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I've booked a trip to Iceland for the 9th to the 25th September. It's me and my boyfriend and we're renting a campervan to drive around the island. I've been using a website called Sygic Travel to try and plan/estimate distances to do each day. Some places, such as hotels, I've used as markers to visualize the distances we would do each day.

A few things we'd love to do:

  • snorkelling silfra
  • horse riding (maybe in 2 places if possible)
  • whale watching
  • glacier walk

What I mainly want to know is, can this all be done in this timeframe? My possible itinerary can be seen here: https://travel.sygic.com/#/?trip=56b8ae5ecdb53

Any advice would be great, I'm so excited and would love to have it sorted with a bit of extra time in case of bad weather.

If it's possible, we're considering just pulling over anywhere and spending the night in the campervan. We'd appreciate information on this.

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  • We've got info on camping in Iceland on roads and wild camping more generally, hopefully they'll help. As for the main question about realistic travel timing, unfortunately a few of our users try to close all questions based on travel experience that can't be answered by googling from a desk, they're trying to close this one, too. Realistically, you'll find help on tripadvisor or the lonely planet forum faster than here, I'm sorry to say (but you might get lucky here). Good luck with the trip!
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 22:44
  • Thank you for the reply! I have asked on TripAdvisor too so maybe I'll get lucky. I have Googled, but I guess the problem is not having anything set in stone. I see lots of people's itineraries and they just make it harder to figure it all out. Anyway, it was worth a try. Thanks again!
    – Aimee Jones
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 22:46
  • We're down to just one person trying to close this question now, it was two before. Who knows, maybe it is possible that someone who has driven extensively in Iceland will see it and be able to answer it before the people who are only interested in visa questions get their way! We haven't had a question about itinery times for the whole ring road before, but there's some basic info here that might help.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 23:00
  • @user568458 Voting to close as opinion-based since the time it takes to do this journey depends on a bunch of subjective factors including how fast you drive and how much time you plan on spending doing each activity. As a caricature, you could do the trip in say 7 days if you never slept and spent a few minutes doing each of the activities. Unfortunately we have rules on Travel.SE and opinion-based questions are off-topic. We can obviously take this to meta and have a chat.
    – JoErNanO ♦
    Commented May 11, 2016 at 9:05
  • @JoErNanO "experience-based" is not "opinion-based". Snorri's answer is based on direct experience, and answers the question. p.s. there are actually organised tours that do the whole ring road in as little as 7 days. The asker's not asking us to make up her mind for her, just to present the facts: which appear to be, 7 is possible but rushed, 16 is comfortable.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Commented May 11, 2016 at 9:24

1 Answer 1

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Yes, 16 days should be plenty of time in my opinion.

I have driven the ring road several times, sometimes in much shorter time, but then of course not with quite so many activities.

I took a brief look at your itinerary and it looks good. It covers many interesting places, although I would strongly recommend you to consider visiting the magical and beautiful Snæfellsnes peninsula. It's a little bit off the ring road, but it is worth it.

Although I don't have personal experience with camper-vans, I don't think you'll have any problems there. Travelers are usually allowed to park their camper-vans for the night in most places except close to residential buildings, protected areas, and on cultivated land. The best spots are often found taking side roads a little bit off the main ring road. There are also plenty of official campsites when you need facilities or you can't find any suitable spot. It's a great and flexible way of exploring Iceland. There might be days when the weather is bad and you would want to change your plans.

Drive carefully, especially when entering one-way bridges and on dirt roads. And make sure to have enough warm clothes. It can get quite cold in September, especially in the north.

Hope you have a great trip!

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