Iceland advice for baby steps

[overl4nder]

Hello
We are planning to make a 10 day trip to Iceland End October.
We were looking for some advice on F roads.
We do not afford to do extreme 4x4 rental, but a basic Ford 4x4 is in our budget.

Any tips for a photography trip. Maybe do some medium trails, nothing extreme.
Thanks for your help in anticipation

 

[Johnny Christensen]

End of october can be hit or miss, as it depends when they get the first snow. But with a basic 4x4 (and you really do not need anything extreme, I go everywhere in my standart Mercedes G) you can go on 95% of the F roads. The only thing that can make it tricky is how much the rivers are flowing. That depends of how much rain there has been the last few days.

Sure you will see many highly modified 4x4's, but during 6 trips up there, we have done 22.000km and only 20km really required a icelandic style vehicle. The main challenge is river crossings, so if you do not walk the river first, don't drive your vehicle in.

October is autum, so it's time to chase the beautiful light from north to south. Kjölur route from the north should be possible at that time. Landmannalaugur is possible, though no rangers at the campgrounds at that time of year. The accessability depends on when the first major snowfall will happen.

Iceland is like a drug. You try it once, you will want it for the rest of your life

 

[overl4nder]

Thanks Johnny!
If it snows, do all F roads close, or some are still accessible. At the start of the F road, is there a sign saying accessible or not. I am assuming that rentals around end october are going to be with snow/studded tires as they are mandatory, right?
Thrifty rentals offers Ford entry level 4x4s for cheap.

I am not aware of local rental companies. Are they going to be cheaper than the big conglomerates?

 

[RangeBrover]

Get in touch with Matt or Pete at Main Line Overland, they just got back from a week long trip where they rented a few arctic trucks. I'm sure they can fill you in.

 

[pcut]

Email Hawk aka Haukur Parelius at haukur@natureexplorer.is. I met him at a Bill Burke driving class.

 

[Johnny Christensen]

Thanks Johnny!
If it snows, do all F roads close, or some are still accessible. At the start of the F road, is there a sign saying accessible or not. I am assuming that rentals around end october are going to be with snow/studded tires as they are mandatory, right?
Thrifty rentals offers Ford entry level 4x4s for cheap.

I am not aware of local rental companies. Are they going to be cheaper than the big conglomerates?

Here is the official map of the road conditions. http://www.vegagerdin.is/english/road-conditions-and-weather/the-entire-country/island1e.html
There is good stable internet connections at 99% of all hotels and guesthouses.
There is a lot of F roads, obviously the interiour / highland area is where many great sights can be seen. But if the interiour closes, you still have plenty to experience. If the north get their dusting of snow first, then just head down south. Usually it is possible to move around and get some sightseeing in, escaping bad weather.
As for pricing on 4x4 rental, I have only rented a Ford Explorer once, that was thru a international chain.
http://www.economycarrentals.com/ can find a decent price on Icelandic rentals.
http://www.cheapjeep.is/ is a possibility, BUT beware that the quality of the vehicle can vary a lot...
The snow tires should be on the rental car at that time...but I have also noticed a few slip-ups on the tire front on rental vehicles. Make a point of inspecting it yourself.

 

[overl4nder]

Thanks a ton for your help.
I was earlier thinking of renting the land rover defender. But its frightfully expensive. Some rentals are offering Dacia/Renualt duster 4x4 offroad edition with A/T tires for 1000$ less (2 weeks) rental.

I was thinking of doing the trip starting around 25th October or so. But I guess if snows come early, F roads and mountain roads will close.
How about starting a week early? What is the mandated cutoff date for snow tires? If its 1st october then I am all good.

Our plan is like this. We plan to encircle iceland
Day 1 land in iceland capital , and sleep in some budget hotel
Day 2 Rent car - Drive to destination 1
Spend nights of 2,3,4,5,6 in destination 1 exploring mountains and stuff
Day 7 - Head to destination 2
Spend nights of 7,8,9,10,11 in destination 2
Day 12 - Head to destination 3
Spend nights of 12,13,14 in destination 3
Day 15 - Reach capital
Day 16 - Return car early morning and do city sight seeing
Day 17 - Fly out

Our interests are dramatic scenery, ocean waterfalls and glaciers. Areas in rain shadow are very welcome. I am told iceland from October-March is luck. You can have sunshine or rain based on your luck.

