#3.1 - Routenplanung und Sehenswürdigkeiten

When I started looking for things to do and visit I had a little bit of common knowledge on Iceland. The capital Reykjavik, the naturally heated "Blue Lagoon", Geysers, Glaciers and so on. It was fairly easy to make list of attractions around the island but it always comes down to nature which is really what would and should expect from holidays in Iceland. Outside of Reykjavik it's all about nature. Be it very raw and pure or more prepared for a number of tourists.

- waterfall, waterfall, volcano, glacier, waterfall -

Diamond beach at Jökulsarlon

I basically planned the tour around the places I thought were worth to visit, re-worked by some recommendations and necessary detours due to accommodation placement. The final tour evolved naturally by our day to day experiences with roads, local tourist offices and spontaneous decision to change the plan.

But you can find a list of attractions around which I planned the initial route. I also attached the link to Google maps where I've planned the trip. There you can see that the first sections are way longer to drive between accommodations then the last few. This is mainly due to the number of sights and hotels in the north of Iceland. This came in handy as we wanted to have some real time to relax towards the end of the trip.

Overall my planned tour was around 2000 to 2200 kilometer by car with sections of 100 to 400 km per day. This may seem a lot but if you remember this is for a 16 day trip, so it's completely fine.

I've planned the trip around sights, accommodations and reasonable parts of driving. Please be aware that you should be willing and prepare to alter this your plan especially in country like Iceland. Changing weather, random beautiful waterfalls or road blocking sheep will influence your day in one or another way.

You can find a link to the Google Maps project and a list of attractions below.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=10C1eophOC6ur9mhJG0CelAJLtW4&usp=sharing

Let's start with the more popular attractions to visit. If you are limited on time go for them as they make up for nice pictures, experiences and memories.

 - Reykjavik: As the biggest city and capital of Iceland its home to near one-third of the Icelandic population - a no-brainier when it comes to visiting Iceland

- Geyser: One of the biggest and most continues jets of hot water coming from deep down; name-giving to similar appearances around the globe

- Blue Lagoon: basically a big swimming pool filled with water naturally fed by hot springs; prepared and expanded to welcome hundreds of guests each day

- Glacier: if you're up for a hiking tour into the icy heart of Iceland - go for it

The next number of sightes are less popular bit still worth to visit. They are less close to Reykjavik and may require time to travel at.

- Dettifoss: One of the largest waterfalls in Iceland and "most powerful" in Europe

- Godafoss: way smaller but nicer to look and visit; same kind of "horseshoe" shape as the Niagara falls

- Jökulsarlon / Vatnajökul: the biggest glacier in Iceland and it's lagoon which feeds ice-shells directly into the sea

- Reynisfjara: a black beach popular for its great rock formations and deadly currents

- Borgarfjodur: best places to watch puffins

To round up that list some insider tips, at least from what I experience those places are as worth to watch as the others but require a car and some time to spare as they are mostly off the common tourist bus tours.

- Snæfellsnes: often summed up as "small Iceland" on this peninsula in the north of Reykjavik you'll find all a glacier, waterfall, vulcanos just on a smaller scale but just as beautiful

- Myvatn Nature Baths: basically the same as the Blue Lagoon but very beautiful placed at a hillside and  with way less tourists - it's more worth it than it's popular bigger brother

- Road between Egilsstadir and Seydisfjödur:  this twisty road from the valley of Egilsstadir to the town of Seydisfjödur is a pleasure to drive, goes trough fields of snow even in June and has a lot of waterfall right next to it - worth a drive if you have the time