Most people drive West Iceland Borgarfjörður with the airport already on their mind, and the whole region turns into a 90 km/h blur. It is the final 200 km of Route 1 and the easiest part of the loop to write off. It is also where the lava-fed waterfalls, the highest-flow hot spring in Europe and a walkable lava tube sit half empty on a July afternoon. Give it a day.
Route 1 is about 1,322 km and fully paved the whole way round. Seven days is the realistic minimum for the loop, and by the time you reach West Iceland you have spent six of them. Coming south from Akureyri it is roughly 330 km to Borgarnes, about four hours of steady driving, then another 74 km, an hour, into Reykjavík. Doing it in one push is completely possible, and that is exactly why Borgarfjörður gets skipped.
It also happens to be the most weather-proof part of the trip. Up north, roads like the eastern gravel approach to Dettifoss shut for the winter and stay shut. Here the main roads are paved, kept open and cleared early. If a storm ate one of your northern days, this is where you claw a half day back.
One free warm-up sits directly on Route 1 near Bifröst: Grábrók, a 3,400-year-old scoria crater with a staircase to the rim. Twenty to thirty minutes return, no ticket, and the view down over the lava field explains the rest of the region before you drive into it.
Route 1 crosses Hvalfjörður through a 5.7 km tunnel under the seabed. It takes about seven minutes, the limit is 70 km/h, there is no stopping and no cycling, and the toll was removed in 2018 — it is free now. That is the default and it is the right call on a departure day.
The alternative is Route 47, the old road that loops around the fjord. Roughly 60 km of paved, quiet, well-surfaced coast road, and it adds about an hour over the tunnel. What you get: the derelict whaling station, the seal haul-out at Hvítanes, and the trailhead for Glymur at the head of the fjord — a 198 m waterfall, the second highest in the country.
Be honest about Glymur before committing. It is a 3–4 hour return hike, steep and exposed in places, with a river crossing on a log that gets pulled out of the water for the winter. It is not a roadside stop. Take the fjord road if you have two spare hours and dry weather. Otherwise take the tunnel and spend the time inland instead.
From Borgarnes, head inland on road 50 then 518 — about 60 km, 50 minutes each way. This is the detour that earns the day.
Hraunfossar is not one waterfall. It is close to a kilometre of clear water seeping straight out of the edge of the Hallmundarhraun lava field and dropping into the Hvítá river. The rock is porous, the water runs underground through it, and the whole wall of the lava field leaks at once. Nothing else on the Ring Road looks like it.
Barnafoss is five minutes upstream on the same path — a short, violent chute forced through a narrow black gorge. Same car park, same walk.
Both are free. Big paved lot, boardwalks, viewing platforms, and one of the routes is step-free. Twenty to forty minutes covers the pair unless you are shooting photos. Afternoon light is better. In winter it stays open and the ice frames improve it, but the boardwalk sheets over — bring spikes for your boots.
Deildartunguhver is the highest-flow hot spring in Europe: around 180 litres per second at 97°C. It is not a geyser and it does not perform. It just boils, constantly, into a red steaming bank of ferns beside road 50. Pipelines carry that water 34 km to Borgarnes and 64 km to Akranes, which is where most of West Iceland's hot taps come from.
Fifteen minutes on the boardwalk is enough. Stay on it — the runoff is genuinely scalding. There is a geothermal bath complex built next to the spring if you want to sit in the water rather than look at it; budget roughly €40–60 per adult and book in high season.
Ten minutes further on is Reykholt, where Snorri Sturluson lived and was killed in 1241. His stone bathing pool is still there, fed by a channel from a nearby spring, plus a small saga museum. Worth half an hour if the sagas interest you. If they do not, drive past it without guilt.
Víðgelmir sits in the same Hallmundarhraun field, off road 518 past Húsafell. It is the largest lava tube in Iceland by volume, roughly 1.5 km long, and it is the one cave here that a non-caver can genuinely enjoy: a boardwalk runs deep into it, helmets and lamps are handed out at the start, and you never crawl.
Access is guided only, no self-entry. Standard tours run about an hour to ninety minutes and cost roughly €40–70 per adult, with reduced child rates and longer options. Book ahead in summer. Tours run year-round, which makes this the best rain plan in West Iceland — a lava tube does not care about the forecast.
