorm visible from this pic.
   
   
   
6. 24h daylight, we took ample of advantage of this. Some days we were reaching our hostel at midnight and never saw the receptionist of our hostel on most of the days.
   
   

Regrets:

1. Didn’t eat any Icelandic food, too costly to eat outside. Ate Hotdogs at petrol bunk and few shacks when we felt hungry. Our dinner looks something like this, we used to visit the grocery stores every alternate day to get produce. Bonus and Kronan are the well known ones over there along with Netto.
   
   
   
2. Missed Litli Hrutur volcanic eruption by 3 weeks, no one can predict them so that's the solace.

Practical tips:

1. Some Tourists don’t know how to use roundabouts, we had a close shave on day 1.
2. Peak tourist season had just started, so car rental was 200-400 USD more compared to month of May.
3. Parking is costly at tourist locations located in private properties, we had to pay parking at half of the locations we visited.
4. Super expensive, salaries in Iceland are high, everything is imported. A whole chicken costs 12 EUR.
5. Sheep's don’t sleep due to 24h sunlight in June, they break fences and come across the road, you have to be very careful.
6. I felt I was in 52nd state of USA, accents from all around USA. You can easily pick who are mainland European Tourists as they don’t speak loud and express themselves like Americans.
7. Road infra needs to be improved, too many single lane bridges even in South Iceland where most people visit.
8. Petrol/Diesel is costly, didn’t rent EV as didn’t want anxiety issues in foreign country, wanted to enjoy vacation. We paid average 310 ISK for a litre of petrol.
9. Be prepared for all types of weather, we experienced one warm and sunny day at 16 degree Celsius in South Iceland and one really cold day with 3 degree Celsius in North Iceland.
10. In all itineraries we drafted for a 9 day trip, there will be one day where you will have to pull 400+kms in a day if you are circling the whole Iceland.
11. Some roads in Iceland are under construction like one to go from North Iceland to West Iceland, Road 54 and Road 59, so average speeds will be less.
12. Take at least gravel insurance package, we took the same instead of full insurance.
13. Research and research, there are too many things to do here and you need to be selective what you really want to do over here.
14. We may have scratched only the surface in Iceland, didn't visit North West Iceland and Highlands.
15. Highlands are open from June/July to September and you need 4WD for some river crossings, we didn't aim for this section of Iceland.
16. Since we were traveling on budget, we didn't take any tours or indulged in any costly activities.
17. You can visit this place multiple times, it has so much to offer.
18. The demographic age of people visiting Iceland is definitely on higher side, mostly people above 50+ age. The young/teens we saw were there with their parents. People in my age group were very less.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[rst89]

Some Map Routes that I created for better understanding of the route.

This was the start of the trip, first two days.


South Iceland over next two days


South East Iceland to North Iceland over two days


North Iceland to West Iceland in one day


West Iceland to airport took two days.

[Chillout]

Brilliant writeup and pictures, too many places to visit , have to add Iceland to that list now.

[gk_Bng]

Thanks for the detailed write up and summary !

I am currently researching for the Iceland road-trip for 2024 and your summary will be one of the inputs..
questions I am looking for answers are:
1.Should I Do the ring road clockwise or anti-clockwise.
2. Should I plan for some parts of F road or stick to the Ring road.
3. 10 days or 12 days.
4. what to expect in terms of difficulty for hikes .
5. Among so many water falls, need to short list.. should I do the shortlist dynamically based on weather conditions.
6. I am not sure if you traveled to "Landmannalaugar" ..

[turbospooler]

Wonderful write-up Sir!

Originally Posted by rst89

Some Map Routes that I created for better understanding of the route.

And I am so happy that you have included this in the thread. Being a supply chain professional, I prefer to visualize the routes and I couldn't be happier when I saw this section

[swe.desi]

What a wonderful travelogue, rst89! Thank you for sharing the wonderful pictures, and the travel details.

[rst89]

Originally Posted by gk_Bng

Thanks for the detailed write up and summary !

I am currently researching for the Iceland road-trip for 2024 and your summary will be one of the inputs..
questions I am looking for answers are:
1.Should I Do the ring road clockwise or anti-clockwise.
2. Should I plan for some parts of F road or stick to the Ring road.
3. 10 days or 12 days.
4. what to expect in terms of difficulty for hikes .
5. Among so many water falls, need to short list.. should I do the shortlist dynamically based on weather conditions.
6. I am not sure if you traveled to "Landmannalaugar" ..

Here are the answers:
1. Cover anti clockwise as at the start of the trip, you're energetic and South Iceland has many things to offer.
2. You can if you have river crossing experiences on 4WD.
3. 12 days if you want to cover highlands and North West Iceland
4. Changing weather and falling rocks.
5. Create a master sheet of waterfalls and choose what you want to do per day in the morning.
6. Yes, I know about Landmannalaugar but since we didn't have 4WD, it didn't make sense for me to invest time in researching over there. F208 is your friend to reach Landmannalaugar.