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My first impression is that it is okay. The bed is fine, but I am unable to sit upright in the back unless I am on the floor of the van. There also is nowhere to put anything, so I basically have to live out of my suitcase. Not the best, but I will see how the next 2 weeks go. One issue is that the wifi that came with the van is not working. I tried calling for support but no answer. Will try again tomorrow. After I picked up the van, I drove to the supermarket. I got a few things at the “Bonus” grocery story, and more at “Krogan”. Krogan seemed better, will have to keep an eye out for them. I then drove south and east along the ring road (counter clockwise). I passed several great attractions that I saw when I was last here 2 years ago. I did stop at Kvernufoss which is a decent waterfall that you can walk behind. I also stopped at Dyrholaey promontory, which overlooks some black sand beaches and has good views of the coast. It was windy, but my jacket seems to be windproof which is great. I was getting tired at that point, so I drove onward to Vik which was my stop for the night. The campground is good. I boiled some water for soup and ate a few other things, then showered and went to bed early. June 15, 2025 - Sunday Skaftafell Iceland I called about the wifi issue. Lady I spoke to didn’t know the answer, said that someone would call me. No one ever did… Moving on, I back tracked slightly to see the Reynisfjara Beach. It was extremely windy there, so did not stay long. If the weather was better it might be worth the parking fee, but it wasn’t. Back along the ring road I stopped at Fjadrargljufur to see the canyon. It was good. Made a couple of short stops and then I arrived at my destination for the rest of the day. Skaftafell is in their national park and the campground is right beside the visitors center and trail heads. Campground is good, but luckily it wasn’t very busy, if it was the washrooms would have been overrun because there was not to many here. I hiked the Skaftafell S3 Trail which took me about 5.5 hours (17.6km), including a detour to see a very pretty waterfall. The hike itself was very good. Great views of the glacier on the way up. Unfortunately the middle part of the hike was in the clouds, so visibility was not great. If those clouds were gone the views would have been amazing and the hike upgraded to great. Still enjoyed it, and would recommend. June 16, 2025 - Monday Vestrahorn Iceland Great sleep last night. First stop is Mulagljufur Canyon. Good hike, just over 7km return with great views of a canyon and waterfalls. It was slightly comparable to the Fimm hike I did 2 years ago. I then drove to Fjallsarion Glacier lagoon. I had a bowl of soup (travelling with a gas stove has its advantages) and then did a boat trip on the lagoon to see the glaciers. It lasted for almost an hour, and was pretty good. Driving east took me to Diamond beach and Jokulsarion lagoon. Diamond beach is where small bits of glaciers sometimes wash up, and the ice is so pure they glitter like diamonds. When I was there I only saw a couple of pieces of ice, so not the best luck today. The lagoon was similar to the other one, but much larger. However it didn’t have as many glaciers, so I am glad I did the boat trip where I did. I know the conditions change day to day, so the first one might not always be better. Continuing along the ring road, I arrived in the small town of Hofn. It seems like a pretty good little town. I went swimming in the local pool, and enjoyed the hot tubs. After, I went to dinner at a restaurant (first time not eating out of the campervan this trip) and had a lobster soup and chicken salad. Tasted pretty good, but very expensive. I had read the reviews of the campsite in town and the were not very good. So I decided to go a little further east to Vestrahorn and camp there. They also have a small Viking village that was constructed for a movie that was never made. It was okay, but I wouldn’t make a special trip for it. June 17, 2025 - Tuesday Egilsstadir Iceland It took most of the morning to drive north to the Egilsstadir area. Unfortunately there was low level clouds for most of the drive, so views were limited. For the portions that I could see it looked very scenic. I’m sure that with no clouds the drive would have been amazing. I did make a couple of stops, but nothing worth writing about. Once I arrived, I continued on to Lagarfijot lake and did the full loop highway 931-933 around the lake. I stopped at Hallormsstaður to make some lunch, and took a short walk in the area. I really enjoyed that walk, and am considering using one of my spare days here. I will decide in a couple of days, it would also depend on the weather. It started raining fairly hard when I got to the end of the lake and was turning onto the other half of the loop. There is a waterfall hike I wanted to do here, but didn’t feel like doing it in the rain, so I drove back to town, got gas and some supplies, before going to the