Ring Road No. 1 in Iceland (from Reykjavik to Akureyri).

The most important road in Iceland is ring road No. 1, or in our language "Ring Road". It goes around the entire island, is entirely paved, is mostly two-lane and is a roundabout. There are almost no cars on it in May. Its length is 1339 km. Secondary paths extend into the interior of the country, which are only occasionally asphalt, more often good primers, less often bad primers. Bad primers sometimes close in the fall, winter, and spring. The ring road is passable and open all year round. Wherever you go in Iceland, part of the route will still go along road number 1 one way or another.

In two days we drove from Reykjavik (number 1) to Egilstadir (number 5) along the northern part of the island.

Road No. 1 itself can be considered as a separate attraction. Due to the fact that we found ourselves within such a tight time frame, we were able to see how different Iceland is at different ends of the island. Literally an hour's drive and green grass turns into black expanses, volcanic fields give way to tall white mountains, red earth becomes poisonous yellow or neutral brown, waterfalls appear instead of snow, and black sand turns into green grass and pastures.

On the first day we drove about 400 km along the ring road from Reykjavik to Akureyri. With all the stops, it took about 6 hours (rides along the Golden Ring, which took place on the same day, are not included here).

The ring road is picturesque, probably at every point. But, in my opinion, one of its most beautiful sections is in the north-west of the island. On the right is a picturesque huge mountain range. And to the left, very close, the waves of the Atlantic Ocean come in loud splashes! You can hear them even in the car, at full speed! The ocean sometimes turns out to be very, very close to the road.

Road No. 1 is free except for one tunnel, which is also the only one in Iceland.

It passes under the Hvalfjörður fjord. The length of the tunnel is 5 km 770 m. If you go along the fjord, the path will increase by about 50 km; in the tunnel you get a significant time saving, but this pleasure is paid - 1000 ISK (about 240 rubles). The depth of the tunnel is 165 meters below sea level. They write that daily traffic now already exceeds the permissible limit, and a new tunnel is being designed, which will be built in the coming years. What was very surprising was the lack of gas pollution inside, although it was very noisy due to the hum of the fans.

And here is the fjord itself, which we just crossed under water.

Three types of animals graze in Iceland - cute northern horses, no less cute sheep, sheared in the spring and... geese. They also eat them mostly. There is a wire strung along almost the entire road, which, in addition to being barbed, is also energized. This was done not to protect the land from people, but to protect people from walking animals. In Iceland everyone grazes freely, without any supervision.

We cross another fjord, this time from above on a bridge.

If in Norway I didn’t dare call cities villages, then in Iceland the situation is the opposite. The town of Borgarnes is a village by village. :)))

Someone said or wrote that there are few trees in Iceland. Nonsense. They are not cut down there, but planted, so every year the forests grow and take over the island. :) Another thing is that volcanic eruptions very quickly nullify all efforts, turning green forests into black fields.

A very familiar to us, but very rare forest landscape in Iceland.

But just the consequences of a volcanic eruption. And it happened a very long time ago.

Sometimes the road rises high, and then the landscapes outside the window become much whiter and snowier.

The village of Blenduous.

From that moment on, I completely gave up, stupidly put the camera against the car window and filmed, filmed, filmed... sometimes I moved the camera to the opposite window. I didn’t even care about the results of the photographs, I wanted at least something to remain as a memory and allow me to remember, even after a long period of time, what we saw there... By the end of the day, my head was literally exploding from everything around me. :)

A few facts about Iceland.

The time difference with Moscow is 4 hours.

The air temperature on the island in winter rarely drops below 0, and in summer average temperature is only +10 degrees. During our stay in early May it was about +7, which was very comfortable. The children actually walked around in winter clothes, and we wore a lot of sweaters.

The Arctic Circle is not far away, so in spring and summer the days are very long.

The main monetary unit of Iceland is the Icelandic krona. However, all stores accept euro cash without any problems. You can also pay everywhere with a bank card without any problems, but it’s still useful to have a small supply of cash with you. Bank cards are accepted even in taxis.

