‘Route 1’ is the infamous Ring Road that circles the main body of Iceland. The road is 1322km / 821 Miles long and touches on nearly all of the key tourist hot spots that are worth seeing.

The Adventure I booked myself onto was with a small group of Travel and Photography enthusiasts and the plan was to travel the Ring Road from Nov 6th – 19th 2023 (14 days).

I landed at Keflavík Airport a day early on Nov 6th to start the journey and stayed at the Konvin Hotel. I would thoroughly recommend this as a convenient and friendly place to start your travels if you visit Iceland.

Day 1 of my trip around the infamous Icelandic ‘Route 1’ Ring Road, took me to my starting point, which was the headquarters of a company called CampEasy in Keflavík. I had never heard of these guys before, but they are one of the largest van rental companies in Iceland with a fleet of over 300 vans. It also turned out to be one of the best companies I have ever dealt with!

I jumped in my very own Easy Viking 4X4 and got acquainted with it. This van really had everything, cooker, fridge, heating, insulation, iPad with route planner, 3 x back-up batteries, laundry rack, curtains, running water, storage, bed & bedding to name a few bits!

We were not given long before we headed on our way towards Reykjavík along the West coast of Iceland on our first day!

November is the start of Winter in Iceland, so we were expecting bitterly cold conditions throughout the trip. Luckily our CampEasy vans were well up to the task at hand!! The first 4 days took us past the capital Reykjavík and along the West Coast of Iceland. We ended up travelling around the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, which is the most Westerly point on the Island too.

Our first stop along the West Coast was at The Black Church called ‘Búðakirkj’. This church was literally in the middle of nowhere, but the mountainous back-drop was breath-taking!

We were also lucky enough to see the Northern Lights on our first 4 nights. We could not believe that they were shining so brightly and we really enjoyed watching the Northern Lights ‘Dance’.

As we ventured along the main body of the Islands West coast, the stunning volcanic coastline was a real WOW factor. Lóndrangar View Point was one of my favourite parts of the West, it was a jagged and extremely wind beaten coastline that really did provide some great back-drops for the most amazing photos.

Below are the highlights and landmarks along the West Coast, that I thoroughly recommend visiting if you get a chance:

• Reykjavík
• The Black Church – Búðakirkj
• Snæfellsnes Peninsula
• Kirkjufellsfoss Waterfall
• Lóndrangar View Point
• Kolugljúfur Canyon
• Hvítserkur Basalt Sea Stack

Heading up to the North of Iceland started to get REALLY cold, we were getting readings of -16 (without windchill)!!

We also ventured into the centre of the island too. We visited what has to be the highlight of the entire trip, Aldeyjarfoss Waterfall. It really did look like something from a different planet. We also tried to rescue two Canadian tourists that had driven miles off the road and had been stuck for hours. They eventually got towed out at a cost of £1500.

A must see waterfall is Goðafoss Waterfall also known as ‘Waterfall of the Gods’ and is one of the most famous in Iceland. We also went to see Dettifoss Waterfall that is used in the movie Prometheus.

Hverir Geothermal Area is located at the foot of the Namafjall volcanic mountain, and looks like the surface of Mars! You can see a variety of natural formations there, including; fumaroles, huge mud pools, steam vents and a bare orange landscape.

Below are the highlights and landmarks along the North Coast and Centre of Iceland that I would say are non-negotiable landmarks to visit if you visit:

• Aldeyjarfoss Waterfall
• Goðafoss Waterfall (Waterfall of the Gods)
• Dettifoss Waterfall
• Hverir Geothermal Area
• Jardbodin Nature Baths

The East of Iceland provided us with what can only be described as some of the most desolate, tourist-free, breath-taking views and amazing sun rises I have ever seen!

Our hike to Stuðlagil Canyon was both one of the most scenic as well as the coldest hike I have ever been on. However, views of the beautiful basalt rock column formations was well worth the numbness and -10 conditions.

Travelling around the Eastern Fjords presented us with a range of stunning landscapes including the snow capped mountains, thunderous waterfalls and jet black beaches.

