Grant and I traveled to Iceland in September of 2024. It was our last big trip before we welcomed our first baby! We both loved Iceland and are looking forward to coming back for a short weekend soon!

We drove the entire island. If you don’t have the time for that, we recommend staying on the South Coast, but that will be the subject of another blog. If you plan to drive the entire island, this 10-day Iceland Itinerary is perfect for you!

Day 1 – Flight in, Blue Lagoon, and Grocery shopping

Day 2 – Golden Circle & Thingvellir National Park

Day 3 – Take a day tour to Landmannalaugar or Kerlingarfjöll

Day 4 – Ring Road going East. Seljavallalaug, Skogafoss, Dyrholaey, Solheimasandur Plane Wreck, Reynisfjara Beach & Vik

Day 5 – Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, Hofn, Diamond Beach and Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, Vestrahorn & Viking Village

Day 6 – Vestrahorn, Hengifoss, & Stuðlagil

Day 7 – Dettifoss, Myvatn Hot Springs

Day 8 – Akureyri, Kirkjufell Mountain, Black Church in Búðir, the cliffs of Arnarstapi

Day 9 – Snæfellsjökull National Park & drive back to Reykjavik

Day 10 – Fly home!

This 10-day Iceland itinerary is our recommendation for exploring most of Iceland. There are many hidden gems and secret waterfalls that we couldn’t list because they weren’t marked on the map when we discovered them. But if you pull off the side of the road, be prepared to find some unique spots! Below is what our 10-day trip to Iceland actually looked like.

Day 1

Flight, rental van, Blue Lagoon & Grocery shopping

Flight day. We had a red-eye out of BWI to Keflavik Airport, so we landed at 6:30 AM Iceland time. We caught breakfast at the airport and waited until 8:00 AM, when a shuttle could take us to the location where we were to pick up our camper van. Renting a camper van or a car with a tent on top for your stay is in our opinion, the best way to see Iceland. (It really is the BEST way to see all of Iceland without booking multiple accommodations or driving miles and miles each day.)

We rented a Kuku Camper, and we loved it! After picking up our camper-van, we drove straight to the Blue Lagoon for a relaxing entrance to Iceland! We booked the 9:00 AM time slot, hoping it was still early enough to avoid most crowds, and it was the soonest we could arrive after picking up our camper.

Things to note about the Blue Lagoon. Icelandic culture is more open than American culture. Meaning, modesty isn’t really a thing. When you change into your swimsuit, the changing rooms are all very open, locker-room-type rooms. There are private stalls for showers or public stalls without doors. It is a requirement to shower (naked) before putting on your swimsuit and heading out into the lagoon. It helps keep the water clean for everyone. We purchased the basic comfort package that included a towel but no robe. The basic package also meant that you changed in the shared changing room with everyone else.

Their highest package includes a private changing room and shower room for you and your partner upon arrival, if that is something you wish to spend the money on. When you shower, make sure to wash your hair and coat it in the conditioner (don’t wash it out!) before heading out into the lagoon. I kept my hair up in a clip so it never touched the water. The Blue Lagoon has high levels of silica and minerals, which feel great on your skin but not so much on your hair. I never dipped my hair into the lagoon water and was very careful to keep it up. I had heard all kinds of horror stories of the high mineral density water frying people’s hair and making it crispy for weeks, and I wasn’t about to let mine get that way!

We stayed for about an hour (it started to get really hot, so we couldn’t stay much longer) before heading into downtown Reykjavik to grocery shop (we went to Bonus, the cheapest grocery store in Iceland), and then walking around downtown Reykjavik. We ate dinner downtown at the cutest little cafe and enjoyed the best tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches before heading early to our campsite, just outside of town, to settle in for the night. Iceland is known for its tomatoes. Due to their climate, they are one of the few vegetables that can grow successfully.

Day 2

The Golden Circle & Thingvellir National Park 

We drove the Golden Circle. If you have only a few days in Iceland, this is the most recommended loop. However, I only recommend this loop if you have limited time in Iceland, or it’s your first stop. Iceland is incredibly beautiful, and this is a kind of mini version of it. If you intend to make this your last stop, you might as well skip it. It isn’t as impressive as you think once you’ve seen the rest of Iceland’s wild beauty. We started our day by touring Kerid Crater and Geysir, then heading to Gullfoss. “Foss” In Icelandic means “waterfall”, so we tried to hit up all the “foss” places we saw on the map.

We missed Brúarhlöð, and we’d recommend stopping to see it on your way to or from Gullfoss. After Gullfoss, we drove through Thjórsárdalur National Park and stood at the point where the Eurasian and North American Tectonic plates meet. You can snorkel at the Silfra Fracture here – we were supposed to, but had to cancel because I (Holly) was pregnant. We ate dinner at a beautiful little off-the-road spot, and Grant fished to end the evening. We ended up camping in Selfoss this night so we could catch the bus for our first excursion the next day.

