Iceland

Iceland is the country this site spends most of its time on, and the one where the arithmetic matters most: a single ring road of 1,309 km, a highland network that opens for about three months, one ferry a week from the continent and a fuel price that moves. The journeys are listed at the foot. This page is the part they share.

#Getting there from the other six

By air, from Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki: Icelandair flies Keflavík–Copenhagen year-round and serves Oslo, Stockholm, Bergen and Helsinki on schedules that change by season — check the current timetable rather than this page. PLAY, the second Icelandic carrier on those routes, ceased operations on 29 September 2025 and should be removed from any older plan. Other Nordic carriers serve some of the same routes, seasonally; check. Keflavík is 48 km from Reykjavík on Route 41.

By sea, from Denmark via the Faroe Islands: Smyril Line's Norröna sails Hirtshals–Tórshavn–Seyðisfjörður. From the published 2027 schedule (PDF dated October 2026): a weekly Seyðisfjörður call from the end of March to mid-November. In the summer period (29 May–5 September 2027) the ship leaves Hirtshals on Tuesday at 11:30, calls Tórshavn on Wednesday evening and arrives Seyðisfjörður on Thursday at 08:30, sailing back at 10:30 to reach Hirtshals on Saturday at 12:30. In the shoulder periods (28 March–28 May and 6 September–20 November 2027) it leaves Hirtshals on Sunday at 15:00 and arrives Seyðisfjörður on Wednesday at 09:00, sailing back on Thursday at 20:00 to reach Hirtshals on Sunday at 11:00. There is no sailing to Iceland from 21 November to 31 December and from 3 January to 8 March. Seyðisfjörður is 27 km from Egilsstaðir over the Fjarðarheiði pass on Route 93, which is the first thing to check on a snowy morning.

From Greenland: Icelandair flies Keflavík–Nuuk and seasonal Keflavík–Ilulissat (check); the Greenland add-on journey starts from Reykjavík. From the Faroes: the ferry above, or the Reykjavík–Vágar flights (check the carriers' schedules).

#Car, ferry or flight

Fly and hire a car at Keflavík for anything up to two weeks; it is the arithmetic that every journey on this site assumes. Bring your own car on the Norröna only for a trip of three weeks or more, because the crossing takes two nights each way from Denmark and the ship sails once a week, so the stay is a multiple of seven days minus the sailing days. The domestic flights that matter are Reykjavík city airport to Akureyri (about 45 minutes, several a day), Egilsstaðir and Ísafjörður; the north ledger on this site uses the first.

#Money

The króna (ISK). Cards work everywhere — fuel pumps, car parks, campsites, the remotest café — and a PIN is needed at the pumps; contactless phones work. Cash is almost never required and the airport exchange desk is rarely worth the queue.

#Driving rules

Right-hand traffic. Speed limits, from the Icelandic Police page on Ísland.is: 30 to 50 km/h in towns, 80 km/h on gravel, 90 km/h on paved roads outside towns; signs are posted only where a different limit applies. Headlights: the Transport Authority's page on Ísland.is states that traffic law requires driving lights to be on whenever a car is in use on a public road, day and night. Studded tyres: permitted from 1 November to 14 April; banned from 15 April to 31 October unless conditions require them (Icelandic Police and Reykjavík city notices). Seatbelts for everyone; children under 135 cm in a car seat; phones hands-free only; off-road driving strictly forbidden; the drink-drive limit is strict enough to treat as zero (the exact figure is in the Traffic Act, not quoted here) (all from safetravel.is and the Transport Authority's leaflet). F-roads are signed for four-wheel-drive vehicles only and rental contracts forbid 2WD cars on them; safetravel.is adds that no insurance covers damage from crossing a river. Single-lane bridges: the first car to arrive has priority and the limit at the bridge is 50 km/h.

Fuel: the figure above is the typical self-service price for 95-octane petrol in the capital area on bensinverd.is on 1 November 2026 (the lowest listed was 255.20 ISK, diesel typical 335.80); prices vary by chain, by region and by week, so check a station app before relying on it. The journey ledgers multiply this figure by their own litres.

#Seasons in a paragraph

May to September is the driving season: every road in every ledger is open by late June and the highland roads close again from mid-September. October to April is the Ring Road with winter tyres and a morning look at umferdin.is, the south coast as the safe week, and the north by air. The season planner has the month-by-month detail, with daylight computed for the date you pick.

#Journeys in Iceland

Ring Road in 7 days; Ring Road in 10 days with Snæfellsnes; South Coast and Golden Circle in 5 days; Westfjords loop in 6 days; North Iceland and the Diamond Circle in 5 days; Highlands by 4x4 in 5 days; and the Iceland + Faroe Islands by ferry and Greenland add-on journeys that connect this country to the rest of the North.

#Sources

Icelandair network: AeroRoutes, 2 August 2026, and the airline's schedule (check). PLAY closure: industry reports, 29 September 2025. Norröna: Smyril Line sailing schedule 2027 (PDF, published October 2026). Speed limits: Ísland.is, Icelandic Police. Lights: Ísland.is, Icelandic Transport Authority. Studded tyres: Icelandic Police and Reykjavík city notices. Other rules: safetravel.is (Top 12 tips, Highland driving) and the Transport Authority's "How to drive in Iceland" leaflet. Fuel: bensinverd.is, 1 November 2026. Route 1 length: Icelandic Wikipedia. Verified 1 November 2026.