Iceland

Best time to visit

Best time to travel

June to August offers maximum access and daylight; September and March can balance darkness, snow and aurora chances with more limited roads.

Travel tips

Travel by Ildy tips

• The Ring Road (Route 1) is about 1,300 km and fully paved, but the highland F-roads are different: they are legally restricted to 4x4 vehicles, many have unbridged river crossings, and they are usually open only in summer.
• At Laugarvatn Fontana on the Golden Circle, taste hverabrauð: dense, faintly sweet rye bread baked for around 24 hours in a pot buried in the hot black sand by the lake, served warm with Icelandic butter.
• From mid-April to mid-August, head to Borgarfjörður eystri in the East Fjords and the Hafnarhólmi islet, where about 10,000 puffin pairs nest beside wooden platforms; activity peaks from late May to mid-July.
• At Þingvellir, pause at the Lögberg, the Law Rock: at the Althing, founded around 930, an elected lawspeaker recited the law aloud here from memory long before it was written down.