How I Ended Up With a Layover in Iceland
When booking my flights for my solo trip to Copenhagen, the cheapest flights were through Icelandair. While I had felt like I made out like a bandit with Icelandair’s cheap flights, there was one downside…going there I would have a four hour layover and coming home I would have a 21 hour layover. I was confident in my ability to make the most of the 21 hour layover, but the four hour layover in Iceland I was initially a little more nervous about. Worst case scenario I would just sit in the airport for four hours (I’ve definitely had it worse) but I instantly started looking up things to do near Iceland airport.
Lucky for me, Iceland is actually significantly smaller than I thought it was! And when in Iceland, do as all the tourists (and locals I guess) do and rent a car!
Everyone will recommend going to Blue Lagoon on your Iceland layover, but unfortunately that wasn’t going to work for me on my way there because my flight landed around 6:30AM and Blue Lagoon didn’t open until 8:00AM. I just didn’t feel that barely having an hour there would be worth all that money.
So my next best option was Viking World! Viking World is a super tiny, privately owned museum located about 7 minutes away from Keflavik Airport. It’s nothing crazy impressive, but they open at 7AM and serve a pretty impressive breakfast spread (with amazing coffee!) I think I only spent about an hour in the actual museum, but the area around it was absolutely stunning and got me even more excited than I already was for my 21 hour layover a week later.
The 21 Hour Iceland Stopover Itinerary
When I landed in Iceland it was about 10PM, with my flight leaving around 5PM the following day. I had really wanted to do an Iceland tour from the airport, either a Northern Lights Tour or a a Glacier Tour, but the last Northern Lights Tours from the airport leave promptly at 10 PM, so that was out, and Glacier Tours were normally 8 hours long and didn’t leave until 8AM so those were also out for me.
Instead of doing an Iceland tour from the airport, I decided to make a list of my top places I wanted to visit that were within 3 hours from Keflavik Airport, rent a car, and go on a good ol’ fashioned Iceland road trip!
I had decided that I wanted to get the bulk of the driving out of the way first, so I drove out to Vik and worked my way backwards towards the airport, but I’m sure you could always do this in the reverse order if that’s more your style. Below you’ll find everything you need, from tips about renting a car in Iceland, my original planned itinerary with comments on how it ended up changing, to packing tips.
When You Land
There is a 24 hour Dunkin Donuts at the airport right before you exit. Stock up on snacks, water, and a hot coffee or tea for the ride. I had brought Clif Bars and Lara Bars with me, so I really only needed water, coffee, and I grabbed a yogurt because it was creme brûlée flavored (my all time favorite dessert).
Pro Tip: Bring a stainless steel water bottle with you like a S’Well bottle that will keep it hot for hours! (If the S’Well price tag is a little out of your budget, you can find a cheaper option that works just as well here .)
Driving in Iceland
Prior to this trip, I had never in my entire life driven a rental car. I also only drive automatic, which means the rental prices kind of sky rocket a little bit because you’re still in Europe, where most people drive stick. Before my trip I did a ton of research on driving in Iceland, tips for renting a car in Iceland, Icelandic road laws, etc. I found that a lot of the information I found actually scared the crap out of me and I was literally shaking for the first hour or so that I was driving, so here are my tips to try to make sure you actually feel confident while driving around Iceland for the first time:
- Icelanders drive on the right side of the road.
- The average speed limit on most Iceland roads is usually about 50 km/hour (which is roughly 30mph). If other speed limits apply, you will see them posted.
- A lot of blogs I read said you absolutely need gravel and ash insurance. If you are following this itinerary and going to the areas mentioned below, I don’t think that’s actually true.
- Check with your insurance company at home to see if they also cover your rental insurance. You don’t want to pay the rental company for something that you already pay for in your normal insurance.
- Do your research about weather conditions before you get there, because I’m pretty sure the rental companies will always tell you that it’s “ash season”…even when it’s not. Also, the areas mentioned below are not prone to ash like other parts of Iceland.
- If you tend to be a little bit of a reckless driver, get the gravel insurance to be safe. The main roads in Iceland are paved and in great condition, but all of the parking lots I pulled into were gravel. If you’re the kind of person to whip into a parking lot, then this may result in some kickback and damage to the car. Because I was already so nervous about driving a rental car in general, I knew I would be taking my time with any turns so I didn’t bother getting it.
- For the record, when I returned my car a little splattered in mud, a guy was returning his car absolutely covered in mud AND somehow the license plate had fallen off!!! And he hadn’t gotten any extra type of coverage either!
- Do yourself a favor if you are traveling solo and pay to have the wifi in your car. It is only about $7USD per day and it made me feel a lot more comfortable knowing I would be able to call for help in the middle of the night in the event that anything were to happen. It was also great when I needed to find an extra gas station.
The (Planned) Iceland Itinerary
- Gas Station in Vik & Black Sand Beach
- Vik is almost exactly 3 hours from the airport, with a 24 hour gas station. It is also where you will find the Instagram-famous Black Sand Beach. By the time I got here I actually didn’t need to get gas yet, so I backtracked about 20 minutes to get to Black Sand Beach. When I got there it was hailing and super super dark, so while I had brought a flashlight with me I just didn’t feel it was a great decision to make. This also affected my second stop that I really wanted to visit.
