Iceland on your own
A 1,330 km circular road chaining waterfalls, glaciers, black beaches and lava fields: Iceland is Europe's most spectacular road trip — and the simplest to organise.
Iceland comes down to one promise: every hour of driving brings a landscape you have never seen. Route 1 (the Ring Road) loops the island in 1,330 km and dispenses the wonders — the south coast's giant waterfalls, the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, the East Fjords, the solfataras of Lake Mývatn — with a density that makes planning almost superfluous.
Independent travel here is disconcertingly easy: simple rentals, organised camping freedom (in campsites only), total safety. The two real subjects: the budget, ferocious, and the weather, which commands everything — you plan in Iceland the way you plan in the mountains, the evening before for the next day.
The destinations that matter
- 01
Golden Circle
1 day (1 night in the area)
The rift between two continents, a geyser erupting every eight minutes and a double-drop waterfall: the classic warm-up — taken against the coach timetable.
- 02
South coast
2 days / 1 to 2 nights
Two 60-metre waterfalls, a black-sand beach with basalt columns and glacier tongues grazing the road: the densest day on the whole Ring Road.
- 03
Jökulsárlón and Skaftafell
1 to 2 nights
Blue icebergs drifting to the ocean, ice blocks polished like diamonds on black sand: the glacial south-east is the Ring Road's emotional summit.
- 04
Lake Mývatn and the North
2 nights
A bird-filled lake ringed by pseudocraters, Mars-coloured steaming solfataras and Europe's most powerful waterfall next door: the North condenses all of Iceland's geology.
- 05
Snæfellsnes Peninsula
1 to 2 nights
A glacier-volcano immortalised by Jules Verne, the country's most photographed mountain and cliffs full of seabirds: "Iceland in miniature" fits into a 200 km loop.
- 06
Westfjords
2 to 4 nights
A claw of deserted fjords hooked towards the Arctic Circle, a bridal-veil waterfall and Europe's most vertiginous puffin cliffs: the reward for leaving the Ring Road.
On our publishing schedule
Coming soon“Iceland on your own”, the complete edition, is in preparation
Same method as our Namibia guide: day-by-day itineraries, driving, a costed budget and checklists. Leave us your address and you'll hear about the launch — at the launch price.
In the meantime, our reference
The “Namibia on your own” guide — €29
- The same method, already applied to Africa's easiest self-drive country
- 3 day-by-day itineraries, 4x4 insurance decoded, costed budget
- Instant download, 14-day guarantee — currently in French, English edition coming
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