Above is the itinerary for my trip in March. We drove around in a counterclockwise ring, on Iceland's Ring Road (famous main highway that loops around the whole country) and it was extremely convenient to get around. We spread this over 9 days, so if you plan to do this make sure to allot enough time for yourself to have a good balance between traveling and exploring! Since KEF airport is only a 39 minute drive away, we started and ended in Reykjavik, Iceland's capital. From the KEF airport, it is only a 39 minute drive to Reykjavik. My biggest regret would be not making it out to see the West Fjords! Unfortunately, the roads were a bit dangerous due to weather conditions, so didn't make it out there. So when you go on your trip I highly recommending trying to fit it in between Skagaströnd and Hveragerði on this map. We utilized www.road.is to keep tabs on the weather conditions and how it affects the roads. Roads do get closed off so it's good to regularly check! It seems a little intimidating, and like a lot of driving, but honestly we only spent around 2-3 hours per day driving from destination to destination. A total of 17 hours and 48 minutes of driving in 9 days!

Tip #1: Invest in a rental car! A 4 wheel drive (and maybe even a jeep or something if you feel like off-roading) is worth the investment. We grew a bit attached to our car by the end of the trip. We rented from Blue Car Rental and we were able to pick up and drop off our car right at the airport. It's the best way to have the most flexible and convenient mode of transportation. Although police are sparse on the roads, if they catch you speeding, they will 100% catch you. We unfortunately learned this the hard way, so abide by their posted speed limits!

Tip #2: Shop for groceries at Bonus Supermarket! Sure, the store's goofy little pig logo made me chuckle to myself, but all in all, you'll come to realize that eating out in Iceland is crazy expensive. Rather than opting only for gas station hot dogs (famous in Iceland because it's affordable, convenient, delicious, and comes with optional fried onion pieces and a wide array of sauces including remoulade, chili ketchup, mustard, and more okay okay I'm getting off topic...), the foods at these grocery markets are decently priced and much more nutritious than hot dogs and ramen. Netto is another market that is commonly found in the area, but Bonus is probably the most decently priced (and our group's unanimous preferred choice)!

Tip #3: Dress in layers! A common Icelandic saying goes like this: "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes!" It's honestly kind of true. The weather can go from snowing to sunny to raining all in one day. Bring a waterproof layer, bring warm layers, waterproof hiking shoes, and be prepared for any weather condition! As long as you are prepared for any weather possibility, no sort of weather can ruin you day (;

Tip #4: We rented a wifi dongle and it was only $10 / day. We basically had wifi everywhere we traveled, even up on the hikes! We only had to charge the dongle up and it would be good for 4 hours. We mostly kept it in the car for Google Maps so that wasn't a problem at all! Split between five of us was only $2 / person a day! Not only was it cheap, but it proved to be extremely useful for using Google Maps but we used it often while searching for nearby gas stations and grocery stories too.

Tip #5: Be spontaneous! As I mentioned before, Iceland's untouched nature is beautiful all around, and some of the most breathtaking spots we saw were not marked as tourist locations. All it took was for us to wander away from our car pulled aside at a random spot in the road to find hidden gems. All of Iceland is to be appreciated, and all of it is unarguably breathtaking.

Here was our day to day breakdown (please click in the blog post link if you would like more details about what to do each day at each location):

Day One: KEF Airport -> Reykjavik

39 minute drive

Day 1 Blog

Day Two: Reykjavik -> Vik

2 hr 19 minute drive

Day 2 Blog

Day Three: Vik -> Höfn

3 hr 17 minute drive

Day 3 Blog

Day Four: Höfn -> Gíslastaðir

2 hr 31 minute drive

Day 4 Blog

Day Five: Gíslastaðir -> Akureyuri

3 hr 28 minute drive

Day 5 Blog

Day Six: Akureyuri -> Skagaströnd

1 hr 57 minute drive

Day 6 Blog

Day Seven:Skagaströnd -> Hveragerði

(highly recommended if you have time / if weather is good to slip in the West Fjords for a day in between here)

3 hr 41 minute drive

Day 7 Blog

Day Eight: Hveragerði -> Reykjavik

34 minute drive

Day 8 Blog

Day Nine: Reykjavik -> KEF Airport

39 minute drive

Day 9 Blog