So do the F roads start closing by mid october. In that case we would like to start our trip mid october itself. We get decent light 9 hours or so, and there is chance of Aurora also if nights are clear.

So should be go clockwise or anti clockwise?

What can be our destinations 1 2 and 3 which can be good base stations.

 

[Johnny Christensen]

From 1st of november to 14th of april there is a legal requirement to use snow tires in Iceland.
In Iceland it is not permitted to drive off-road until there is a thick snowcover to shield the ground from tiremarks. Therefore the Icelandic offroad vehicle has evolved into these big monsters with huge footprint, so they have flotation on the snow. Looks very spectacular and cost big money to play with.

For the rest of us, who are happy to drive on the F-roads / tracks to get to some spectacular landscape. A reasonable priced vehicle will take you to the majority of attractions. Keeping in mind that the rental agencies will divide the vehicles into classes that will be allowed on tarmac only, gravel roads, F-roads, and Mountain tracks. If you take a vehicle into water during a river crossing, the insurance is void. That is to keep the driver thinking as a reasonable and careful person.

In general I would do the northern parts first, as the chance for snow is higher. If I may give a suggestion, it would be to concentrate on a smaller portion of the island if you want to keep in to 3-4 hotels. If you want to encircle Iceland, you would get a better experience moving toward a new hotel at the end of the day. Otherwise a lot of time will be spend backtracking and not sightseeing. Depending of your requirements, a campervan could also be a good idea, that way you have ultimate freedom. http://www.happycampers.is/
http://www.campericeland.is/

If you do the continually traveling solution, there is plenty of campgrounds and we have also wildcamped where it was apropriate. You can always take a swim in Sundlaug / public swimming pool for about 3 euro. Generally if there is more than 5-10 houses in a town - they have geothermal energy and heated outdoors swimming pools at the Sundlaug.

 

[overl4nder]

If you do the continually traveling solution, there is plenty of campgrounds and we have also wildcamped where it was apropriate. You can always take a swim in Sundlaug / public swimming pool for about 3 euro. Generally if there is more than 5-10 houses in a town - they have geothermal energy and heated outdoors swimming pools at the Sundlaug.

Thanks for your advice. We want to do F roads, and therefore we do not think a campervan will fit in our budget. Some sellers are giving a duster 4x4 for 2 weeks for 1500$ all unclusive, and its specifically mentioned F roads okay. I am not looking out for some hard core offroading, but just some basic stuff.

So how about this, we focus on one part of the island, and near the end of the trip we just drive along the circle highway to get back to the capital.
We have about 15 nights of car with us. So maybe we can cover 3+3+3+3+3 at 5 different places. but then it would mean we take a hotel and not a cottage(where we can cook and stuff). 3+3+3+3+3 seems nice too
Alternatively.
If we do 5 nights at one place and 5 nights at other place, what are the places you would recommend where we could make some awesome day trips.
Then we drive back to Reykjavik over 5 days.
So our day trip area is one section of the island.

I think 15 oct is safer to start trip has less chance of F roads close.

 

[Johnny Christensen]

Going from Reykjavik, up towards Snæfellsnes to explore the land. You could plan of spending the night at Stykkishólmur.
If you make a 3-5 days stay in the Akureyri area, you will have good access to the northern area. At a "big" city like that, you could find a apartment at www.airbnb.com that will save a lot on the living costs. Siglufjördur and Husavik is both near by, so cosy village feel and whalewatching is within reach. Myvatn area, waterfalls Dettifos and Selfoss.
Depending on the weather. Taking the Kjölur route thru the highland, crossing north to south will take you a long day of driving. You will pass between Langjökull and Hofsjökull glaciers and exit you on tarmac right near the Gullfoss waterfall and the Geysir area (geysers). I would aim towards Hella or Hvolsvöllur for 3-5 days of cottage rental. Going east towards Eyafjallajökul and Myrdalsjökul you will get towards Landmannalaugur area that have postcard worthy landscape. There is a few wet crossings, at the national parks, usually not deep, but if you are unsure of the conditions due to rainfall, walk the crossing first.


