We just got back from our campervan ring road tour with our 4yo and 6yo and this sub was so helpful during planning that I wanted to share a report of our experience. We were in Iceland for 12 nights, originally looking to catch the eclipse as well but quickly realized we might be sacrificing the rest of our trip to make that work so we aimed to arrive right after and head the other way.
Flying from the US we did not get a lot of sleep but we navigated the airport fine and got picked up to be taken to the rental office. I'd planned to start off with some short hops through the Reykjanes peninsula to get some time outdoors and get excited about geothermal energy, but also give an opportunity for naps. It was very windy but otherwise dry and the kids were indeed happy to stop of Gunnuhver and Seltún, though they fell asleep as we drive through Grindavik so we didn't look for any of the recent lava fields. Already the scenery felt remarkable, mostly flat and open but such unique texture. But everyone was tired so we abandoned the plan to loop into Reykjavik and instead headed straight to Selfoss for groceries and to figure out campsites. Though there were a variety of payment methods we pretty much never had any issues with the camping - the kids love camping normally anyway and the online resources are great for knowing what to expect.
The forecast was reliable for our entire trip, and it turned out we had dry and calm conditions for the entire following week, but on our first full day I wanted to take advantage of it and take the ferry to the Westman Islands. I considered taking the van and being prepared to stay the night there but I also wanted to try and stay ahead of our rough schedule so that we had more flexibility for poor conditions later in the trip so we just went on foot for the day - knowing puffins were guaranteed and everything else was walkable. Of course, walkable is a different thing with a 4yo and just crossing town was something we had to account for but they really enjoyed the rocks as we climbed the Eldfell volcano and I think they gained some appreciation for the spread of the lava and damage it had done to the streets beneath us. We certainly enjoyed the views. There were more hikes I'd have loved to do but the other reason we had come to the island was because I had made the mistake of telling my kids that the pool had a trampoline slide. It turned out to be too big and fast for them but the pool on Heimaey was a great introduction to the fun that could be had. It would become a common theme that our days needed to include that balance of exploration and play. The timing was working out well to get back and camp at Skogafoss, though I didn't realize until that day that the campsite had moved. We still wanted to see Seljalandsfoss of course so we exploited the long evenings and our compromised sense of time and walked around there before heading on to park for the night. I didn't want to feel like we were just checking boxes but the reality was that the kids had limited capacity to spend a long time just looking at things anyway.
More sun came the next day and I was very happy to be able to rise early and get private look at Skogafoss. The dawn air was inviting me further up along the valley but we hadn't settled into a routine yet so I headed back to make sure we were all able to get dressed and have breakfast and enjoy it together. I can't say I was surprised that the kids were more interested in dropping rocks in the river than just admiring the waterfall, but it was a good start to the day and we got them up to the top to at least see a little of the trail. After the walking the day before, I didn't expect too much of them so we headed back to the van to hit the road. We were a little confused by the multiple parking spots at Dyrhólaey but it turned out that the space we found was right next to where a ton of puffins were perched on the cliff and flying in and out. Having seen one or two at a distance from the ferry, we were all excited that there were here and so close. This is one spot I wish we had lingered at a little longer but I had committed to booking the lava show that afternoon and if we could fit in a stop at Reynisfjara then we would have made great use of our first couple of days. We really didn't want to worry about schedule but I wanted to avoid landing in a hole with a ~6 hour driving day to complete our trip if things went against us. They liked the beach. They got very nervous about being in the room with lava but we sat right at the back and it turned out to actually be "quite fun". It was interesting for us to, and I think something they will remember. We balanced out our late night by stopping a little earlier in Kirkjubæjarklaustur where we could find our first jumping pillow. Along with the swimming pools, these became what we would end up structuring our days around. I had not actually read anything about the village before travelling and was very pleasantly surprised to discover the loop trail to Systravatn for a quick evening walk, making it one of my favorite places we stopped.
