Flights:
We had a bloody nightmare with flights to be honest. We originally booked through Wizz Air to go for 2 weeks for £100 return each, plus £50 to add a checked in bag both ways. Then, the rules changed meaning that Arun would need to have been double vaxxed for 15 days by the time we arrived, when he was due to have been double vaxxed for 12 days. We reluctantly paid £84 total to move our flights, and then, about a week later, got an email to say that our flights had been cancelled, and of course, that £84 fee was non refundable. LOL
We re-booked with Fly Play, with our return flights costing around £100 each, opting for just hand luggage. However, on the way back, we got charged as my "personal item" for onboard was 2cm too tall, so we paid a cute 49 euro fee. We don't love to see it x
Can't reaaally complain though as the flights got us there and back safely, so hey ho
Bear in mind that Keflavik Airport (the international airport for Reykjavik) is located about 1 hour from the city. There are FlyBuses to get you to and from the airport, but these are about £23 each way! Crazy. We opted for the number 55 public bus, which was about £10 each, but on the way from Reykjavik to the airport you also need a second public bus, then number 1, which is an extra few pounds, so potentially less worth it.
Also worth noting, that we found that our campervan pick up location was at the airport. So, once we'd factored in coming from the airport to the city, back out to get the camper, back in after dropping it off, back out to go to the airport... We were basically single handedly funding the city's bus transport services.
Reykjavik:
We had a night in Reykjavik at the start and end of our trip (see above for why this was not financially sensible). If repeating, I'd pick up my camper from the airport, and find somewhere to park it for free while staying in a hostel, or a campsite in Reykjavik? Idk
I really liked the city! It seemed really small, with no bustling city centre, but I guess that's not surprising for a country with such a small population. 60% of Iceland's inhabitants live in Reykjavik though, which is a fun fact.
It was such a vegan friendly city, and country tbf. The only downside is the prices, and we managed to find some bargains.
Food in Reykjavik:
On our first night I searched cheap eats Reykjavik and used TripAdvisor's best cheap eats page to source dinner. We ended up at Mai Thai, which was so yummy. We both got the massaman curry with tofu and vegetables. It came with rice for £12 and was a good portion. Free tap water too, overall a great meal. At the end of our trip we made our own food as we'd spent all our money on fines x
Iceland's bakeries were one of the best things about it, and Braud & Co. ended up a regular stop for us. The vegan cinnamon buns? INCREDIBLE. It's faaaairly pricey- almost £3 per baked good, but so worth it
Things to do in Reykjavik:
We ended up with a day and an evening in Reykjavik, which was enough time. We had a chilled morning, running around the bay kinda area ending at aforementioned bakery, and in the afternoon headed out on a free walking tour with CityWalk. You pay a donation at the end, we saw all the major sites, learnt a lot about Reykjavik and generally had a great time. Would recommend. We also went to see the big old Hallgrimskirkja church. We didn't bother climbing it, but took photos outside and had a wander inside.
Arun's sister bought us a package at the ice bar in Reykjavik. This was really cool (quite literally, it was -9 degrees). We were given big coats and gloves to wear, and taken into the bar which was full of ice sculptures. Our package included 2 cocktails- that was a bit of a stretch of the word as they were gin and tonics and similar, but wow. I've never done anything like it, and drinking out of an ice glass was also really cool. We stayed for 45 minutes or so until we'd fully lost feeling in our hands and feet. An interesting experience though!
We also went to a bar for a drink at one point. Nearly every bar had a happy hour sign outside, but it was a bit disappointing to discover that happy hour meant that pints were reduced to the bargain price of £4.85!
Accommodation in Reykjavik:
Bus Hostel: Okay, pretty average hostel. Small kitchen for the number of people staying. We paid around £40 each a night to stay in a 10 bed dorm- wtfff. The pillow they gave us was really small which made for an uncomfortable night's sleep. The beds were alright though, but no curtain around them or plug socket next to them. Lockers available but needed your own padlock. Just some simple things which would improve it?? But it was fine, clean, the bathrooms were their own wet rooms with showers in, and the airport buses went from there. So ideal for an early morning flight, which we discovered at the end of our trip having walked 20 minutes across the city to get there.
