lakelander
VIP Member
- Messages
- 41
- Vehicle
- T5 SE 180 4Motion
ICELAND ROAD TRIP – 4 WEEKS - JULY/AUG 2015
Saw a great post on Corsica and thought this might be helpful.
Norrona Ferry – take a travel kettle and snacks.
Camping Card Iceland
Only worth buying if you are definitely going to the towns/villages where the specific sites are. They are few and far between considering how many campsites there are on the island.
Wild camping is not allowed.
The showers at many campsites tend to be very basic. However, the majority of villages/towns have their own pools with hot pots and it is cheaper to go for a swim/shower than to use those at campsites. Note: The shower before and after your swim has to be taken naked and you must wear swimwear in the pool!!
There are very few natural windbreaks on campsites and its very windy! Also, they tend to be stony/rocky – glad we weren’t in a tent.
Camping Gaz bottles
Not available in Iceland! We took 2 full bottles, (assuming refills would be possible) but as the trip was 6 weeks bought a large BP gas bottle for cooking outside, reserving the others for cooking inside when the weather was bad.
Brandrup ISO-TOP
Windproof and waterproof. The translated instructions aren’t particularly good, but we didn’t find it that difficult to fit.
Kept the top warm, dry and a little darker, though it did get dark by 11pm.
Duvalay toppers
Duvalay will make a topper to fit both the rocknroll bed and in the pop-up
We took the original mattress out of the pop-up and just used the Duvalay.
With an all seasons quilt – perfect for the summer nights.
Iceland Road Guide – www.icelandroadguide.com
THE ‘must have’ book for a trip!!
Also if wanting to go hikiing - the Rother guide.
Would not bother taking bikes.
Roads – N1– is mostly tarmaced but you can suddenly come across gravel tracks.
The majority of small roads are gravel.
Mountain roads are mostly gravel with many corrugations and the highland roads are compulsory 4wd – these are the ‘F’ roads. www.road.is for regular updates. Many river crossings,
We had modified air intake, raised suspension, Cooper M and S tyres and underbody protection.
Shopping
Supermarkets in the main towns – Egilsstadir, Selfoss, Reykjavik, Akureyri.
Seydisfjordur has a small shop but would wait until Egilsstadir as they have 2 large supermarkets.
Some small towns/petrol stations have shops but you can go a few days without seeing any.
The Icelandic hot dogs with dried onions were a lunchtime favourite. (With toasted rolls!)
Petrol stations
The Iceland Road Guide shows them all on the maps. The majority are unmanned - use debit/credit cards for payment.
Vin Budin – the off-licences open for limited times. Alcohol is not sold in supermarkets/shops
Icelandic Bank holidays
Avoid the main road campsites – they party all night!
Eating out
In 4 weeks we ate out just 4 times! Twice at a pizza in Akureyri, a
restaurant at Laugavatn near Pingvellir. The best by far was the Fjoruburdid at Stokkseyri on the south coast near Reykjavik. As the adverts say - ‘by the sea and a delicious lobster’ – it certainly was!!
Would love to go back next year!
Saw a great post on Corsica and thought this might be helpful.
Norrona Ferry – take a travel kettle and snacks.
Camping Card Iceland
Only worth buying if you are definitely going to the towns/villages where the specific sites are. They are few and far between considering how many campsites there are on the island.
Wild camping is not allowed.
The showers at many campsites tend to be very basic. However, the majority of villages/towns have their own pools with hot pots and it is cheaper to go for a swim/shower than to use those at campsites. Note: The shower before and after your swim has to be taken naked and you must wear swimwear in the pool!!
There are very few natural windbreaks on campsites and its very windy! Also, they tend to be stony/rocky – glad we weren’t in a tent.
Camping Gaz bottles
Not available in Iceland! We took 2 full bottles, (assuming refills would be possible) but as the trip was 6 weeks bought a large BP gas bottle for cooking outside, reserving the others for cooking inside when the weather was bad.
Brandrup ISO-TOP
Windproof and waterproof. The translated instructions aren’t particularly good, but we didn’t find it that difficult to fit.
Kept the top warm, dry and a little darker, though it did get dark by 11pm.
Duvalay toppers
Duvalay will make a topper to fit both the rocknroll bed and in the pop-up
We took the original mattress out of the pop-up and just used the Duvalay.
With an all seasons quilt – perfect for the summer nights.
Iceland Road Guide – www.icelandroadguide.com
THE ‘must have’ book for a trip!!
Also if wanting to go hikiing - the Rother guide.
Would not bother taking bikes.
Roads – N1– is mostly tarmaced but you can suddenly come across gravel tracks.
The majority of small roads are gravel.
Mountain roads are mostly gravel with many corrugations and the highland roads are compulsory 4wd – these are the ‘F’ roads. www.road.is for regular updates. Many river crossings,
We had modified air intake, raised suspension, Cooper M and S tyres and underbody protection.
Shopping
Supermarkets in the main towns – Egilsstadir, Selfoss, Reykjavik, Akureyri.
Seydisfjordur has a small shop but would wait until Egilsstadir as they have 2 large supermarkets.
Some small towns/petrol stations have shops but you can go a few days without seeing any.
The Icelandic hot dogs with dried onions were a lunchtime favourite. (With toasted rolls!)
Petrol stations
The Iceland Road Guide shows them all on the maps. The majority are unmanned - use debit/credit cards for payment.
Vin Budin – the off-licences open for limited times. Alcohol is not sold in supermarkets/shops
Icelandic Bank holidays
Avoid the main road campsites – they party all night!
Eating out
In 4 weeks we ate out just 4 times! Twice at a pizza in Akureyri, a
restaurant at Laugavatn near Pingvellir. The best by far was the Fjoruburdid at Stokkseyri on the south coast near Reykjavik. As the adverts say - ‘by the sea and a delicious lobster’ – it certainly was!!
Would love to go back next year!
) early May; if we like it I wonder if a little time away as you describe might be fun!
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