Have you ever wanted to go to another planet? Go to Iceland :). The landscape is amazing and you will soon fail to remember that you are actually walking on Earth. The only drawbacks are the prices, but if you keep reading I promise you wouldn’t need to pay 8 euros for just a soup.
Iceland has a lot to offer to its visitors and it depends only on the people what experience they would like to have. If you want to see the Northern lights the best time to go is from September to April. During those months it gets pitch black outside and the lights will be clearly visible. Unfortunately, shorter day or absence of it doesn’t allow you to explore as much as I wanted. So, I choose to go in the beginning of May, hoping I will have the chance to visit it again someday, especially for the Northern Lights. May turns out to be a good choice. I had a good weather, a long day and the high season haven’t started. So, all the prices were lower and I could enjoy most of the places without the crowd.
The cheapest way to get to Iceland is to fly with EasyJet. They occasionally have very cheap tickets from London. Getting to the island you will need a car. The best case scenario is that you are more than two people, so you can rent a camper and sleep in it. I and my partner in crime rented a car and head to Reykjavik for our first night there. Renting a car it’s tricky in Iceland. The car itself doesn’t cost so much but you need an insurance and it should be a really good one. The weather in Iceland could change rapidly and can be really fierce. So, even if you are the best driver in the world that wouldn’t protect you from wind, small pieces of stone flying to your window and most importantly it wouldn’t protect your car from other people. I have seen people hitting another car with their door and just leave. They, of course, didn’t do it intentionally but to open your door and to lose it because of a very strong sudden wind is a very common thing that can happen there. So, pay for the insurance, because some rental company can otherwise make a very big amount of money on you later on.
The most popular thing to do there is to do the ring road. Most of the attractions will be close to it and require not so much of a walking. If you would like to go trekking you need to go during summer time July-August, because otherwise the huts are not working and the land is still covered in snow. The ring road can be done in 10 days. I met two girls that were planning to finish it in 7 days but you really need to run through the places. I did half of it on the south part of the island for 7 days and enjoyed to the maximum the surroundings.
What to do:
Don’t spend more than one day in Reykjavik, there aren’t so many things to do. It is famous for the nightlife though, so if you are party person maybe you can enjoy it more. Head to Gullfoss Waterfall, Geysir (which actually gave the name of all geysers) and Strokkur geysers, and Thingvellir National Park or the so-called Golden circle. The sad thing is that most of the people visiting the country do only that and it’s a pity because going east on the ring road you will see a huge waterfall at almost every turn on the road. The black sandy beaches are endless and the landscape is stunning. I bet all of us have seen pictures of Seljalandsfoss before and wondered where this amazing place is – it is there, on the road! Skogafoss is one of my favorite waterfalls and there is a nice hostel just in front of it. Close by there are hot springs where you can enjoy for free bathing and the view of the top of the mountain still covered with snow. In the area is also the volcano which recently erupted – Eyjafjallajökull. I have to say that the biggest struggle I had in Iceland was the way to pronounce the names of the places. Honestly, I still do not have any idea how to read the above volcano name. I think it is mission impossible for normal people. Only true Icelander or people which have Vikings as their ancestors have the superpower to pronounce those names :). Go to Dyrhólaey, Reynisfjara and sleep in the small and cozy Vik. Please note that from Vik to Kirkjubæjarklaustur (yep, try to pronounce that one :)) there is no town and no gas station, so make sure that your fuel tank is full when you go east.
Don’t miss to visit Svartifoss and you can see nearby the houses where, I bet, the hobbit lived. The next attraction will remind you that Iceland is actually on the edge of the Arctic Circle and yes, there are glaciers. And the place to see them is magnificent – Jökulsárlón. In fact, there is a lake where the glaciers start their journey in the open sea. It is full of seals and ducks and I had my toy seal, so everything was perfect :). Spend two days in the area. Go to the Diamond beach on a sunset and you can enjoy the view of huge pieces of ice on black sand. It does look better than all of the Swarovski stores put together.
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Continue to the east and you will enjoy the magnificent views of the fiords there. All the hostels on the road are good, but there is only one of those in most of the towns. So if you are going in the high season book in advance. Most of the people are cooking their food during night time and stocking with sandwiches for the trip next day. This was what I was doing as well, and it was working. Once you are on the road, stop and enjoy your meal while looking at the amazing wild Iceland. Don’t forget to bring warm clothes with you and everything will be just perfect (:.
P.S. Don't walk on the ice, it looks fun in the begining, but it is really hard to get back :). Contact me if you need more information. Thank you for reading and upvoting :)