The country is in a long crisis, but despite this, all possible conditions have been created for tourists. comfortable travel. Many Icelanders live off tourists, but nothing comes out other than words of gratitude for their hard work. :)

In the north of the island, road No. 1 is completely removed from the ocean and winds through a wide valley surrounded by mountains. The closer Akureyri gets, the higher and higher the mountains become.

In the background is a mountain with a characteristic silhouette - Hraundrangar.

Initially, we also planned an evening walk in Akureyri on this day. A very nice city, but we arrived at it only around 8 pm, our strength was already running low. We'll run through it tomorrow, stopping today only to grab a snack. The kind fellow at Subway put on the sweet Vanino “make a sandwich with the filling to your taste” no less sweetly so much hot pepper and hot onions that it was impossible to eat. Poor Temych... how we scolded him and forced him to eat it without trying it ourselves... We can still be evil, children must first be trusted, then checked, and then depending on the circumstances... :)

In total, we spent 15 hours on the road with a short tour of Reykjavik, the Golden Circle and other minor stops that day. Now it’s a little terrifying, but somehow I just kept going and going. Something tells me that we would not have ridden so calmly through our Russian potholes. :) Good roads provide great opportunities for travel! Even Seva was almost not capricious, and this despite the fact that he had a runny nose and a slight fever in the evening. We only felt tired at the hotel. And our dad Vanya, of course, is a hero, yes...! :))) But we couldn’t see Iceland any other way, but we had a great desire! The next day promised to be calmer...

This is not the end of my story about the ring road, because the next day we will continue our journey along it.

To be continued...

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Iceland seems to be created for autotourism, and by jeep you can get to any point where a dirt “trail” leads. The most interesting area in terms of driving is the center of the island (Highland). And at the same time, for those who want to practice off-road, there are no restrictions on visiting any part of the island. There are no paid zones, paid attractions, paid parking near attractions, etc. anywhere.

National roads

Roads belonging to the national highway system administered by the Icelandic Road Administration. They are categorized as follows: S - Main roads - road #1, which connects Reykjavik to Reykjavik T - Minor roads - tengivegi in translation - country roads (usually a two-digit number), usually more than 10 kilometers long H - Local roads, which provide access to private farms and do not correspond to the quality of tengivegi (usually a three-digit number) L – A road that does not belong to any of the above categories In short, there is nothing interesting here (in terms of driving!! don’t get me wrong), except for the contemplation of amazing sights after a comfortable ride in a good sedan.

Other roads

F – unpaved roads on which only 4x4 vehicles are allowed. Many with elements of river crossing ford

F roads with two-digit numbers are better - maybe smooth gravel without extreme conditions (Primary highland road); with three-digit numbers it is much more interesting; dotted line without number "jeep trail". It can be quite unpredictable.

There are more lovers have a relaxing holiday attract attractions in a relatively comfortable area on Ring Road No. 1 (Primary road). And for lovers of a real jeep trip, the most interesting things begin outside the main road, where the Icelandic Highland is. It's a short drive down a minor road and eventually the F-road begins. But these roads can be as treacherous as they are interesting. So let's be more careful here

Safety

Some statistics: in total, Iceland has 13 thousand kilometers, only 2.5 of which are F-roads. To travel along F-roads, even three-digit ones, no special training is required, but you need to have basic skills confidently. All you need is a good jeep, good tires, an extra can of fuel and you can grab some extra provisions…. If you've been taking photos for a long time, it gets dark, and you're still in the mountains. The worst thing that can happen on these roads is: fords (during the warm season, when glaciers melt, some rivers can be quite deep), sharp stones, lack of gas stations. The soil is quite stable, so the likelihood of getting stuck in “quicksand” is low. These are the most terrible fords we came across. But the summer turned out to be cold...
There is a fairly simple rule for crossing fords according to Alexander www.rusring.net

