4. The leisurely drive around the Golden Circle
Most of the natural attractions in Iceland are free and accessible, which make driving around a popular tourist activity through a known highway called The Ring Road. You need to spend a minimum of 7 days to complete the Ring Road, but if you only have a few days in Iceland, you can visit the Golden Circle on a day trip and the south coast on another day.
We rented a car and did a DIY tour of the Golden Circle. This was one of the best decisions we made on this trip.
You can spend as much time as you want in each attraction and get to pull over to take a photograph of something that interests you or to just simply watch the astounding scenery on the side of the road.
Thingvellir National Park, the site of the world’s first parliament and the drifting of the Eurasian and North-American plates
Gullfoss waterfall
Skógafoss
To make our road trip filled with more Icelandic feels, we prepared a playlist of songs by Icelandic music artists: Bjork, Glowie, Soley, Dansaðu Vindur, Vok, Of Monsters and Men, just to name a few.
Seljalandsfoss
Rental car/driving facts and tips:
As long as your driving license is, at least, a year old and has English translation, you may rent a car in Iceland.
They use left-hand driving, too, so it’s not a problem for us Filipinos.
There is no cost difference between an automatic and a manual car.
The kind of car to use depends on your route. For those doing the Ring Road, it’s safer to use a 4×4.
Collision damage waiver (CDW) insurance is already included in the rental price.
Purchase the gravel, sand, and ash protection insurances.
Speed limits: urban areas 50 km/hr, outside towns 90 km/hr on paved roads, and 80 km/hr on gravel roads
There are many roundabouts and one-lane bridges.
Headlamps should be turned on no matter what time of the day.
Instructions on how to fill up the gas tank are provided. Yes, you fill up the gas on your own.
A liter of petrol is around ISK 230 or 1.64 euros
Road maps are provided as well.
Before leaving, arrange the pickup point so you do not need to return the car to the shop at the end of the day. They will instruct you on where to hide the car keys.
Total cost for a Suzuki Swift 2015 model (automatic transmission) with the insurances mentioned above and a GPS is 85 euros a day at Route 1 Car Rental.
Read on for more!
