Iceland Trip Overview - Aug 16 - Sept 15, 2018
How The Iceland Trip Came About
While searching for potential international nature travel destinations, I came across Iceland. Photos of the landscapes were beautiful, and I was intrigued by the low human density. It's a country a little smaller than the state of Kentucky (which ranks 37th among the states in size), and has less than 350,000 people with over 2/3 of those being concentrated in the greater Reykjavik area.
The more I read, the more I learned that Iceland is an international hotspot for tourism right now, but there is still an opportunity to explore much of the island country before it becomes over-commercialized as it tries to accommodate what is predicted to be about 2 million visitors by 2020.
The best time to visit would have been a few years ago, but we decided we wanted to get there before the prices got any higher and before the natural attractions became over-visited and trampled.
Planning
There are an ever-increasing number of websites and blogs dedicated to travel in Iceland. And I quickly learned that there are not enough accommodations during the peak season (mid-summer) for all the potential visitors. Thus, planning a trip requires advanced reservations IF you are not camping. And you likely won't have the option to make changes or stay over in an area that you enjoy unless you travel outside of the peak times, and even then accommodations can be an issue of not reserved in advance.
That led us to deciding to rent a camper van. The campgrounds don't require reservations because they don't have designated spaces that fill up like the campgrounds in the U.S. Most of the time you are parking in large fields or parking lots, and just finding a spot wherever you can. But they don't turn anyone away. This mode of travel would give us the freedom and flexibility to adjust our itinerary on the fly, and that's a big deal to us.
In order to avoid peak tourism season, we looked at what we called the "shoulder seasons" of mid-May to mid-June and mid-August to mid-September. The weather typically isn't as nice in those shoulder seasons, but there are fewer tourists and slightly better pricing. Ultimately, we chose the mid-August to mid-September timeframe knowing that we would still be able to access the interior mountains, the Highlands, and that we might have a chance to witness the Northern Lights.
There are several RV and camper van rental companies in Iceland and we quickly learned that it would be an expensive proposition. And to make things a bit more difficult, we wanted something that was 4WD. You see, Iceland has lots of unpaved roads and a good number of them are called "F" roads where 2WD rental vehicles are not allowed to go. We certainly wanted to venture into the more remote areas on the "F" roads, so we narrowed our search to RVs, truck campers, and camper vans with 4WD. That boosted the prices up to over $400 per day just for the rental for the 4WD RVs and trucks hauling campers (which have a bathroom of some type on board).
Eventually, after a lot of research and comparisons, I booked a 30-day camper rental with Cozy Campers. Their Cozy 3 van is listed as 4WD (it's actually AWD - all wheel drive) and suitable for "F" roads. We got a bit of a break on the price for booking what they call "mid-season" and booking for more than 21 days gave us an extra 15% off. The down side is the camper vans don't have a toilet, so bathroom planning and using public and shared facilities becomes part of the deal.
Once our dates were selected, our flight was booked, and our camper van rented, I spent a lot of time researching "hidden gems" of Iceland and planning a route around the entire island. That route was also somewhat influenced by campground locations.
We decided to purchase a Camping Card which would allow us free camping at 41 campgrounds across the country. It's good for up to 28 days, but the benefit ends September 15. The cost would be around $175, but it would save us on camping fees if we used it more than six or seven times. There aren't participating campgrounds in all the areas we wanted to travel, but we knew we could save a couple hundred dollars at least by using the Camping Card for at least half of our nights of camping.
In addition to campground locations and scenic spots in each area of Iceland, I planned to do the northern part of Iceland first while it was a little warmer and then the more popular southern part of the country in September when we hoped the crowds would be less.
I have a map of our stops, camping sites, and the places we fueled up on the map below (in chronological order).
While searching for potential international nature travel destinations, I came across Iceland. Photos of the landscapes were beautiful, and I was intrigued by the low human density. It's a country a little smaller than the state of Kentucky (which ranks 37th among the states in size), and has less than 350,000 people with over 2/3 of those being concentrated in the greater Reykjavik area.
