Around Iceland
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Hosting you since 1937 Self Drive 10 days Around Iceland Hjörleifshöfði Welcome to Iceland! To make your stay in Iceland more enjoyable, we would like to draw your attention to the following: △ This booklet contains a standard itinerary. If you have Sat Nav added nights, please note that the itinerary has not been customized to show such amendments. △ This itinerary is a guideline for your travel in Iceland. The Speed Limit route may vary according to your overnight stay and road conditions, especially during April/May and September/ October. Seat Belts △ Even with the long daylight, you will not be able to visit every nook and cranny nor enjoy all the fun things sug- gested. Please choose between the sites mentioned Road Map depending on your interest as time limits your possibilities. △ The kilometer/mile distance per day is not precise. The distance may vary depending on the location of your Bin the Litter accommodation and the detours you take each day. △ On your accommodation itinerary you will find a detailed address list, describing how to reach your accommoda- One Lane Bridge tions. The accommodation itinerary also has a reference number, which is valid as your voucher. Official hotel check-in time is 14:00-18:00. If you arrive any later, it’s Watch out for Animals courteous to notify the hotel. △ Breakfast is always included during your stay, but no other meals. Many of the rural hotels and guesthouses offer a Gravel Roads nice dinner at a reasonable price. 2 Self Drive Around Iceland A few favourites from the trip ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Around Iceland Self Drive 3 Day 1: Arrival Akureyri 4-5 3 Pick up your rental car and explore Reykjanes Mývatn 6 Peninsula Egilsstaðir ➠➠Approximate driving distance: 2 104 km / 64 miles 7 Reykjavík 1 Höfn Please see your Iceland Travel Itinerary for Keflavík 9 Kirkjubæjarklaustur details about your overnight stay Hveragerði 8 pon your arrival in Iceland you’ll find your Vík Urental car help desk in the arrival hall at Keflavik Airport. The desk is open every day algae mask bring out the skin’s inner glow! from 5:00am – 5:00pm and again from 9:00pm- Kindly note that the Blue lagoon is very 1:00am. The staff will advise you where to find popular all year round and therefore you should your vehicle. book ahead. If you are arriving early enough in the day If you don´t plan on visiting the lagoon at we recommend driving along the southern the beginning of your trip you continue on coast of the Reykjanes peninsula. Start your road number no. 43 until you find your way to journey with a soak in the Blue Lagoon. Follow Grindavik. Take a left onto road no. 427 and road no. 41 towards Reykjavik until you find explore the southern coastline on your way to road no. 43, leading south towards Grindavik. Hveragerdi. Before you reach Mt Þorbjorn you make a right Follow this winding road along the turn to the Blue Lagoon area. To make it easier shoreline, past stand-alone houses, lava rock you can just follow the steam clouds rising into formations, and endless sea views. Take a quick the air. At the Blue Lagoon you can soothe detour on road no. 42 to Seltún (Krysuvik) Geo- away the jet lag and relax in the milky waters thermal Area and Kleifarvatn Lake, which are a of the Lagoon and perhaps enjoy a glass of the part of the Reykjanes fissure zone. famous Blue Lagoon cocktail while you let the Continue your journey on road no. 427 until 4 Self Drive Around Iceland you reach road no. 38 which will take you to ent lava flows. Kerið is one of the Tjarnhólar the charming village of Hveragerdi. The village craters, but is the easiest to gain access to and is one of the few sites in the world located probably the most famous and most beautiful directly on top of a geothermal area and of them all, as it has a lovely blue pool at its because of the numerous greenhouses using bottom. geothermal heat it is often called the flower Further along road no. 35 is another attrac- village. tion in the area, the bishopric at Skálholt, (short detour on road no. 31) which played a Day 2: major role in Icelandic history from the year 1056 until 1796, when the bishopric was moved Hveragerði, Geysir, Þingvellir, to Reykjavík following major earthquakes in the Borgarfjörður 18th century. You head back and return to road no. 35 and Greenhouses, Spouting Geysers, National Park continue your tour to the beautiful Gullfoss with Geological Wonders (UNESCO), Massive and Geysir region. The Geysir area is a colour- Waterfall ful geothermal field where you find geothermal ➠➠Approximate driving distance: pools and a spectacular erupting hot spring or 310 km / 193 miles geyser. In fact the Icelandic word "geysir" is the commonly used generic term for this natural Please see your Iceland Travel Itinerary for phenomenon. Every 5-10 minutes the geyser details about your overnight stay Strokkur (the Churn) erupts sending water and rom Hveragerði you will continue your trip vapour shooting skywards in a spectacular dis- Fon road no. 1 in the direction of Selfoss. play. Please be very careful near the hot pools Shortly after leaving Hveragerdi you’ll have the and geyser and keep to the hiking paths. opportunity to visit the Icelandic horse park You continue your journey further north to Fakasel, which is located on your right hand Gullfoss waterfall, the “Golden Waterfall”. It side after passing road 375. Before you come is a beautiful two-tiered waterfall that many to Selfoss you will make a left hand turn onto believe to be the most scenic in Iceland. It road no. 35 to the region of Grímsnes. Over thunders 32 m (105 ft) over a fault into a gorge, time Grimsnes has experienced over ten differ- which measures 2.5 km (1.5 miles) in length Around Iceland Self Drive 5 and up to 70 m (230 ft) deep. the results of tectonic movements in the world. From Geysir you will drive on road no. 37 It is the area where the tectonic plates for to the Lake Laugarvatn area. Laugarvatn is a Europe and America meet, and one can literally geothermal area, and it is said that