Reccomended routes in Iceland?
 

I am planning a ride in Iceland late next summer - with a friend, or my wife, or solo... depends on who wants to commit.

Anyways, I would really welcome any suggestions for itineraries and routes for a trip of a week or so. Where to ride, where not to ride, what to see, what not to see, where to stay, what to eat, and so forth. But most importantly, route alternatives.

I allways like to plan for a route with a plan "B" a bit into the trip, to either extend or shorten the distance - i.e. if I am behind or ahead of schedule. For instance planning a long trip, but have a short cut back to Reykjavik, or plan for a shorter trip but nearer the end of the trip, have a detour that I can take if I am far ahead.

If I travel Solo I can do long hours every day. But, riding with others, I would plan for shorter days.

I will be riding a f650gs Dakar and would like to do a klot of it off pavement.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated

Hey Wheelie,

It's for me two years ago now that I've been there, but believe me you don't need a plan in Iceland at all. You can do bush camping where ever you want as long you dan't stay on someones property or within 150 meters of it, and off course leave it the way you found it. The people over there are extremely friendly and the population is very low.

Let the people tell you where to go, because where ever you go in Iceland it's worth to go. The ring or the interior it's beautiful in any way.

Enjoy your trip !!!

Cheers Richard

If you are in the north, the only short cut back to Rekjavik would be to take route 1. Riding through the interior is an adventure but not a quick way to get anywhere. As said above, just arrive, buy some maps and most importantly ask for advice. I navigate by weather report, and that has worked well in Iceland. Yes the weather changes every 5 minutes, but knowing when and where the North Atlantic gale is blowing in is important.

I went to Iceland last August and spent seven days touring the country. It was absolutely fantastic trip and mind blowing landscape. There are a lot of really interesting routes in Iceland. There is no reason to go off-road plus it's illegal. It's taken extremely seriously if people are caught doing any off-roading in the fragile landscape. The mountain roads, so called F-Roads, are fantastic. They consist of everything; old tarmac roads, gravel roads, sand roads, fine rocks, big boulders, mud, dried up riverbeds, lava, fine lava sand, roads which are also rivers and everything in between. Sometimes you would be driving a road that starts as 'normal' gravel road, which has sections of fine lava sand and big boulders, crossing rivers, very rocky surface all on the same road. Plus there are a lot of river crossings in some parts of the country, small and enormous rivers. At one occasion we had to turn back from a planned route as one of the rivers had grown so much in the last 24 hours it was impassable, from being only few inches deep few days before into four to five foot deep. Upon going back we returned to one of the rivers we had crossed an hour before and it was impassable as well, plus it had one of these highland buses with massive tyres stuck in middle of the river waiting for the rescue team. It wasn't that we had bad weather but the thing was that it was sunny, warm and very windy so the glaciers melted very very quickly and added enormous amount of water into the rivers. On another occasion there was so much sandstorm and the sand was so fine on the road it took us about five hours to travel measly seventy-five kilometers. So things can change very quickly in the highlands, there is an Icelandic saying if you don't like the weather wait five minutes and you will have another season upon you. It’s not advisable to be on your own if you are going into the interior in Iceland. Sometimes we would be driving for several hours or half a day without seeing anyone on the roads. So therefore if something happens it might be quite sometime before anyone shows up. But it was magical and fantastic trip.

Also it depends when you are going in the summer if the highlands are open as I think this summer most of the routes didn’t open until mid or late July, ansd some didn’t open at all. But you do get the twenty-four hour daylight in July. You can check the conditions of the roads on The Icelandic Road Administration website:

Road conditions and weather | English | Vegagerðin

Here is also a website for travellers:

safetravel.is

If you want to get more info or see some pictures you can PM me. Good luck with the planning and you will enjoy it greatly, I really did.

M.

Hi,

I would recommend F88 :-) Very nice route with some rivercrossings.