Day 3

Landmannalaugar

 Day 3 started EARLY! This was our tour day with Arctic Adventures to Landmannalaugar! I was SO excited for this part of our trip. The highlands are incredibly diverse, beautiful, and hard to reach. (Hello F-Roads) Since we did not rent a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, we were unable to access any of the F-Roads ourselves. This tour was what we were most looking forward to. The bus picked us up at 6:00 a.m. at the gas station, a few minutes from our campsite in Selfoss. It made two more stops before making the rest of the way through the rugged highlands. We drove over thick black sands, rough rock roads, and saw some distant sheep rummaging in the mountains.

When we arrived in Landmannalaugar, we split into two groups and followed our tour guide. We explored the renowned Laugavegur Trek, a famous hiking trail consistently ranked among the finest in the world. We saw incredible multicolored rhyolite mountains that changed color as the sun hit them and the impressive Laugahraun lava fields. The hike was hard, with the most difficult stretch being the shortest and steepest part to the very top. The winds picked up significantly, and the temperature dropped by around ten degrees as we climbed to the top. Once we were at the top, though, we enjoyed the incredible views and spent about half an hour relaxing before heading down the other side of the mountain. The three-mile trek was so worth it at the end. Most people on our hike chose to end with a soak in the natural hot springs, but Grant and I opted to relax at the picnic tables, chatting with some of the other hikers.

Pro tip: altitude sickness is real. I brought a bag of ginger chews because I was battling intense morning sickness on our trip, and they not only helped me but another hiker who was nauseous. We then rode for 4 hours back to Selfoss and arrived at our campsite around 10 pm.

Day 4

Ring Road – Seljavallalaug, Skogafoss, Dyrholaey, Solheimasandur Plane Wreck, Reynisfjara Beach & Vik

We began driving the Ring Road on this day, heading East towards Vik. The first waterfall we hit was Seljalandsfoss. There was a hidden waterfall here called Gljufrabui that is slowly becoming more popular, and we somehow accidentally missed it. From here, we could’ve stopped at Seljavallalaug Swimming Pool, the oldest natural swimming pool in Iceland (but we skipped it for time’s sake), and instead headed straight to Skogafoss. We loved this waterfall! You can view it from the bottom, or hike to the very top (we skipped this because I was sick).

You can also hit up Kvernufoss on your way to Dyrhólaey after this. Before we hit Dyrhólaey, we parked, ate lunch, and then hiked out to see the Solheimasandur Plane Wreck. This was a good, long walk. It’s completely flat, and there is a shuttle you can pay to take you to the plane wreck and back, but we wanted to save the extra cash and just walk it. We caught it at a great time, when we were kind of in between shuttles, so we managed to get a few pictures without tourists in them before it was flooded with people again. After the plane wreck, we went to Dyrhólaey Lighthouse, then visited Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach to see the basalt columns.

Day 5

Driving

This day started out with a terrible wind advisory from our camper company. Our goal had been to head North to Hofn, but with the winds and sands blowing, we ended up turning around and heading back towards Reykjavik. We saw the famous Yoda Cave, and we were the only ones there! This was our only sightseeing stop this day, as it took all day to get from Vik to the Snorrastadir Farm Holidays, our campsite for the night. We saw lots of sheep and our first Icelandic horses of the trip, however, and stopped several times to take some good pictures.

Day 6

Black Church in Búðir, Cliffs of Arnarstapi & Kirkjufell Mountain

This day began with a visit to the sheep farm before heading towards Snæfellsjökull National Park. We stopped at the famous Black Church in Búðir, the cliffs of Arnarstapi, and Kirkjufell Mountain. The roads were incredibly windy but beautiful, offering a completely different side of Iceland. There were no lava fields to be seen, and we drove through snow-covered passes. It was also a very long driving day for us. Grant spent the evening fishing, and afterwards we went to our campsite in Akureyri for the night. Akureyri is unique because all of its stoplights are hearts. We didn’t give ourselves time to explore the city, though I wish we could’ve – we got in at sunset to head to our campsite for the night and then left early the next morning.

We stayed at Hamrar Campground. It was a very family-friendly campground, with playgrounds for kids and shower and bathroom facilities. Showers were free here (yay!), and they had large water hook-ups to refill your camper. Half the campground was closed when we arrived because they were preparing for winter, but we still managed to get a good campsite right next to the bathhouse. The showers were hot, and there was an outdoor kitchen for brushing our teeth and washing dishes; it was relatively quiet once the sun went down. People are generally very respectful here. When we woke up the following morning, it was so cold that the water hose froze, so we couldn’t get fresh water or fill our tank. Rookie mistake that we did not make again the rest of the trip!

Day 7 

Akureyri, Myvatn Hot Springs & Stuðlagil Canyon

From Akureyri, we drove clear across the Northern Part of Iceland to end the night in Hofn. There is not a lot to see in the northern part of Iceland, except for a few waterfalls and the Myvatn hot springs. We skipped Myvatn and instead stopped at a few waterfalls and Stuðlagil Canyon. There are two ways to view Stuðlagil. You can view it from the main viewing platform, or you can drive down a short dirt road, park, and hike two miles back to where you can climb (a very sketchy, slippery path) down into the canyon to see it from the bottom. Due to time constraints and my illness, we opted to simply view the canyon from the main viewing platform. They were doing construction on the road, so it had become a dirt road, and it was quite sketchy to drive down without a 4-wheel drive vehicle.