Kex Hostel: Looked extremely edgy and had a massive public bar and pizza restaurant. Aka loud music until midnight ish. A really big hostel with lots of rooms and plenty of bathrooms, a bigger kitchen and 24/7 reception. In a good location in town. I think here we maybe paid £30 each per night and stayed for 2, a good base for exploring Reykjavik but on our second night a group of guests had a party in our kitchen until 2am, and when you're getting up at 3 to fly home that's so annoying. Reception did tell them to be quiet so that's decent.
Campervan:
We used Cheap Campervans, as, no surprise based on the name, they were the cheapest company we found.
Our campervan was fairly basic, and pretty small, but it did have everything we needed for 2 people. There were 2 seats in the front, as well as a bluetooth radio and USB charger. We had paid £30 extra for the week to have unlimited WiFi which was great for browsing while we drove, playing music/podcasts, finding campsites and Google Maps.
In the back it was essentially all bed- we had a thing cushion/mattress thing which was comfortable enough, pillows, sleeping bags, and we paid maybe £7 extra to add a duvet. There were free blankets at the pick up place, too, so we had a couple of these. I'd add an extra pillow if going again. During the day we also stored stuff on here, but under the beds was large of storage space for our bags, and at the back, as fold out bit where there were 2 containers of food stuff (cutlery, pans etc.) as well as a cooler for refrigerated stuff, which we had to pay ice for periodically throughout the trip.
We also paid a little extra to add 2 camping chairs, as well as a few extra gas canisters for our little cooker. If going again, I wouldn't add either, as all but one campsite had a sitting area if not a kitchen, and we hardly used any gas- so what they gave us was more than enough. We had considered adding a table, but again, it wasn't necessary.
The total cost for our campervan for 7 nights, 8 days, was approximately £700. Given the outrageous price of hostels in Iceland, and the freedom it gave us to go off exploring, despite how much diesel cost, it was 100% worth it. I'd go as far as to say that I don't think I'd both visiting Iceland without a campervan.
There are some roads in Iceland called F-Roads, which you need a 4x4 to drive on. We never even saw one on a sign. There's conflicting info on Google about whether you need a 4x4- my advice would be that for August there's no need for one, unless you're drowning in money. There were a handful of occasions which we drew on gravel unpaved roads when a 4x4 would have been nice, but hey, we didn't damage the car (well not enough for us to get fined when dropping it off!) and without any snow or other challenges that winter may present, we were all good.
Travelling by road
Along the way there were plenty of places to stop to fill up the camper. Even being a diesel engine, filling up was hella pricey, and we had to do it several times during the trip, as well as returning it with a full tank. This was an expense we were aware of and anticipating, but be warned. The price also seemed to vary a lot, and was a lot cheaper in Reykjavik, I think, but there's nothing you can really do.
Iceland is not a country where you can do a subtle wee by the side of the road if you've got a full bladder. At home I drink excessive amounts of tea and have a tiny bladder, but realised this was not an option, as there aren't all that many places to legally pull over, and the landscape is extremely flat close to the road, and lacking in trees. Many toilets charge 300 ISK, almost £2, per use. There's no real way of avoiding this, other than googling public toilets, using campsites and often the N1 service stations. We did get away with never paying using these tactics, but if you pee a lot, be prepared for this extra expense.
We picked up a hefty parking ticket in a city called Akureyri. I'm still fuming. It is illegal in Iceland to park against the direction of travel, and even on a small, residential road, we were caught and fined. Their travel wardens are on it! Also, you can't drive if you've drank even half a pint of beer, and it's illegal to pull over at the side of the road unless it's a designated stop. You also can't legally wild camp, you have to use campsites. We used GoCampers website which had an extensive list of campsites with information about them, that loaded onto Google Maps. Ideal.
Food on the road:
We did a big old food shop in a supermarket called Bonus to kick off the trip. This is the cheapest supermarket in Iceland, still expensive, but essentially the Aldi/Lidl. We were super lucky as they'd just reduced a load of fresh produce, which was a relief as a tiiiiny tub of mushrooms was over £2. Wtfff. Some of it went mouldy, a couple of plums etc., but in there was a watermelon for 30p, so really can't complain. We stocked up on noodles, pasta, chopped tomatoes, chickpeas, tinned mushrooms, crisps, sweets and had got some free stuff from the campervan pick-up. We also got some fake meat bits and hummus, and brought some quorn vegan slices with us, which made for good sandwiches on the road. A fairly standard shop came in at £40, which shocked us as it would definitely have cost half in Lidl or Aldi, but hey ho.
