Our trip around Iceland

Nearly 2000 kilometers

9 days
Extreme weather conditions
DRAMA

Akureyri

On my second day I drove from Keflavík to Hvitserkur and then to Akureyri. This was 475 km of driving in one day on snowy road… The second day we took a “small” round-trip (269 km) around Akureyri and we almost run out of diesel. Actually we did run out, but miraculously we got back home. On the third day we saw the oldest church of Iceland in a windstorm and it was so tiny that we quickly turned our way to a hot tub instead where we had an amazing bath, next to the ocean with giant waves.

Egilsstaðir

On our way to Egilsstaðir we stopped to see Goðafoss which is a famous waterfall in the region. It was constantly snowing and the road was buried under it. The road conditions were terrible, but we still managed to keep a good speed (thanks 4x4). After that we stopped by a sulfuric smoker, so you could guess that it was a bit stinky. When we arrived to Hafnarnesviti Lighthouse the snow slowly started to dissappear. I think this place was the most picturesque. All the colours started to come back from the constant whiteness. We were heading to Höfn then!

Höfn & Vik

Driving to Höfn was a pleasant journey with extreme wind again. I could literally do the Michael Jackson 45 degree leaning against the headwind. We stayed in an isolated hotel where I managed to photograph the Northern Lights behind the clouds.
Our next stop was Vik where we stayed in a very cool hostel. We made delicous barbeque in the kitchen which was a bit noisy, but it was well equipped, except an exhaust fan, which blew the air instead of extracting… :D

Vestmannaeyjar

Driving from Vik to the ferry was shorter in lenght than the previous days, but we had a lot to see that day. For example for the plane wreck, it takes 1 hour of walking for an average person. And 1 hour back as well, before you think it’s for both directions. No! So we had a plan that we are going to break a world record and we do it half the time. Well we made it. But I can tell that it is very exhausting to run in wind on gravel. But you have to see that plane in the middle of nothing. It was so alien. At the end of the day we arrived to the ferry and cruised to Vestmannaeyjar which is an island with a volcano. We almost got seasick from the enormous waves on the way, but nobody puked! The following day we climbed onto the volcano. It was like walking on Mars. Everything was red. I had to take off my glasses, because the strong wind blew dust particles, which would have scratched my glasses so bad. On the top of the mountain we had some issues with communicating as we couldn’t hear each other, the wind was so strong. It was a bit scary not to be blown down.

Flúðir

We headed towards the North and the terrain started to change slowly again. More and more ice and snow. Before we got a sms notification from the police that be careful, because we are getting close to an active volcano we stucked in mud with the car. For nearly a minute or two we thought we have to call someone to tow us out, but the 4x4 came out from the mud pit which was a very sneaky one... Flúðir was a very calm city. In the evening I managed to take some decent photos of the Northern Lights (after midnight), which was very satisfying. In the morning after breakfast we only had to drive 10 minutes for our first location where we spent 2 hours. It was a hot tub again, but it was just amazing.

Reykjavík

On our way to the capital we stopped to see some geysirs and waterfalls. More and more crazy tourists started to come ahead of us and more traffic ofc. We had a delicious dinner in a cool place in the heart of the city. You could never get dissapointed when choosing pizza. On our last day we had a beautiful sunny weather so we walked around in the city and looked at the sights. I had a flight in the late evening from Keflavík and I had to take back the rental car by 18.00 and I got into a traffic jam (in Iceland lol) so I had to rush a bit, but everything went well luckily. Until on the plane a group of drunk people (like my age) caused some panic and we almost had to land halfway back…