Iceland; the unforgettable land of fire and ice. A place like no other, and a country which I cannot recommend enough.

Iceland has such a unique and diverse landscape which, at times, will leave you feeling as-though you’ve stepped foot on a distant planet. Every turn unveils dramatic waterfalls, snow capped mountains, quirky black sand beaches and pools of hot bubbling mud.

If you’re looking to do a self drive ring Road trip around Iceland’s route 1, then you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, I’ll share with you our detailed itinerary, how long we spent at each location, where we stayed, and the distance travelled each day.

I’ll also share some extra tips and things to think about when planning your trip. So, with that, here’s everything you need to know about going it alone around Iceland.

It’s been our best and greatest adventure yet!

How many hours of daylight in Iceland in May?

The time of year you visit will play a huge part on how many hours of daylight you’ll be blessed with. When we visited in May it was up to 16 hours of day light, even at 3am it was still fairly light outside. If you come in June for their ‘midnight sun’ you’ll have 24 hours of daylight at your fingertips.

More hours of daylight, means more time for exploring places along Iceland’s ring road.

Top tip: Remember to pack an eye mask, just in case your hotel isn’t equipped with much needed blackout blinds.

If you’re thinking of coming in the winter, be aware that your hours of daylight will be reduced right down to around 4 hours a day. Plus extreme weather and driving conditions could leave you stuck, scuppering your itinerary and plans.

What’s the weather like in Iceland during May?

No matter what time of year, the weather in Iceland is unpredictable. We had sun, snow, rain and intense wind during our time here. It would be heavy rain one Minute, followed by bright blue sky and sunshine the next. Sort of like England, but on steroids.

The temperature ranged a lot during our visit. The coldest day was -5c (although it felt around -15 with the wind) and the warmest was 10c.

We also noticed that when the clouds rolled in, they were always so low and thick. It would engulf entire mountains and make them disappear – just like the photo below.

All I can say is; expect a little bit of everything in May, and take plenty of warm layers and waterproofs.

Hiring a car in Iceland with Blue Car Rental

This was the first time we have ever hired a car (or drove) abroad. After scrolling through reviews we settled with Blue Car Rental, who were fantastic and we would 100% use again.

The whole process was seamless and made our road trip experience really positive.

The only thing to note is, you may not get the exact car you booked. It does say ‘or similar’ when you make your booking, which I think this is pretty common across all car hire companies.

We booked a 2 wheel drive automatic Kia Stonic, but we were given the keys to a bigger automatic Kia Ceed, which actually worked out better for us. There was more room for our suitcases, the car was super modern and we didn’t have to pay any extra for the car upgrade. We grew so fond of our hire car, that by day two we had named her Helga. It was a sad day when we had to part ways.

Top tip: Make sure you add on all the insurance packages that you think you’ll need. Like gravel, SAAP (sand and ash protection) and breakdown cover to name a few.

Should I do Iceland’s ring road clockwise or counter-clockwise?

There’s no right or wrong way to circle Iceland, route 1 can be done in either direction.

If you haven’t pre-booked any accommodation, or you’ve got the freedom of a campervan. Then I’d advise you check the weather forecast when you arrive, and see which direction would offer the most good weather for your trip. It can be polar opposites in the north and south of the island.

However, if you’re not in a campervan and have already booked your accommodation (wise choice as it sells out fast) then this isn’t an option for you.

We chose to go counter-clockwise. Mainly because south Iceland has so many places to stop and see, that I wanted to do this first whilst we had plenty of energy. I also liked the thought of slowly getting more places to ourselves, as fewer tourists venture further than Vik. The roads get even quieter as you head east and north of the island. Sometimes not seeing another car for over 30 minutes.

How long do you need to explore Iceland’s ring road?

That all depends on how many stops and how much time you would like to spend admiring each location.

You could drive the entire ring road in less than 2 days if you didn’t stop – but that would be a complete waste as there is so much to see and do.