Rules for safe crossing of a ford (namely, a ford is a specially designated intersection of a road with a water hazard). 1. Wait for another car and check the depth and route of movement. 2. If the depth is great or it’s just scary, wait for a bigger car and ask to be dragged to the other side. 🙂

Estimated opening times for some of the most popular roads

When planning such a trip, you need to check whether the road is open on the resource www.vegagerdin.is or by calling 1777 Lakagígar (F206) – June 12 June Kjölur (Hveravellir) (F35) - June 11 Sprengisandur (F26) - June 27 Askja (F88) - June 20 Kverkfjöll (F902) - June 19 Uxahryggir (F52) - June 5 Kaldidalur (F550) - June 13

The enlargement shows how many “pioneers” there were today, which can give both confidence and make you think.

It would be good to check the weather so as not to drive in vain Weather condition and forecast Do not neglect road signs! Because in Iceland signs are established by precedent, so if the sign is there... it means it’s on point!! If there is a sign “falling meteorites” in the middle of an Icelandic field, be sure that this happened at least 1 time and the probability is high!

If something did happen

Siminn.is mobile operator coverage map

smartphone app 112 Iceland

Smartphone owners can feel more secure as the Icelandic Rescue Service (ICE-SAR) announces the launch of a program 112 Iceland(SOS Iceland) for tourists. The program allows you to both report that help is needed and regularly inform about your location, which, if necessary, facilitates the provision of assistance. The program works stably not only in networks with fast connections. A regular GSM connection is quite enough for work. You can download the program both on the website safetravel.is and through the iPhone App Store and Google’s Play Store for Android devices. In addition to the program, on the rescue service website you can (and if you want to go into some hole and are not sure, but “really want to” you need to!!) leave a plan for your trip indicating the target time of return. In case of non-return, rescuers will check to see if anything happened. Also, from the rescue service, for only 25 euros per week, you can get McMurdo FastFind, a satellite rescue “beacon” of the COSPAS-SARSAT system. A very useful and reliable thing, it works everywhere.

“Iceland, why are you so big!” - this is exactly what you begin to think, driving around it in a circle and every 15 minutes of the journey ending up on another planet. At the same time, every minute you fight the desire to stop the car, get out and look, walk around, climb, take pictures, touch.

This is the world's largest piece of not completely frozen lava, lying at the junction of two huge lithospheric plates. It consists of a simple set of components - stones, lava, black sand, water in all states of aggregation, a little moss, grass and three and a half sheep - but these components amazingly create landscapes, the most varied of which I have never seen.

Iceland. Regions.

When planning a trip to Iceland, you definitely need to sit down and figure out its regions (I’ve been looking for this map for a long time, where the island is divided into regions that are convenient for the traveler to understand):

Traditionally, Iceland is divided into only 4 parts: Vestfirðingafjórðungur, Norðlendingafjórðungur, Austfirðingafjórðungur and Sunnlendingafjórðungur. Sorry:)

1. Southwestern Iceland and Reykjavik. The most densely populated and most popular part among tourists. I would extend this region on the map to the town of Vik on the southernmost tip of the island. Here are the top attractions (including those united in the Golden Ring) - National Park Thingvellir, Blue Lagoon, Valley of Geysers, absolutely mind-blowing waterfalls, Reynisfjara beach and so on.
   It is absolutely impossible to convey in one photo a certain “average” landscape of the region; they are infinitely diverse.
   Gullfoss waterfall - part of the Golden Circle
   Skógafoss waterfall

   Most tourists visiting Iceland do not venture beyond this area, and numerous travel agencies will take you through most of them in an organized and hand-holding manner. interesting places. More serious kids go on a multi-day hiking trip to the colorful Landmannalaugar valley, and ride in jeeps to the Hekla volcano. Behind Vik, tourists end and travelers begin;)

2. South Iceland, from Vik to Hofn. Most of the region is occupied by the Vatna glacier, along the southern edge of which Route No. 1 leads.
   Black Beach
   In the city of Hofn. View of the Vatna glacier
   Road to the East

   Several more (hundreds) of stunning waterfalls, endless black valleys at the mouth of the glacial river Skeidar, lava fields overgrown with mosses, and the Jökulsárlón ice lagoon.

