10-Day Campervan Self-Drive Around the Ring Road

Land at Keflavík, take the included shuttle to the Happy Campers base, and collect your 4x4 camper. From there, the Golden Circle opens up east of the city. Þingvellir National Park fills a rift valley where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart, and the Icelandic parliament first met on the same ground. At the Geysir geothermal area, Strokkur throws a column of water skyward every few minutes while the ground around it steams and bubbles. Gullfoss drops in two stages into a canyon, loud enough that you hear it before you see it. Faxi and Kerið crater are quieter additions if daylight holds. Pick a campsite from the provided map and settle in.

Booked activity: Silfra snorkeling. In a dry suit, hood, and gloves, you'll drift through a fissure between two continents with a PADI-certified divemaster, one guide to every six snorkelers. The water holds 2 to 4°C (35 to 39°F) year-round and visibility often reaches 150 m (490 ft). You'll spend 30 to 40 minutes in the water, then warm up with hot chocolate and cookies. The minimum age is 12, with height and weight limits for the suits.

The South Coast lines its sights along one stretch of road, so the driving between them is short. Seljalandsfoss falls clear of the cliff face, and a path loops behind the curtain of water when conditions allow, though ice closes it often enough in winter that you should confirm before committing. A short walk on foot from the same parking area, Gljúfrabúi hides in a cleft in the rock and rewards anyone willing to get wet reaching it. Farther east, Skógafoss lands wide and heavy at the base of a staircase that climbs to a viewing platform. Spray plus freezing air makes for slick footing at all three, so tread carefully near the falls.

Booked activity: Glacier hike on Sólheimajökull. With a certified guide leading, you'll walk out onto the surface of an outlet glacier where dark bands of volcanic ash streak through the ice. Your guide handles route-finding, explains how the ice moves and why the glacier keeps retreating, and keeps the group clear of crevasses. Sturdy boots matter here, since crampons need something solid to strap onto.

Depending on how far you got the night before, this can be a long stretch, so it's worth setting off early. Reynisfjara spreads black sand beneath a wall of hexagonal basalt columns, with sea stacks standing offshore. Warning lights at the entrance signal current conditions, and local officers close the beach on short notice, so respect the signage and keep back from the water. Sneaker waves arrive without warning here. Vík makes a good fuel and food stop. Inland, Fjaðrárgljúfur cuts a deep serpentine canyon with a rim path looking down at the river. Skaftafell lies at the foot of Vatnajökull, the largest ice cap in Europe by volume, and a walk from the visitor center reaches Svartifoss and its columned backdrop. Finish at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, where icebergs calve off the glacier and drift toward the sea, and at Diamond Beach next door, where the same ice washes up on black sand.

Morning belongs to the ice cave, and the rest of the day carries you into the East Fjords. Höfn marks the turn north, and past it the road threads between mountains and water for hours with very little traffic. A short walk from the center of Djúpivogur brings you to Eggin í Gleðivík, 34 granite eggs set along the waterfront, one for each bird species that nests in the area. At Saxa on the coast, incoming swell forces water and debris up through a channel in the rock and fires it into the air. The day ends inland near Lagarfljót, a long lake with a serpent in its folklore that Icelanders have reported sighting for centuries. Fuel up before the fjord stretch, because services thin out considerably.

Booked activity: Crystal ice cave from Jökulsárlón. From the lagoon parking area, a modified Super Jeep carries you out to the glacier, and a short walk brings you to the cave mouth. Meltwater carves these chambers through the ice each year, and the winter freeze holds them open, so no two seasons produce the same cave. Your guide decides the day's route based on conditions.

A lighter day after yesterday's long haul, and the quietest stretch of the entire loop. Hengifoss falls into a gorge striped with red clay layers between bands of basalt, reached by an uphill path that takes a while each way and gets slippery when wet. Beyond Egilsstaðir, a mountain road drops into Borgarfjörður eystri, a fjord village with a few dozen residents and the Dyrfjöll range standing over it. Hafnarhólmi at the harbor is the local birding cape, though the seabirds are gone for the season on winter departures. Time driving legs around daylight here, since the roads are narrow and the towns are far apart.

Booked activity: Vök Baths. Geothermal water and a soak, booked and paid for, with your entry time set in the plan. Arrive with swimwear and a towel so you won’t need to rent.

North Iceland turns geothermal fast. Rjúkandi tumbles down a tiered slope in view of the road, an easy leg-stretch early on. At Námafjall, the Hverir field is bare orange ground where steam vents hiss and mud pots churn, and the sulfur reaches you before the parking lot does. Stay on the marked paths, because the crust is thin and what's underneath is boiling. Dimmuborgir holds a maze of lava pillars and arches with waymarked trails looping through them. Grjótagjá is a small cave with clear hot water pooled inside, and it's known as the setting for the Jon Snow and Ygritte scene in Game of Thrones. Volcanic activity between 1975 and 1984 pushed the temperature past bathing range, so you can look but not touch. Goðafoss closes the day, a broad curved drop that holds up in any light.

