Every road in Iceland has a story, and our renters have written plenty of them. These are real road trip diaries, not glossy travel brochures, from people who drove Iceland their own way and told it as it happened: the wrong turn that led somewhere even better, the night they couldn’t find a campsite, and the view that made them pull over.

Pick a landmark below to read how other travelers explored it. Read the stories for the feel of a place, then check the linked area guide for current roads, campsites, or an opening date before you plan your route around it.

Our most-read stories: full trips told from start to finish. 

A budget-friendly guide to Iceland’s Ring Road: Nine days, cooking every meal themselves, and camping as affordably as they could manage.

Camping in November in Iceland: A week straddling late October and early November, in the biggest van on the lot, heater running the whole time.

A week in Iceland, October: Seven days told one at a time, campsite named for every night.

Camper Van Tour of Iceland: Ten days in a Renault Kangoo, with the groceries, gas stops, and route worked out as they went.

For most renters, the trip starts here, and for a fair few, it ends here too. 

Reykjanes and Blue Lagoon

Most of our travelers save the Blue Lagoon for last. It’s only twenty minutes from Keflavík, so it’s an easy final stop before your flight. Book ahead: more than one story mentions the online slots selling out, including one group who checked the day before and found nothing left. Others skip that stress entirely and drive the peninsula first, lagoon last.

Volcanic activity has affected Grindavík and access to parts of the peninsula in recent years, so check our Grindavík volcano guide for the current situation. 

Featured stories

Iceland in six days: Stayed over in Grindavík, then found out at reception that the online slots were already gone.

Kiersten & Steve take on Iceland: Saved the lagoon for last, looping the peninsula first, past Strandakirkja and the mud pots at Seltún.

The land of Ice and Fire: a brotrip to Iceland: Started in Reykjanesbær with a grocery run and a warning about prices that stuck with them.

Area Guides: Reykjanes Peninsula travel guide | Blue Lagoon guide | Grindavík volcano guide

Iceland’s most popular route: three stops within easy reach of Reykjavík that many renters use to open or close their trip. 

Þingvellir

Many trips bookend here, with a first or last night at the campground. Silfra splits opinion: one group watched other snorkelers gear up and signed up for the next morning; another dipped a hand in the water and decided against it.

Featured stories

Ring Road trip in beautiful fall colors: Passed on Silfra over the cost, then booked it the next morning anyway.

Around Iceland in 8 Days with a Camper Van: A quiet hike along the fault lines on their last night, camped right in the park.

Barb & Troy’s September 2018 Iceland Adventure: First night at the Þingvellir campground after landing at noon.

Area Guide: Þingvellir National Park

Gullfoss and Geysir

Strokkur is the eruption everyone’s waiting for. One October group never saw Geysir itself go off, but watched Strokkur erupt three or four times while they waited around. A January group got soaked at Gullfoss, then walked straight past the geothermal area’s entrance twice before finding it.

Featured stories

An Iceland road trip in January: Drenched at Gullfoss, then the entrance they walked past twice.

A Taste of Winter: A cold, windy October Golden Circle, with Strokkur putting on a show three or four times over.

The Best Things in Life are Wild: Geysir, then Gullfoss, then a night parked up at Skógafoss.

Area Guides: Geysir | The Golden Circle

Kerið

A short stop that many people tack onto a Golden Circle day. In winter, bring crampons: one group was glad they had them for the rim trail.

Featured stories

South Iceland in 7 Days in a Camper Van: Kerið frozen solid, crampons making the rim trail easygoing.

Dino Diaries: Kerið first thing on their last full day, Blue Lagoon to close it out.

Rookies on the Ring Road: A last-minute detour at the tail end of a Golden Circle day.

Area Guide: Kerið Crater Lake

Waterfalls and black sand beaches all along Route 1, east of Reykjavik. Most Ring Road trips run straight through here, and it shows in how many stories mention it.

Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss

You can walk behind Seljalandsfoss, and a few travelers keep going a few steps further to Gljúfrabúi. Skógafoss draws a crowd: one traveler counted upwards of a hundred people in the parking lot, but only four on the trail above the falls.

Featured stories

Adventure trip to Iceland: Behind Seljalandsfoss, up the stairs at Skógafoss, then along the river above it.

2000km in a 4×4 camper around Iceland: Past Seljalandsfoss to Gljúfrabúi, then a twenty-minute walk to Seljavallalaug.

Finding solitude in Iceland: Over a hundred people in the parking lot, and just four once they walked a tenth of a mile up the trail.

Area Guide: Waterfalls in Iceland

Reynisfjara and Vík

Wind and waves at the black sand beach, then Dyrhólaey for the view over it. The waves here are dangerous. Stay well back from the water, even when the sea looks calm. Fog rolls in fast here: one story describes it clearing from the lighthouse within minutes. Vík shows up again and again as the overnight stop. 