3. East Iceland. Fjords cut deep into the island, long tunnels, a plateau blown by strong winds.
   
   You can admire the stunning landscapes from the car; there is practically no place to stop. Wild places even for Iceland. There is no bus service here, making it impossible to travel around Iceland except by car.
4. Northern Iceland, in which it is worth highlighting Lake Myvaut, within a radius of 50 km from which there are many interesting places - the Hverir Valley, Krafla Volcano, Dettifoss Waterfall, Dimmuborgir Lava Field and many others.
   Lake Myvatn with pseudocraters

   Namafjall Geothermal Area
   
   I am sure that if it were not for Mývatn, 90% of tourists would not go further than South-West Iceland. Several bays jut deep into the coast of the Arctic Ocean (!!), in one of which is hidden the cool city of Akureyri, which we simply fell in love with.

5. West Iceland with the Snæfellsnes peninsula, which seemed to me like “Iceland in miniature”, almost all the natural areas that we saw in the rest of the island are so compactly located there.
   
   
   The variety of colors in winter in Iceland is simply amazing.

   Glacier, waterfalls, hundreds of variations of lava fields, snow-white peaks, Atlantic Ocean, Mount Kirkjufell.

6. Western Fjords, a visit to which we sacrificed for the sake of a thorough examination of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. Moreover, the most important feature of this region is the nesting birds, which can only be seen in the summer.
   The photo shows the coast in Western Iceland, so formally it is also the coast of one of the Western Fjords

   There are few tourists, long and not always paved roads, stunning headlands and steep coastlines.

7. Inland Areas islands, huge and deserted areas. Open space and distant galaxies! There are several trails accessible only in summer and only for good jeeps (no bridges, hundreds of rivers can only be crossed by fording), usually with a visit to the Askja volcano. Not for “weekend tourists”. In winter everything is closed.

Roads

There are 3 types of roads:

Navigation

For navigation, I used a smartphone with the offline Sygic program installed on it, sometimes checking the online applications Waze and Google Maps. There were no problems. I read that Garmin has good cards Iceland, but TomTom doesn’t have them at all.

Of course, I constantly monitored the condition of the roads on road.is.

Hiking routes superbly marked, full of information signs, diagrams, etc. everywhere.
Only once did we get a little lost in the labyrinths of the lava fields of Dimmuborgir, which I was incredibly happy about - for the first time, the electronic compass built into my watch was useful to me!

Car rental in Iceland

The options here are:

• real jeep, like the Toyota Land Cruiser, which will travel on all types of roads, including gravel roads in the interior, and, most importantly, overcome fords. This category can include the incredibly passable and therefore popular little Suzuki Jimny, and strong, but not quite real jeeps like the Suzuki Grand Vitara, which, as the experience of rental offices shows, will drive on any roads and go through all fords. Let me remind you that driving off roads in Iceland is strictly prohibited!
• crossover like the Jeep Patriot/Dacia Duster or an all-wheel drive station wagon like the Subaru Forester. It will go along all roads, but it’s scary to ford. We took the Jeep Patriot, and we didn’t regret it!
• ordinary car, minivan for big company or even a budget runabout.
• campervan, which I wrote about in a previous article as a rather stupid accommodation option, or a serious caravan ( House on wheels), which will easily travel around the entire island along highway No. 1.

Like most issues related to traveling to Iceland, the decision to go in summer or winter will be decisive. Let me remind you that car rental in Iceland in winter it's half the price, and the choice is undoubtedly wider. For the summer it is better to book in advance, but in the winter I calmly went to one of the rentals in Reykjavik and chose what I wanted. My thoughts on the rental topic are:

Rental offices are divided into three types:

1. Large international distributors, for example Hetz. The most expensive option. He arrived, picked it up and went.
2. Quite large offices like Geysir or our iceland4x4carrental. Almost always new cars are in excellent condition. Some specialize in certain types of vehicles, such as very angry jeeps or caravans. They will bring and take the car wherever you say.
3. Cheap local companies, for example, a company with the self-explanatory name Sad Cars. Inexpensive, but not at all new cars. As luck would have it, reviews on the Internet are often diametrically opposed.