Ideally 10-14 days would be perfect, you’d have more time to stop at places and avoid any long driving days. Unfortunately, not everyone is time rich. So we did it in 7 full days, travelling home early morning on the 8th day. We still got to see a remarkable amount, the only down side meant a couple days involved a longer drive.

Although driving here isn’t stressful because the roads are so quiet and scenic. It’s super easy!

The speed limit in Iceland

Main asphalt roads in Iceland are limited to 90 km/m (56 Mph), reduced to 50kmm (31 mph) in built up areas. The gravel roads are 80 km/m (50 mph). Although we were doing more like 30mph on these, as the stones were flicking up everywhere and we didn’t want to chip the hire car!

Speed signs are pretty sparse compared to England. Make sure to pay attention to the roads, and your surroundings to avoid getting caught speeding.

Can you see the Northern Lights in May?

We downloaded an aurora borealis app, and one night we had a reading of 6.5 to see the Northern Lights, a really high probability. Unfortunately though it never got dark enough to see them!

Your best chance of seeing the aurora borealis is during the darker winter months from September – April. Even then though, you’ll still need a nice clear sky for it.

Don’t bother getting currency changed into ISK

We weren’t going to bother getting any Icelandic Krona, but we ended up exchanging £80 last minute at Heathrow airport. At such a terrible exchange rate, that it was basically daylight robbery!

Turns out we really didn’t need cash anyway.

Iceland is well equipped with contactless payments everywhere. Carparks, petrol stations, shops, restaurants etc it all accepted contactless payment. In the end we just had to try and use up the ISK when we were in Reykjavik on our last day.

Iceland’s ring road itinerary map for route 1

Day 1: Blue Lagoon & Golden Circle

Our flight landed in Iceland at 9am, giving us a full day to begin our epic Iceland road trip adventure. We hot-footed to collect our car from Blue Car rental which is located within Keflavik airport.

Blue Lagoon

First on our list of ‘to-do’s’ was to relax in the tranquil milky waters of Blue Lagoon. An absolute highlight of our holiday! The water is so hot and theres loads of room to spread out and have your own little quiet space to relax.

You have to shower naked before you get into the lagoon, but there are cubicles if you don’t feel comfortable using the communal showers. Also make sure to smother your hair in conditioner as the silica dries your hair out.

Top tip: I recommend doing blue lagoon on your arrival or departure day (which ever works best with your flight times) as it’s quite close to the airport, around a 20 minute drive. Also be sure to prebook your ticket as they sell out!

Friðheimar

After a bliss morning in the steamy geothermal pools of the blue lagoon. We headed to the fabulous Friðheimar restaurant, which can be found near the Golden Circle.

The restaurant is rather unique as you dine inside the greenhouse, surrounded by tomato plants. You’re allowed to walk around and spot the bees that are pollinating the plants, and learn about how its powered by geothermal energy.

The cuisine here is tomato themed, and everything on the menu, including the drinks involves the little red fruit.

We refuelled with their fabulous buffet style tomato soup and homemade bread, which was so fresh and delicious.

The tomato ice-cream was surprisingly good too!

Strokkur

Our first Golden Circle attraction was watching the impressive Strokkur geyser erupt. The boiling hot water shoots out the earth roughly every 5-10 minutes and is well worth a visit.

There’s also lots of other smaller bubbling pools of water, simmering away.

Gullfoss

Time for the first waterfall of our trip.

The impressive tiered waterfall named Gullfoss. Bring a rain jacket or a poncho if you plan on walking all the way down to it, as the spray will get you a little soggy!

Kerid crater

This crater is an old volcano which you can now walk around the circumference and head down inside to the base too. The soil is a fabulous fiery red, and the water a beautiful turquoise!

Note: There is a charge for Kerid Crater of 450ISK (Roughly £2.50) each, but geyser and gullfoss both had free admission and parking.

