Five days in Iceland is enough to see one region properly or three regions badly. The full Ring Road is not on the table — it is a 1,322 km loop and it needs seven days minimum. So this plan drives the South Coast out and back, which packs more into every kilometre than any other stretch of Route 1.
Route 1 is 1,322 km and fully paved. On paper that is 265 km a day over five days. In practice you land at Keflavík around midday and fly out in the morning, so you have three and a half real driving days — closer to 380 km a day before you stop for anything.
Then add Icelandic reality: 90 km/h on paved rural road, wind that makes 70 an act of discipline, and four to five hours of usable daylight in December. You would see the inside of a car. The north — Mývatn, Húsavík, Akureyri — is what gets sacrificed, and it is the part worth having. If you can find the days, use the 7-day Ring Road itinerary instead. Seven is the floor, ten to fourteen is comfortable.
Five days does the South Coast properly: Reykjavík out to Jökulsárlón and back, roughly 800 km in total, with the highest density of waterfalls, black beach, glacier tongue and iceberg lagoon on the island.
Collect the car at KEF, not in town. Airport pickup costs nothing extra and saves a bus transfer in both directions.
The Blue Lagoon sits between the airport and Reykjavík, about 20 minutes from the terminal, so it is genuinely efficient with luggage still in the boot. It is also the busiest thing in the country and needs booking weeks ahead in summer. Sky Lagoon, in Reykjavík itself, is cheaper and quieter, with an ocean horizon instead of a power plant. If you land after 16:00, skip both today.
Stop at a Bónus or Krónan before you leave the capital area. A restaurant main in Vík is around €35. A cool bag of skyr, bread, cheese and fruit will change your budget more than any other single decision on this trip.
Sleep in Reykjavík. Do not try to get east tonight.
Þingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss make a loop of about 250 km from Reykjavík. It is busy because it is close to the capital and because it is good. Þingvellir deserves 90 minutes: the rift walk between the plates, then Öxarárfoss. Geysir deserves twenty minutes — Strokkur erupts every five to ten minutes, you get your photo, and the rest is a car park and a gift shop. Gullfoss deserves 45 minutes and the lower path when it is not iced over. Kerið crater is a five-minute detour with a small entry fee: fine, not essential.
The important move is the last one. Do not sleep back in Reykjavík. Push on to Hella or Hvolsvöllur, about 100 km east. It is a dull hour tonight that buys you a whole morning tomorrow. Places to stay along the South Coast are thin on the ground and sell out early in summer, so book this leg first.
Short driving day, about 90 km in total. That is exactly why it works.
Sleep in Vík.
Vík to the glacier lagoon is 190 km, roughly two and a half hours without stops. You will stop.
From November to March you can add a natural blue ice cave under Vatnajökull. Guided only, in a super jeep, never alone. It is the one thing here you cannot do in summer, and it is why a winter version of this trip beats a summer one for some people. Ice cave and glacier tours sell out weeks ahead in peak season.
Where you sleep tonight decides tomorrow. Morning flight: double back west to Kirkjubæjarklaustur and leave 260 km for day 5. Afternoon or evening flight: stay at Freysnes or Hof near Skaftafell and accept a 380 km, five-hour run to the airport.
This is a driving day, not a sightseeing day. Pick one thing you skipped on the way out — the Vík church viewpoint, the Sólheimajökull glacier car park, a proper lunch at Hvolsvöllur — and only one.
Be at KEF two and a half hours before an international departure, then add an hour of slack on top. Refuel before you reach the airport. If you end up with four spare hours in Reykjavík, Sky Lagoon beats a second lap of Laugavegur.
In winter add more than an hour. Route 1 over Hellisheiði and the stretch around Vík close for wind and ice with little notice, and closed means closed. Check road.is (umferdin.is) and vedur.is when you wake up, not when you set off.
Per person, two sharing, excluding flights. Ranges, because season moves everything:
Book the car before anything else; supply is tighter and the price moves faster. Compare rental prices across DiscoverCars and the local firms — Blue Car Rental, Lava Car Rental, Northbound, Go Car Rental — because the Icelandic companies often bundle gravel and sand-and-ash protection that the international brands charge for separately.
From roughly November to April studded tyres are fitted by law, and every rental will have them. Late December gives you about five hours of low light: flattering for photographs, unhelpful for covering ground. Northern lights run roughly September to March and need a clear sky plus patience.
Summer gives 20+ hours of light, so the same route becomes far more relaxed — you can stand at Jökulsárlón at 22:00 in daylight. It also brings the crowds and the year's highest prices. Whale watching runs about April to October and is best from Húsavík in the north, which this route does not reach.
The Highlands are not part of this trip. F-roads legally require a 4x4, your insurance is void the moment a 2WD turns onto one, and no company anywhere covers river crossings. Landmannalaugar and Þórsmörk deserve a trip built around them, not a bolt-on to five days.
Technically yes, sensibly no. The loop is 1,322 km and you only have about three and a half real driving days once flights are accounted for, which means roughly 380 km a day before stops. You would spend the trip driving past things. Seven days is the realistic minimum for the loop, ten to fourteen is comfortable.
No. Everything here is on paved Route 1 and normal side roads, and a small 2WD handles it in any season. A 4x4 only becomes necessary on F-roads in the Highlands, which are off-limits on a five-day trip anyway. In winter what matters is the studded tyres, which are fitted by law from around November to April, not the drivetrain.
About 380 km each way, roughly five hours without stopping. People do attempt it as a single day trip from Reykjavík — that is ten hours of driving and it is a waste of a day. Break the journey at Vík or Skaftafell as in this plan.
Winter gets you natural blue ice caves under Vatnajökull (November to March) and northern lights (roughly September to March), but only four to five hours of light and a real chance of road closures. Summer gets you near-endless daylight and easy driving, at the cost of crowds and peak prices. For a first visit with tight days, summer is the safer plan; for the ice caves, winter is the only option.
It is worth it on arrival day specifically, because it sits about 20 minutes from Keflavík airport and fills dead time before check-in. If you want the same experience with fewer people and a better view, Sky Lagoon in Reykjavík does the job for less. Doing both is not a good use of five days.