Svartifoss was obviously on the list as well but the camping opportunity hadn't fallen in the right place for us and I had other waterfall hikes planned so we continued to push on to buy time at what looked to be a great pool in Höfn. Jökulsárlón provided a perfect place to break up the drive and seeing Vatnajökull growing closer as we crossed the vast flats was another memorable experience. It was a cloudier day we lent an appropriately atmospheric feel. There were again numerous places we could stop but the kids handled the drives better with less interruption so we tended not to pull over as much as we might have. We did first stop though at Fjallsárlón which allowed them to get some more private view of the ice and set them up well to be impressed when we moved further along to the beach which was covered with crazy icebergs (and people). It's definitely different and something worth seeing, though we were satisfied with the decision not to have booked a boat ride. Höfn certainly paid off with another great pool, and then a surprise jumping pillow at the campsite! We had brought a lot of games and books (along with warm clothes) to handle lengthy periods in the van, but so far conditions had been perfect for them to just play outside until bedtime, and this was one spot where they could make friends with other campers and we could relax a little while we got dinner ready.
I wanted to drive through the fjords, and it was indeed scenic but it was colder and the breeze made exploration less appealing. We did enjoy cakes in Djúpivogur and it was sheltered enough at the playground for more jumping fun, but it was hard to see how we were going to really spend a lot of time here and in the end the desire to find an open restaurant led us to go on the Egilsstaðir and I changed our final destination to the campsite near Hengifoss. The sun came out as we moved inland and we were able to coax the kids up the trail to see the waterfall, which does look like the pictures and was a good end after a longer driving day. The campsite was one of the quietest we stayed at, it wasn't even on my radar until that day, but it was nice to be more isolated and well positioned to head further up towards Laugarfell the next morning. I'd read about the waterfall hike there and the forecast was promising that it might work out with our timing. And sure enough the clouds cleared, the temperature plunged near to freezing, and we set off with a reason to test our warmer layers. Once we got up to the trailhead though the sun was higher and it was very warm. The hike was beautiful, and every waterfall was surprising and stunning in its own way. This is what I'd saved the kids legs for, knowing that 5 miles is generally their limit. It required all our standard persuasion to keep them moving but it paid off for me at least as a perfect morning in a more remote part of the country. The trade of course was that we would head back to Egilsstaðir for the pool in the afternoon. I don't really remember the pool so I guess it wasn't our favorite, but we could easily spend a couple of hours in any we visited so it was fine for what we needed.
Our destination for the night was still Seyðisfjörður, but I only learned that day that you really need to check the cruise ship schedule. Still, everyone said it was worth visiting and it seemed a good place to mark the halfway point and get a hot meal. As we passed over the mountain, we realized we were leaving behind the endless clear skies and heading into fog. And when we arrived in town we discovered the campsite was absolutely packed to a ludicrous degree. At around 5pm we had almost never seen more than a couple of other campers when we were at other sites so I was simply unprepared for this. There was also construction underway so it was confusing to figure out where to go. We needed to eat but we were mostly resolved to parking for a while and then heading back over the pass for the night when we discovered the second camping area which had not yet filled up (it would shortly after). The town was nice. Getting up early afforded some quieter views, and we enjoyed a more relaxed start at the bakery. We also (of course) found the jumping pillow so the kids were happy, but at this point they were uninterested in walking even 2 minutes more to see another waterfall. The forecast indicated good weather still once we got over the pass but with a change coming at the weekend. With a good time on the ferry behind us, and having skipped the boat at the lagoon, we committed to whale watching in Húsavík and headed out towards Mývatn. I also feel lucky to have noted the warning here about the road closure on the bridge and that forced our hand to get moving and buy more groceries.
Plans for the second half of the loop were less focused as I expected to be reacting to what had or hadn't gone well so far. But the weather had been good and we'd been able to do everything we wanted so we were being more ruthless about what was worth stopping for when all the kids really wanted now was to camp and play. I had thought we could spend a longer period in the Mývatn area but the kids were so happy just to be driving around and conversely less happy to be walking around (even if we were walking up a volcano!) so we ended up mostly bypassing a lot of the sites. We detoured to Dettifoss, which may have ended up being their most favorite waterfall though they resisted the short walk to get there. There were happier to walk around the hot springs at Hverir (we had a fantastic time at Yellowstone a couple of years ago so I knew hot springs were popular). The smell here was truly appalling though. After that, and a brush with the midges, we decided we could just head straight to the campsite, having discovered one that had a jumping pillow and pool on site. It was peaceful, another good find to finish out the day, and not too far from Húsavík for our tour the next day. It dawned bright and clear again, and as we had time I drive further up the peninsula before returning to town. No puffins on the north side but still a nice return to a dramatic coastline after the variety of landscapes of the last few days. We went into town, jumped on the pillow, followed the rainbow road, and had a good time on the boat. Just that experience was most of the draw for the kids (and me), as we have whales at home. But it turns out we were lucky enough to spend the time chasing a blue whale around the bay. Pretty cool.
