A Grand Motoring Tour of Iceland

Day 1 UK – Reykjavik

Scheduled flight from UK to Keflavik. Collect your hire car on arrival, drive to and overnight at Hotel Fludir for 2 nights.

Day 2 Fludir

Spend a day savouring south Iceland’s attractions: the Geysir geothermal area with its hot springs, fumaroles stained yellow with sulphur and Thykkuhverir, the viscous hot springs; Gullfoss, whose waters flow down a 3 step staircase before plunging in two stages down a crevice at right angles to the flow of the river and Pingvellir, home to Althing which is in the hearts of Icelanders.

Day 3 Fludir Vik

Drive down to and along the south coast stopping at Seljandsfoss and Skogafoss, possibly detouring up to Myrdalsjokull for a glacier snowmobile ride before arriving at Dyrholaey. Overnight at Hotel Dyrholay.

Day 4 Vik – Skaftafell

Drive along the southeast coast with its vast outwash plains forded by bridges and Skeidararsandur, the black sands of the Skeidarsandur glacier before arriving at the edge of Skaftafell National Park. Overnight at Hotel Skaftafell.

Day 5 Skaftafell – Seydisfjordur

The highlight of this day’s journey is the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, undoubtedly one of Iceland’s ‘wow factor’ sights. Continue driving along the still gravelled section of route 1 overhung by rhyolite crags contouring the indented coastline dotted with fishing villages before descending to Seydisfjördur. Overnight at Hotel Aldan. 

Day 6 Seydisfjördur – Mývatn

Vast seemingly endless deserts of glacially crushed rock are the hallmark of the day before arriving at the contrastingly lush Lake Mývatn area. Overnight at Hotel Reykjahlid or Reyhnilid for 2 nights.

Day 7 Mývatn

Time to explore the extraordinary scenery and wildlife in the area:the wooded headland at Hofdi with its lava pillars; contorted black towers of Dimmuborgir; the pastel coloured Námafjall ridge with its steamy surroundings and the smouldering, sulphurous Krafla caldera. Further afield there are the multi-hued houses that hug the mountainside by the fishing village of Husavik from where you can go whale spotting; the unusually wooded canyon at Asbyrgi; Dettifoss with its dishwater grey torrent and the somewhat forgotten Selfoss with its wide curtain fall.

Day 8 Myvatn – Saudarkrokur

Drive to Akureyri, through the Öxnadalsheidi pass and then round to Laugarbakki for a night at Gauksmyri Lodge in the heart of horse breeding country.

Day 9 Laugarbakki – Isafjordur

Take the road across to Blönduos and follow the fjord road through some of the country’s most verdant countryside, then through Steingrímsfjardarheidi to Isafjördur for 2 nights at Hotel Isafjördur.

Day 10 Isafjordur

Time to explore one of Iceland’s most remote towns. Once home to a prosperous fishing industry, the decline has thrown up some quirky alternatives including swamp mud football!

Day 11 Isafjordur – Grundarfjordur

Drive south to Dyjandi (a series of falls, uppermost of which is the much photographed fan shaped one) and then along the northern side of the Snæfellsness peninsula, dropping in on Stykkishólmur and then to Grundarfjordur for 2 nights at Hotel Framnes.

Day 12 Grundarfjordur

A take your pick day! Bird watch on Breidafjördur bay; take the car round to the vertiginous bird cliffs at Arnarstapi (the hike between there and Hellnar is beautiful) or climb up  on to Snæfellsjökull glacier. The choice is yours.

Day 13 Grundarfjordur – Reykjavik

Along the southern shore of the peninsula to Bogarnes (the Settlement Centre there is a good place to catch up on Sagas that Iceland is known for) and south to Reykjavík for a final night at Hotel Centrum.

Day 14 Reykjavik – UK

After breakfast, leave relatively early for the Blue Lagoon and a valedictory bathe before dropping off your hire car and return flight to the UK.