One of many first stuff you would possibly take into consideration when planning a visit to Iceland is whether or not to drive the total size of the ring highway that goes across the complete nation – often called Route 1, and to not be confused with the Golden Circle which is near Reykjavik and offers you quick access to some key sights that may be seen in a single day.
To evaluate this, we wanted to first know the way far it was and the way lengthy it might take. The reply to that query is that Iceland’s complete ring highway covers 1,317 kilometres and, in principle, could be pushed in simply 16.5 hours (albeit by continuous driving – however even when sharing the driving, you’ll nonetheless must cease to vary drivers and to re-fuel!). This additionally assumes no visitors by any means.
Given that you would be able to, in principle, comfortably get all the way in which round in simply two normal-but-long days of driving (8-10 hours), this leaves many individuals contemplating how achievable it’s for a circumnavigation of your complete nation by highway, significantly if they’re staying within the nation for longer.
So how lengthy do you really must observe your complete size of the ring highway? The final advice that I’ve learn for that is that realistically it is advisable to enable at the least 6 days to drive the route in Summer time or at the least 12 days if driving in Winter.
We had simply 8 days – 9 if you happen to included the day of our departure however, since we had an early morning flight, it actually was simply 8 days. So, in principle, since we had been visiting in Summer time, we had greater than sufficient time to do a so-called 6-day highway journey.
However the increasingly more I studied the maps and examined what there may be to see and do alongside the way in which, I significantly questioned whether or not 6 days is in any respect sensible. There are such a lot of pure wonders to see in Iceland that, if you happen to had been to drive all the way in which round in simply 6 days, I don’t assume you’ll do any of it justice. Your stops must be hurried and you would need to miss out many issues that you simply would possibly in any other case need to see. Briefly, it simply wouldn’t be enjoyable, in my view.
Let’s take a few of the sights for example. In the event you wished to see Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Seashore, which lies on the ring highway… are you truthfully telling me you’d be pleased to cease right here, see it and hop again within the automotive once more 20 minutes later? No, I hope not! You need to take all of it in… admire the view, perhaps wander across the lagoon little, even perhaps go on one of many boat rides. You’ll need to wander from the lagoon to the shore and see the massive blocks of ice on the seaside, glowing within the sunshine. You possibly can simply spend at the least an hour or two right here, and doubtlessly for much longer.
Equally, there are sights akin to the airplane wreck which, though thought of to be on the Route 1 ring highway, are in all probability a 45-minute stroll away. You in all probability want to permit at the least 2 hours to go to the airplane wreck, presumably longer relying in your strolling pace and the way lengthy you need to spend there.
Waterfalls akin to Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss are the identical. They’re very near the ring highway so, in principle, you possibly can hop out of your automotive, take {a photograph} and be in your means… however the place is the enjoyable in that? At Skógafoss, you’ll need to climb the steps to the appropriate which really takes you alongside a path you possibly can observe for miles, taking in but extra waterfalls. At Seljandsfoss, you’ll need to observe the trail that takes you around the again of the waterfall and perhaps even go to the a lot lesser-known and harder to entry close by waterfall of Gljúfrabúi. All of this takes time, but it surely’s time properly spent and I’d sooner be doing issues like this than spending most of my time in a automotive.
It’s additionally price mentioning that a lot of Iceland’s key sights – significantly for first time guests – like within the south and west of the nation. On condition that your journey will little doubt start from the south-west, both from Keflavik Airport or Reykjavik, you’ll discover the best focus of sights don’t necessitate you driving all the way in which across the nation.
Then there are personal excursions that you simply would possibly like to contemplate – for instance, we did a Katla ice cave tour that took up a complete morning and a snowmobiling tour that took up most of a day. In case your objective is to get across the nation in only a handful of days, you’re going to need to forego a number of these sorts of alternatives.
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And I haven’t even talked about stopping for meals. Wouldn’t you favor to cease, sit down and chill out with some Icelandic meals, reasonably than simply seize some snacks from a service station and press on? A few of Iceland’s well-known pink scorching lava soup, maybe?
Briefly, permitting your self extra time to get across the nation, or understanding your limitations and selecting to not try it if you happen to don’t really feel you’ve got sufficient days, is an important choice to make. It’s the distinction between have a rushed and frantic keep in Iceland or having a way more leisurely one that you would be able to correctly take pleasure in.
Returning to the advice of at the least 6 days to drive the route in Summer time or at the least 12 days to drive it in Winter…. all of it appears far too hectic and rushed to me. I believe it’s extra sensible to recommend 10-14 days in Summer time and 20-25 days in Winter, and ideally selecting one thing on the latter finish of every of these ranges.
Because of this, since we had simply 8 days, we selected to not try to drive all the way in which round. Sure, it might have been finished. However I’m glad we made that call – there was nonetheless a lot for us to see and do within the time we had obtainable with out driving extreme distances. It’s straightforward to assume that you simply’ll see extra by masking extra floor, however on this occasion I don’t assume this might have been the case.
Have you ever pushed your complete ring highway? How lengthy did you allocate and did you are feeling it was sufficient?
Planning a visit to Iceland your self? You may watch a video from our journey to Iceland right here:
Disclosure: This submit is sponsored by Icerental 4×4. Our journey to Iceland was additionally sponsored by Helly Hansen.
