As of September 2015
Food
Supermarkets you can find in any bigger village around the ring road. The bigger the village the broader the assortment of goods. The local bread is fine, but you have to avoid the sliced one in plastic bags. What we had to get used to was the smoked fish and meat, we felt it tasted like cold ash.
A speciality is the way they sell alcohol: there is only one shop chain – the Vinboutin – which is state-owned. Alcohol is pretty expensive and the shops have really weird opening hours.
Water
Drinking water is easy to get. Most of the gasoline stations have car wash site where you get water free or on the campgrounds. In the highland you might need to get water from the lakes or rivers. In this case you would need a pump with filtersystem.
Diesel
Close to the ring road you get diesel in all villages. The network of tank stations is really good there. Only in the highland you won’t find diesel. The fuel was a tiny bit cheaper than in Switzerland at that time (Summer 2015).
Cash
You can draw cash from any ATM, which are well spread across the country. But you hardly need cash, because you can pay really everywhere with credit cards – even in the campgrounds in the highlands.
The highly acclaimed DKB credit cards didn’t work in all gasoline stations.
Overnight Sites
It’s still no problem to find beautiful, lonely sites for camping. Most of the time we could spend the night on our own in the middle of the nature. Of course you leave the place like it was before, so that many more can enjoy that freedom. In national parks it’s not allowed to camp outside the official campgrounds. If you are on privately owned ground you should ask the owner – normally no problem. The campgrounds are really busy, as the locals use the heavily. So sometimes it gets a bit crowded, but most of the sites are really very nicely done.
Internet
We’ve bought a local SIM-card – Siminn – and got nearly everywhere super reception. When we bought the data card it was said that the card was charged with 4GB, but unfortunately it was totally empty.
Roads
The ring road is nearly entirely paved and mostly in a good condition. Unfortunately a lot of roads close to the ring road get tared nowadays. We experienced that the gravel roads often had a better / solid ground the tared roads. Often they have unbelievable dips, so that the suspension punctured.
And it’s worth mentioning that some national park roads have weight limitations and therefore not usable for trucks. But the rangers are always helpful to show ways around.
Our highlights
1. Kerlingarfjöll (hike to the hot springs) 64°38’59” N 19°18’9″ W
1. Porsmörk (hiking, fords) N63 40.694 W19 29.025
1. Askja (hiking to viki) 64°28’32” N 18°36’40” W
1. Litlahof (farmer and puffins) N63 51.693 W16 40.084
5. Laugafell (very narrow track down in the valley and extraordinary views on the plateau) N65 14.170 W18 14.204
6. Latrabjarg (bird cliffs, most western point) N65 30.759 W24 29.631
7. Kaldidalur (beautiful landscape) N64 51.945 W20 31.168
8. Asbergi (horseshoe, hiking to the gorge) 65°59’52” N 16°30’43” W
9. Langanes (drive with Ernstli) 66°22’42” N 14°31’58” W
10. Aldeyarfoss (most beautiful waterfall) 65°21’58” N 17°20’18” W
Important Links
www.Icelandreview.com/de/news
www.Vegagerdin.is
http://icelandroadguide.com/index.php?cmsszd=roads&cmsszs=de
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Garmin_map_of_Iceland
Our stats
Daily expenses for 2 people – with a generous life style:
Food CHF 43.46
Non-food CHF 9.24
Cloths CHF 0.38
Trips CHF 6.11
Restaurant CHF 18.61
Lodging CHF 9.72
Internet/Tel CHF 2.54
Water consumption 93.75l by 0.375 washing machines
Diesel consumption in 100km: 42.508l
Interesting Observations
The waste management is organised with big container. These container you can find often at turnoffs to big farms or so. Could be some more. In the highlands you have to take your waste with you.
It’s not always clear when you enter a national park – we couldn’t see the borders!
It felt like every farm had its own church. That said we didn’t draw any specific conclusions out of that fact.
Most of the time we saw ewes with 2 pups grazing around. We guess it’s a genetic program. And we also guessed that ewes with only one pup lost one to human stomaches.
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