Ten days is the sweet spot for Route 1. Enough to drive the whole loop, add Snaefellsnes, and still have two mornings where you don't touch the car. Here is the day-by-day version, plus what it costs and where the Westfjords do and don't fit.
Route 1 is 1,322 km and fully paved the whole way round. You can drive it in seven days — plenty of people do and it works — but that means three to four hours behind the wheel most days and a list of things you drove past. The 7-day Ring Road itinerary is that tighter version.
Ten days changes the maths. With the Snaefellsnes detour you'll cover roughly 2,000 km, which is two to three and a half hours of driving on a normal day, plus two nights where the car stays parked. That's the difference between seeing Jökulsárlón and sitting at Jökulsárlón for two hours watching the ice drift out to sea.
What ten days does not buy you is everything. Ring Road plus Snaefellsnes plus the Westfjords plus the Highlands is a three-week trip. Pick two.
Drive anticlockwise: Reykjavík, south coast, east, north, west. You get the busiest stretch out of the way while you still have the energy for early starts, and you finish near the airport instead of 400 km from it.
A 2WD hatchback handles the entire Ring Road and Snaefellsnes from June to September. You do not need a 4x4 for this route. You need one the moment you touch an F-road: 4x4 is a legal requirement up there, and your rental insurance is void if you take a 2WD onto one. River crossings are not covered by any policy, from anyone. Read the exclusions before you sign.
Budget roughly €70-110 a day for a small 2WD in summer and €110-180 for a real 4x4, less in shoulder season. Gravel protection and sand-and-ash protection are the two add-ons worth having. Local outfits like Blue Car Rental, Lava Car Rental, Go Car Rental and Northbound tend to be straighter about damage claims than the big international desks — compare rental prices across both before you commit, and book two to three months out for July and August.
Roughly November to April, studded winter tyres are fitted by law and your rental will have them on. Winter driving on Route 1 is manageable if you're patient, but daylight is short and sections close without much warning.
Day 1 — Arrival. Land at KEF, collect the car, don't be heroic. The Blue Lagoon sits about 20 minutes from the airport on the way into town, which is the one time it genuinely makes sense — pre-book a slot a couple of hours after landing. If you'd rather skip it, Sky Lagoon is in Reykjavík itself and has the better sea view. Night in Reykjavík.
Day 2 — Golden Circle. Þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss, all three in one relaxed day with room for the Kerið crater or the Secret Lagoon. Geysir takes 20 minutes; it goes off every few minutes and then you've seen it. Sleep east near Hella or Hvolsvöllur so day 3 starts ahead.
Day 3 — South coast. Seljalandsfoss (walk behind it, you will get wet), Skógafoss, the Sólheimajökull glacier tongue, then Reynisfjara. Take the sneaker-wave signs at Reynisfjara literally — people are killed on that beach most years. Two nights in or near Vík.
Day 4 — Skaftafell. Short drive east, with Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon on the way. In Skaftafell, Svartifoss is about 1.5 hours return and the Skaftafellsjökull path is flat and 45 minutes. Guided glacier hikes leave from here year-round and are the single activity most worth paying for.
Day 5 — Jökulsárlón. The glacier lagoon, plus Diamond Beach directly across the road. Fjallsárlón, ten minutes west, is smaller and far quieter. Boat trips run roughly May to October. Night in Höfn, and eat the langoustine.
Day 6 — East Fjords. Höfn to Egilsstaðir is around 250 km of the best driving in the country, fjord after fjord with almost no traffic. Watch for reindeer. The Öxi road (939) saves an hour but it's steep gravel and closed in winter, so skip it in poor weather. Detour down to Seyðisfjörður for the blue church if the pass is clear.
Day 7 — Mývatn. Egilsstaðir to Mývatn is 165 km across a high, empty plateau. Dettifoss is the detour worth making — use road 862 on the west bank, it's paved. Around the lake: the sulphur flats at Námaskarð, Dimmuborgir, Grjótagjá, and the Mývatn Nature Baths, which cost less than the Blue Lagoon and are half as busy.