camp site. It is national holiday so everything is closed except for the grocery store. Dinner tonight was instant potatoes, canned tomato mackerel, 2 cheese slices, and dried mangoes. Not as tasty as yesterday’s meal, but probably only 10% of the cost. June 18, 2025 - Wednesday Egilsstadir Iceland Drove to Seydisfjordur. Clouds were high today for the dive over the pass, so got some great views. Clouds were present down in the town however, so you could not see it from the highway. Stopped in town for a short walking loop. Drove further down the fjord to do a short hike. It was along a river and had several small waterfalls. I made it to the 2nd viewing platform before turning around. That was about 3km in, and the final waterfall was another 5km further. I wanted to do a different hike in the afternoon, and visibility was not great because of clouds, so I turned back there. I crossed back over to Egilsstadir and then drove north and took the pass towards Borgarfjordur. Just over the center of the pass I stopped in the parking lot so I could do the Storurd hike. There are 3 routes from the north, I did the middle one (number 9 on the map). It was a very good hike with a boulder filled lake as the destination. The trail was muddy, there were several stream crossings, and it rained for part of it. Still great though. The hike was about 14km, so that makes about 20km total for today. Back to Egilsstadir for the night. June 19, 2025 - Thursday Egilsstadir Iceland Drove back over the pass to Borgarfjordur and drove all the way to the end of the road where a puffin viewing station is. Got to see puffins right up close, less than 3-4 feet away. I then did the hike to Brunavik bay (number 19 on the map from yesterday). It was basically hiking up to a mountain pass, then down to the bay, no flat spots on the way up or down. The bay was nice, and I got about 10 minutes there alone before a group of other hikers showed up. Then back up and down the pass to my car. Weather was good, partly sunny with a light breeze. I was feeling it in my knees by the end. After lunch of a very nice fish soup, I drove back past Egilsstadir to the Hegnifoss waterfall. This is the one I skipped a couple of days ago due to rain. It was okay. Back home this waterfall would be amazing, but here it is just okay. Funny how that works. I went to the local swimming pool for a soak in the hot tub and a shower. I think the one in Hofn was a bit better, but this was still nice. Then I did laundry and hung out at the campsite for the night. Lots of stuff on the plan for tomorrow! June 20, 2025 - Friday Asbyrgi Canyon Iceland The morning cold and windy. One hour from Egilsstadir is Studagil Canyon. It was a seemingly long walk to the canyon from the parking area, but once there it was nice. Not many people, so got some good pictures and was easily able to get down right to water level. Another hour and a half north was Dettifoss waterfall. As a waterfall it was pretty good, but compared Gullfoss on the golden circle it was not as good. However, parking is free. I also got a decent view of Selfoss waterfall as well at this stop. North again, is a site called Hljodaklettar for short hike. This has basalt columns that formed when lava was cooling. A short walk here brings you to a cave formed out of these columns, it was pretty cool. Then Asbyrgi Canyon was my campsite for the night. It is a wide canyon, hard to describe. I hiked along one ridge of it to the center overlooking the canyon. Had to climb the shortcut part using rope to go up and down, but otherwise an easy hike with great views.  June 21, 2025 - Saturday Myvatn Iceland I had booked a 12pm whale watching tour in Husavik, roughly 45 minutes away from camp. So I had a relaxing morning, and was then on my way, stopping first to see the end of the canyon from the ground instead of the cliffs from yesterday. The whale watching tour was good, we saw some humpback whales. Drove south to Myvatn and stopped to see Skutastadagogar (pseudo craters) & Grjotagia Thermal Cave, which was made famous in Game of Thrones. The cave was soso, could have skipped that. It is funny how the weather is here in Iceland. This morning and afternoon was partly sunny, calm, and pleasant. In Myvatn it was cold and windy, and then it started to rain heavily in the evening. Forecast for tomorrow also not looking the best, will have to see. June 22, 2025 - Sunday Dalvik Iceland Started off rainy, but then stopped. Still on the cool side though. Did the lava rocks and hike to the Hverfall crater. After lunch did sites on highway 863. One was a crater with a very colorful pool in the center. The other was a geothermal area that smelled of sulfur and I did the walk into the lava field. There were places that were letting off steam. It was only 3pm, and I had finished my planned itinerary for the day. Rather than just siting around, I decided to drive onwards. Stopped at Godafoss waterfall. Then just before Akureyri did the forest lagoon thermal baths. Very enjoyable. Decided to skip