Reykjavík > Vik

 

We do not go to Iceland to see Reykjavik, sit on a tourbus, or play it safe. We go Iceland to have some adventures! Therefore we pre-booked a sturdy 4X4 with Blue Car Rental to do a roadtrip around the island and had them drop it off at our hostel at 9am. After we make breakfast, packed and checked-out from Kex, we collected our MiFi (portable mobile Wi-Fi hotspot) at Trawire collection point. MiFi helps us navigate throughout our journey around the island and in my opinion, money worth spending. I do still suggest to have hard copy map in hand because in some areas you can't get GPS and printed step-by-step direction to your destinations is quite handy.

 

Make sure you stock up on groceries at one of their supermarkets because there aren’t too many of them once you set out on a road trip of the Ring Road in Iceland. We picked up a few grocery supplies from Bónus (a supermarket chain in Iceland) and bought gas canister for our camping stove just in case we want to have an instant noodle or hot tea along the way which we did! (You can find gas canister at any gas stations). Restaurants in Iceland is very expensive. As we on a tight budget, we decided to cook our own food for the entire journey and we did save a lot. 

 

On our 1st day of road trip, we did the Golden Triangle route stopping at Reykjadalur Hot Springs, Pingveller National Park, Geysir and Gulfoss. By the time we were done with all the must visit place in our list, it's already 9.30pm. We then drove to Vik and camped the night in Pakgil a campsite 15 km out of town in the mountains. This campground was really out of the way and the road was not paved, but this was one place that I just had to see. We reached this by long rough scary winding, bumpy, one-lane road. No road lights, pitch black and our visibility was only from the lights of our car. It was a nerve-racking drive going around cliff faces in these conditions. However, our mood has been lighten up when we saw a glimpse of green light across the sky and we knew it was Northern Light. We wanted to take a picture but the light is not bright enough that we can't capture it with our camera.

 

After an hour of 10-20km/hour drive, we finally (finally!!) reach the campsite but because we arrived too late there were no one around to greet us. We wanted to just set up our tent but because we were in completely darkness, we can't even see the campground! It's freezing outside, we were tired and it's already 12.30am, so we decided to just sleep in the car with our sleeping bag on.

 

*Tips:

1. If you’re on a budget, consider renting a diesel and manual car; gas isn’t cheap in Iceland so you can save money on a more fuel-efficient car;

2. Make sure you rent a car includes snow and ash coverage. Iceland is notorious for its unpredictable weather;

3. I’d recommend renting a MiFi device for WiFi access to help you navigate throughout the trip. We rented ours with Trawire;

4. If you see a gas station, stop and get gas. You never know when the next petrol station would come up on your route. Some station use pre-paid gas card where you have to reload the card inside the petrol stations’ convenience stores;

5. Cooking facilities come standard in hostels and campsites in Iceland, so if you plan on using this type of accommodation, you can cook whatever you wish and not to worry about cooking tools;

6. Many travelers leave behind their food, cooking gear, gas canisters and other essential supplies that they don’t want to take with them out of the country in the “free” bins at the hostel or campsite. You can easily collect enough left behind fuel to last your entire journey through the country. (If we knew this before hand, we could save on buying a canister gas).

 

Itinerary

• Reykjadalur Hot Springs

• Þingvellir National Park

• Geysir

• Gullfoss Waterfall

• Kerid Crater

// check-in @ Pak Gil Campsite //