Our 9-Day Iceland Ring Road Itinerary: The Plan

Posted before departure — check back after the trip for what actually happened!

In just a few days, my boyfriend and I are picking up a camper van and setting off to circle Iceland’s Ring Road counter-clockwise over 9 days. This post is our full itinerary as it stands right now — the routes, the stops, and the four big-ticket experiences we built the whole trip around.

Kuku Campervan in Iceland

If you’re planning your own Iceland road trip, consider this your starting template. I’ll be posting an updated version after we’re back with real photos, honest reviews, and whatever we end up changing along the way (because something always changes).

Why Counter-Clockwise?

Starting from Reykjavík and heading south first means we hit the most famous stops — the South Coast, Vatnajökull glacier, and the East Fjords — earlier in the trip while we’re fresh, and save the more remote North and Snæfellsnes Peninsula for later when we’ve settled into camper van life.

The Four Anchor Experiences

We built this itinerary around four big activities we didn’t want to miss:

1. Sky Lagoon — geothermal soak just outside Reykjavík, a relaxing start before the road trip really begins

2. Silfra Fissure Snorkeling — snorkeling between two tectonic plates in Þingvellir National Park, in some of the clearest water on Earth

3. Glacier Hike — a guided hike on Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest ice cap

4. Húsavík Whale Watching — widely

considered the whale watching capital of Iceland

Everything else in the itinerary is built around getting to these four stops with enough time (and daylight) to enjoy them properly.

Day-by-Day Itinerary

Day 1 — Reykjavík & Sky Lagoon

Pick up the camper van, get settled, and ease into the trip with a soak at Sky Lagoon before hitting the road.

Sky Lagoon Infinity Edge

Day 2 — Golden Circle & Silfra Snorkeling

Þingvellir National Park, Geysir geothermal area, Gullfoss waterfall, capped off with snorkeling the Silfra fissure.

Snorkeling in the Silfra Fissure

Day 3 — South Coast Waterfalls

Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss, then the black sand beach at Reynisfjara.

Skogafoss

Day 4 — Vatnajökull & Glacier Hike

Into Skaftafell for a guided glacier hike on Vatnajökull.

Glacier Hike

Day 5 — Jökulsárlón & Diamond Beach

The glacier lagoon and its iceberg-strewn beach — one of the most photographed spots in Iceland for good reason.

Diamond Beach

Day 6 — East Fjords

Slower, quieter driving day through fjord towns and dramatic coastal scenery.

East Fjords

Day 7 — Mývatn & Húsavík Whale Watching

Geothermal fields and lava formations around Lake Mývatn, then on to Húsavík for whale watching.

Whale Watching in Husavik

Day 8 — North Iceland to Snæfellsnes

Long driving day connecting the north back toward the western peninsula, often called “Iceland in Miniature.”

Snæfellsnes Peninsula

Day 9 — Snæfellsnes Peninsula & Return to Reykjavík. Coastal stops on the peninsula before dropping off the van back in Reykjavík.

Reykjavik

What We’re Bringing / Prepping

• Waterproof layers (non-negotiable for Silfra and the glacier hike)

• A flexible mindset — weather in Iceland changes fast, and this itinerary is a plan, not a promise

• Offline maps downloaded, since cell service gets spotty outside the Ring Road’s main stretches

Follow Along

I’ll be documenting the whole trip on TikTok (I will attach my TikTok once it’s been created) and I’ll be back here with the real version of this post — what worked, what we skipped, what surprised us, and full reviews of the tour operators we used for the glacier hike, snorkeling, and whale watching.

Have questions about planning your own Ring Road trip? Drop them in the comments — I’ll try to answer before we lose signal somewhere in the East Fjords.