Everything is complicated with insurance, so complicated that we didn’t take any :) The most complete insurance consists of four components:

1. Gravel Protection - insurance against gravel. A great thing, as we realized on the very first day, when literally the first oncoming truck doused us with a hail of gravel, making dents on the fender and cracks on the windshield.
2. Sand and Ash Protection - insurance in case of damage to a car by sand, ash and sudden stones/gravel, but not flying out from under the wheels of another car, but damaging the car in some other way. It is not clear how to distinguish one case from another.
3. Theft Protection - insurance in case of theft. The rental employee smiled embarrassedly when I asked about the likelihood of such a situation and about the statistics of thefts in island state. As we later found out, locals sometimes don’t even lock their cars. This insurance can be given for free, sort of like a gift :)
4. Super Collision Damage Waiver - reduction of the franchise from 3000 (!) euros to 300 euros (approximate amounts) when paying for damage not covered by other types of insurance. Attention: damage sustained while fording water obstacles and driving off-road cannot be insured!

As I already mentioned, we didn’t buy any additional insurance, and we received a lot of damage, but in the end we didn’t pay anything.
But all this is due to a combination of cunning circumstances, the victory of Eastern European arrogance over Icelandic equanimity and Australian cunning, which I will talk about later.

Olga Efimova, 33 years old, lives in Moscow, works as a legal consultant, and also writes two blogs - about music and travel. In May, I traveled around Iceland in the company of friends and shared my prepared travel plan with 34travel readers.

Why Iceland?

Because at least once in your life you had to look at the place where Björk was born and raised. In addition, from the feeds of friends and acquaintances, Iceland with woolen horses constantly flowed, blue ice and Martian landscapes - and I decided to channel my envy towards them into a productive channel.

How to go?

It’s better to arrange your plane tickets in advance, because Iceland is not the kind of country you rush to a week before your trip. I bought my FinnAir tickets six months in advance, they cost me $400 ( tickets from Vilnius with a transfer will cost about the same amount, however, you can buy a few weeks before the trip - 34travel). We had to fly with a transfer: the road from Moscow to Helsinki took a little over an hour and a half, and the flight from Helsinki to Keflavik (the main airport of Reykjavik) took another 1.5 hours. Such advance planning has only one drawback - flights can be postponed, so my flights have been shifted more than once over the past six months, but not by more than an hour. Please also note that tickets may cost more during the high season, which runs from June to the end of September.

How to get around Iceland?

The best way to get around Iceland in May (and not only) is with a rented car: there are no regular buses for long distances yet, hitchhiking is unreliable, and cycling is too cold at this time.

So, we (there were four of us) decided to rent a car. After studying the prices and rental conditions, I chose Autoeurope: we took a Suzuki Grand Vitara with a manual transmission (“mechanics” are traditionally cheaper). Renting a car for 10 days with minimal insurance cost us €689 (about €172 per person). By the way, Iceland is considered the most expensive country in Europe in terms of car rental costs.

You can rent a car directly at the airport. An alternative is to get from the airport to Reykjavik by shuttle and rent a car in the city. Shuttle tickets can be purchased in advance on the Flybus website.

You can save money on a car if you book it at least three weeks before the trip, take your GPS (they charge extra money for it) and don’t drive recklessly on the roads (then you can take the minimum insurance). I also advise you to check whether the driver has international rights, at least one year of experience and a spare driver in case of fatigue.

Roads in Iceland

The main thing you need to keep an eye on in Iceland if you decide to drive is the condition of the roads. Moreover, Icelanders have prudently created an entire resource dedicated to roads. Here you can find a complete road map indicating the type of surfaces, find out which roads are closed today, and even look at the roads in real time using webcams.