Þingvellir (Thingvellir) national park

If you have enough time, add in Þingvellir national park too. We ran out of time, but would like to go there on our next Iceland trip to take a swim between the two tectonic plates in the freezing cold, crystal clear water.

Time spent at each place:

• Blue Lagoon: 2.5 hours
• Tomato Restaurant: 1 hour
• Stokker: 40 minutes
• Gullfoss: 30 minutes
• Kerid Crater: 40 minutes

Total driving distance for day 1: 292km / 181 miles

Where we stayed: Hella

Hotel: Stracta Hotel

Thoughts: Lovely hotel, rooms basic but clean, bathroom was a little dated. Ideal location for day one.

Where we ate: Friðheimar tomato restaurant.

Day 2: South Cost Waterfalls, plane wreck & Dryholaey

After a bright and sunny day one. Day two slapped us in the face with low cloud and drizzle, which later turned to heavy rain for parts of the day.

Breakfast was included in our hotel stay. So once our bellies were happy, we headed out to get drenched on our rainy South coast waterfall day!

Top tip: I’ve seen people say that they will save money by taking breakfast items out with them for packed lunches. (We planned to do this too) However, every hotel we stayed at had signs asking guests not to do this, and that you weren’t allowed to take food out of the room. Instead we picked up snacks from supermarkets and petrol stations to keep us going until dinner.

Seljalandsfoss

The first location for day two was the nearby Seljalandsfoss. The carpark here is pay and display, 700 ISK (£4.04) and accepts contactless payments.

Seljalandsfoss is a popular tourist attraction so expect crowds here – unless you arrive super early. A path enables you to walk all the way behind the waterfall. Be prepared to come back out looking like you’ve just had a fully clothed shower though!

Seljalandsfoss’s power was incredibly impressive, but we actually preferred a lesser known waterfall that’s a short walk away from here. To reach it, you need to walk over the little wooden bridge and follow the slightly uphill trail to Gljufrabui.

Gljufrabui

Appropriate footwear is a must, as entering this waterfall involves wading up a small section of a stream.

Gljufrabui sits inside a skylight cave, where you’ll be wowed by its loud roar and drenched yet again from the spray. It’s 100% worth the experience. Even if you do need to change your outfit in the back of the car, which you will.

Skogafoss

Next, we drove on to Skogafoss which had free parking in a pothole ridden carpark – drive careful folks!

Skogafoss can be admired from the ground, or from the observation deck at the top. The stairs are a little wobbly in places, but it’s worth the climb for the breath taking vista.

Solheimasandur Plane Wreck

We then made our way over to Solheimasandur plane wreck. A site which I believe gained attention after Justin Bieber skateboarded down the roof of the plane in a music video…

There is a small car parking charge here 750 ISK (£4.33). Which is displayed by the gate entrance, and needs to paid online. Although a lot of people were walking straight past, ignoring this.

The information board advised it was a 3 hour walk (round trip) to reach the plane, but it only took us 45 minutes each way. The path is straight and pretty flat so it’s very easy!

You can now pay to have a lift down to the plane wreck from the carpark too, this sadly makes the site a lot busier.

Dryholaey

After that we headed over to Dryholaey which involved a steep, zig-zag drive to the top of the cliff.

The carpark here is free, but the main gate was shut and locked at 7pm on the dot when we were there. A lovely Icelandic man was making us all aware to avoid anyone getting their car locked in for the night.

We didn’t have long, so we had a quick look over at the long black sand beach, the light house and Dryholaey’s impressive stone arch. It reminded me of a bigger version of Durdle Door in Dorset.

Reynisfjara Beach

Our last stop of the day was the Instagram hotspot; Reynisfjara beach. Parking was free, but the toilets here are chargeable. This long beach has Iceland’s iconic black sand, fascinating basalt columns and sea stacks which ancestors believed were trolls that turned to stone.

The beach now has a safety light system in place due to the huge sneaker waves which catch people out, dragging them into the turbulent sea. The light was amber when we visited. Although people were still ignoring it, and sitting on the basalt columns right beside the waves. We watched this man in my photo move out of the way just in the nick of time.

