Icelandic Road Trip

The United States may be one of the best places in the world to take a road trip. It’s always been on my bucket list to take a week and drive through the mountains and deserts of the country. Now, if you only have 1 day, Iceland can pack all of this into a lot less driving. I think a lot of people come to Iceland to experience the countryside and natural beauty that it has to offer. I’d argue from my experience, that you can ditch the tour guides and become your own guide. 

Rent a Car

For some reason I thought it may be difficult to rent a car in a foreign country. In Iceland, it turned out to be extremely easy. All we had to do was make the 2 mile walk to the car rental store.

There are definitely plenty of tours that will take you around the Golden Circle but if you feel comfortable, and have some good companions, I recommend renting your own. This gave us the ultimate freedom to explore! There are a few big sights that many tours will try to hit as quickly as possible. If you’re somebody like me who likes to take it all in,  it was nice to have the flexibility of our own transportation. Before our trip, we headed into a local gas station to pick up some local road trip snacks too. 

There are suggested routes to follow the famous Golden Circle but some of the amazing surroundings and landscapes will have you wanting to detour. Just make sure to check the forecast, we hit some pretty bad storms on our way back into Reykjavik. 

The Golden Circle

It is said that Iceland is the country that is most similar to the moon. I was pretty skeptical of this until we reached beyond the city limits. Now, I’ve never been on the moon, but this country looks like a vast, rocky, landscape that seems almost untouched by humanity…

Then there are places like Thingvellir National Park that are so unique you may never get to see them again. Here, you’ll be able to walk between the Eurasian Tectonic Plate and the North American Tectonic Plate. 

About an hour and a half from that are natural geysers that look like a portal to the center of the earth. Every 10 minutes you’ll even get to see one shoot up water from deep beneath the ground. 

Lastly, depending on the way you go, there’s a series of massive waterfalls rushing tons of water every second. 

Earth’s Purest Form

It’s pretty amazing how many natural wonders are within a 4-5 hour drive in Iceland. I think the most intriguing part was that they are all different. There are giant waterfalls miles away from running lava off a volcano. It’s earth in its rawest form. It showcases the true beauty of nature while highlighting the earth’s variety. Somehow, all you need is a car. 

The pleasant surprise on our trip was how light it was all day long. This is a cool perk if you’re traveling to Iceland in the summer. The sun rises around 3:30 am and sets around midnight providing about 20 hours of daylight.