A Song of Ice and Fire in the Land of Fire and Ice
My trip to Iceland in May 2021
The goal of this writing is to open source our itinerary and trip details for all those wishing to visit this beautiful country on earth. I will not go into details of sites, tips & tricks, etc. as there are many blogs and websites covering them.
The trip started right away after we landed at KEF, covering the Golden circle and then starting on the Ring Road driving through the entire country.
This is how we covered the full golden circle and ring road. Total Kms driven 2033.
Route 1 or the Ring Road is a national road in Iceland that runs around the island and connects most of the inhabited parts of the country. The total length of the road is 1,322 kilometres (821.5 mi). The Golden Circle is a 300 kilometre (186 mile) route to the three most popular natural attractions in Iceland: the Geysir Geothermal Area, Gullfoss Waterfall and Þingvellir National Park.
Certain parts of the country in the north felt truly intergalactic. One has to experience it. The pictures don’t do any justice to what you can see.
Highlight of this trip is the unplanned hike up the mountain to witness this volcano. Wow what a phenomenon. Truly a lifetime experience witnessing this eruption 🌋 up close and personal.
Fagradalsfjall is a shield volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula, around 40 kilometres from Reykjavík, Iceland. A volcanic eruption began on 19 March 2021, which is still emitting fresh lava.
Round trip from the base is about 5 mi and took about 3.5 hrs with stops in between.
Iceland is truly a digital country. Totally cashless society. Everywhere I went did not use cash. Gas stations in the middle of the night, parking lots in the mall (noone is taking cash), parking lots in the attractions, small convenience stores, flea markets, etc. For e.g, The parking fee at the base of the mountain. Impromptu site. Just a barcode. Scan and Apple pay. Apple Pay everywhere. Remote north gas stations without any store, just a pump and that accepts Apple Pay.
First time I visited a country without any local currency & expensive FOREX to go with it.
Here’s the full itinerary of our trip that includes driving details, driving times, sites and attractions we visited and also links to Airbnbs we stayed. Please feel free to download this itinerary PDF by Shraeya Srinivasan here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q7KjVHGOyGqvY9FwAjF2pam-ROz0QLYU/view?usp=drivesdk and feel free to share. You can reach out to Shraeya on Instagram @shraeya00 and follow our travels @srinivasantravels
