Iceland June  2018

Iceland Route

DAY 1| 30th May 18 we are about to see the golden circle attractions of south Iceland, Tingvellir National park, Gullfoss Water fall and the Geysir hot spring area.

DAY 2| 31st of May we started our day exploring all the gaysirs just in front of our lovely hotel, weather was very clear 14 degrees…after a one hour walk we had one of the most excellent breakfast, than after we packed are bags and headed for Icelands beautiful South coast, first we stopped to see the beautiful church in Skalhot, we continued to the huge Seljalandsfoss, where we walked behind and climbed up just to see whats going on on the dark side… we walked to the other small rim where we entered under the arch in to the water to get very close by.

Now we are heading to skogafoss, climbing all the steps up, and hiking on top of the cliff above the enormous river of skoga.

The next 4 stops where  black beaches, and formations of rocks in the water looking for puffins..  viewing Dyrholaey bird cliff, stopping at Reynisfjara black beach till vik- we saw them far in the water for their lunch break

We stopped at kirk for a lovely restaurant, and exhausted   after 12 km of hiking and climbing, a day that started at 7:00 am and ended at the quite Geriland hotel

All together we have drove  277 km

DAY 3|1st of Jun, We started the day with breakfast at the hotel ( average) and we stopped at the golf course few hundred meters from the hotel to spot an amazing fall.

From there we continued east towards the cliff formation at Dverghmrar, a 7 min trail, the day started foggy but as we headed Skaftafell it got cleared. In Skaftafel there are many trail options we took the one to the ice glaciers, which was absolutely amazing,

The trail is only 30 min walk to each side, but stoping for pictures, and enjoying scenery it took all around 2 hours…

From there we continued to the area of Jokulsarlon… but many stops on the on the way for other lagoons, including a coffee break, at Jokulsarlon we took the amphibian tour in to the ice lagoon, started a bit foggy and improved while sailing.

Stopped for dinner in haki, pleasant…

We arrived at the Smyrlabjorg hotel not to late… ( early in our terms 6:30) it was a short day… i would have recommend to do also snow mobile this day so the next day can start earlier….today we drove only 164 km

DAY 4| 2nd Jun,  after breakfast we went for our first activity, the snow mobile drive up in the gleicare, we got our special clothes and first with a 4×4 drove up to 1000m , from there we got safety directions and hit the trail… it was clear and sunny.all together including stopping for pictures , including on the way down took 4 hours which means we have started our longest day at 1:00 pm, the route was suppose to stop at all the beautiful villages in the fjords , but after stopping at the pictures Hofn, and eating the best Langustin ever , we understood we will never arrive at time to our last destination, so we just made a short stop at Djupivagur to see the art of the eggs statues in the harbor, and than we continued through inland directly to Egilsstaor ( a beautiful mountain way, saw some rain dear, was worthwhile)… had dinner and another 100 km to Dettifoss, we arrived it was already 10 pm, but beautiful light and amazing pictures came out… we did some trails around including the horse shoe fall Selfoss and around 11:00 pm in full light drove for another hour to the hotel in the middle of nowhere, enjoying amazing sunset colors in the sky, and full light

We drove all together   450 km… a long long day

DAY 5| 3rd of Jun we started as usual with breakfast, the sky was clear and sunny, and we started with 2 places very close to our guest farm which we did not had time to do yesterday, first we went to Asbyrgy, nice early walk ( we took the short trail) leading into a magnificent majestic lake) than we headed to the cliffs and rock formation… we decided to skip the trail- took one picture from above with the car…

Our actually day begins searching for the puffins at the area of Tjornes, but the nesting place was closed by the honor of the land… in Husavik, a beautiful fisherman village, where the whale trips start… we had a clear view of mountains and the port, and we continued to Mivatten area, in Mivatten there are lots and lots to see and do, all in a very short distance… bathing, tracking, watching the kava steam and the crater… i would defiantly wont miss the grota with the blue hot clear water….

What I liked most was Entering the Lava in leirhnjukur, going over the magnificent crater in Viti, seeing the steam in Herrir and tracking in Dimmuborgir.

Since the weather was hot and sunny, we had thousands maskitoes and flys which got in to our face and made the walks unpleasant. So we headed to an excellent restaurant in hotel Grur.. and went to sleep comparable early 22:00 🙂

We drove all together only 280km

DAY 6| 4th of JunnWe woke up with a very clear sky, millions of mosquitoes, had a very modest breakfast and drove to another enormous water fall, after a nice short walk we continued to our really first town in our trip Akureyri, we visited the colorful and some how small botanic garden, no admission required, and than we drove to center of town, strolling around, having an excellent coffee and cake at the____ cafe.

