Around Iceland in 6 days

For a short summer break, Vitto challenged me to visit Iceland with her. As someone that is used to going south for the summer - this sounded stupid at first, but I was incredibly surprised. For 6 days, we were pretty much in another planet. Here are some notes and tips from our trip.

Minimal pre-trip preparations

We only did two things in preparation for the trip. The first was renting out our home for the week. After some googling we decided to go with Kuku Campers. It’s a ‘local’ shop, ran mostly by summer working EU immigrants. Price was reasonable, staff was friendly. No complaints.

The second most important preparation is the most critical. It’s a small trick I learned 4 years ago from my friend Alex. That little trick is called Le Petit Routard. We bought the Iceland 2024 Edition. As always, it did not disappoint. It’s just like traveling around with a local guide. And there’s just something about the French way of routard travel that has always stuck with me. You won’t know until you’ve tried it.

Day 1: Lift off & Golden Triangle

We woke up early in Reykjavik, had breakfast at the Center Hotels Plaza. Once done, we went back to the Airport region of Keflavik and picked up our camping van. We set way towards the first ‘coup the coeur’ from the Routard: the Golden Triangle Region.

We managed to visit the place where the two tectonic plates meet, the Þingvellir national park. Which brought me some good memories of Geological walks with my grandparents. Also managed to quickly hit the original Geysir (reminded me often of what we see in the Azores region). Except Icelandic people don’t cook underground like us.

Closed off Day 1 with our first campsite. Nothing special - pretty noisy.

Day 2: Running and Waterfalls

The marathon training didn’t necessarily stop. We took the early morning and decided to go for a long run along the woods near the Geyser region. We ended up getting lost and running 17km in the middle of the Lunar landscape. Beautiful.

The second part of the day was all about waterfalls. We drove to the final element of the Golden Triangle: the Gullfoss waterfall. Once done, we started making our way east while listening to a great podcast episode about Icelandic Geology.

On the road to Vik, two wonders: Seljalandsfoss is quite a sight. You can go around it too! Hestavaðsfoss was also impressive. Even though our legs were a bit cooked, we hiked a bit as well. Next time, we’ll do it a bit more in this region.

Tired, we finally reached the campsite in Vik. Some well deserved showers, some subpar tortellini and called it a night. Woke up in the middle of the night to a shaking van. Strong winds in the north.

Day 3: A beach full of ice

We woke up early to the sound of the wind. After some breakfast and packing, we drove along the east towards the Svínafellsjökull Glacier. A beautiful location where you park the van, walk ~4/5 km and see the beginning of where the glacier comes down from the mountain.

After another 45 min drive and we finally ended up at one of the highlights of the trip: Diamond Beach. It’s a fantastic scenery. It sits just close to there the Jökulsárlón lake touches the Ocean. The glacier melts into the lake, and the large blocks of ice are washed up into the Ocean, some of them end up in a beautiful black sanded beach, melting away. It’s hard to put into words, but it’s quite the sight.

Recklessly ignoring the weather warnings, we then drove along the Eastern coast. It was a scary drive, with very strong winds; between the mountain and the ocean - on a narrow road. Had we gotten a larger van, we would’ve probably stopped right then and there.

But with Vitto’s co-piloting, we managed to get into the Fossárdalur Campsite; probably the most beautiful campsite we stayed at. Hidden amongst the Fjords, sheltered from the wind. The kitchen area was super cozy, with electricity, many stoves, and some long tables to enjoy a warm meal.

Day 4: Volcanos and Thermal baths

We started heading north-west. It’s incredible how the landscape changes while you’re driving in Iceland. It’s truly a moonlike place. On our way to the Mývatn region, we stopped for in one of the strongest waterfalls in the world: the Dettifoss waterfall. You would’ve never guessed there’s a waterfall there! Especially that large. A bit of walking in a moonlike landscape and BAM! A gigantic waterfall.

A couple more Serial episodes and driving, and we finally reached the Mývatn lake region. The landscape looks like nothing we’ve ever seen before, it’s just like a Volcano erupted near a lake, and transformed its landscape in a Halong-bay like way.

During the afternoon, I challenged Vitto to a long run towards a volcano we spotted. At first, we thought we would just get near it, but once we got close enough, it was obvious some people were actually hiking to the top! We had to do the same. The view wasn’t mind-blowing, but the challenge was fun. There’s nothing quite like running as a couple.