We made our own food nearly all the time, but stopped for a few coffees/hot chocolates. They nearly always had oat milk, which was truly mind-blowing to me. We also found that coffee shops made these huge cinammon buns, coated in caramel, strawberry or chocolate icing, which were vegan. For a few pounds we could share one of these and each have an oat milk latte. Truly dreamy.
The N1 petrol stations also had a really good selection of food to get along the way with a massive range of vegan options; salads, sandwiches, even vegan apple pies. Being a young child inside, my favourite part was the incredible pick n mix which was 50% off on Friday and Saturday. Dreamy x
In Akureyri, pre getting fined, we also got vegan hot dogs, for under £5 each. They were really tasty and it was nice to eat something which felt vaguely traditional (they have hot dogs everywhere!) and made a nice change to bread with cheap peanut butter.
Iceland is known for its tap water- the locals are proud of it and it was really nice tbf. However at a couple of campsites there were signs advising us to boil it before drinking. Nothing you can do to avoid it, but just FYI.
Route:
We followed the Ring Road around Iceland- essentially a big old road which spans the outside of the whole country. Unsurprisingly, full of tourists, but especially just the south past Reykjavik, where there's a few sights called the Golden Circle, which people on a shorter trip do. We had read online that with our 7 days in a camper we'd only have time for the south, but we powered through and did a full lap.
We set off from Reykjavik going south, and pretty much followed this itinerary: https://guidetoiceland.is/book-holiday-trips/8-day-self-drive-tour-circle-of-iceland as well as some random recommendations off a travel facebook group.
We had looooong days, often out for over 12 hours. We never ate dinner before 10pm. So if you have a similar timeframe you may wanna skip, or get up earlier than we did.
Day 1:
After picking up the campervan and doing a food shop, we hit the road.
Þingvellir National Park - a national park with waterfalls and clear view of where the two tectonic plates meet. You can dive there in dry suits, but for around £90 each we gave it a miss. This was a cool place to visit, just pay parking, but waterfalls are cool all around Iceland so nothing too special (aka don't take a million photos here because you're going to see maaaany more). Nice place for a walk around.
Next we stopped at Haukadalur, which is an area with lots of hot geysers. This was really cool to see, especially as one of the big ones erupts every 5 minutes ish. Every bloody time it made me jump too much to get a good photo or video.
We ended our day around 10pm at Seljalandfoss- we noticed a campsite really close to the waterfall and stayed there. After cooking it was still light, so we headed to the waterfall. I did discover just now that you can go behind the water, and it makes a cool photo. Wish we'd known that lol.
The campsite was probably the worst we stayed at- just super busy and crowded, and a bit grubby. Still nothing terrible, reasonably priced, a decent kitchen and wifi.
Day 2:
We set off around 10, heading first to a waterfall, which I don't know the name of. Sorry lol. but it was just off the main road, and had a rainbow next to it, which was so cool!
Then we headed to Sólheimasandur, where there was a 5km round trip walk to an abandoned plane wreck. The kind of morbid thing I love x The walk was a bit dull but it was really cool and definitely worth it. Apparently a shuttle bus runs too but we didn't see it.
We went to a beach next, Reynisfjara, which had cool rock stacks. It was really crowded and touristy though, almost a full carpark. There were signs saying how dangerous the sea here was, so I stayed well back. Safety first and whatnot x
Next we headed to Skaftafell Glaciers, which I think on the Ring Road were actually before the plane wreck, but we missed the turning. You can do tours where you walk on the glacier, and I would be tempted to do one tbf, though I expect they're outrageously expensive. We still had a great time seeing the glacier and ice up pretty close.
Next, around dinner time, we did a hike from Skaftafell National Park. We opted for one of the shortest routes, I think it was around 5k, but it was uphill so pretty challenging in the heat. The trails were really empty, and the views were amazing.
We drove on to Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, one of our favourite parts of Iceland. It was a huge lake filled with melting blocks of ice, with seals swimming around. Such a cool place to spend an hour or so, there's nothing like it. It was also really close to Diamond Beach, black sand, with loads of blocks of ice on the sand.