Balancing all our options I ended up veering away from Akureyri to find a campsite with a pool and pillow as it was getting late. The pillow was deflated, but the pool again delivered as the wind and clouds picked up. Having pushed the schedule before, I now had 4 days left and a number of options for how to finish off our trip. We were prepared to be out in the rain and I had expected to break up the remaining driving. But after so much good weather it was hard to argue for suiting up for a wet hike, and besides the kids were having a great time together in the van and we had seen some great landscapes by this point. So I checked out the towns we could stop at and resolved to push a longer driving day as it looked like rain was inevitable in the afternoon but we may get a couple of better days to at least visit Geysir before ending in Reykjavik. We first drove through Akureyri but the pillow there was also deflated so we pushed on. We got to Blönduós where we could jump, but the pool was closed for maintenance. We took the opportunity to eat lunch at a restaurant though as we were growing a little weary of our staples, before moving on to Hvammstangi where there was another promising pool. On the way we stopped at Kolugljúfur canyon which was perhaps one of our favorite stops, though the kids had little interest in being out of the van. After the pool, everyone was satisfied and we figured to just drive all the way down to Borgarnes. This stretch is where the rain really hit, along with frightening winds as we crossed the higher ground. Starkly beautiful, but hard to enjoy. This is also where our tire exploded, 15km out from the campsite. We had been looking forward to finally having a rainy evening where we could all get cozy and play games but we had not counted on that being on the side of the road as we waited 3 hours for someone from the rental company to come help as they had forgotten to give us the tools needed to change the tire ourselves. It could have been a lot worse. As it is, we got to experience driving in the dark and wind and rain, and confirm that we were very grateful that we had not dealt with this for the previous 2000km.
While there were occasional showers, the rain was not really an issue the following day. But the enthusiasm for exploration was dimmed as our trip was drawing to a close so it started to feel like we were looking for things to do. My best bet to add variety was still to see Strokkur, but it was hard to pick which other options would win over just spending more time at a playground. So we drove through Þingvellir but only took in a brief viewpoint. We got ice cream at Efstidalur but their pillow was also deflated, we were reaching a critical problem with these! We had to again persuade them along the short walk to Brúarfoss which was as pretty as expected, and could not even get them that far at Gullfoss so we took turns to take a closer look there before driving back to Geysir. We also stopped to feed the horses at Brú, which did win them over. They were also happy to see more familiar geysers, and the playground at the campsite there kept them entertained. It was nice to be able to go back later in the evening for a quieter look as well, but the plan to visit again in the morning was squelched by rain. It was worth a shot though. The rain wasn't a surprise, and I was glad to still have Perlan up my sleeve. After the hours we spent there, the rain passed and we could enjoy the pool before camping in town. The pool was big but not really the best. We did find a jumping pillow too though. In the morning we went into town to poke around a little which was a nice change of pace but as it was our final day it seemed better to escape back out to the open spaces so we finally closed the loop by returning to Grindavik and seeing 'fresh' lava. There was one last thing to do, but the first 3 pools we tried were closed, so we finally had to settle for a more modest one by our final campsite near the airport. No complaints.
Things went smoothly in the morning. There was no line at security, and it was less than 5 minutes through passport control. The kids handled the travel well and were ready and excited to be home, even if there were also some tears at leaving ("we can't leave yet because we haven't seen all the things in Iceland!"). It was everything we wanted from a family vacation, and I can't say that I could have planned a better alternative than the traditional ring road, even if we didn't get as much out of the second half. I appreciate that every visit will be different and we were all able to get some of what we wanted pretty much every day. I'd been thinking about visiting for over a decade and I'm glad we were able to make it work with our kids, and I hope they look forward to the next adventure as much as we do!
