One week in Iceland

Days 1-2: Reykjavik and the South Coast

Spend the first afternoon in Reykjavik: Hallgrimskirkja, the harbour, a soak at Sundhollin pool (ISK 983, the locals' choice). Day 2, drive Route 1 east. Stops: Seljalandsfoss (parking ISK 860), Skogafoss (free), the DC-3 plane wreck at Solheimasandur (a 4km walk each way), and Reynisfjara black sand beach outside Vik. Base yourself downtown at Center Hotels Laugavegur or the boutique Hotel Odinsve for the first night — both put you within a 10-minute walk of Laugavegur's restaurants, so you can walk back from dinner rather than drive. Aim to leave Reykjavik by 8am on day 2 to beat the tour buses to Seljalandsfoss, which gets crowded by mid-morning in July.

Sleep in Vik. Icelandair Hotel Vik runs about ISK 27020 in shoulder season; guesthouses on Vikurbraut are closer to ISK 17195. Eat at Sudur-Vik for a ISK 3439 lamb dish. Book Vik lodging at least six weeks ahead in July and August, when the village's few hundred beds fill with Ring Road traffic; shoulder-season (May, September) offers the same rooms for less and thinner crowds at Reynisfjara. If Vik is full, Hvolsvollur, 30 minutes back west, has overflow guesthouses and is close enough to reach Skogafoss the next morning. Skip the paid Solheimasandur shuttle bus unless you are short on time — the walk itself, across flat black sand, is part of the appeal.

Days 3-4: Glacier Lagoon to the East Fjords

Drive east to Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon — the boat tour is ISK 6755 and worth it. Diamond Beach across the road is free. Continue to Hofn for langoustine dinner at Pakkhus (about ISK 5895 a plate) and sleep there. Book the Zodiac or amphibian boat tour online at least a day ahead in peak summer, since afternoon departures sell out by lunchtime. The drive from Vik to Jokulsarlon covers roughly 190km and takes about two and a half hours without stops, so budget a full day rather than trying to combine it with Hofn sightseeing. For a splurge near the lagoon itself, Hótel Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon Hotel puts you a five-minute drive from the boat dock, useful if you want an early or late light session with the icebergs.

Day 4 is the long East Fjords drive to Egilsstadir or Seydisfjordur. The road climbs and drops through 10 fjords over 260km. Stop at Djupivogur for coffee. Seydisfjordur has the rainbow street and Skaftfell Bistro (mains ISK 3071-ISK 3685). This is the least-visited stretch of the whole loop, and the road narrows to gravel in short sections around Berufjordur, so slow down rather than push for time. Egilsstadir is the practical overnight if you want a supermarket and fuel before the North; Seydisfjordur, reached by a mountain pass that shuts in heavy snow, is the more memorable one but adds an extra 60km round trip. Choose Seydisfjordur if the pass is clear and you have time for the ferry-town atmosphere; choose Egilsstadir if you are behind schedule.

Days 5-6: North Iceland and Akureyri

Drive to Myvatn via Dettifoss, Europe's most powerful waterfall (free, west side road is paved). Myvatn Nature Baths (ISK 6755) is the northern answer to the Blue Lagoon — smaller, cheaper, better views. Sleep in Akureyri, the second city, with proper restaurants and craft beer at R5. The east side road to Dettifoss is gravel and rougher on a rental car, so take the paved Route 862 approach even though it adds 20 minutes. Myvatn Nature Baths opens at 9am and stays open until midnight in summer, which makes it a good stop after a long driving day rather than a detour that eats daylight. Akureyri, an hour further on, has the country's second-largest selection of hotels outside the capital; if you would rather stay closer to the lake, a self-catering option like Akureyri cabin with an amazing view gives you a kitchen and mountain views for less than a hotel room downtown.

Day 6, head to Godafoss on the way west, then push through to Borgarnes or Grundarfjordur on the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Kirkjufell mountain is the photo stop. Godafoss is a five-minute walk from the parking area and needs no more than 20 minutes unless the light is good for photos. The drive from Akureyri to Grundarfjordur is long — about 370km and five hours — so leave by mid-morning and treat Borgarnes as the fallback overnight if you are losing daylight. Kirkjufell is best shot in early morning or late evening light, before the tour buses from Reykjavik arrive around 11am; skip the roadside pull-offs closer to Grundarfjordur town, which give a flatter angle on the mountain.

Day 7: Snaefellsnes back to Reykjavik

Loop Snaefellsnes — Arnarstapi cliffs, Djupalonssandur black pebble beach, Budakirkja black church. It is a compressed version of the whole country in one peninsula. Back in Reykjavik by evening for a final dinner at Matur og Drykkur (tasting menu ISK 11668) or the fish stew at Kopar down at the harbour (ISK 4176). Arnarstapi's coastal path to Hellnar takes about 45 minutes each way and needs no special gear beyond a windproof jacket. Djupalonssandur's four lifting stones, once used to test fishermen's strength, are worth the short walk down from the car park even if you skip everything else on the peninsula. The drive back to Reykjavik from Grundarfjordur is roughly two hours, so you can comfortably fit the peninsula loop and still make an 8pm dinner reservation in the capital.