Top tip: Pay attention to the safety warnings here and never turn your back to the sea. Sadly the sneaker waves here have taken a few peoples lives. Getting that Instagram photo/ TikTok video just isn’t worth the risk people! There are safer basalt columns at the top of the beach away from the waves…

Time spent at each place:

• Seljalandsfoss: 20 minutes
• Gljufrabui: 20 minutes
• Skogafoss: 1 hour
• Solheimasandur: 2 hours
• Dryholaey: 20 minutes
• Reynisfjara beach: 30 minutes

Total Driving distance for day 2: 120km / 75 miles

Where we stayed: Vik

Hotel: Hotel Vík í Mýrdal

Thoughts: Fabulous modern hotel and very luxurious. Highly recommend!

Where we ate: Strondin Pub in Vik for dinner where we had Icelandic cod & chips. There were a few other options in Vik including Black Crust Pizzeria which was tempting.

Day 3: Zip line, Fjadrarglijufur canyon & Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon

We planned to do a super fun zip-line course in Vik, but sadly the weather was terrible that we had to give it a miss. If you have time and the weather allows, definitely look into doing this.

Top tip: Vik has a Kronan supermarket and a couple of petrol stations. It’s a great spot to fill up on food and fuel.

Fjadrarglijufur Canyon

Our first stop of the day was fjadrarglijufur canyon. Google said it was ‘temporarily closed’ but we drove over anyway. Turns out it was actually only the toilets that were closed.

They have however, now stopped people from walking all over the canyon to help protect the flora, as it was beginning to look trampled in places.

On route to the canyon we drove past this sign, so I had to stop for a quick rainy photo on the way back…

Stjórnarfoss

Next we headed over to this immense waterfall called Stjórnarfoss, which we luckily had all to ourselves. This one was so pretty and there was a handy free carpark opposite too.

Systrafoss

We also saw Systrafoss from the car when we turned the wrong way, which has two super tall waterfalls running side by side. You can get out and get a closer look at this one too.

Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon

Our next drive along route 1 was stunning, with so many mountains and our first glimpse of the ginormous glacier.

We arrived in the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon carpark where the rain was absolutely pelting it down. The icebergs were huge, some white and others bright blue in colour. After watching them float by from the warmth of Helga, we braved the rain for a quick photo before racing back to the car.

Over the single lane bridge is another carpark for diamond beach. There were a few ‘diamonds’ washed up on the shore, but the weather was mental. We decided to stay dry and just to look from the car which was being rocked by the gale.

Time spent at each place:

• fjadrarglijufur canyon: 45 minutes
• Stjórnarfoss: 30 minutes
• Glacier Lagoon: 1 hour
• Diamond beach: 15 minutes

Total Driving distance for day 3: 280 km / 173 miles

Where we stayed: Hofn

Hotel: Hotel Jokull

Thoughts: Hotel was super basic and in need of a refresh.

Where we ate: Z Bistro in Hofn for dinner, where we shared a huge and delicious pizza.

Day 4: Diamond Beach, Viking village & Stokksnes beach

We woke up early to a gloriously sunny day, to which James decided we were going back to Diamond Beach (which was now a 45 minute drive in the wrong direction) But I am SO GLAD that we did.

Diamond beach

It turned out to be the most magical day ever. We had the place to ourselves and then James got down on one knee and proposed to me, surrounded by diamonds on beautiful Diamond Beach!

After sharing our happy news with family and friends we drove over to Stokksnes beach, which was just past Hofn. This was where we originally planned to start day 4. I’m sure the drive here was scenic, but to be honest. I spent the entire journey just staring at my super sparkly ring with happy teary eyes.

Stokksnes beach

If you don’t backtrack to Diamond beach to get engaged, then your first drive of the day will be roughly 20-30 minutes down the road.