The more I read, the more I learned that Iceland is an international hotspot for tourism right now, but there is still an opportunity to explore much of the island country before it becomes over-commercialized as it tries to accommodate what is predicted to be about 2 million visitors by 2020.
The best time to visit would have been a few years ago, but we decided we wanted to get there before the prices got any higher and before the natural attractions became over-visited and trampled.
Planning
There are an ever-increasing number of websites and blogs dedicated to travel in Iceland. And I quickly learned that there are not enough accommodations during the peak season (mid-summer) for all the potential visitors. Thus, planning a trip requires advanced reservations IF you are not camping. And you likely won't have the option to make changes or stay over in an area that you enjoy unless you travel outside of the peak times, and even then accommodations can be an issue of not reserved in advance.
That led us to deciding to rent a camper van. The campgrounds don't require reservations because they don't have designated spaces that fill up like the campgrounds in the U.S. Most of the time you are parking in large fields or parking lots, and just finding a spot wherever you can. But they don't turn anyone away. This mode of travel would give us the freedom and flexibility to adjust our itinerary on the fly, and that's a big deal to us.
In order to avoid peak tourism season, we looked at what we called the "shoulder seasons" of mid-May to mid-June and mid-August to mid-September. The weather typically isn't as nice in those shoulder seasons, but there are fewer tourists and slightly better pricing. Ultimately, we chose the mid-August to mid-September timeframe knowing that we would still be able to access the interior mountains, the Highlands, and that we might have a chance to witness the Northern Lights.
There are several RV and camper van rental companies in Iceland and we quickly learned that it would be an expensive proposition. And to make things a bit more difficult, we wanted something that was 4WD. You see, Iceland has lots of unpaved roads and a good number of them are called "F" roads where 2WD rental vehicles are not allowed to go. We certainly wanted to venture into the more remote areas on the "F" roads, so we narrowed our search to RVs, truck campers, and camper vans with 4WD. That boosted the prices up to over $400 per day just for the rental for the 4WD RVs and trucks hauling campers (which have a bathroom of some type on board).
Eventually, after a lot of research and comparisons, I booked a 30-day camper rental with Cozy Campers. Their Cozy 3 van is listed as 4WD (it's actually AWD - all wheel drive) and suitable for "F" roads. We got a bit of a break on the price for booking what they call "mid-season" and booking for more than 21 days gave us an extra 15% off. The down side is the camper vans don't have a toilet, so bathroom planning and using public and shared facilities becomes part of the deal.
Once our dates were selected, our flight was booked, and our camper van rented, I spent a lot of time researching "hidden gems" of Iceland and planning a route around the entire island. That route was also somewhat influenced by campground locations.
We decided to purchase a Camping Card which would allow us free camping at 41 campgrounds across the country. It's good for up to 28 days, but the benefit ends September 15. The cost would be around $175, but it would save us on camping fees if we used it more than six or seven times. There aren't participating campgrounds in all the areas we wanted to travel, but we knew we could save a couple hundred dollars at least by using the Camping Card for at least half of our nights of camping.
In addition to campground locations and scenic spots in each area of Iceland, I planned to do the northern part of Iceland first while it was a little warmer and then the more popular southern part of the country in September when we hoped the crowds would be less.
I have a map of our stops, camping sites, and the places we fueled up on the map below (in chronological order).
We are in the process of writing our day-by-day accounts on our Iceland Journal which includes a map of each day's driving as well as details and photos. I've completed an article on Driving In Iceland, and I'll be working on Campgrounds In Iceland, and lists of our favorite places and activities.
It will take a while, but we can send you emails notifying you of each new blog post or article we complete if you subscribe below.
It will take a while, but we can send you emails notifying you of each new blog post or article we complete if you subscribe below.