We drove on to Hofn campsite where we stayed for the night. This was our most expensive campsite of the trip, £10.33 each plus an extra £1.15 each for a 3 minute shower. The campsite was fine, but for a bit more research we could have saved a few pounds to spend on more pick n mix..
Day 3:
By now we were heading to the east of the island, and again, left at 10ish
We stopped off at a random hot pool by the side of the road for a dip. It was really nice, though around 40 degrees celcius, and we met an American couple there who we randomly met again later in the trip.
The drive was really nice, we stopped at a beach to stretch our legs and just enjoy the view. We also visited a small town and had an oat milk latte. We tried to buy a loaf of bread and a bag of crisps in the supermarket, which came to £11. We put it back...
We also made a stop at Tvisongur which made for a short stroll up to this weird building which were really echoey. No real way of describing it, but we graced it with some beautiful renditions of Adele and Abba to test out the echo. According to the google reviews that's what everyone does, we're not just weird.
We stopped off at a random bit of modern art at the side of the road, purely for the photo.
Next we went to one of my favourite parts of the trip: Stuðlagil Canyon. A place which doesn't seem to get that mentioned in itineraries, it required a 15km drive each way on an unpaved gravel path, and then a 3km hike. It was so worth it. We arrived late, around 8pm, and at 9.30pm I realised we were at the bottom of the canyon, 3km from the car park, 15km from the road, having had no dinner, and no clue where we were staying. Fortunately we found a campsite, drove there, and all was well.
Day 4:
The next day, we headed to Dettifoss waterfall, the most powerful waterfall in Europe. Pretty cool. By this point, if it wasn't painfully obvious, I was a bit done with waterfalls, but I can't lie this was a cool one.
We then headed to a big crater, I'm not sure what it was called. We didn't have time to walk the whole way around it, but it was a cool view, and felt a bit like we were on the moon. There was a tiny American child in an astronaut suit too, cute.
We visited a cafe where a friend of Arun's worked which was cute, and then panic booked a Blue Lagoon equivalent. We discovered that it was cheaper, offered a student price, and didn't come with a £40 return bus transfer that the Blue Lagoon did. So we went. What a dreamy way to spend an afternoon, swimming around, having a drink, popping in the scorching hot tub or sauna. Loved it.
We stopped off at a cave which apparently some characters in Game of Thrones have sex in, as I haven't watched, this wasn't particularly thrilling. We then continued our drive, stopping at, you guessed it, another waterfall. This was a nice one to be fair, and it was golden hour which made it even prettier.
We drove on, by this point we were a bit behind the itinerary. We found a nice looking campsite in the forest- a rare site in Iceland. This was a cute little campsite, but absolutely overrun with midges. We opened the camper door and approx. a million got in. So gross. But, it was really sweet with a nice indoor kitchen area, and a British family (the only one we saw), and the toilets were heated! Would still recommend. The campsite was called Systragil Camping Ground.
Day 5:
The dreaded day we got fined x As mentioned previously, we got a parking fine in Akureyri. But let's not dwell on that x
After waking up near the forest, we drove on to Akureyri.
We had a nice walk around the botanical gardens, where I also used the loos without paying, and spent the rest of the day expecting to be arrested. It was a super cute town, where we took full advantage and had a vegan hot dog for lunch, shared some cake and got 2 big cinammon buns to take with us.
We also stopped at Sundlaug Akureyrar, the local swimming pool. For under £6 each, we spent a couple of hours at the pools, using the water slides, hot tub, sauna and plunge pool. Yep, swimming again- the regular dips in warm water were one of my favourite parts of the trip.
After Akureyri, we headed along the road. We drove the scenic route along the route and went through some towns, but didn't actually do anything exciting. There was a nice place for dinner but given we'd just been fined we were too bitter to spend any more money.
We stopped to camp at a guesthouse with a campground, and sat inside their reception to charge my phone, expecting to get kicked out, but somehow didn't. This campground was called Gladheimar camping ground.