To reach Stokksnes beach you will divert from route 1 onto a gravel road (legal in a 2 wheel drive) for quite some time! Eventually, you’ll arrive at a free carpark and see the Viking café.

Here you can get a bite to eat and purchase your ticket for entry to the beach and Viking village.

Tickets were 1000 ISK (£5.70) per person, and it was the same price regardless of whether you walked or drove down. The beach and Viking village were both well worth a visit. You could easily spend hours sight seeing and walking here.

Svartifoss & Djúpivogur

After that we headed east which is probably one of the best drives we did. The roads are eerily quiet and the scenery is beyond beautiful.

We had planned to explore Svartifoss waterfall (which involves a 30-40 minute hike each way) and stop and see the egg statues at Djúpivogur on the way. But with our morning detour we had to skip these, definitely add them into your day 4 itinerary though!

When heading east you have two route options. We stuck with the scenic route 1 which twists and turns, following the coast line of the island. But, you can opt to go on route 93 instead which is more direct.

Top tip: Egilsstaðir is one of the larger towns this side of Iceland. Top up on your fuel and grab some dinner before you head into Seydisfjordur.

Egilsstaðir – Getting stuck in a snow storm

From Egilsstaðir we turned off onto route 93 where we ended up getting caught in a whiteout. To the point where I could no longer see the yellow road markers as visibility was next to none and we had to stop. Eventually we could see subtle flashing blue lights through the howling blizzard. It ended up being a mountain rescue team, AKA our knights in shining monster trucks.

Both men who had frozen icicle beards jumped out, and said we had summer tyres so they couldn’t allow us to continue as the road was too dangerous.

Every time we dropped the window down to talk to them, the wind howled through, and our car filled with snow. I looked over at James and he had started to turn to ice, and the car was dripping where the snow was melting. It was just ridiculous.

Eventually, with lots of help from them pushing us, we managed to turn around. But now we were on the wrong side of the road, failing to gain any traction. It left us with no choice but to abandon the car, and be taken down by the rescue team. Along with 6 others, including locals, who had to do the same!

The coordinates of our cars location was given to the snow-plough, and we got ready to leap into the rescue car. I clambered over to the passenger side to get out, and James struggled to hold onto our car door because the wind was so powerful. Then I was blown along the icey road where the man had to catch me and throw me into his car!

It was terrifying at the time, but now we can’t stop laughing when we talk about it. What an experience.

The 14th May is a day I’ll never forget for two reasons!

Time spent at each place

• Diamond beach: 2 hours
• Viking Village: 1.5 hours
• Stokksnes beach: 30 minutes

Total Driving distance for day 4: 436 km / 270 miles

Where we stayed: Seydisfjordur

Hotel: Tungata Apartment

Thoughts: This one was more like an Airbnb where we had our own apartment. Fabulous hosts and accommodation. You could also stay in Egilsstaðir on this day.

Where we ate: We had dinner at a 50’s style diner in Egilsstaðir called Skálinn Diner.

Day 5: North Iceland; Hverir Myvatn Geothermal Area, Godafoss & Forest Lagoon

Seyðisfjarðarkirkja

Our amazing accommodation hosts gave us a lift back up the mountain to retrieve our car. But first they took us to see Seyðisfjarðarkirkja.

A pretty church with its pale baby blue walls, and a colourful rainbow path. I recommend visiting this village to come and see it! The rainbow road here is far better than the one for Hallgrimskirkja in Reykjavik (in my opinion!)

Retrieving the hire car

Now back to my tip about taking out breakdown insurance with your hire car!

With an engine full of snow and a flat car battery, we had to call breakdown for help. Blue Car Rental arrived swiftly, they jump started our hybrid car with some sort of battery power-pack, and sent us on our way again.

Our lovely hosts parting words were ‘go careful in the North’. Which was sort of sweet, and alarming at the same time!

Top tip: Always keep an eye on the live road updates. Roads in Iceland can change categories or be closed altogether with little notice. Stay safe and keep checking this website for the latest road news.