The trick to having a great time in Iceland, is to remain flexible. Therefore do not get too hung up on a rigid timetable. Sometimes the weather dictates where you can go, other times there is no limits to what you can do.
It's a bit of a long drive from Hvolsvöllur but if you go towards Vatnajökull glacier, at Jökulsarlon (glacial lagoon) spending time sailing between the small icebergs and going to the beach next to the lagoon is well worth it.
If the campsite at Vatnajökull is still offering it, at that time of year - a glacial walk on Svinafelljökul is a geat experience.
As you are making your way around Iceland, if there is the "attraction" sign -go for it!! We had great times with unplanned visits to local museums, geothermal powerplants, places of historical significance.

 

[overl4nder]

Thanks for your advice.
Lets say I plan this

Reykjavik - F26 - Reach north iceland turn left, and come back to Reykjavik by western iceland -> What should I target 20th october start, or 14th october start. Is there a website where they give historical closing dates of F26 and F35?

Second option
Reykjavik - F35 - Reach north turn right, and come back via East Iceland

Things to consider
1. Good change of either of these two roads being open or having atmost 2-3 inches of snow max
2. I want to do East or west depending upon the rainfall. If the eastern coast is more rainy I would like to do west - What good things I will miss?
3. If I do eastern coast and miss western coast what good things I miss

Again, we are nature people. More than historical attractions its the eye popping lakes glaciers and waterfalls which hold our attention.

 

[Johnny Christensen]

http://www.vegagerdin.is/english/road-conditions-and-weather/condition-of-mountain-tracks/
This is the background for opening and closing the various mountain roads. Unfortunatly it only contains the historical opening dates, as closing the roads are usually local weather dependent. Still that page gives good information.

F26 is the Sprengisandur route and not really suited for that time of year. I drove it 10th of august 2013. 3 weeks later there where sections of snow that required vehicles to convoy and first vehicle to have front and rear lockers activated. It is a remote, corrugated track and at that time of year a vehicle failure is very bad. During highseason you will see 3-4 other travelers per day. At the low season, possibly one every 4-5 days. There is no cellphone coverage that you can rely on.

F35 is the Kjölur route where I would hope to cross. We did that 15th september 2009 and it was perfectly fine. It's better maintained gravel road, more people travel there. There is more variation in the landscape.

There is no prediction on where it will rain more. The only general prediction that you could follow is that snow tends to come in the north and in the highlands first, the delay before it hit's the south coast could be as much as 2 weeks.

Nature is all around Iceland, so what will you miss by going in one direction, compared to another? With the only exception being the Geyser, that you will only find in Geysir area located towards the south - east corner. Other than that, there is plenty of fjords, valleys, waterfalls, mountains, breathtaking scenery, lush green and barren landscapes to keep everybody happy. With a generous amount of glaciers and volcanic deserts, you are never really far from adventure.

One thing I learned during 22.000km up there, is that when you think you have seen it all, you stumple upon something new.
Now we are waiting for Hekla to erupt before going up there again, I would love to see that awsome display of power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrNfB8CMGtc
Here is a small video I made, when we went up there to store the car, waiting for the main trip during summer.

http://ourfootprints.de/gps/gps.html Very good GPS map of Iceland, if you got Garmin MapSource

 

[overl4nder]

Thanks. We will then target 14th october instead of 20th october journey start date.
I presume we do not need to book much in advance.

I am going to google for top attractions of iceland in category
Waterfalls
Glaciers
Lakes

Then I will map them on the map, and then pick and choose!

 

[overl4nder]

I have a question.
In my budget I can either rent a new 4x4 like a duster or Grand Vitara 4x4 manual, or get a old land cruiser 90 series with 33"-35" tires.

We will be going in the first 2 weeks of october now.

Does it make sense to get the bigger tire stuff during that time?
Or will the F roads be closed so no point renting a less fuel efficient old vehicle with big tires.

Can you guys tell me about some roads in early october which are doable with big tire LC, but not duable with Grand Vitara or Duster Jimny etc.,?

 

[polaramike]

Hi!

Iceland has a very handy official (and always current!) road status web site. It also covers the F roads. I used it many times when in iceland and it turned out to be very up-to-date.

Go here: http://www.vegagerdin.is/english/road-conditions-and-weather/the-entire-country/island1e.html

Mike