Greets
Martin

Iceland's interior
 

Hi Wheelie,

I would definitely avoid the Ring Road: it's tarmac practically all the way now. Go to the highlands in the interior. It's breathtakingly beautiful, desolate (if that's your thing, but that's Iceland), and moonlike (NASA used it to practice for the Apollo moon project..).
I cycled the two major pistes North-South, The Kjolur and the Springisandur.
See Cycling the Kjolur and Sprengisandur in Icelands interior - YouTube for an impression.

Happy travels!

So many beautiful paths to take. Infrastructure maintenance roads often twist through mindblowing landscape as if nothing were more natural. I'm new to offroad motorcycle travel so I can't give specific information other than what has been presented - but I can tell you to be mindful of the weather. It changes very quickly - totally different weather in an hour and again the next hour. Be prepared, know another way down, check weather reports, check in with someone from time to time. There is surprisingly good sms connectivity in the otherwise barren highlands (but don't count on it of course).

It's all worth it, but you have to do it right.

Some underestimate how quickly the weather can change; To try to paint a picture, being used to the weather as something ever changing, when travelling abroad I always feel strange and almost uncomfortable when the weather just doesn't change for say three days in a row. Feels like the clock has stopped. In the highlands, a day of crisp cool sunshine can turn very cold very quickly, even in summer.

But it's all worth it!

Icelands all good even the ringroad and anywhere you turn off it onto minor roads will be gravel anyway!

Must have been round Route 1 at least four times now and in both directions. Part in a Landrover, Jeep, GSx2, hirecarx2, quadbike and even by bicycle.........!

Snaefellsnes was an eye opener for me on my trip there in May..........I'd never been around the penninsula before at it was amazing with it's mini icecap at the end. I also spent a lot of time with friends in the Eastfjords looking after Icelandic horses and also visited my friends farm near Skogar who has the Eyjafjallajokull 'Iceland Erupts' visitor centre.

I also used Icelandic hostels for the first time aswell and ended up staying at them most nights although they're not the best way to meet Icelanders as they are mostly run by 'utlandingurs'!

Heimaey(The Westmann Islands) is good too and i've been there three times by bicycle, GS and on foot and the shorter ferry crossing is much quicker and calmer now!

FP.

Hello
If you can... try road F862. That one is a great twisty ride from Dettifoss (waterfall) to Ásbyrgi. Ásbyrgi is well worth the time to look at.
Then there is road F867. That road has been closed due to a new all year paved road but it is well worth it to take that trip. The road gets no service anymore since it was discontinued some years back and is marked with signs as closed. If you are willing to try you will get 34km´s of pure pleasure.

If you go to the Westfjords there are at least 3 roads that are a "must"
F612 to latrabjarg and off that there is F614 to Raudasandur.
The third one is F622. That is an insanely beautiful route to take with the road carved into and under cliffs and great mountain view all the way.
Not many people go this road and you should ask in the gas station at Þingeyri if the road is open. It closes every Winter due to landslides and falling rocks.

Here are some pictures I have taken on one of my motorcycle trips to the Westfords https://picasaweb.google.com/drullum...MFIFerInni2009
And on this collection you can see more pictures from F622. The cliffs ,waterfall and the lighthouse are on that road https://picasaweb.google.com/drullum...DMFIIngeyriJoi :funmeteryes:

Here is a video i put onYoutube from road F622
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmBmH...6LBow&index=10

Regards
Johann
Velkomin á heimasíðu DMFI

2 up?

last summer the f88 was closed, 3 months of no rain made it really really hard to ride the fine dust.

I liked the f35 a lot and drove back over the f26 (big rocks, steep slopes, i found it challenging)

My route:
http://www.actiontouring.com/iceland.gif

I would recommend the area around Askja.

Askja top view (a hot spring in the bottom of a vulcano):
http://www.actiontouring.com/pic/askja1.jpg

http://www.actiontouring.com/pic/askja2.jpg


If you go two up you can still reach Askja from the north (a few rivercrossings), but if you are alone on the bike you can go the old and new F910. They are really nice!


