Visiting Iceland for 8 days – our Itinerary & experience (Part 1)

We have heard a lot of amazing travel stories about Iceland. For many years, Mrs. T and I have talked about visiting Iceland. The closest we had gotten was a quick transfer at KEF airport back in 2019, but that didn’t count for obvious reasons. Therefore, we were very excited when we finally booked our trip to spend 8 days in the Land of Fire and Ice. 

Before heading to Iceland, we did a lot of research. Some guides stated that you can easily tour the whole country in seven days. However, since Mrs. T and I enjoy slow travel and want to spend as much time exploring and immersing ourselves in the local culture as much as possible, we decided to limit our travel expectations.

After much research and understanding that there is A LOT to see in Iceland, we decided to focus our 8 days in the southern part of the country. 

Here’s our 8-day Iceland itinerary and experience. For those wondering, we visited Iceland in June. 

Please note that there are a lot of pictures in this post… but how can you do an Iceland trip report without posting lots of pictures? 

Due to the length of the post, I have decided to break it into two parts.

Things to consider for Iceland

Because of the remote location and harsh weather, there are a few important things to consider when you plan a trip to Iceland, regardless of the season.

1. Rental cars

It’s important to pick the right rental car for your trip. If you’re driving around on the Ring Road (i.e. Route 1) that goes around the entire country, regular cars should be totally fine in the summer months from late May through early September. However, if you plan to visit Iceland in the winter months, you are advised to go with a 4×4 vehicle with a good amount of ground clearance.

If you do plan to venture out of paved roads and into the Iceland Highlands, you will definitely need a 4×4 vehicle. Furthermore, you will want to make sure your rental insurance covers driving on F roads.

For us, since we only planned to drive around Golden Circle, Reykjavik area, and southern Iceland, we knew we didn’t need a beefy vehicle. After doing some quick calculations, I concluded that renting a Model Y with free charging would cost about the same as renting an ICE car and having to fill up with gas (it also allowed me to meet one of my 2024 New Year’s goals). 

We ended up renting a Tesla Model Y from Lotus Car Rental because of free charging at Tesla Superchargers, ON Charging Networks, and Isorka. I may write a post about our Tesla experience in Iceland later. 

2. Book your rental car and accommodations

It’s always best to book your rental car and accommodations as early as possible. This is especially true if you are visiting Iceland in the summer months as that’s Iceland’s high tourist season and prices are typically higher. The longer you wait, the fewer options you’ll have and they’ll be more expensive.

For accommodations, we wanted to stay at places that had a kitchen and a living room, so we opted for Airbnb. We wanted to minimize the amount of moving we needed to do during the trip so we ended up staying at three different places. Booking accommodations through Airbnb took a bit more time but it was well worth it. 

One quick note about Icelandic  accommodations – they’re expensive! The cheapest place we stayed at was over $350 a night and one of the places (a cozy cabin in a remote area) was almost $700 a night! 

3. Watch your speed! 

The speed limits in Iceland are a lot lower than in Canada. In cities, it’s either 30 km/hr or 50 km/hr. On gravel roads, it’s usually 70 km/hr; on paved roads, it’s 90 km/hr. In some areas where there aren’t many cars, it’s easy to go over the speed limit, especially when you’re used to driving more than 100 km/hr on Canadian highways. 

Watch your speed! There are speeding cameras everywhere and police can stop you for speeding. Not to mention the expensive speeding fines! 

Speeding Offence	Fine Amount
Driving 26km/h+ over the allowed top speed (in 30-35km speed zones)	USD$195
Driving 36km/h+ over the allowed top speed (in 50-60km speed zones)	USD$300-390
Driving 41km/h+ over the allowed top speed (in 70km speed zones)	USD$460
Driving 41km/h+ over the allowed top speed (in 80-90km speed zones)	USD$615-690

Day 1 – Landing in KEF and driving to Borg 

We arrived at Keflavik Airport at 8 AM. Once we got our luggage, we found the Lotus representative waiting for us at the arrival area to take us to get the rental car. We got on the road after a quick damage check of the Model Y and signing the necessary paperwork. The goal for Day 1 was to drive to the Airbnb cabin near Borg and check out the different sights along the way. 

This was my first time driving a Model Y for an extensive period of time so it took some adjustment time, especially understanding all the different controls. 

Because of the active volcanic eruptions, some roads were closed south of the airport. Fortunately, Route 42 was open to allow us to go and check out the Seltún Geothermal Area and Gígvatnsvatn 

The landscape in this area was simply surreal and breathtaking, it was almost like driving on Mars!

Before arriving in Iceland, I read that wind insurance was necessary for your rental car because car doors could get ripped off by strong winds. I thought this was a joke so I didn’t get the insurance. On that first day, it was so windy at one point I thought the driver’s door would get ripped off by the wind! So we quickly told the kids that we’d always open the doors for them or check with us before opening their doors. 