On the way to our next stop at Glaumber, on the side of the road we spot the most beautiful cluster of poppyseed flowers by a small lake… we stpped at the bridge next by and hiked for almost an hour over a straw mountain, crossing a tiny stream to get there with out any danger of parking on the high way, it was absolutely breathtaking.

We still have a long drive it is getting late but full light so we stop for a short while to see the water falls and the canyon at Kolugljufur, and straight a head to the seal village Hvammstagi, it was already after 7:00 when we finished a great dinner at the restaurant by the harbor, and the seal museum and excursion where over. So we continued from there to the hotel… 11/2 hours drive of magnificent scenery fjords, cloudes water montain… amazing day of  490 km

DAY 7| 5th of Jun We started our morning at the beautiful lovely remote hotel Laugarhollm, With the sun shining and a tour of the farm by the honor.

Our day was planned to go around the beautiful amazing fjords , and our first stop was at a remote farm Heydalur, for the kayak activities.. it took us 2 hours to get.. ( never listen to gps when taking you through a rough way) the Kayak experience was great but cold… we saw a nice colony of seals and plenty of water birds… than after we continued arround the fjords stoping for a coffe and cake at the old house Litilibaer, and admiring the breath taking scenery that never ends… we arrived early to the town of isafjordeur… checked in to the very pleasant hotel Horn… after nice shower strolled arround the town and ebded dining in a local bufet fishbresturant in the harbor… amazing atmosphere, and delicious fish

We drove today only 298km

DAY 8| 6th of June In the city of Isafjordour we had a  nice breakfast, and knowing it is going to be a long day we started early( breakfast was open early) our first stop was at the house of the Icelandic local hero who fought for independence…,a nice farm house, nice museum and interesting lady… our next stop was at the highest waterfall of the west fjords which consists 6 small waterfalls under the huge one… a nice climb , the weather was a bit cloudy but still was amazing… a nice place for snack and coffee stop,

The aim of the day was laterberg to see the puffins… on a very difficult road , narow and steep we saw breathtaking views, went through small vilages, stopped for the smazing water birds and just 18 km before_____ we spotted an amazing nature swiming pool with hot boiling water, we took a swim and from there continued till we reached our last destination Laterberg cliff, one of the most beautiful places in the world… it was very windy 8 degrease but the adrenaline in the body watching this amazing bird The Puffin, makes you forget the rest… one can sped hours at that spot…. eventually arround 8:30 in rhe evening we got to the hotel in which was just around the corner

This amazing days makes you forget the rough day driving 40 km per hours

We drove today all together with D tours 260 km

Day 9| 7th of June,  Today first time in our trip we woke in to a cloudy day with a little drizzle.

As our first stop was to catch the ferry mid day, we had a relaxed morning and we left after breakfast at 9:30, going back on a much better road than yesterday and enjoying the last time the fjords views.

The ferry trip took a little less than 3 hours, in a bright sunny weather.arriving at sticky shalmor, we had a very nice lunch by the harbor and from there we started driving around the snaflness peninsula, visiting little villages around, but all of a sudden we got a foggy rainy weather, so we limited our walks, in Djupalonssndur, we hiked for a short while to the enormous stones on the beach, and also in hellnar, at arnarstapi we climbed the stairs in the harbor to have a short glance on the nesting birds, but was hard to see any thing with the fog mist and drizzle, so from there we headed straight to the Guest house, which was very nice clean tidy room.

The drive today was short 233 km hoping for better weather tomorrow for the finale

DAY 10| 8th of June, The morning started in Iceland  with moderate rain and grey sky, we decided to take the last day easy , so we could enjoy our last day in reykjavik, after an early breakfast , we headed according to our route stopping at the viking museum, and another small village , from there we went to our new and last  experience into the glacier, starting on a huge truck taking the track up on the glacier to the ice cave tour ( artificial dugout cave) it was cold long and quite interesting, on the way back from Huswell, we stopped at the last water fall for our trip Haruunfaossar snd from there we drove all the way back to Reykjavík, we arrived the hotel Blue Saga around 7 pm took a nice shower and  had just enough time to stroll in the old city completing  332 km

Day 11| 9th of Jun We woke up early Morning, 3:00 am, as we had to be at the airport in Kefjavik at 4:00an, it was a 45 min drive (54 km), enough time to say good bye to magnificent Iceland

We drove all together 10 Days 3000Km

Remarks:
1. All hotells are simple clean and tidy, with shoers in rooms, people are nice and very kind.
2. Jun is great time to visit, we had luck with bright sunny weather, long days, and not much of tourists
3. See that you get a good 4X4 car.
4. Iceland is very expensive, food in restaurant is expensive ( 70 eur per full meal) gas is expensive, lodging is expensive