In May, the weather and road conditions in Iceland are quite unpredictable, and a road that is still open today may turn out to be tightly closed tomorrow, so I highly recommend actively using these services.

As for the quality of the roads, the circular route No. 1 is paved with excellent asphalt (but not illuminated by lanterns: reflective poles along the edges of the road are used as lighting), while gravel roads and lava roads are a little more difficult and unpleasant to drive through, but all these are minor things. Gas stations are found quite often along the entire route; even in the middle of complete nowhere there will definitely be a deserted gas station that accepts bank cards. Because progress!

How to dress and what to take with you to Iceland?

So, in addition to the obvious warm, windproof clothes and comfortable shoes, it is worth taking a swimsuit and swimming trunks with you - in Iceland there are hot pools at every turn, and it would be a sin not to swim in them.

Planning to buy clothes on the spot is quite presumptuous: the dreams of purchasing an Icelandic sweater with deer, which I cherished before arriving in Iceland, were dashed by their prices (about 20,000 ISK, that is, about € 135), so it is also better to knit a sweater with deer in advance and bring it with you.

To further save money, you can take a minimum of bed linen and a towel with you, because you often have to pay extra for them at your accommodation.

Food

Food in Iceland is not very varied: just a lot of fish. Most often, during the trip, we cooked ourselves, using the kitchens of hotels and hostels, and went to cafes and restaurants about once every couple of days, so we spent an average of € 20 per day per person on food.

The most important thing to remember about food and drink in Iceland is that alcohol is quite expensive there, and it is usually sold in separate stores. But the most popular chain of alcohol stores called Vinbudin can be found in almost every town.

Where to live in Iceland?

Two main options for finding budget accommodation in Iceland (besides booking.com):

1. Global network of hostels called HiHostels. Here you can find very cheap places in hostels; the most budget-friendly option is probably to take a room for 3-4 people if you are traveling with a group and are ready to spend the whole night with each other. The price for such a room ranges from €25 to €35 per night per person. In addition, you can buy a membership to the HiHostels club (when booking your first hostel or directly on the spot) and receive a 10% discount on accommodation in all hostels of this network.

2. Several farms, also united in a purely Icelandic network Farmholidays. Almost every such farm has horses grazing, and local livestock products are served for breakfast. Accommodation on farms will be a little more expensive than in a hostel, but it is usually worth it.

In most cases, we stayed in hostels of the HiHostels network, a couple of times at Farmholidays farms, and two more places were booked through traditional booking.com based on tips from friends who had traveled to Iceland.

Route

The travel route was repeatedly changed, redrawn several times in opposite directions, so I can safely call it hard-won. Meet: the result of many hours of effort, Iceland travel itinerary for 8 days.

If you doubt your driving skills or don’t want to drive around Iceland at such a fast pace, then the trip to the western fjords can be left for the next trip, driving exclusively along the circular route No. 1, and the trip around the south of Iceland can be divided into 2 days, spending the night in Vik.

Time calculated Google maps, you can safely multiply by 1.3-1.5, since they do not take into account possible accidents on the roads, weather and other momentary details.

Money and other little things

Since Iceland is a developed and progressive country, you can do without cash here: bank cards are accepted everywhere, from gas stations in the middle of nowhere to tents next to waterfalls. But I recommend changing at least some money to look at the Icelandic change with fish depicted on it.

We did not use any local communication, because two of the company had European SIM cards, but a preliminary survey showed that the cheapest type of communication in Iceland was the Siminn operator.

South of Iceland: what to do there?

Having reached Keflavik, we met a friend who was already waiting for us in a rental car, and went to Reykjavik, stopping along the way at the famous Blue Lagoon. It’s hardly worth swimming in the Blue Lagoon (then you come across much more suitable places for this, with fewer tourists and significantly cheaper), but you definitely need to look at it, because the place is truly beautiful.

Reykjavik, due to its capital city, is full of museums and pubs, which we did not go to, but we walked along the embankment at sunset and visited the main church of the capital, Hallgrimskirkja. Its tower, which can be reached by elevator for 800 kronor (€5.5), offers a classic view of Reykjavik with its colorful roofs.

