Our camper van road trip around Iceland was undoubtedly the best thing we have ever done. We will post about specifics at a later date but here is a day by day low down of what we got up, with a few snaps thrown in for good measure.

Day 1 – Getting Started And The Secret Lagoon

After landing in Keflavik in the late afternoon we were greeted by a man from Happy Campers who took us to pick up our van. This was the first time either of us had driven a van and the first time we’d ever driven on the right hand side of the road which resulted in us immediately driving the wrong way out of the rental shop! Eventually we got our bearings, headed to a Bonus supermarket to pick up supplies for the road and set off towards Secret Lagoon.

The Secret Lagoon, or Gamla Laugin, near Fludir is a natural hot spring that was first used by Icelanders in 1981. Before our trip we hadn’t heard of it, and understandably so as of all the lagoons people write about it is usually the more commercial Blue Lagoon that steals the limelight. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more authentic Icelandic hot spring experience than here. We stayed for a couple of hours taking it all in as people came and left, moving around the pool until we found an area with just the right temperature. Before we left we walked around the surrounding area which is full of bubbling mud pools and hot springs, the smell took a while to get used to but if you go here you are in for an unforgettable swimming experience! One note of warning – be careful of the underwater boulders in the middle! They didn’t agree with our shin bones! From the Secret Lagoon we later set up camp just around the corner a large camp site. Day 2 – Tumbling Water and Black Sand Beaches After breakfast we headed south for what would prove to be our busiest day. First stops: Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss. These are two of the most visited and photographed waterfalls on Iceland’s south coast. The former has a large undercutting behind it which means you can take a stroll behind the thundering water – just be prepared to get wet! Skogafoss was our favourite of the two and with this one you can climb to the top of the former sea cliffs via a very slippery steel staircase. There is another water fall a ‘short’ walk up river but we was pressed for time and, after watching some idiots risking their lives amongst the glacial boulders in the river, we got back in our van and set off to search for a the Solheimasandur plane wreck. The drive along the south coast is breath-taking, heading east you have former sea cliffs on your left with thundering waterfalls and the baron sandur plains on your right. We also passed through curious moss fields; an other worldly landscape of moss covered volcanic boulders untouched for centuries. Unfortunately, at one stop off/picnic point (of which there are hundreds in Iceland) we saw that people had damaged the moss fields despite clear signs not to walk across them! Further east along route one we came across what we was looking for, a scattering of cars pulled up alongside the road but with no obvious attraction in sight. This was the start of the long walk to the Solheimasandur Plane Wreck. This is a former US Navy DC aircraft that ran out of fuel and performed an emergency landing on the empty black sands. Visiter numbers to the plane have increased in recent years, especially after Justin Bieber included it in a music video skateboarding over the top of it. The walk to the plane wreck is long and did become boring very quickly. Although the landscape looks like nowhere else on earth you get the impression that you are not making any progress. For 4km you trudge on, the scenery doesn’t change and your ankles begin to ache from the boulders underfoot and then you see it, it really is striking. It was smaller than we expected but you could go inside and read the etchings that have been scrawled into the steel over the years. This was truly one of the best photo opportunities of our trip – just be weary that you’ll be standing there for a while waiting for people to get off the roof so you can take a good photo. Overall there were about 12 people here.

After the 4km walk back we headed east once more. We wanted to end the day near Skaftafell National Park so unfortunately couldn’t spend as long at Vik’s black sand beaches as we would have liked. If you have time we would certainly say spend more time here, you could spend hours upon hours wandering the cliffs. It would also have been nice to visit the impressive dyrhólaey sea arch. Once again, another absolutely stunning landscape – one couple were even doing a wedding shoot here!

After exploring the black sand beaches we got back in the van, stopped for fuel in Vik and head passed more moss fields until we got to the busiest campsite in Iceland, Skaftafell. It looked like the Quidditch world cup!

Day 3 – Glaciers, Icebergs and a Diamond

The facilities at Skaftafell are excellent and once we had woken up we had a quick tea in the café and headed for our first hike of the day – to the spectacular Svartifoss. A much smaller waterfall, set in a gorge that is flanked by huge black basalt pillars. It was a steep hike but fairly easy and took about 2 hours there and back. This was the first time we experienced the changeability of Icelandic weather – it was so warm! We were completely unprepared and pretty much melted into our clothes. There are a few other hikes off the track and it is our understanding that people spend a few days at Skaftafell to experience all of the walks on offer.

After a brief pit stop back at the campsite we headed to glacier by which the national park gets its name, Skaftafell. As you approach it you will notice markers that indicate the previous extent of this colossal river of ice. Thankfully we heard learnt our lesson in regards to the weather here are guessed that it would be much colder and it was – as you get closer to the ice it gets colder and colder. After around half an hour we reach the tongue of the glacier which was massive. We really can’t put into words how spectacular it was so we will just pop some pictures below…

Out final stops of the day included more ice; the Fjallsarlon and Jokulsarlon Iceberg Lagoons. Both locations are where icebergs break off two of Iceland’s immense glaciers. First up came Fjallsarlon which was very impressive, there are boat trips into the ice but we didn’t take one of these. Instead we sat on the edge of the lagoon and watch the murky ice bob up and down. If we’re honest we’ve forgotten how impressed we were with Fjallsarlon because we were simply blown away by what came next.

Jokulsarlon Iceberg Lagoon is our favourite location we have ever been to. The scale of the lagoon is indescribable and the ice is so incredibly clear. Vatnajokull ice cap can in the distance extends as far as the eye can see and is steely blue in colour. The area was busy in comparison to many places on our trip and several boats were out on the water at any one time, there was even one person jumping into the icy water for a swim! We sat for hours watching icebergs creak and crunch as they slammed into each other as they left the lagoon via Iceland’s shortest river into the sea. This is one of the few places where, although pictures do not do it justice, they are still very impressive so take a look at the images below.

So that concluded our day and we headed towards the south of the east fjords to camp for the night. Oh, almost forgot, this also happened….

Part 2 coming soon…