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Iceland was unimaginable. That country is truly magical and it’s honestly so hard to capture its breathtaking views through photography. It’s something that one must experience themselves but I’m hoping that through my posts, I can show you a glimpse of what this country has to offer.

Below was our itinerary for Iceland in 5 days (more specifically, south of Iceland) and it will link to individual posts that I do throughout the week. Because we went in the summertime, the sun never went down. Daylight was 18-19 hours and “dusk” was only 4 hours. We were lucky that we didn’t have a race against the sun to see everything we wanted to see. Although we didn’t get a chance to see the Northern Lights (you can only see them when it’s completely dark out), I still would recommend going to Iceland in the summertime. We loved not being rushed and having no timetable. A trip to our ‘destination’ would take 2 hours longer because there was so much to photograph and see along the way, but again, it was awesome that there was nothing to race against. We were able to do so much because of the unlimited daylight hours!

Also, keep in mind – Iceland is not cheap. Like nothing is cheap in Iceland except maybe wool? A regular dinner that we thought would be pretty standard like $50-60 USD was freaking $104! We didn’t get by with any meal being less than $100. We were talking to locals about that and they said it’s because everything is imported so it makes sense. This is also why you’ll rarely ever see locals at a restaurant in Iceland. It’s much cheaper and economical for them to save their money and cook at home because it’s so expensive to go out to eat.

I also highly recommend renting a car, specifically an SUV 4×4 or AWD. That is really truly the only way to see the majesty of this beautiful country. I also recommend renting from a local car rental company as opposed to one of the more major ones. We used GO Car Rental and had a very good experience. They have newer cars in their fleet and the car they loaned us was brand new. No one else had driven in it before! Having newer cars in a fleet means less miles, less usage, less wear and tear on tires which ultimately = less breakdown possibility. Of course, anything can happen, but it was good peace of mind to know we had a newer car rental. Gas isn’t cheap though, so keep that in mind when budgeting. For our SUV, it was $33 USD for half a tank! But we had petrol not diesel so that might’ve affected it. I would also recommend getting sand and ash and gravel insurance. You just never know where you’ll be going and when cars in front of you may be kicking up rocks.

Day 1 – Arrival/Reykjavik

Day 2 – The Golden Circle drive

Day 3 – Drive south along the Ring Road towards Vík

Day 4 – Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

Day 5 – Drive back towards Reykjavik and choose your own adventure

Pro tip – How to stay connected in Iceland

One final thing: none of this trip was sponsored. We paid for everything out of our own pocket.

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16 Comments

  1. If you don’t mind me asking…about how much did you spend for the entire trip (flight, hotel, amenities, etc.)? My husband won’t stop talking about vacationing in Iceland, so I’d just like to know how long and how much we’ll have to save.

    Thank you!

    1. I would say we spent about $2500-$3000 total. Airfare was pretty cheap, around $895 but I know it can go cheaper than that in ‘off-season’ but everything else in Iceland is pretty expensive and I think that’s where the bulk of our costs came from.

  2. I have never thought about going to Iceland, but after reading about your tip and seeing all the amazing pics you posted, I want to go!!! Maybe sometime down the road I’ll get to take a trip there. Looks like you had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed reading about all your adventures!!!

    1. I never thought about going to Iceland until my husband brought it up. I did a quick Google search and was like, “YUP! We have to go!” and I am so so glad we did. It is an unbelievably beautiful country that we hope to return to! I’m glad you are going to add Iceland to your list now! :)

  3. Great tips out of the gate about rental cars!! Iceland is definitely on Ben’s and my list!! Can’t wait to read the rest!

  4. We took a cruise last year that took us to Iceland. We not only got to Reykjavik bu talso to some of the smaller towns. In particular we enjoyed Seydisfjordur where I had the most delicious carrot soup and Akureyri where I had anaother amzing meal. Loved Iceland. Also cruised Price Christian Sound which was just full of ice bergs and an amazing trip through them. Price Christian Sound is between Greenland and Iceland.

    1. That sounds like so much fun and sounds so pretty. That Price Christian Sound sounds magical. I really want to go to Greenland next :)

    1. We felt it was PLENTY to do South of Iceland for 5 days. Realistically, we could’ve done it in 4 days. However, if you wanted to do more..like all of Iceland, I would say about 8-9 days is plenty :)

  5. Can’t wait to read more about this trip – we’re going to Iceland next year and have a week, so I’m hoping to take lots of inspiration from your trip! :)