Featured stories

South Iceland in 7 Days in a Camper Van: A windy day at the black beach, then fog at Dyrhólaey that burned off within minutes.

A Canadian Couple in Iceland: Two parking lots at Dyrhólaey, and a full circle of view from the upper one.

Claire & Mathilde’s Iceland trip: A night in Vík, and their first swimming pool changing room.

Area Guide: Reynisfjara beach. Read it for current beach safety guidance before you go.

The long stretch between Vík and Höfn, where the road runs right alongside the ice cap.

Skaftafell and Vatnajökull

Skaftafell is where most people camp for the night. The Svartifoss hike from the visitor center comes up again and again, and one group used Fjaðrárgljúfur as a stop on the way in.

Featured stories

Around Iceland with Dani & Emily: Two hikes before the rain rolled in, Svartifoss and a glacial lagoon.

5 short & sweet days in Iceland: Fjaðrárgljúfur on the way, then a night at the Skaftafell campsite by the visitor center.

Kiersten & Steve take on Iceland: The Svartifoss hike straight from the visitor center parking lot, then on to the glacier.

Area Guide: Skaftafell camping

Jökulsárlón and Diamond Beach

Time it for sunset if you can: one traveler watched seals swimming between the icebergs as the light dropped. Cross the road to Diamond Beach for ice scattered across black sand, or head a few minutes west to Fjallsárlón, which one story calls the quieter of the two lagoons. 

Featured stories

Chilling around Iceland: Sunset at the lagoon, seals swimming between the icebergs, and a chunk of ice breaking free.

A Canadian Couple in Iceland: Diamond Beach after the main lagoon, then back west to the quieter Fjallsárlón.

Samantha & Eric’s Epic Ring Road Roundabout: Diamond Beach, Fjallsárlón and Fjaðrárgljúfur, all in one stretch of the south.

Area Guides: Jökulsárlón, the Glacier Lake | Diamond Beach

East Fjords and Höfn

This is the quietest stretch of the Ring Road. One group met almost no other cars between Seyðisfjörður and Djúpivogur. Another warns that the stretch from Seyðisfjörður to Mývatn has the fewest places to stop on the whole Ring Road; food and fuel are easy everywhere else, just not always here. At the southern end, Höfn makes a natural overnight stop and is known for its langoustine. 

Featured stories

Iceland Ring Road Adventure: Borgarfjörður eystri, puffins, a night in Seyðisfjörður, and a note on what their camping card didn’t cover.

Ice island in a Camper Van: Seyðisfjörður to Djúpivogur with almost no one else on the road.

Exploring Iceland in a VW Camper, Day 6: Kayaking a glacier lagoon near Höfn, then a late arrival in Seyðisfjörður to find a cruise ship in the harbor and a bar still open past 3am. 

Area Guides: East Iceland travel guide | Things to do in Höfn

Mývatn and Goðafoss

Few stretches in our archive have been written about as much as this one. Dimmuborgir, Krafla’s Víti crater, Ásbyrgi, and whale watching out of Húsavík all show up here, along with fair warning about the gnats at Mývatn. Akureyri gets used as the overnight stop more often than not. 

Featured stories

Hit the road in Iceland: Dimmuborgir, a whale-watching tour from Húsavík, and the gnats nobody warned them about.

Ice island in a Camper Van: Krafla’s Víti crater, Ásbyrgi, and a near-empty campsite by Dettifoss.

Putting the Ring on a Ring Road Adventure: Goðafoss, then a night camping in Akureyri.

Area Guides: Mývatn | The Diamond CircleThings to do in Akureyri

Kirkjufell and Snæfellsnes

Some renters treat the peninsula as a detour off the Ring Road, while others build a whole short trip around it. Stykkishólmur and Kirkjufellsfoss come up the most, and Grundarfjörður is where one couple ended the day in a campsite hot tub, which sounds like the right call.

Featured stories

VanLife Iceland: Stykkishólmur, the Library of Water and Kirkjufellsfoss, then dinner on a seaside cliff.

Canadians in a Camper van: A sunny drive along the peninsula into Stykkishólmur. 

Four Days in the West of Iceland: Four dead-end trails in Snæfellsjökull before the fifth led to lava caves and a crater, then an evening walk to a soccer pitch ringed by black lava.

Area Guide: Snæfellsnes travel and camping guide

Ísafjörður and the Westfjords

Ísafjörður can feel like a proper city after days of farms and villages, and one traveler admits as much. Push on to Bolungarvík, and you’re at one of the northernmost points you can reach by car. The south coast road out here isn’t for anyone afraid of heights, fair warning, but if you want to get away from the crowds, this is where people say to come. 