Day 6:
Today we went whale watching! I booked the tour online, finding it was almost half as cheap as the others from different towns. It was a bit of a gamble as it had less reviews than others, but hey, high risk high reward. It paid off. The tour was about 2.5 hours, and the boat was fine. So flat, so stable. I get embarrassingly boat sick, but I was fine. We followed one humpback whale around for the whole tour, and ended up getting really close. We were the only boat which does trips in that fjord which was great, and our tour leader was knowledgeable. We also saw loads of puffins from the boat. Overall, very cool. The tour was in Holmavik, pretty far in the north west.
We then headed along the road, where there was another hot pool by the side of the road, on google maps called Horgshlidarlaug. This one was full of algae, but I'll take that for a free dip in water which felt just like a bath. I sat here for half an hour or so while Arun did a virtual house viewing, and only as we were getting out did another couple arrive. You had to ask the farmer for permission to use it according to google, but the family we asked looked pretty confused.
After that, we drove onto a beach known for seal watching, conveniently named Seal Lookout. We could see a couple riiiight in the distance, so it didn't feel like a wasted trip, but it was definitely not the amazing experience I'd anticipated.
We ended up staying at Hotel Reykjanes Campsite- having been enticed in by a promise from a free massive swimming pool. Turned out this was an extra £5 each, and still fuming from the fine we decided not to. This campsite's location was amazing, we were right by the beach and had a little walk around.
Day 7:
The next day we were panicking about trying to pay our parking fine, as we would get a 33% discount if we paid it within 3 days. There were no banks anywhere near us, suuuuper helpful, so we had to focus some of our day on finding a bank. However, we got to see some cool stuff too.
First up, we headed to Glanni waterfall, and then onto a crater. The views were cool and it made for a relatively easy walk. From there, we drove into a town to pay the fine.
After this, we'd found somewhere vaguely enroute which promised views of seals. This beach was called Ytri Tunga beach. There was a reaaaally weird thing on the beach which we assumed was a massive rock. However, now looking at google reviews- this was a dead whale! Sad times
From the lookout area there were loads of seals swimming and playing around. It was really cool to watch, and everyone there was being quiet and just enjoying looking at them.
From there we drove on Borgarnes Campsite, which was fine but nothing very exciting.
Day 8:
Today we were on a serious mission. We both knew vaguely that there was an erupting volcano on the island, and I happened to see a post about it on a travel facebook page. People were posting photos with the lava and a link to a livestream. I opened the YouTube link the night before to discover the volcano was in full flow, but after commenting people told me the eruption was dying down and to come back the following day. So, day 8, with the deadline of needing to return our campervan, we set off to Fagradalsfjall volcano.
We paid approx £5 to park and began the hike up. Leaving the car park, a woman asked if we had a hat or hood, as it was really windy up there. I was a bit nervous having neither, but figured it couldn't be that bad. How wrong I was x We also wore sunglasses after reading reviews that they are essential. It was a tricky hike, climbing uphill to get an amazing up-close view of the erupting volcano. The way to go was obvious, but there was no defined path, and I was slipping all over the place on the loose gravelly rocks. Up the top was insanely windy, and I was finding dust and ash for days after!
Unfortunately the timing didn't work in our favour- turns out volcanoes do what they want. We did see the lava bubbling up and flying around inside the top of the volcano, but we didn't get to see the proper lava flow as it happened in the evening when we needed to give the camper back. But it was such a cool way to spend a few hours, eating some snacks and just watching the lava. A bit of a once in a lifetime experience, would 100/10 recommend. We even tried going back from Reykjavik to watch, but for £200 return taxi we decided not to!
From the volcano we filled up with petrol and took our camper back to the drop off near the airport. We were due to get the public bus, but managed to hitch a ride with a friendly local, Tomas. Dreamy.
What we missed:
There was some more stuff we could have done over in the west, but on our timescale, the distance to get there just wasn't worth it. There was Grundarfoss waterfall, Raudisandur beach, Hellulaug hot spring. However, we'd seen loads of similar things on the way around, so didn't feel like we missed out.
One thing I was sad to miss was Reykjadalur hot spring thermal river, which would have been a day 1 activity if we'd known about it. We opted to miss it in favour of the volcano, which I think was the right choice, but if re-planning I'd definitely fit it in to day 1.
Overall this was such a great trip, and 10 days was the perfect amount of time. Hope this helps anyone planning a trip there!
Laura x