- Vik is almost exactly 3 hours from the airport, with a 24 hour gas station. It is also where you will find the Instagram-famous Black Sand Beach. By the time I got here I actually didn’t need to get gas yet, so I backtracked about 20 minutes to get to Black Sand Beach. When I got there it was hailing and super super dark, so while I had brought a flashlight with me I just didn’t feel it was a great decision to make. This also affected my second stop that I really wanted to visit.
- The Plane Wreck
- The (again Instagram-famous) plane wreck is about a 2 hour roundtrip hike from Black Sand Beach. This was actually one of the things I had wanted to see most, but it was about 2AM when I got to the place to park, which in itself wasn’t super clear, I was exhausted, and I just wasn’t sure how much I would be able to see in the dark or how safe it would be walking around a wrecked plane in the dark. So I unfortunately decided to move on. But, if your flight lands early in the morning or if you’re spending more than 24 hours in Iceland, I would definitely recommend you go see it! (And send me pictures so I can live vicariously through you.)
- Seljalansfoss Falls
- This is the beautiful lit up waterfall, and I had actually seen it from the road on my way to Vik. It is about a half hour away from the Black Sand Beach and has a massive car park. This was my first official rest stop. I slept in the car for about 45 minutes, snuggling with my S’Well bottle filled with hot coffee for some extra warmth, and when I woke up I saw the Northern Lights for the first time! There are hikes that you can do that will take you around the back of the waterfall, but because it was so dark and I was alone I just enjoyed watching and listening to this beautiful waterfall. (I did see a group of people doing the hike even though it was crazy early. Definitely doable, I’m just not confident enough to do a solo nighttime hike.)
- This is the beautiful lit up waterfall, and I had actually seen it from the road on my way to Vik. It is about a half hour away from the Black Sand Beach and has a massive car park. This was my first official rest stop. I slept in the car for about 45 minutes, snuggling with my S’Well bottle filled with hot coffee for some extra warmth, and when I woke up I saw the Northern Lights for the first time! There are hikes that you can do that will take you around the back of the waterfall, but because it was so dark and I was alone I just enjoyed watching and listening to this beautiful waterfall. (I did see a group of people doing the hike even though it was crazy early. Definitely doable, I’m just not confident enough to do a solo nighttime hike.)
- Skogafoss Falls
- I did these a little bit backwards, but this was hands down my favorite waterfall (and you’ll drive by a ton on your journey). It is about 25 minutes in the opposite direction of where you want to go, but I had driven back to Seljalansfoss because I was exhausted and knew for a fact that there was a place for me to park & sleep there. There is a campsite at Skogafoss (though I did not know this until I got there) that you normally would need to pay for, but because it was off season I was able to just park there and sleep until sunrise. Waking up to the sunrise in Iceland was magical, made even more magical by only having to share the waterfall with a small handful of other people! There is an old staircase to the right of the waterfall that will take you up to a viewing point at the top of the falls, and I definitely recommend going up!
- Reykjavik
- Reykjavik is about 2 and a half hours from Skogafoss. Because I had backtracked, I was able to revisit Seljalansfoss in the daylight, but this definitely cut into my time in Reykjavik. Make sure you give yourself a buffer for getting back to the airport in time for your flight because you will want to stop for pictures about once every 5 minutes along your drive. I saw so many rainbows on my drive that after the 12th one I had to stop stopping. I saw the iconic Icelandic horses and obviously had to stop, and I made a wrong turn and ended up on a terrifying ice and snow covered mountain that I definitely wasn’t supposed to be on, but it was beautiful!
- When you get to Reykjavik, everything is pretty close together and walking distance. But I had spent so much time stopping along the drive (and I forgot where I had parked the car) that I really only ended up having time to see the Sun Voyager and buy an Icelandic sweater.
- The airport is then about an hour drive from Reykjavik.
Packing & Other Tips
If Blue Lagoon is at the top of your bucket list, then definitely stop. It is only about 25 minutes away from the airport, but you definitely need to book it in advance. I had really wanted to go, but I wanted to spend more of my limited time seeing more of the natural wonders Iceland has to offer. Blue Lagoon is now just my excuse to go back 🙂
I only rented a little tiny car and that was totally fine for just me and my small amount of time there. I’ve seen a lot of people that rent campers, but that seemed like a waste for me.
If you are planning on sleeping in your car like I did, pack appropriately! I had extra sweaters, a super warm jacket (the Patagonia Nano Puff was a life saver, both in warmth and how compact it is), a scarf, gloves, a hat, a rain coat, hiking boots, and waterproof pants. For comfort, try to bring a neck pillow and a blanket.
Find a complete Iceland packing list here!
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Patricia - SavvyExploring says
Great car tips! I’ve never heard of an “Ash Season” and when I’ve seen the ash insurance option I figured it was in case of a volcano erupting :-P. I looked it up and looks like it mostly corresponds with windy conditions, so even if it is the ask – wind season it is good to know that if you check the weather you can avoid these areas and skip on that insurance, which can be very expensive if you are going for a whole week.
Sarah says
Great post. I love that you managed to see so much in so little time. I haven’t been to Iceland yet, but it sure is on my bucket list.
I regularly sit around airports for hours (during business trips), but since I rarely bother to research before if anything is nearby, I end up sitting in a coffee shop for six hours instead of exploring. But your post really inspired me to make better us of my time next time. Thank you
Logan says
This was great! You are so thorough with your writing. Totally informative, but also very interesting. Ugh! I’d love to visit Iceland soon. You’ve inspired me to make more out of my layovers! 🙂