The south of Iceland is richest in tourist places, so the trip around this part of the country was the most eventful. Here is the so-called Icelandic Golden ring, consisting of national park Thingvellir, the valleys of geysers, Gullfoss waterfall, Seljalandsfoss waterfall (which can be walked around) and Skogafoss waterfall (which can be viewed from above by climbing a ladder).

Almost every place from which it opens amazing view, there are benches with tables, so you always have the opportunity to have breakfast or drink something with a view, for example, of the volcano. You can see most of the beauty of Iceland for free, and next to the tourist spots there will definitely be a coffee shop with friendly Icelanders. For example, near the Valley of Geysers there is a cafe Geysir, which sells excellent coffee, and on the walls there are pictures about the national Icelandic wrestling - glima, according to the rules of which wrestlers grab each other by the harnesses and throw them to the floor (extremely educational).

After Skogafoss you can get to the southernmost point of Iceland - Cape Vik, where tourists usually stop for the first night of their trip and walk along the black sand beach.

We spent the night in Reykjavik in a triple room at the Reykjavik City Hostel (€21 per person), and the next night was at the Hof 1 Hotel, located between the Skaftafell glacier and the Glacier Lagoon (a room for four cost us €46.5 per person). It was from there that on the second morning of the trip we headed to explore the eastern coast of Iceland.

East of Iceland: everything you wanted to know about glaciers

The eastern part of Iceland is full of glaciers, and you should take advantage of this: for example, you can go on a tour to the famous Skaftafell glacier and look at the places where Interstellar and Game of Thrones were filmed (in winter there are excursions to the blue caves). You can choose a suitable tour and book it, for example, on the website of these guys Mountainguides. We planned this moderately difficult excursion, which started at 9 am and lasted about 4 hours (about €92 per person, including rental of the necessary equipment).

That day we spent the night in the town of Seydisfjörður, which we had to get to in the evening snowstorm through a mountain pass, but it was all worth it to spend the night in the former hospital building. Here we again stayed in a room for four in a hostel called Seydisfjordur (it cost us €25 per person).

North of Iceland: the wonders of Lake Mývatn

You can safely set aside 2-3 days to visit Lake Myvatn and its surroundings, but we didn’t have them, so we explored all the beauties in a day and a half.

On the way to the lake, we stopped at two places: the Detifoss waterfall and the Viti crater, and around Lake Myvatn itself there was a ton of entertainment: the Namafjall fumaroles (one of the most impressive places in Iceland, where the products of volcanoes in the form of gas come out directly from the ground) , the Hverfjall crater, on the edge of which you can stand, looking at the area from above, the Dimmuborgir lava park and hot pools under open air Myvatn Baths, where swimming is more beautiful, less crowded and cheaper than in the Blue Lagoon (about € 25.5 per person).

If you are lucky with the weather, you can fly on an airplane from the local airfield. The views from the plane are stunning, and you can read more about the tour on the website. The price for a 20-minute flight is €105, but judging by the photos, it's worth every minute.

That night we stayed in two rooms, a triple and a double, at the Skutustadir farm, which is a 5-minute drive from Dimmuborgir (and spent €43 each).

The next day we drove through Iceland's second largest city, Akureyri, on the way to one of the country's most impressive waterfalls - Godafoss - in which, according to legend, the Icelanders drowned their pagan gods when they converted to Christianity. A good place chosen.

Our next overnight stop was our favorite: the Hofsstadir farm. Iceland's friendliest horses, homemade yoghurts for breakfast and stunning sunsets are guaranteed. Two rooms for two cost us €53 per person, as they say, shut up and take my money again.

West: seals and fjords

On the way to the western fjords, it is worth visiting Osar, where you can see fur seals (if you are lucky, you can see them very close), the town of Skagastrond, which houses one of the most cosmic churches in Iceland, the town of Broddanes and the witchcraft museum in Holmavik.

