Iceland south coast road trip: Reykjavík to Jökulsárlón
≈ 380 km · ~5 h driving · ideal in 6 days · 6 stops
One road, the Ring Road, and everything Iceland is famous for lined up beside it: waterfalls you walk behind, black-sand beaches, a glacier national park and a lagoon full of drifting icebergs.
Free · no sign-up · drag the stops, see drive times, find places to stay & charge
The route at a glance
- Reykjavík — 1 night
- Selfoss — 1 night
- Seljalandsfoss — stop en route
- Vík — 1 night
- Skaftafell — 1 night
- Jökulsárlón — 1 night
The stops
1. Reykjavík· 1 night
Hallgrímskirkja's tower for the lay of the land, hot dogs at the famous stand, and east onto Route 1.
2. Selfoss· 1 night
Base for the Golden Circle add-on: Þingvellir's rift valley, Geysir's eruptions and Gullfoss — then rejoin the coast.
3. Seljalandsfoss· en route
The waterfall you walk behind (bring a shell layer), with Skógafoss and its 60-metre curtain twenty minutes on.
4. Vík· 1 night
Black sand, basalt columns and puffins on Dyrhólaey June–August — the moody capital of the south coast.
5. Skaftafell· 1 night
Vatnajökull national park: walk to Svartifoss between hexagonal basalt organ pipes, or crampon onto a glacier tongue with a guide.
6. Jökulsárlón· 1 night
Icebergs calve, drift the lagoon, and strand on Diamond Beach's black sand. Stay nearby for evening light with no coaches.
Good to know
Summer gives 20-hour daylight and every road open; winter gives auroras but demands respect — check road.is and safetravel.is daily. Sneaker waves at Reynisfjara black beach are genuinely deadly; obey the signs. Book Jökulsárlón zodiac tours and all accommodation ahead in July–August. Fuel up when you can — stations thin out east of Vík.
More road trips
- Oslo to Bergen road trip≈ 460 km · 7 days
- Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye road trip≈ 400 km · 7 days
- London to Edinburgh road trip≈ 750 km · 7 days
- Dublin to Killarney road trip≈ 360 km · 7 days
- Munich to Venice road trip≈ 580 km · 8 days
- Rome to Florence road trip≈ 350 km · 7 days
Or start from a blank map and build your own — Stopful shows drive times between stops, splits long days, finds hotels and EV chargers along the route, and tracks the budget as you plan.