Summary of 17 days in Iceland
It's a little after 3:30 AM when we leave the capital and head towards Keflavik. Returning the vehicle at 5:00 AM goes smoothly, and an agent from Blue Car Rental comes to verify that the vehicle is in the same condition as when we picked it up.
We take our flight at 7:00 AM as planned, heading to Geneva.
A Magnificent Journey
It seems that tourist numbers were down in Iceland this year. We didn’t really notice this and even found some tourist sites to be quite crowded: Jökulsarlon and the Vik area, in particular. There was a significant difference between regions, though, with the Westfjords being much less visited, as well as the central part of Iceland.
However, we were surprised by the crowds at Landmannalaugar, where the parking lot was full when we returned from our hike. It’s now better to arrive early in the morning at the more touristy sites. Also, over the past few years, most parking lots at tourist sites have started charging fees through the Parka.is app. Generally, the fees are reasonable, around 1,000 ISK. This was the case, for example, at Landmannalaugar, Fjaðrárgljúfur, Skaftafell, Seljalandsfoss, and Jökulsarlon.
As for the weather, it was variable but decent. According to the Icelanders we spoke with, they had a very rainy July. Out of the 17 days, we had 4-5 days with cloudy or rainy weather, but the rest was fair to very good. Regarding temperatures, we experienced between 5°C and 19°C, but on a "normal" day, it was around 12°C.
Overall, I think it’s essential to use the Vedur.is app and be willing to adjust your itinerary on certain days (when possible!) based on the weather, or even swap days around. We did this several times when we stayed in the same place for multiple nights, such as in Hella, where we saw it was raining in Vik, so we opted to spend the day further east near Múlagljúfur and then visit Vik the next day when sunny weather was expected.
This app is very accurate for hourly weather up to two days ahead, but beyond that, it’s more of a guess!
This was our third trip to Iceland, so we focused on some less touristy areas than the Ring Road: Vestfirðir, Landmannalaugar, Kerlingarfjöll, Thórsmörk... We definitely had some highlights.
First, the roads. Some of them are just incredible: F225, F235, and F208 South are absolutely breathtaking, and driving on these tracks is a real pleasure. We didn’t encounter any issues with river crossings. Our Duster managed them without any problem.
Regarding the places we visited, we absolutely loved Kerlingarfjöll, where we were lucky to have beautiful weather, which isn’t so common in that region. The sun enhances the already crazy contrasts of this place.
Landmannalaugar and Langisjór also left us in awe. These two areas are absolutely magical, true little slices of paradise.
We had also loved Thórsmörk a few years ago and enjoyed it just as much this time! The Tindfjöll hike left a strong impression on us with its incredible panoramas. I think it’s essential to take the bus to get there. The river is dangerous with a rental 4x4, and I strongly advise against attempting it with one, especially since the bus had difficulties crossing this year due to the high flow of the Krossa river.
Finally, for our first time in the Westfjords, we were struck by the wildness of this region, which is very different from others, where finding a large store or gas station can be difficult for several dozen kilometers in some places. Despite less favorable weather overall in this region, the landscapes and fjords are incredible.