Akureyri and go north to Dalvik, where I camped for the night. I’m a day ahead of schedule. Need to do some planning. June 23, 2025 - Monday Hvammstangi Iceland First stop today was the Herring Museum in Siglufordur. It looked better in the guidebook then it actually was. Then I did the pool at Hofsos. It is a very nice local swimming pool overlooking the fjord. Only issue was the wind, it made the main pool very cold. The hot tub however was fine. I then tried to see some waterfalls (at Ketubjorg) that you see from a cliff overlooking the ocean. But when I got there it was so windy I could barely open the car door. The wind was actually blowing the water from the falls back up and over the cliff. I gave up, it would not have been enjoyable to do. Last stop before making camp was Koluglijufur Canyon. This one is a short detour from the ring road, and the parking lot is right at the canyon, making it an easy one to do. There are better canyons in Iceland, but for a short stop it is worth it. June 24, 2025 - Tuesday Olafsvik Iceland Lots of short stops today. First was Grabrok Crater, and then a bunch on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. Bjarnarhofn Shark Museum, Grundarfoss, Kirkjufell, Svodufoss, Skardsvik Beach, Saxholl Crater. At the shark museum I tried shark meat. It was not that bad, the guidebooks and videos I have seen make it sound worse than it is. I don’t have much to write about the other stops, they were fine, but nothing too special about them. Went swimming at the local pool in Olafsvik. Then setup camp at the town’s campground. After dinner I went for a walk along the paths behind the town. Very pretty area. June 25, 2025 - Wedsnesday Selskogur Iceland Continued doing the southern Snaefellsnes Peninsula sites. Tried to do Djupaonssandur Beach but the road was closed. There was a hiking path in to it, and I tried that but gave up. It was very rocky and an hour each way. Not worth it for me. Also did Malarrif/Londrangar, Arnarstapi hike to Hellnar, Raudfeldsgja Gorge, Budakirkja, and Ytri Tunga Beach. Ytri Tunga is where seals sometimes come ashore. I was able to see 5 or 6, but they were pretty far away. Went swimming in the Bogarnes swimming pool. Was decent, but Hofn remains the best so far. I basically finished the ring road 2 days ago, and today finished the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. Without going into the interior (need 4 wheel drive for that) or to the Westfjords region (not enough time) I have done everything that I had planned to do on this trip. This leaves me with two spare days. My original plan only had 1 spare day. I decided I will use these 2 days to see sites within an hour or two of Reykjavik or the airport. They won’t be amazing sites, but should still be good. My plane also leaves early in the morning, so for my last night I will want to be close to the airport. June 26, 2025 - Thursday East of Mosfellbaer Iceland Took a drive to see the Hraunfossar waterfall. While nice, it was not worth the time spent driving there in my opinion. What was worth the drive was Glymur waterfall, which was about an hour away. This had a good hike up to see the waterfall and canyon and I enjoyed that. At the top of the waterfall you have a choice: turn around and retrace your steps to the parking lot, or cross the river (above the falls) and go down the other side, making a loop. I choose to cross the river. Which means taking off boots and socks, and wading across the very cold water on rocks that are either slippery, or sharp and hurt my feet. Not sure, but would guess the river was 30-40 feet wide. I slipped in the middle but instead of going in, I was able to save myself by placing my hand in the water to stabilize. The same hand that was holding my boots and socks. Not an enjoyable walk down with wet feet. The swimming pool this afternoon was at Mosfellbaer (a little north east of Reykjavik) and we have a new favourite. There was an indoor pool, and outdoor pool, 3 hot tubs of different degrees, a cold plunge, and a sauna. I have to say I am enjoying trying all the different pools in Iceland. One last chance for a final one tomorrow. June 27, 2025 - Friday Volgar Iceland Started off with a hike up Mt. Esja. I turned around after about two thirds of it. It was basically straight up with no flat parts, and the peak was in the clouds. Of course, when I got back down to the parking lot the clouds had cleared up. Oh well. For the afternoon I drove down to where the recent lava eruptions occurred and did the hike there. Seeing the hardened lava filling valleys was interesting. I then went to another swimming pool, Asvallalaug. This one was primarily indoors, and would be great in the winter. I liked yesterday’s one more. Overall, a very good trip. I did lots of hiking, saw lots of nature type stuff, did 7 local swimming pools, 1 “premium” thermal pool, and overall had a good time. Iceland is definitely one of my favorite countries, despite the high prices.
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