The most difficult and scenic road: the road to Bildadulur via Isafjörður was closed, so we had to drive along the southern part of the fjords and overcome at least 5 mountain passes per day. Driving a little further towards Isafjörður the next day, we found a seemingly unattractive (but equipped with a changing room) hot pool, a small waterfall and a herd of shy sheep. And then our path lay to Cape Latrabjarg, which is considered the largest habitat for puffins. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any dead ends, but the road to the cape is worth all the dead ends in the world: an abandoned rusting ship on the shore, a wingless plane, which you can climb inside and sit in the pilot’s seat, beaches from white sand and a cafe that serves free coffee.

Getting from the Western Fjords back to mainland You can take a ferry, the ferry goes from a place called Brjanslaekur to the town of Stykkisholmur. You can see prices and buy tickets in advance on the website. We spent all three nights in the west of Iceland in hostels of the same chain: a mini-cottage in Saeberg (€ 25 per person), and the main advantage of this hostel is considered to be an open-air hot bath, so don’t forget a hat and beer; room for four in Hostel Bildadulur (€ 37 per person) and Hostel Grundarfjordur (€ 26 per person).

We spent the next day driving to Reykjavik and in Snaefellsnes Park, stopping in towns along the way and gawking at Icelandic churches shaped like (according to the description) salted cod, walking near lighthouses and fooling around in a rugged Icelandic playground. In the park, of course, there was a cafe with excellent coffee and pastries, from which you could look at the ocean and leaf through books about Icelandic horses. Although they say that from the shore of this park you can see puffins and whales (but we were not lucky again).

Ring Road (Iceland)

A section of the ring road in the vicinity of Borgarfjörður

ring road(ex. Þjóðvegur 1 or Hringvegur listen)) is the main transport artery of Iceland. The length of the road is 1339 km. Its construction was completed in 1974. The road is of great interest to tourists, as it connects almost everything populated areas countries.

Almost along its entire length this road is two-lane. One lane in each direction. When she comes through big cities, the number of bands may increase. Most small bridges are single lane and made of wood and/or steel. Most of the road is asphalt, but there are also gravel sections in the eastern part of the road.

Flux density varies greatly depending on location. Near Reykjavík, the road carries 5,000-10,000 cars, but in some sections there are fewer than 100 cars a day.

The highway was completed in 1974, in honor of the 1100th anniversary of the country's settlement. In 1974, Iceland's longest bridge was completed over the Skeidar River in South Iceland.

The road is popular among tourists, since it can be used to get to almost anywhere in the country and often opens good views to the nature around. The route was especially popular with Icelandic families in the summer, but has recently attracted foreigners who rent cars or bring their own by ferry to Seyðisfjörður. The southern portion of the road is sometimes destroyed by flash floods caused by geothermal vents or volcanic eruptions.

Driving along the Ring Road

Although most of the road is paved, some sections have not been modified since the 1940s and are dangerous with blind turns and narrow bridges. In winter, ice and strong winds can make travel especially dangerous.

The permitted speed on the Road is 90 km/h on asphalt sections and 80 km/h on gravel sections.

List of cities on the Ring Road

• Grundarchwerf
• Bifrost
• Reykjahlid
• Breiddalsvik
• Djupivogur
• Kirkupayarklaysture
• Skögar
• Hella
• Hveragerdi

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See what "Ring Road (Iceland)" is in other dictionaries:

Ring Road: Main Ring Road (Washington) Ring Road (Iceland) Great Ring Road (Kyiv) Ring Road ( Leningrad region) Lipetsk ring road High-speed magnetic ring road... ... Wikipedia

Ring road: Main ring road (Washington) Ring road (Iceland) Big Ring road (Kiev) Ring road (Leningrad region) Lipetsk ring road High-speed magnetic ring road... ... Wikipedia

Ring road: Main ring road (Washington) Ring road (Iceland) Big Ring road (Kiev) Ring road (Leningrad region) Lipetsk ring road High-speed magnetic ring road... ... Wikipedia