Route 1 is 1,332km of two-lane road around the edge of Iceland, and it passes within a short drive of the glacier lagoon, the south coast waterfalls, the eastern fjords, the geothermal ground at Mývatn and the whale towns of the north. It is not a difficult drive. The difficulty is the weather, and the second difficulty is underestimating how long the good stops take.
How many days you need
Eight days is the honest minimum. Ten is comfortable. Anything less turns into six hours of driving a day with photograph stops in between, which is a way of seeing Iceland through a windscreen.
A realistic distribution:
- Days 1–2: south coast, Reykjavík to Vík
- Days 3–4: glacier country and the East Fjords
- Days 5–6: Mývatn, Húsavík and Akureyri
- Days 7–8: Snæfellsnes and back to Reykjavík
- Days 9–10: slack for weather, plus the Golden Circle or the Westfjords
Build in at least one spare day. You will use it.
Summer or winter
These are two different trips wearing the same name.
Summer (June–August) gives you near-permanent daylight, all mountain roads open, puffins on the cliffs and every guesthouse operating. It also gives you the crowds and the highest prices of the year.
Winter (November–March) gives you Northern Lights, ice caves under Vatnajökull, and a landscape that looks nothing like the summer photographs. It takes away daylight (four to five usable hours in December), reliability, and any guarantee that you will complete the loop at all. Storms close roads for a day or two at a time.
What it costs
Iceland is expensive and the landscape is the free part. Rough per-person daily figures for two people sharing:
- Small 4x4 rental with insurance: €90–140 per day
- Fuel: €35–50 per day at typical distances
- Guesthouse double: €90–160 per person
- Food, cooking most meals: €25–35 per person
- One guided activity (glacier walk, ice cave, whale watching): €90–180
Supermarket chains Bónus and Krónan are dramatically cheaper than roadside cafés. Buy a cool box on day one and stock up in Reykjavík or Selfoss.
The stops that justify a slow day
- Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss — the south coast's two headline waterfalls, 30km apart.
- Reynisfjara — black sand and basalt columns. The sneaker waves here kill people almost every year. Stay well back from the water; there is no safe distance marked and the ocean does not warn you.
- Skaftafell — a hiking base with the Svartifoss trail and glacier tongues.
- Jökulsárlón and Diamond Beach — icebergs from Breiðamerkurjökull drifting to the sea.
- The East Fjords — the quietest and most underrated stretch of the whole loop.
- Mývatn — pseudocraters, lava formations, steam vents and nature baths without the famous lagoon's queue.
- Snæfellsnes — a peninsula that condenses most Icelandic landscapes into one day.
Rental car mistakes
- Not taking gravel protection and sand-and-ash insurance. Both are standard exclusions and both are common claims.
- Booking a 2WD in winter. Get a 4x4 with proper winter tyres, which are a legal requirement in the cold months.
- Assuming F-roads are included. Highland roads require a specific vehicle class and are closed until late June or later.
- Opening the door into the wind. Hold it. Every rental agent will tell you this and they are not joking.
Where to sleep
Guesthouses and farm stays outnumber hotels outside Reykjavík and are usually better. In July, book everything ahead — there simply are not many rooms in the east and north. Campsites are plentiful and cheap, but wild camping in a vehicle is illegal outside designated sites.
The best day we had was the one we spent stuck in Höfn because the road east was closed. Iceland does that: it takes the plan away and hands you something better.
For a season-by-season view of the aurora, see chasing the Northern Lights without wasting your week, and for the country overview, the Iceland destination guide.