Featured stories

The Wanderer’s Guide to the Westfjords on a Budget: Seals in Skötufjörður, then Ísafjörður, then through the tunnel to Bolungarvík.

Sherman Saga in September: Camping in Ísafjörður, frost on the ground, and a coast road they warn other travelers about.

The Golden Fur: The Westfjords told as a tale about three women and the sheep they never quite caught up to.

Area Guide: Westfjords travel guide

Dynjandi

One group calls it the jewel of the Westfjords, and drove Road 60 over snowcapped peaks to reach it. It sits further from the road than you’d expect, another story notes, with a walk past several smaller falls before the big one comes into view.

Featured stories

Iceland: To the Westfjords & beyond: Road 60 to Dynjandi after a morning beside Lake Sauðlauksdalsvatn.

Exploring Iceland in a VW Camper, Day 9: Dynjandi, then the beached ship Garðar BA 64

How to travel Iceland without a schedule: Dynjandi as one stop in a trip they kept deliberately loose.

Area Guide: Westfjords travel guide

Látrabjarg

The westernmost cliffs in Iceland, and getting there takes commitment: block out a full day just for the drive, one traveler advises, and expect gravel roads most of the way. Every story below mentions the same thing once they arrive: the puffins.

Featured stories

How we did Iceland in 7 Days: Their advice: block out a full day for the drive alone.

Pre-honeymoon in a camper in Iceland: Gravel roads to the cliffs, puffins, and a fox that wandered through.

A Honeymooniversary: A sign at the cliff edge warned visitors to crawl, and the puffins didn’t seem to mind either way.

Area Guides: Westfjords travel guide | Puffins in Iceland

Landmannalaugar

There’s more than one way to reach Landmannalaugar, and these stories cover the range: one couple drove an SUV in themselves, another left the van in Hella and joined a guided day trip, a third pushed up in July just to see the colored mountains for themselves. Brennisteinsalda shows up in more than one telling, so it’s clearly the stop people remember.

Featured stories

Wild Girls in the Wilderness: A 2024 SUV trip with hikes near Landmannalaugar and a night at its campsite.

Visiting Iceland by camper: A guided day trip picked up at the Hella bus stop, over lava fields to Brennisteinsalda.

Iceland Diary: A July stop to see the colored mountains, after a Silfra dive.

Area Guides: Driving the Highlands in Iceland | Driving a Camper Van to Landmannalaugar | 4×4 campers

Some stories aren’t about a single place. They’re about life on the road: cooking in a van, camping for the first time, chasing the northern lights, and going it alone. 

Featured stories

Survival guide to campervanning in Iceland: A March trip in a van called Herby, with the bed packed away in two minutes flat (they timed it) and a warning to always park facing the wind. 

Cooking in a Camper Van: How one traveler handled meals on the road.

Camping for the first time: Ramen, eggs, and a bottle of sriracha to keep costs down, plus the gas station attendant who offered them the staff sink to wash their dishes. 

The Northern lights & bad luck: A week of near misses and a day stuck in a blizzard, then one of them stepped out of the van to boil water for tea and looked up.

Share your own trip

Drove Iceland in one of our vans? Send us your story, and you could win your rental back. Email it to camperstories@rent.is with your name and reservation number. Stories need at least 1,000 words and five original photos or videos. See Win Your Rental Back for how the competition works.

Plan your own trip

Compare our campers

A 7-day Ring Road itinerary

What an Iceland trip costs

4×4 campers for the Highlands

Frequently asked questions

What does a typical Camperstories trip look like?

Seven days is the typical length in the trip diaries we analyzed, and fewer than half of the travelers complete the full Ring Road. Most combine part of it with the Golden Circle and the South Coast. Month and trip length come from what travelers wrote, so treat them as a guide, not a count. The full breakdown is in What real Iceland camper van trips look like.

Which month do most travelers write about?

October. According to the same analysis, more stories describe autumn trips than summer ones. For month-by-month planning, see the best time of year to visit Iceland.

Do I need a 4×4 to visit the places in these stories?

In the trip diaries we analyzed, about 80 percent of rentals were standard camper vans rather than 4x4s. The Highlands are a different matter, because F-roads have their own vehicle rules, so start with our 4×4 vs 2WD camper van guide.

Are the road and campsite details in these stories still correct?

Not always. Roads, prices, campground rules, and opening dates change, and many stories were written years ago. Read them for the experience and use the linked guide beside each landmark for current conditions.

Can I read stories from a specific month or vehicle?

Not yet. We sort by landmark first because that is how most travelers plan. Month and vehicle filters are on our list.

How do I find a story near where I am going?

Use the jump links at the top, or open the “View all” page for any landmark. A story that covers several places appears under each one, up to three.