Old F910:
http://www.actiontouring.com/pic/svart.jpg

Good god I want to go to Iceland after reading all this!

Will be heading there tomorrow so will try some of your recommendations, thanks!

Have a great time Asho - Be sure to let us know what it's like when you get back.

Hi Asho,

Have fun, and keep breathing. Iceland just takes your breath away!

Travel safe,

Gee

http://www.geehurkmans.com/blogs/iceland.jpg
piste near Landmannalaugar

Seriously thinking of doing this next year 2 up with my wife on my Katoom. Any suggestions as to the best way to get there?

Thanks

Gav

I would be interested in any info on getting there also as we would have similar starting points:thumbup1:

If taking your own bike (Apart from flying it there), the only way is the ferry from Denmark.

We did it in August. Ride from the UK to Denmark (Aalborg), caught the ferry and arrived in Iceland a couple of days later. Great fun, can't recommend Iceland enough!

Smyril Line - Travel to Iceland and Faroe Islands by Ferry is the only ferry company. Book well in advance as it fills up and become pretty expensive. Think I paid €800 for a trip "off peak" in the couchette accommodation.

If you have the time available they often have specials where bikes can travel free as long as you spend a few days in the Faroe Islands although I can't see any of those on the website at the moment.

Here's my little write up from earlier this year if you're interested.
Iceland | Elige

First of all i should say hello been lurking around the hubb on and off for a few years, Only registered back in sept. From Ireland and currently planning a trip to Iceland between late June and early Sept 2014 (wont know until January if its actually going to happen) . Was there in April 2012 and drove the ring road in 5 days, Going to ship the bike from Dublin as i Wont be able to Get enough time off work during the summer season to do the whole drive to Denmark and get the ferry there thing. So far i found out although at moment its too early for anyone to give a firm quote, Shipping from the Uk seems cheapest from Immingham with Eimskip £840 Eimskip UK, There's is also a crowd called james cargo Motorcycle Shipping, Transport and Freight. one of which if i remember right will arrange to pick up the bike from here in Ireland before the trip and drop off again after but i think it was about £1400/1500 for that. There was another company from belfast that were a good price also but i lost their details and would need to look again when i get home tonight.
From Dublin there is EFL International Distribution - SkanTrans Ireland or European Motorcycle Transport between Ireland with Bike on Board (same company) Who will ship to iceland But Will do a deal depending on the amount of bikes going at the moment it is about E1400 for one bike plus insuarance and the likes extra. They would need the bikes in Dublin 3 weeks before they would be needed in Iceland to be as sure as possible that they would be there on time for you to collect them in Reykjavik. I think the Dublin (if i cant get details for the Belfast company) option for me Would be the easiest, Don't need to worry bout ferries and flights to and from England when dropping the bike off and collecting after also the cost of fuel etc would be reduced too.

Apologies for babbling on but hope this helps someone.

Modman and Mac90,
Thanks for the info...........I am getting itchy feet again, so I am looking into Iceland for 2014:D

Thanks for sharing the info guys.

I'll be doing some digging over the next few weeks and if I find any alternatives I will post up and share. :mchappy:

just be cerfull...i live up here and tourist die every year because of the weather....check the icelandic weather report everyday

Sent a post to the the Icelandic HU communities and ask for the info you need. The best way to get to Iceland is by ferry to Seydisfjordur.
Don´t be here to early in the summer if you intent to do biking in the inland because it is closed until snow melts.

When do the internal roads usually open?

Most of the interior roads have opened in the beginning of july.
They start opening in the first two weeks of june
If the winter has been particularly bad they may open a bit later

Thanks Joiben. I may have to ship the bike and fly there as my wife is struggling to take the time off work. If we went via Smyril Line from the UK we'd be looking at almost 3 weeks in total.

Here's a dumb Q? Would ten days be ample time to explore Iceland or would you recommend two weeks? We would be doing a mixture of camping and B & B's to keep the cost down.