Again, we’d highly recommend getting a 4×4 vehicle for your driving adventures! The canyon itself was beautiful, but there were SO many people, and you couldn’t see the canyon very well from the viewing platform. There are a LOT of steps to get down to the main part of the viewing platform, so be warned. There were over 100+ , we counted!

From Stuðlagil, we continued to drive and ended up on a steep, dirt mountain road that was full of potholes (you had to go very slowly or you could’ve popped a tire) and was lined with lots of sheep. It was the only road open to get down to Hofn, so we had to take it. The winds were horrible that day, and our camper rocked the whole way. At one point, when we got out of the van, the winds were so strong they kept us upright when we leaned all our weight backwards! After spending most of the day in the van, we finally arrived in Hofn for the night.

We ate out at Otto Matur & Drykkur, the only restaurant we visited during our entire trip. It was SO worth it (but very expensive). I (Holly) ate the famous Lobster bisque soup, and Grant had arctic char. They served freshly made sourdough bread with fresh churned salted butter, and my friend, if you have the option to eat here, DO IT. The bread & butter was so amazing!

We camped at the Vestrahorn campground this evening. We arrived just before dark, and there were only a few spots left open. You pay at the Viking Cafe, and it includes access to the Viking village, which is a bonus. If you didn’t camp there overnight, there was an extra charge to access the Viking village if you wanted to walk it or go down the dirt road to the coast. The bathrooms here were tight, and there were constant lines due to the number of campers. They also did not have showers.

This night was the most special night in Iceland for us… We saw the Northern Lights for the first and only time on our entire trip! They came out shortly after 9 pm and lasted for a full 40 minutes. We got some incredible shots, and were so thankful we got to experience them!

Day 8 

Vestrahorn & Viking Village, Hofn, Diamond Beach, Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon & Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon

Today we spent the day exploring the Viking Village and Vestrahorn, before driving down the coast to Vik. The Viking Village was modeled after what a real village would’ve looked like with the earliest settlers to Iceland; however, it wasn’t real. It was used to film several movie sets; however, the little cafe next to our campsite had posters from all the movies that were filmed there. It was a neat little place to explore, and we had it all to ourselves. After that, we drove our van down to the tip of Vestrahorn and explored the black sand beach and the cliffs there. We were luckily able to spot some seals, the highlight of my morning!

After leaving Vestrahorn, we hit up Diamond Beach and Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. Jökulsárlón was incredibly busy when we arrived (around lunchtime). Here you can do a boat excursion and go kayaking or cruising around the glaciers. We enjoyed our time at Jökulsárlón (they have bathrooms!), where we saw lots of seals and birds, and had lunch at one of the many food trucks parked there. We walked from the lagoon under the interstate pass to Diamond Beach. It was an easy, flat walk, and it was great because we didn’t have to move our vehicle and pay for parking again.

Because we hit it in September, there were no large chunks of ice on the beach like the famous photos you always see. I’m sure if you came in March or April, you’d get the large glacier chunks. After the lagoon, we finished our night off exploring Fjaðrárgljúfur, a beautiful canyon with a crystal blue river running through it. You have to hike to the top to look back and see the best view of the canyon, but it was worth it! We camped in Vik this night so we could drive back to Reykjavik the next day.

Day 9

 Our night in Vik was the worst weather night we’ve ever experienced, so we started this day at sunrise with no sleep. A horrific windstorm blew through Vik with winds exceeding 40 miles per hour. Our camper rocked with the force of the wind and the rain, and we spent all night praying we didn’t tip over into our neighbor’s camper. We spent the day driving back to Reykjavik, where we explored downtown, shopping for souvenirs and grabbing dinner before heading back to our campsite to spend the night. We got the best ice cream at Skubb for dessert (thank you, Brea Burkard, for the fantastic recommendation!) & started packing up for our flight the next day.

Day 10

We packed up our camper, took our last showers, and took our time driving around Reykjavik, bakery hopping for the best pastries for breakfast, before heading to our van rental company and then to the airport.

Overall, we had a great time! However, if we’d do it again, this is what we’d recommend:

• Go for 5-7 days. You don’t need more than that unless you are driving the whole island, and here’s why: The best views are on the Southern and Eastern coasts. We were ready to go home by day 8, and tired of spending days driving around in a van. The western and northern coasts offer little in terms of hiking, waterfalls, and typical tourist attractions.
• Get an Airbnb or hotel in Reykjavik, and rent a car to see the rest of Iceland. Reykjavik has everything you need – grocery stores, shopping, and dining options- and serves as a great base for day trips and tours.
• Speaking of tours, DO THEM. Do a guided glacier tour. Do a guided 4×4 tour to Landmannalaugar. Do a guided Northern Lights Tour. Go on a whale-watching boat tour. Do a traditional horseback riding tour. These are the best and safest ways to see all that Iceland has to offer. And you get the unique experience of learning from a local!

We hope you have an AMAZING trip to Iceland! I know we’re looking forward to going back ourselves!

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