Driving in Iceland is the perfect way to discover the country.
We loved this part because you have the freedom to stop wherever you want or just change plans as you go. On top of that, there is something special about driving while you look at so many beautiful landscapes go by.
One of the best things about driving in the island is the lack of traffic: outside of the Golden Circle you can drive for a long time without crossing another car… sometimes it’s even easy to lose focus as you go through a moon-like panorama or next to yet another waterfall or volcano.
If you plan on visiting this beautiful destination, we strongly recommend to rent a car. Other transportation means are certainly available but – let’s be honest – you’d be missing out on something spectacular (to give an example, one night, there were very promising weather conditions for the northern lights to show up a bit far from were we had accommodation and we drove for 1h at midnight to see that happen)!
When reading comments about Icelandic roads, we found many people saying that driving there is quite difficult. Our view is that it really is not the case as long as you get there prepared :).
Understanding the roads
- First, you need to know that there are various types of roads in Iceland:
- Primary roads: these are all the main roads and are asphalted
- Secondary roads
- Primary highland roads & Highland roads: also called the F-roads. If you plan to drive on one of these roads, you would need a 4×4 as these roads are gravel only
- Local access roads
Driving on gravel
If you’ve never driven on gravel, you should spend some time learning the basics (cf. here). There is nothing crazy about it but – if you don’t know what you’re doing – you might very well end up off road with the car upside down (we saw something like this in Argentina and it’s quite scary).
We had no problems by doing the following
- Rent a 4WD – it just makes it much easier
- Respect the speed limits, or go even slower if the road it’s too bumpy or if you’re going downhill on a curvy road
- Lower the tire pressure (this helps a lot when on a very bumpy road)
- Leave plenty of space between you and another car. Breaking takes longer.
- If you feel that the car is skidding, don’t push hard on the breaks, don’t panic and calmly take back control. If you steer too aggressively, the car could quickly go sideways!
Is a 4WD really needed?
If you plan on staying only on the Ring Road that surrounds the island, you can certainly stick to a 2WD. However, since you decided to visit this magnificent place, why limit yourself? Rent a 4WD and reach places a 2WD can’t take you to!
Where to rent a car
Once you have decided which type of car you want, you need to book it. There are many car rental companies in Iceland. The usual ones are fine but we always try to go local. After reading reviews and comparing prices, we decided to go with Bluecarrental. They’re quite known, their cars are in good condition and overall we were very happy with our choice 🙂 .
Insurance
As usual, better safe than sorry. Insurance can be quite expensive but this is one of those places where you really need to be protected. You can total the car in the blink of an eye and, should you have an accident, it would be quite painful to add gigantic expenses to an already unfortunate situation.
Make sure you are covered for glasses and tires. If you drive on gravel, small rocks can damage the car or puncture the tires.
Additional information
All in all, driving in Iceland was really an easygoing experience. However, on top of the gravel road “complexity”, we’d like to point out a couple more things you should care about:
- Animals – it’s not uncommon for groups of sheep to walk on the side of the road. Sometimes, they decide to cross the street without much of a warning!
- Tourist – yes, we’re part of the problem. Unfortunately, some tourists stop in the middle of the road to take pictures. There are plenty of spots built for that so please don’t be that person. It’s very dangerous.
- Weather – the weather changes fast. In a normal day, we could see a lovely sunny day become extremely cold in a matter of minutes. Wind and rain can also be very strong.
Other means of transport
Additional ways in which you can travel around Iceland are:
- Public transportation: at the time this post is written, there is no railway in Iceland nor a plan to build it. Only buses can be used to travel the country. We don’t recommend this option as you will not have much flexibility and, depending on the period of the year, some buses will not run
- Renting a camper van: more expensing than renting a car but you will save a lot of money in accommodation. There are plenty of camping areas around the country where you can park each night. Next time we go back to Iceland we’ll probably pick this option as it’s a one of a kind experience
- Hitchhiking: this is surely an adventurous way to travel. Hitchhiking is very safe in Iceland and also solo female travelers can do that. It is a nice way to meet new people, either tourist or locals. Especially if you travel along the Ring Road, you shouldn’t have any problem finding someone willing to pick you up. We gave a lift to two German teenagers on our second day on the road. If you like the idea but don’t want to wait on the side of the road until someone helps you, you can also try carpooling. Samferda is the perfect website for it: you can either request an itinerary or look for someone that is going on the same direction as you on specific dates and time.