Mac could you find out (when you sort your holidays out) how much the shipping company in Dublin would charge for 2 bikes? It could also be an option for us depending on the costs.

Cheers

DeeGee,
I'll let you know asap, been annoying the bosses this last while about next years hols, got to dash .

Anywhere in Iceland!
 

I would also recommend 2 weeks! Although you could do the ring in a week you will miss out on the interior!

Iceland is really a country where you can just take the bike, point it in a direction and start riding and you won"t be disappointed! That is what we did and it is still my favorite destination to ride. (Mongolia is second). With the ring road you can reach the major tourist destinations but my favorite rides were all in the interior. Askja was a real highlight of the trip.

I posted on my blog maps of our trip but looking at them now only the last one actually have the route numbers on the map. Still you can get an idea if you like! (We both rode BMW F 650s)

Maps Of Our Motorcycle Trip Through Iceland

Thanks for the info GypsyPrincess. I'm not too bothered about the mainstream tourist stuff tbh, I would much rather stay away from the masses and take the less travelled routes. Our main plan is to ride the interior tracks, I will check out your blog too.

Cheers

Hello everyone,

I have adumb question: can the ring road be made with a touring bike? I saw several pictures with non-enduro (or non enduro-touring) bikes in Iceland - I suppose they are not riden just around the city? I understood that the ring road is "almost" entire tarmac...
I rode in the past some gravel roads with my bike (Yamaha FJR 1300) - the main concern is referring to sharp stones which could cut the tires...

Thanks in advance.

Yes i think a touring bike would be more than ok for the ring road

Hello everyone,

We are planning a 7 days trip to Iceland at the beginning of July (7 full days allocated just for touring on the ring road by our motorbike). Shortly the plan includes the accessible attractions:

Day 1: Seydisfjördur - Dettifoss - Krafla - Hverfjall - Lake Myvatn - overnight in Akureyri
Day 2: Akureyri - Húsavík (whale tour) - overnight in Sauðárkrókur
Day 3: Snaefellsnes - Reykjavik - Blue Lagoon (or next day Blue Lagoon) - overnight in Reykjavik
Day 4: Reykjavik - surroundings (Thingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss) - overnight again in Reykjavik
Day 5: Dyrhólaey - Vik - overnight around Vik
Day 6: to Jökulsárlón/Vatnajokull - overnight in this area
Day 7: back to Seydisfjördur - overnight in Seydisfjördur

My concern is referring to the time needed for each of the mentioned attractions - are they close to the road/parking, how long it takes to walk/hike to the lake/volcanos etc in order to have a better idea regarding the available time for each day. We plan to travel 10-12 hours/day (travel itself+visiting).
Any input here is welcome along with additional recommendations for "don't miss" places!

Thanks in advance.

Iceland road trip
 

Hi Cosmin

I assume the 7 days is all you have?

We are in Iceland at the moment driving our Off Road truck.
we had planned 4 weeks Iceland but wished I made it 6 or 7 weeks.

Personally I think 7 days is not enough
Is it possible yes.

The whale tour leaves at 9AM and returns early afternoon.
(please not it is winter here at present so in July times my differ.

Sauðárkrókur to Snaelfellsness is a very long day and you did not allow time to go up the glacier? The top road coming in is gravel but the south road is all bitumen.

The 2 days reykjavik seem possible but
personally I would give Blue Lagoon a miss as on the way you will pass many nice natural springs (most are free) and why pay 35 Euro to join a pool full of Tourist why you could swim in any other geo pool for 500 krone.

We have just arrived in reykjavik so not up todate on time frames from here but I am told it is around 700KM from here back via the ring road to the ship. Anyway we have a lot of things to see in southern island so again I think you are flying through just to pick the tourist highlights. Hope it was of any help.
Cheers Fearless

Thanks for details. Meanwhile we made some changes in the plan for Reykjavik area. We'll try to adjust to days for Sauðárkrókur to Snaelfellsness in order to allow some time for the glacier also.

Thanks.