The last few kilometres of the access road are gravel and fine for a 2WD in summer. Inside it holds around 4°C all year, so bring a proper jacket even in August. It is the single best-value stop on this leg if you are comparing it against other bookable activities on the loop.
Do not let your map app shortcut you home. Past Húsafell, road 518 becomes F550 over Kaldidalur toward Þingvellir. That is an F-road: a 4x4 is legally required, and taking a 2WD onto it voids your insurance completely. River crossings are never insured in any vehicle, on any policy. F550 is also closed for most of the year. Going back the way you came, via Borgarnes, is the only sane route to Reykjavík.
Borgarnes sits on a spit reached by a 520 m bridge across the fjord, and almost everyone treats it as a fuel stop. The Settlement Centre, in an old warehouse by the harbour, is the reason to stop properly.
Two separate exhibitions, each about 30 minutes with the audio guide, available in several languages. One covers the settlement of Iceland — who came, from where, and why. The other walks through Egil's Saga, which happened right here; Egill's family farm at Borg is a five-minute drive away and you can stand on it afterwards. Expect roughly €15–25 per adult, cheaper for a combined ticket.
Practically, Borgarnes is also the last useful town before the city. Full supermarket, a real service station, and the best lunch stop on the road between Akureyri and Reykjavík. Fill the tank here — fuel does not get cheaper closer to the capital, and the rental car needs to go back full anyway.
The version that works: sleep in or near Borgarnes, or at Bifröst 28 km north. Leave at 09:00. Deildartunguhver by 09:45, Hraunfossar and Barnafoss by 10:30, a booked cave tour at midday, back in Borgarnes around 14:30 for lunch and the Settlement Centre, tunnel, Reykjavík by 17:00. That is a full day with no rushing and no 300 km transfer at the end of it. It slots straight onto the end of a 7-day Ring Road itinerary, or onto the front as a warm-up day if you are driving the loop clockwise.
If you only have three hours: Deildartunguhver, then Hraunfossar and Barnafoss, then back through the tunnel. Skip the cave — it needs a booked slot you cannot flex. Skip Reykholt. Skip the Hvalfjörður loop road entirely.
If you are flying out: Keflavík is about 120 km and 1h40 from Borgarnes, and rental returns want 30–60 minutes of buffer plus a fuel stop. Do not book a cave tour on a departure morning. Sleep near the airport the night before instead and see where to stay for that last night.
Winter notes. Studded tyres are fitted by law roughly November to April — confirm the rental has them rather than assuming. Check road.is or umferdin.is and vedur.is every single morning; in this region wind closes roads far more often than snow does. Route 1 and the tunnel get cleared first, road 518 inland gets cleared later, so an early start inland is worse than a mid-morning one. More route breakdowns are in all guides.
Half a day gets you Deildartunguhver plus Hraunfossar and Barnafoss with the drive in and out. A full day adds the Víðgelmir cave tour, the Settlement Centre in Borgarnes and a proper lunch. Anything less than three hours and you are only doing the hot spring.
Take the 5.7 km tunnel by default — seven minutes, free since the toll was scrapped in 2018. Route 47 around the fjord is paved and quiet but adds about an hour for 60 km. Only take it if you have spare time, dry weather, and specifically want the whaling station, the seals at Hvítanes or the Glymur trailhead.
Yes. It is roughly 120 km round trip from Borgarnes on paved roads, about 50 minutes each way, and it looks like nothing else on the Ring Road — a kilometre of water bleeding out of a lava field into the river. Barnafoss is on the same short path, so you get two stops for one drive.
Not for anything in this guide. Deildartunguhver, Hraunfossar, Reykholt and Borgarnes are all paved, and the short gravel access to the cave is fine in a 2WD in summer. You need a 4x4 the moment you touch an F-road such as F550 over Kaldidalur — in a 2WD your insurance is void there, and river crossings are uninsured in any vehicle.
It works better than most of the loop. The roads are paved and cleared early, the waterfalls are more striking under ice, and the lava cave runs year-round regardless of weather. Make sure the car has the studded tyres fitted by law from roughly November to April, check road.is and vedur.is each morning, and expect wind rather than snow to be what closes things.
Borgarnes or Bifröst puts you 45 minutes from every stop and one easy hour from Reykjavík. Húsafell is closer to the cave and the waterfalls but further from Route 1. If your flight is early the next morning, drive through and sleep near Keflavík instead — Borgarnes to the airport is about 120 km and 1h40.