After visiting the Seltún Geothermal Area and Gígvatnsvatn, we went to Costco to load up on food. Staying in Airbnb places for the entire trip meant we could make our own food and cut down on overall trip costs.

After Costco, we drove along Route 1, aiming for a stop at the geothermal park in Hveragerði. The park was similar to the Seltúnn Geothermal Area but you could cook eggs in the hot spring, which Kid 1.0 tried. We also tried some free geothermal baked rye bread (similar to Danish rye bread but sweeter). The geothermal park was neat because there were several small geysers. We also tried geothermal mud foot baths and regular geothermal foot baths. 

We originally wanted to check out Kerid Crater on the way to the cabin but it was super windy and we were tired, so we decided to check it out another day. After about 6 hours of driving and exploring, we arrived at our first Airbnb cabin. 

Too tired to cook, we had dinner at Þrastalundur nearby which had reasonable prices for Iceland. I ordered a burger, Mrs. T had a horse meat steak, and the kids had one pizza each. The dinner cost us 17,000 Icelandic Kroner (~$170 Canadian).Yup, dining out isn’t cheap in Iceland. 

Day 2 – Half of the Golden Circle – Geysers, Gullfoss, Secret Lagoon

During the night it was so windy I woke up around 3 AM. By then it was already light out. Thanks to the blackout curtain in the room, I fell sleep and stayed asleep until about 8 AM. 

After a good night of rest, we set out for some iconic Golden Circle sights. 

On the way to the Geyser Hot Springs, we stopped at Faxafoss and walked around the surrounding area.

The Geyser Hot Springs were pretty neat. We stood by the famous geyser for almost 20 minutes, enjoying multiple eruptions every five minutes or so. Both kids also got the chance to learn more about how geysers were formed and what caused the eruptions.

After the Geyser Hot Springs, we went to Gullfoss. Although it was super windy when we arrived, we decided to hike up to the end of the trail to take in the beauty of the famous waterfall. We were not disappointed.

Before the trip, we booked tickets for the Secret Lagoon. After a long day of driving and exploring, it was time to relax! Essentially Secret Lagoon was a giant pool filled with hot spring water. It was not sparkling clean due to algae in the water but it was so nice to relax and soak in the hot water for almost 1.5 hours.

We were planning to check out the Kerid Crater on the way back from Secret Lagoon but we were tired and it was still very windy. Therefore, we decided to check out the crater the next day.

Somehow Mrs. T and I both stayed up late to catch the amazing sunset just before midnight.

Day 3 – Kerid Crater, Thingvellir National Park

We woke up on Day 3 and were shocked that it was completely calm. No wind! 

After a quick breakfast and packing lunch, we went to Kerid Crater which was about a five-minute drive from our cabin. 

Kerid Crater was amazing. The water was very blue. We walked around the crater and walked down to the lake as well. We were very glad to visit the crater on a calm day. If it had have been very windy, it would have been dangerous to walk along the ridge. 

After Kerid Crater, we took Route 36 north to head to the Thingvellir National Park Visitor Centre, stopping at different lookouts along the way.

At the visitor centre, we did an easy hike to check out Lögberg, Öxarárhólmi, Drekkingarhylur, and Öxarárfoss. This was an area where we could see the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates joining, creating jagged formations. For me, this was one of the highlights because I enjoyed the different landscapes. 

Instead of driving back to the cabin the same way, we took Route 360 to see Þingvallavatn from the other side. The views were amazing! (lack of pictures because there weren’t any good spots to stop).

That night, we drove down to Stokkseyri to have dinner at Fjöruborðið, supposedly the best place in Iceland to have langoustines (Iceland lobsters). The food at Fjöruborðið was anything but cheap. At first, I had a moment of sticker price shock. But the food turned out to be extremely good and worth the price. 

Mrs. T got a 3-course meal with 400g of langoustine tails sautéd in garlic and butter with lemon and parsley served with baby potatoes, pickled cucumbers with dill and a salad. Both kids then shared another 400g of the same main course. The langoustine magical soup was very magical and tasty!

The meal for four was 28,200 ISK or about $282 CAD. Yea… it was not cheap for sure but the experience was totally worth it. I believe this is what Ramit Sethi meant by living a rich life. 

With bellies full and pockets less full, we headed back to the cabin for a good night’s sleep.

Summary – Visiting Iceland for 8 days – our Itinerary & experience Part 1 

We’re three days into our 8 day Iceland trip and the post is already getting very long. So I’ve decided to finish Part 1 of the trip report here. I hope you’ve enjoyed all the descriptions and pictures so far. 

There were so many beautiful places so far on the trip but my favourite was Kerid Crater. 

Stay tuned next week for Part 2 of the trip report.