Return the car with a full tank — fuel is about ISK 983 a gallon and rental companies charge double if they refuel it. Most Reykjavik rental desks close by 6pm even at the airport, so confirm your drop-off window when you book rather than assuming 24-hour service. Photograph the car at both pickup and return — existing scratches from gravel roads are the single biggest source of rental disputes in Iceland. If your flight leaves early the next morning, a night near Keflavik such as Hotel Ásbrú by Keflavik airport or Hotel Duus by Keflavik Airport saves the 45-minute drive back from Reykjavik at dawn.

Choosing a Car and Reading Icelandic Road Numbers

Route 1, the Ring Road, is fully paved and manageable in a compact 2WD, which rents for roughly ISK 55160-ISK 76370 a week in high summer through operators with desks at Keflavik. A 4x4 such as a Dacia Duster or Suzuki Vitara costs closer to ISK 96580-ISK 137620 a week and only pays for itself if you plan to detour onto an F-road, such as F35 to Kerlingarfjoll, which this itinerary does not include. Gravel protection insurance, sold as an add-on for about ISK 1966 a day, is worth taking regardless of vehicle — the East Fjords stretch on day 4 includes short unpaved sections that chip windscreens.

Fuel stations thin out east of Vik and again through the East Fjords, so fill up whenever the needle drops below half, particularly before Djupivogur and again before Myvatn. N1 and Orkan are the two main chains and both take chip-and-pin cards at the pump without a PIN registered to an Icelandic bank. Speed limits are 90km/h on paved rural roads and drop to 50km/h through every village, including one-street places like Djupivogur and Reydarfjordur, where speed cameras are common and fines start at ISK 20000. Rent from a company with a 24-hour breakdown line rather than the cheapest listing — Route 1 has long unpopulated stretches, especially between Kirkjubaejarklaustur and Hofn.

Where to Sleep Each Night: A Route Cheat Sheet

For the two Reykjavik nights that bookend the loop, Canopy by Hilton Reykjavik City Centre and Center Hotels Laugavegur both sit inside a 10-minute walk of Hallgrimskirkja and run ISK 33440-ISK 45080 a night in summer; Kvosin Downtown Hotel and Hotel Borg by Keahotels are the step-up choice at ISK 55160-ISK 68900 if you want a proper cocktail bar attached. Budget travellers should look at KEX Hotel and Hostel Reykjavik or CityHub Reykjavik, both under ISK 24560 for a private room and both within stumbling distance of Laugavegur's bars for the last-night dinner mentioned above. Book any of these at least a month out for June through August — Reykjavik's mid-range hotel stock sells out well before the shoulder season does.

On the glacier lagoon night, Hótel Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon Hotel is the only property within walking distance of the boat dock and charges accordingly, around ISK 68900-ISK 89620; book it three to four months ahead for July. In Akureyri, self-catering options such as Akureyri cabin with an amazing view undercut hotel rates and give you a kitchen for a change from restaurant dinners, useful after five nights of eating out. If you are stretching the loop to nine days and adding a Golden Circle detour before or after, Torfhús Retreat and Hvammsvík Nature Resort both combine a geothermal soak with the room rate, at ISK 68900 and up, which is worth the extra night if your flight times allow it.

When to Drive the Loop: Season by Season

June through August gives the most daylight — near 24 hours around the solstice — and the calmest driving conditions, but also the highest hotel rates and the crowds at Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss and Kirkjufell that this itinerary is built to outrun by leaving Reykjavik early each morning. May and September are the honest sweet spot: daylight still runs 14-16 hours, hotel rates in Vik and Hofn drop by a third, and the East Fjords road is clear of the black ice that shows up by October. Avoid attempting the full loop between November and March unless you have driven on studded winter tyres before — the Ring Road itself stays open, but the East Fjords pass near Seydisfjordur and the northern stretch past Myvatn close for days at a time after storms.

Check road.is, Vegagerdin's live map, every morning before setting out in the shoulder months — it shows closures and wind warnings by road number, and Icelandic wind can flip a car door or push a high-sided vehicle sideways at 25 metres per second, which happens several times a winter on the exposed stretch near Vik. If a section is closed, the loop still works in reverse: skip ahead by internal flight from Reykjavik to Akureyri (about 45 minutes, from ISK 12775 one-way) and pick the car up on the other side rather than losing two days to weather. For a first-time visitor with no winter-driving experience, June to early September remains the only version of this itinerary worth booking.