After that long run/trail we were both pretty tired again. We set our GPS to the Mývatn Nature Baths. If you’ve heard of the Blue Lagoon, it’s similar - but a little less packed and touristy. Oh, and it was open until 22:00.

Once we had enough of the blue water, jacuzzi like temperature, and volcanic views, we decided to call it a night. We got to Camping Myvatn, another scenic campsite overlooking the lake. A little Barilla and pesto to fill up the belly, and we called it a night.

Day 5: Whales and Fjords

When I was young, I was pretty lucky to see the mythical Blue Whales in Açores. But Vitto had never seen any! We were told by many that Húsavík was the capital of whale watching. But we decided we were going to try our luck in the less known Akureyri.

We woke up early, packed up our stuff, and drove all the way to Akureyri (to catch the 10:00 AM tour). We had a great time, and saw at least 3/4 whales in different occasions. The tour was well organized, and the staff was calm and professional. The weather was also great, and the whales were out.

From Akureyri we did another long stretch of driving all the way to the North West region of Iceland. Supposedly less known and more remote. The roads were in less good shape with lots of gravel, but the van handled it.

Our goal was to reach the Flókalundur region. The views and road were absolutely mind-blowing. The MAJESTIC Fjords mixed with a Lisbon-like sunlight, is something I have never seen before.

Just before arriving to camp, we also discovered the little Hellalaugur hot spring. Just like a little stone jacuzzi in the middle of the rocks. “What language are you guys speaking?” - Asked a German family. “Oh. We speak a mix of Portuguese and Italian”; Always fun looking at their reaction. “We got some of the Italian but couldn’t decrypt the other one”.

We decided to indulge ourselves and eat at the Hotel/Campsite/Restaurant. The food was good and reasonably priced! The views from the van were stunning.

Day 6: Famous waterfalls and road to Reykjavík

We woke up in the middle of the Fjords and set out towards the Dynjandi falls. Arrived early but was already packed. Still, the Hæstahjallafoss falls were quite a site. For a moment, it felt like we were inside an aquarium.

Kept driving along the coast, and reached the Kirkjufellsfossar waterfall. It’s a nice little waterfall that faces a funny shaped mountain called Hálsaból Sumarhús.

And we kept driving. We drove most of the day actually. Even though we wanted to get close to Reykjavík, we didn’t want to go back just yet.

Somehow, probably through some Scandinavian friends, Vitto got a recommendation to hit the Hammsvik Hot Springs. These were even better than the previous ones we had visited. The weather was cloudy, but with the 4/5 pools near the Fjords’ bay, the scenery was also magical. The place closed at 22:00, and we left just before 21:55.

Vitto managed to find a small little camping farm called Hjalli Kjós, we had no big expectations for, but ended up being a nice surprise. Managed by a friendly elderly couple. Clean, cosy, shoes off in common areas. The perfect place to take a shower, cook the last portion of Barilla and hit the bunk for the night.

Day 7: Going back home

The last day was pretty uneventful. We woke up early again, took a shower, and drove down to Reykjavík. We dropped the van at KuKu, made sure everything was fine with it, and were dropped off at the Airport to fly home.

What we’ll do differently in the next trip

• 4x4 Camping Van. Our van was great. Spacious and well-equipped. We were two, and it could easily sleep 3. However, it was a bit too large and “urban”, and made some of the gravel roads a bit uncomfortable. We didn’t have much choice when booking. But next time, I would probably go with something like this instead.
• Less Driving: We drove a lot. We wanted to do the complete tour of Iceland. But there were a couple of days when we drove 8+ hours. Even though we listen to nice podcasts, and had nice and long talks, it was a bit too much for our taste. Hey - there are no perfect trips.
• More time: We had a full 7 days in Iceland. But looking back, I wish we had just a bit more time. I think 8-9 days would be the ideal. Yeah, sure, you could be a month in Iceland. I’m talking about the type of trip we like to do.
• Less Running, More Hiking: Our trip was in the middle of summer, in a week in August. But we were also training for an upcoming marathon. So we had to squeeze in runs here in there. That was fun, and we did a lot of those together. But perhaps we would’ve enjoyed even more if we replaced some of those runs for hikes.

Vitto was right. When the summer hits, we, southern Europeans, have this tendency to go South. But there was something special about going North this time. As she said: 9 out of 10.