Iceland’s ring road is 1,332 kilometres and almost everybody drives it in the same direction: south first, because that is where the famous stops are and because the rental desk hands you a map with the route drawn that way.
Go the other way. The south coast is the busiest third of the road and the part that most rewards an empty car park, and if you arrive there on day eight rather than day two you get it in the second half of the afternoon, in autumn light, after every coach has turned for home.
Day three, east side, and the last car we saw for forty minutes. Photo: Suju.
Seven days, the other way round
- Days one and two: north from Keflavik, Borgarnes, the long empty run to Akureyri.
- Day three: Myvatn. The one place worth two nights.
- Days four and five: the east fjords, which are the quietest and the least photographed part of the whole loop.
- Days six and seven: the glacier lagoon, then west along the south coast into the evening.
The direction is not a detail. It decides whether the sun is in your windscreen or over your shoulder for six hours a day, for a week.
What will go wrong
Wind. Not rain — wind, which closes roads, takes car doors off their hinges and is the single most common cause of a claim on an Icelandic hire car. Check the road service site every morning, take the gravel protection, and never open a door without holding it.
