Back in November, I took a short break to get away and enjoy myself with some friends after a very busy year. Honestly, it was so good to get away, drive around and enjoy doing some proper travelling again. Below you can find some things to think about if you are thinking of going to Iceland, my itinerary, a packing list and photos and travel vlogs.

Things to bear in mind.

What time of year are you going? I went in November which I believe is going into winter. There wasn’t snow when I went but it was still very cold due to the wind. There were only 5/6 hours of daylight. Which is something to bare in mind when planning your trip.

If you are thinking about driving around Iceland, here are two websites that you need to bookmark road.is and safetravel.is. These websites can alert you to road closures, weather alerts, and driving conditions.

I hired a Toyota Serento from Europcar from the Keflavik Airport. It was roughly £500 for the 4 days including the full insurance. The boot was large enough for 4 large suitcases which were ideal for us as a group of 4.

Iceland itinerary

Day One

We land at Keflavik Airport at 10:30 am. If you plan to drink alcohol in your hotel rooms I recommend picking some up at the airport as it’s cheaper and easier than finding it elsewhere. Picked up our Toyota Sorento from Europcar.

20-minute drive to Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon was a great first spot to go when arriving in Iceland. With it being so close to the airport and out of the way of anything else on my itinerary it made sense to go straight from the airport. The Blue Lagoon itself was pretty cool, once you got over the eggy sulfur smell. It was relaxing and chilled having a drink in the water, the steam room was the perfect way to warm up from the wind chill. But as expected it was very busy. I have spoken to others recently and they recommend going to the Sky Lagoon or a natural off-the-road hot spring (Just be careful where you go). The silica mud mask wasn’t the best and dried out our faces quite a bit so I recommend going for the other option.

We drove 1 hour to Reykjavik. Checked in to our Air bnb accommodation right in the city. It was a perfect location to walk around and explore for the evening. We checked out The church that stands guard over Reykjavik called Hallgrímskirkja. And then walked through the town and down to the harbour. We went to the supermarket to grab some supplies from the car over the next few days. And finished the night by having a few drinks with dinner before going back to play some card games before driving in the morning.

Day 2

8:00 am Wake up, get the car ready and check out.

9:00 am Set off, It was still dark at this time, so bare this in mind.

1hr drive to Kerid Crater

10:00 am Kerid Crater (Spend 45 mins max)

Parking for Kerid Crater couldn’t be any closer. There is a small donation to the site for entry. (£9.44 for 4 people) I recommended walking the crater Anti Clockwise just for a more enjoyable experience of walking up. It was a lovely view from the top and a nice start to all the Icelandic landscapes to come.

10:45 am 1hr 5 min drive to Seljalandsfoss

11:50 am Seljalandsfoss (spend 1 hr in the area, walk anti-clockwise)

The car park was very busy and you have to pay to park. It was around £4 depending on conversions. There are toilets and food available on site. It’s just a short walk from the car park til you get to the waterfall. I recommend doing the loop anti-clockwise. We walked it clockwise and climbing down some wet rock faces wasn’t the safest, climbing up would be easier. I’d also recommend a raincoat as the spray gets you soaked quickly.

Seljalandsfoss was one of those wow moments in Iceland. Such a picturesque view. It’s rare you can walk behind a waterfall so it was a cool exprience.

12:50 am 25-minute drive to Skógafoss

1:15 am Skógafoss Waterfall (1 hr in the area)

The light was amazing when we got to Skogafoss. Parking was a short walk away and free. It was super busy (I know my photo makes it looks empty, it’s photoshop’d ). We decided to walk up the stairs to see the lookout first. It’s not the hardest climb however I stopped a few times, and you have to walk around a lot of people stopping for breaks. There was a section which shook quite a lot. Once up at the lookout, it was a cool few. Due to time and potentially losing light, we decided not to explore the top much as it didn’t look as if there wasn’t much we could already see. After the descent, we went down to the base of Skogafoss waterfall.

2:15 pm 30 mins drive to Reynisfjara Beach

2:45 pm Reynisfjara Beach hour or more watch the sunset.

During the drive over the weather took a turn for the worst. It went from clear skies to clouds and rain. Throughout the trip, the weather was forever changing so I’d suggest being prepared for it to change. Parking for the beach near the cafe was £4.95 (depending on conversion). The sea was really choppy. And a lot of people stayed off the beach because of it. However, there were a few of us who decided to keep an eye on the sea and slowly walk along the coast. If you watch the video below you’ll see the big wave come over and us running away. We then drove back to our accommodation for the night.