One of the biggest and most unexpected delights of the tour was the Diamond Beach! This beach is on the South East coast and consists of a long strip of coastline that is littered with thousands of small fragmented icebergs that resemble sparkling diamonds laid out along the jet black beach. This is a must see when you travel Iceland!

Below are the highlights and landmarks along the East Coast and I would have real difficulty leaving any of these out if I had to neglect seeing one of these stunning landmarks:

• Stuðlagil Canyon
• Eastern Fjords
• Hengifoss Waterfall
• Diamond Beach

This last stretch of the journey was by far the busiest and most enjoyable, as we packed just so much into these last 4 days!

The South East of Iceland is desolate, cold with few tourists, however as we headed along the South coast back towards Keflavík and Reykjavík, we noticed a dramatic increase in bus loads of tourists starting to join us along the way from early morning right through to night.

The South coast offered such a range of landmarks it really is difficult to put into words. Ice Caving under the Fláajökull Glacier was one of my highlights and I would recommend trying this if you visit.

On Day 12 of the trip we saw 7 Waterfalls in one day! This was an immense day and gave us an opportunity to see some of the biggest, longest, most famous and busiest of the waterfalls. Kvernufoss Waterfall was a stunning waterfall that you could actually walk behind (see photo below) and Skógafoss Waterfall was one of the biggest Iceland had to offer.

I was so sad to leave the group on the final Day 14, but I can honestly say that I made friends for life on this trip and will be staying in touch, in readiness for further adventures with the people I was lucky enough to meet and travel with.

Just take a look at the sheer number of highlights and landmarks below that I was lucky enough to see on the final stretch of this trip along the South Coast:

• Fláajökull Glacier
• Ice Caving
• Svartifoss Waterfall
• Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon
• Hofskirkja Turf Church
• Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
• Skógafoss Waterfall
• Kvernufoss Waterfall
• Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
• Haifoss Waterfall
• Hjálparfoss Waterfalls
• Brúarfoss Waterfall
• Sigöldugljúfur Canyon
• Haukadalur Geothermal Area
• Gullfoss Waterfall
• Kerið Volcanic Crater
• Gljufrabui Waterfall
• Urridafoss Waterfall

For my final night in Iceland, I decided to book myself into ‘The Bubble Hotel‘. This was a once in a lifetime dream for me to sleep in one of these bubbles under the Northern Lights and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

The Bubble Hotel website itself did not allow me to book a bubble on their own, as they offer a bubble as part of their tours, however I went through lastminute.com and managed to book just the bubble experience without the tour.

The entire experience was fantastic! You are greeted when you arrive and shown the facilities, which are nearby, such as showers, coffee machines, toilets and snacks. Then you are led up a winding set of stairs into a pine forest to locate your Bubble.

You enter a double airtight doorway to get in and you are greeted by a double bed with soft lighting, bedding (with electric blankets) and an infinite 360 degree view! It is such a cosy experience, but even though it is warm in the Bubble, they advise you to wrap up too.

As the days are short in November in Iceland, it was already pitch-black by 6pm, so I didn’t have to wait long for the Northern Light show! The lights always started to come out around 10pm, sometimes a little sooner.

I would thoroughly recommend this experience if you ever visit Iceland, it is a little expensive for the one night, but well worth it for the memories.

What can I say, this was easily a 10/10 trip for me. It had everything! Exploration, Adventure, Travel, Great Company, more Waterfalls than I can remember, Craters, Canyons, Geothermal Areas, Black Beaches, meandering scenic roads that went on forever, excitement every day, Northern Lights and some of the best Scenery and Landscapes I have ever seen in my life!! I felt like an excited kid in a land of giants.

My Tour guide was Ronald Soethje from Germany and is a truly gifted Photographer. I can only but thank Ronald for organising this once in a lifetime trip and for imparting so much of his knowledge and wisdom to me along the way.

I have compiled my very own photographic e-book that you can download by clicking on the image to the right. I hope you enjoy some of the delights that I encountered on my trip and it inspires you to take the plunge and explore the stunning Iceland too!