Akureyri is the largest town between here and Reykjavík, which makes today your best resupply of the trip. Groceries, a proper shower, laundry, a swimming pool, and a coffee that didn't come out of the camper stove are all within a few blocks. Take your time, because nothing this well equipped appears again until the last day. Dalvík is a short drive up the coast. Afterward the road turns west into Húnaflói country, where Hvítserkur stands offshore as a sea stack that people variously read as a rhino, an elephant, or a dragon. Kolugljúfur ends the day, a gorge with waterfalls dropping into it and a giantess Kola in the local story.

Booked activity: Whale watching from Dalvík. A boat takes you out into Eyjafjörður, where humpbacks are the species you're most likely to spot, along with white-beaked dolphins, minke whales, and harbor porpoises. Departures continue through the winter, though whales move around the fjord and nothing is guaranteed. Warm overalls are provided on board, and you'll want a hat and gloves underneath.

Grábrók breaks up the morning drive south, a young volcanic crater with a stepped boardwalk to the rim and a view over the surrounding lava. Turning onto Snæfellsnes, Stykkishólmur wraps a harbor in colorful houses and has a good bakery for the road. The peninsula packs a great deal into a short distance. Kirkjufell rises in a profile everyone recognizes, with Kirkjufellsfoss in the foreground for the photograph. Djúpalónssandur is a cove of smooth black pebbles below the cliffs. Lóndrangar leaves two rock pinnacles standing out of the sea, and Arnarstapi has a cliff path above basalt formations and inlets. Wind is the thing to watch out for here, since the peninsula catches it from every direction.

Ytri-Tunga breaks the pattern of black sand with a pale golden beach, and seals gather on the rocks here, mostly in the warmer months, so treat a winter sighting as luck rather than a plan. Inland, Deildartunguhver pushes out enough near-boiling water to heat towns some distance away, and the steam off it is visible long before you park. Hraunfossar is the strangest waterfall of the trip: instead of one drop, hundreds of small streams seep straight out from beneath a moss-covered lava field along a wide stretch of riverbank. Barnafoss, a short walk upstream, does the opposite and forces itself loudly through a narrow rock channel. Akranesviti lighthouse on the way south is climbable and looks back at the bay.

Your last day, and the one to plan backward from your flight. Reykjadalur is an uphill hike through a steaming valley to a river warm enough to bathe in, and it takes the better part of a morning once you add the walk back and the time in the water. Bring swimwear, and stay on the marked paths, because the ground either side is geothermal and some of the springs are boiling. On Reykjanes, Seltún lies out bubbling mud and vivid mineral-stained ground on a boardwalk circuit, with the crater lake at Grænavatn nearby. The Bridge Between Two Continents is a footbridge over a rift between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, a short stop for the last photograph. Return the camper to the Happy Campers base, where the shuttle takes you back to Keflavík.

Booked activity: Raufarhólshellir lava tunnel. A guided walk into one of Iceland's longest lava tubes, along the path lava took during an eruption about 5,200 years ago. The tunnel is up to 30 m (98 ft) wide with 10 m (33 ft) of headroom, and a collapsed section of ceiling lets three shafts of daylight in near the mouth. Ice sculptures form just inside every winter. A footbridge and lighting make it an easy walk, and the tour takes about an hour.

Your trip starts at Keflavík International Airport (KEF). An airport shuttle to the Happy Campers base is included, and you collect your camper there. Pickup and drop-off are at the same location.

Your campervan is a four-wheel-drive Volkswagen with automatic transmission, an insulated interior, and a heater to keep it warm on cold nights. Inside, you'll find a gas stove, a cooler, and a full set of cookware, dishes, and bedding. The camper has no shower or toilet on board, so you'll use the facilities at the campsite.

• Campsite bookings are not included.
• You'll need a valid driver's license to collect the camper, and you should be comfortable driving a 4x4 in winter conditions.
• The route is planned for you, but the attractions are suggestions, not obligations. You decide which to visit, how long to linger, and where to camp each night.
• The booked activities are the only fixed points, so you just need to arrive on time for those. You can reschedule any of them as long as you let us know at least 24 hours ahead.
• Winter weather and roads change fast. Check safetravel.is for road conditions before each drive, and leave extra time. The aurora forecast helps you plan your Northern Lights nights.
• Campsite fees and meals aren't included.
• The weight limit for Silfra is 45–120 kg (99–265 lbs), and the height limit is 150–200 cm (4’11”–6’7").