Stay near Vik

So we stayed at Black Beach Suites. Honestly, the room was amazing. Large back window for sky watching for the northern lights. Comfy beds, even the pull-out was comfier than the actual bed. Large bathroom, with a rain shower. It was a very nice place to stay for the night. We headed into Vik to Black Crust Pizzeria for dinner. Famous for its black-crust pizza. It was tasty and they had a few toppings that you don’t see at your Dominoes, Sweet dates being one of them. After dinner we headed back, Played card games and had a few drinks. We kept popping out to see if we could see the northern lights. My camera was picking it up in the distance but sadly we didn’t see them overhead. Annoyingly they were over Reykjavik that night. We looked online and set a few alarms in the night to check out if they did come, but sadly not.

Day 3

9:00 am Leave

20-minute drive to Hjörleifshöfði

9:20 am Hjörleifshöfði Yoda Cave

So our first spot of the day was a spot that wasn’t as touristy as the other main spots. It’s off the track and believe we only found it through Instagram or Tiktok. You drive off a main road onto a gravel road for a while. It doesn’t look like it leads to much. We pulled over at this point and decided to get a few driving drone shots of the car of the Vlog. The flat dark landscape contrasted well with the cloudy sky. The Sunrise was around 10:00 am. We check out the cave, the best view is from inside looking out giving the Yoda/Grogu-shaped hole. It’s definitely one for Star Wars lovers.

10:30 am 36-minute drive to Solheimasandur plane crash (40 minute at location)

Solheimasandur plane crash has bee on my bucketlist of places to take photos for a while. There is a car park marked on google maps which is very easy to find. Parking cost around £4.42 (Depending on conversion). So there is a few different options here on what you could do here. From the car park, it is around 5km to the crash site. This would take around 1 hour to walk each way. And tbh it’s just a flat landscape and there really isn’t anything to see on the way. However, there is a shuttle from the car park that happens every 30 minutes (I think). Now it isn’t cheap. It’s was £17 each. But when you think about the time you will save from not walking, and if you only have a few hours of sunlight a day it’s worth it. and with how the weather kept changing that day, it was great to stay dry. One minute it was sunshine, the next it was hail. gotta love Icelands weather.

The plane wreck is what is left of a US Navy Douglas Super DC-3 which crash landed here in 1973, whilst operating a supply mission between Hofn Hornafjördur Airport and Stokksnes, Iceland. Once at the site it can be very busy. Trying to get a shot of the plane without many people in it is very hard. Thank god for photoshop. You can go inside the pane, and on the right side, you can climb up onto the roof if you want to. This is the plane that features in Justin Biebers music video I’ll Show You. While we were there we had to take cover in the plane from the hail until the shuttle came back. And we even saw a double rainbow.

12:30 pm 1hr 55min drive

2:25 pm Gullfoss ( 30 mins max)

During the drive, we stopped off at a petrol garage got some snacks and made our way to Gullfoss. Gullfoss was one of the busiest spots of our trip. This is because of all the coaches running Golden circle tours. Gullfoss is the largest of the waterfalls that we saw on this trip. and we timed it just right so that we were there during golden hour, so the light was hitting the waterfall beautifully. Theres a few viewing points to check out while you’re here and a big gift shop if you wanted to grab some gifts.

2:55 pm 9-minute drive

3:05 pm Strokkur Geyser, (30 mins max)

Strokkur Geyser was only a short drive from Gullfoss. There are a few gysers to see, smaller ones that erupt more frequently. with the largest that erupts every hour. The water is over 100C and the only thing stopping you from touching it is a small rope, so use common sense.

3:35pm 1hr 20 drive to Reykjavik 4:15pm Sunset

After the Strokkur Geyser, we drove back to Reykjavik through National Park. It’s a really nice drive. We pulled over a few times in the lay by to take some photos. by the time we got to Reykjavik, it was dark. We checked into our Air bnb which was only a few roads away from our first one on day one. This Airbnb was great, it had so many rooms and a large open living space. Again it was only a short walk to the bars and restaurants. We got on scooters and decide to check out the lighthouse on the coast to see if we could see the northern lights as this was the spot people mentioned seeing it the night before. however, we didn’t see it, unfortunately. We went to bastards bar for some food and drinks and played some darts for the evening.

Stay at Reykjavik

Day 4

We got up, checked out our air bnb and drove the hours to the airport. Dropped out the car off outside the airport to the right. It’s only a short walk. then flew home to Heathrow Airport.

I hope you enjoyed the itinerary. Below you can see my Packing list, Photos of the trip and the 2 part Vlog.