Iceland In The Summer

Iceland In The Summer

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Today I received a question from a friend of mine on what my recommendations are for visiting Iceland in the summer.

I have been to Iceland in Winter time and have written about it extensively here.

However, I plan to visit Iceland in June 2018 so I have put some thought into what I might do in the summer. See below for my summer visiting ideas.Iceland is a beautiful place.  I visited there in Winter – mainly to see the Northern Lights and Glacier Caves.  We are planning to go there in June this year so I have done a bit of research for visiting in Summer as well. I am very much excited for the midnight sun.

The best way to see Iceland is to rent a car. The driving is very similar to the driving in Canada. The road are wide and easy to navigate.

I feel there are two ways to visit Iceland in Summer ( depends mainly on how much time you have ) :

If you have 4 days or less these are the things I recommend :

1. Golden Circle Tour . You can do this as a day trip from  Reykjavik .   There is a famous park / geysir and the largest waterfall  along this drive.  You can see my photos here .



2. Drive down the Southern Coast – You can technically do this as a day trip . It takes about 5 hours one way and in the summer, the sun doesn’t set fully so driving should be manageable  and enough day light to see everything. If you have the flexibility I would recommend staying overnight near Vik or Hofn.  This drive down Southern Coast is one the most beautiful drives I have done. Iceland has a raw beauty that just makes you happy .  If you can stay overnight you can take your time to make many stops along the way and enjoy the different places. This post has good photos and covers all the major stops along the south coast . We drove past Vik to all the way to Jokulsarlon. This is a famous Lagoon in Iceland and in the winter it has large pieces of Ice on the beach. I am not too sure about summer but if you are doing the southern coast drive and has two days I would recommend going all the way to this lagoon. These are our photos from our winter drive .


3.  Reykjavik – You can easily spend a day in the city itself. It is a beautiful city worth exploring – http://www.financegirltoronto.com/2017/11/iceland-reykjavik/ . Visit Perlan for  stunning view of the city. It is free to go up to the top of the Perlan.


4. Blue Lagoon – Definitely visit the Blue Lagoon . This is near the airport and a good way to start your trip. if you are short on time you can combine your day in Reykjavik and Blue Lagoon together. http://www.financegirltoronto.com/2017/11/iceland-blue-lagoon/


5. Snaefellsnes, Iceland – https://iheartreykjavik.net/2015/04/drive-it-yourself-the-snaefellsnes-peninsula/. This is another possible day or two day trip from Iceland . I didn’t do this drive but have heard if you dont have the time to do the ring road this is a good drive to do .


Drive Around the Ring Road :


The other way to see Iceland is to drive around the entire Island on the ring road . This is what I am hoping to do this time but the time might be short. . I was going to follow the recommendations from this site if I do the ring road drive :  http://www.iceland-like-a-local.com/iceland-travel/self-drive-tours-iceland/self-drive-around-iceland.html .


 

2 thoughts on “Iceland In The Summer”

  1. Great info Gaya….After reading this i am excited to visit ice land..

    Any specific visa requirement to visit here?

    Reply

    1. Hey Nikhil,

      I traveled with a Canadian Passport and didn’t require a visa for my 7 day trip . You only need a visa if you plan to stay there for more than 90 days. It is the same for a US passport holder as well. Have a wonderful time in Iceland !

      Gaya

      Reply

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