learnings from iceland

and just like that, my ring road + westfjord adventure is over.

  • lambs and horses — everywhere. lambs just roaming, running out onto the road. and SO many Icelandic horses just chilling in their pastures too

  • Icelandic breakys are simple but set you up for a good day, when included at the guesthouse or hotel.. otherwise I prob wouldn’t bother

  • the jimny was a good call, there were a number of really tough roads where a smaller rental would have barely survived. I got bogged twice. the only downside was that with the Icelandic winds and roads = more fuel consumed

  • the south is beautiful but very very touristy, for that reason, I found people (staff at hotels and restaurants) maybe not so nice (don’t hate me but I think it lacks that Icelandic hospitality and charm I witnessed in most other parts of the country)

  • the best hotels were the ones with cute dogs + waterfalls

  • there are a lot of little authentic stays on Airbnb, staying on a dairy farm for one of my nights was a highlight

  • IMHO - blue lagoon and those spas are overrated. opt for the geothermal pools in smaller spots and help the little guys out

  • the westfjords are underrated. a lot of people seem to leave it off their road trip adventures. my best stays were in a tiny fishing town called Flateyri and in Fellsströnd

  • in the summer, lupine flowers are everywhere. I think they’re gorgeous, in Icelandic they’re called ‘úlfabaunir’ which in English, translates to ‘wolf beans’

  • real sailors and fisherman are rough as guts here

  • arctic terns are vicious, will dive bomb and make horrid noises

  • summer days are full daylight (this was no shock growing up in north scotland!). investing in a good eye mask was a good call

  • I felt very safe everywhere I went. there were quite a few other solo female travellers on the road

  • being a coffee snob, I was very glad to find 94% of my coffees were quite good!

  • beer is also seriously good here

  • I would spend longer in the east than the south for sure

  • there is free car washing brushes and suds at most service stations to get the bugs and dust off

  • the flies were something I wasn’t prepared for… but coming from Aus and spending a little bit of time in the outback, it didn’t bother me too much

  • puffins are chill little guys

  • there were actual, real life rock spiders… at the beach. so be careful when climbing the rocks to take pictures of the many lighthouses

  • aim to make dinners at guesthouses or have meals from krónan or bónus (affordable supermarkets) to save money. dining out is expensive anywhere you go in the world, yes… but I found this a bit next level

  • lava fields also everywhere. most around the country have mossy layers growing on top. in grindavík, there have been many eruptions in the last few years. you can see and smell (I couldn’t quite articulate it) the lava from driving on the main roads into the small town

  • I was not a fish eater before this trip, but I’m a changed woman

  • 2 weeks was just a taste, definitely have more areas of focus set for next time (now that the ring road is ticked off)

  • I genuinely spent such a large amount of time in a state of awe, as one would expect when visiting the land of fire and ice

until next time.

Annabelle Reidy