Day 8 — Húsavík and Akureyri. Whale watching from Húsavík runs roughly April to October and is the best in the country; humpbacks are near-certain in June and July. Goðafoss on the way through. Night in Akureyri, the only town outside Reykjavík with a proper restaurant scene. Book whale trips and glacier hikes ahead in summer because they sell out.
Day 9 — The long haul. Akureyri to Snaefellsnes is around 380 km and five hours, the longest day of the trip. Break it at Kolugljúfur canyon or the Hvítserkur sea stack, then Grábrók crater near Bifröst. Sleep in Grundarfjörður or Ólafsvík.
Day 10 — Snaefellsnes. The peninsula is Iceland in miniature: Kirkjufell, the black pebbles at Djúpalónssandur, the clifftop walk between Arnarstapi and Hellnar (2.5 km, do it), Búðakirkja. Reykjavík is two and a half hours from the far end.
One caveat. This plan assumes ten full days on the ground and a flight the next morning. If you fly out on day 10, cut Snaefellsnes to the south side only and stay near Borgarnes on night 9.
The Westfjords are the best part of Iceland, and the reason to skip them is boring: distance. Adding them properly means 600-900 km of mostly single-lane road, much of it gravel, over passes where 50 km/h is optimistic. Three days is the minimum, four is honest.
You cannot do the full Ring Road and the Westfjords in ten days. If you want them anyway, drop the east half: Reykjavík, south coast, Jökulsárlón, back the way you came, then north-west, using the Baldur ferry from Stykkishólmur to Brjánslækur to save about four hours. That buys you Látrabjarg's puffin cliffs, Rauðisandur and Dynjandi.
It's a June-to-September route in practice. For a first trip, do the Ring Road and Snaefellsnes and keep the Westfjords for the second one.
Fuel for roughly 2,000 km in a small petrol car runs €280-350 at Icelandic pump prices. Accommodation is the real number: €130-200 a night for a guesthouse double outside the capital in summer, €180-300 in Reykjavík, considerably less October to April. Rooms on the south-east coast and around Mývatn are thin on the ground and go early, so sort your Ring Road accommodation before anything else — it dictates the whole schedule.
Three things people waste money on: guided Golden Circle bus tours when they already have a rental car, three separate geothermal lagoons in one trip, and petrol station food when Bónus and Krónan are a third of the price. Restaurant mains are €30-45 and a beer is €10-12, so cook a few nights.
Season decides the extras. Natural blue ice caves under Vatnajökull only exist November to March. Northern lights run roughly September to March and need a clear dark sky, so don't build the trip around them. Whale watching is April to October. Book nothing weather-dependent on a non-refundable rate.
Yes, and comfortably. The loop is 1,322 km of paved road. Seven days is the realistic minimum; ten gives you two to three and a half hours of driving on a normal day, two nights without moving the car, and room to add the Snaefellsnes peninsula.
Anticlockwise, meaning south coast first. You cover the densest, busiest section early while you're still fresh for 8am starts, and you end the trip on Snaefellsnes, two and a half hours from Reykjavík rather than a full day away from the airport.
Not for this route. A 2WD handles the entire Ring Road and Snaefellsnes in summer. A 4x4 is legally required on F-roads into the Highlands, and taking a 2WD onto one voids your insurance entirely. River crossings are excluded by every policy regardless of the vehicle. In winter, studded tyres matter more than drivetrain, and they're fitted by law around November to April.
Only by dropping something big. The Westfjords need three to four days on their own because of gravel roads and mountain passes. The workable version is Reykjavík, south coast, Jökulsárlón, back west, then the Baldur ferry from Stykkishólmur into the southern Westfjords, skipping the east and north entirely. It's a summer-only plan.
June to August for long daylight, open roads and whale watching from Húsavík. September is the best compromise: northern lights start, crowds drop, prices soften and the roads are still fine. February and March if ice caves under Vatnajökull are the priority, but accept short days and slower driving.