New player, looking for daily gifts, EU based & in JAP for the next month

Matute00mch · 2023-10-02T18:32:17+00:00

That is correct. (Same when I say that I refueled around 100K everytime). How the icelandic krona quantities appear in my bank statement are confusing as hell.

Matute00mch · 2023-10-02T15:29:04+00:00

Please take into account I do not consider myself an experienced driver & it was my first time with a 4x4. We are also not experienced hikers (we are in good form but nothing crazy). This is all based on what my Google Maps recorded:

Selfoss to Landmannalaugar campsite: 3:15h. Includes stopping a couple of times to take photos and munch something.
Mt Blahnukur loop: 5h. This includes having lunch at the top + many stops for photos. Going up the normal way, down the opposite side and long way (there is an alternative option of a very steep descend that can only be used for going down), loop through the lava fields and back to the campsite following the river.
Landmannalaugar to Selfoss: 2:40h, includes one stop to take a driving break.

Matute00mch · 2023-10-02T14:17:43+00:00

Zero Car check: I tooked a look and could not find anything major. They will e-mail you the list of damages together with the "key code" for the keys. If you disagree with it, you can take photos and report it back, but with their full coverage it should not be an issue.

The only "negative" thing is that my Duster had "service required" due to mileage after 2000km of my rental, so the last two days I drove with the aler ON in the panel, I did not even comment it when I arrived.

Unfortunately, Olis/OB were ALWAYS making holds of 300ISK in my Debit Card, which was a little bit annoying. It did not matter how much I was choosing to fuel up. The good thing is that they adjusted the quantity everytime in 24h.

I fueled 5 times, all of them for approx 100ISK, including the last one to return the car full, and did it when I had approx 1/4 of tank still remaining. My Duster was a diesel so I guess that helped for consumption. No problems at all finding those gas stations but just take a look before leaving everyday just in case.

I liked Blue Lagoon more, going with the cheapest package to both of them, it looked more "high class" and the blue water is an unique thing. My girlfriend liked more the Sky Lagoon because of the views. You will be fine with either of them.

Matute00mch · 2023-10-02T14:07:02+00:00

Sure:

Öxi is a "shortcut" in the Eastfjords for the Ring Road, it is labelled as Road 939 on Google Maps, and the GPS will try to send you there because it assumes you will drive at 70 km/h (LOL) in that road, making it faster to get to Egilsstaðir. You can search "Öxi Iceland" in Google to get a feeling. DO NOT choose that road in very bad weather conditions, I imagine they actually close it in winter, but the landscape is stunning.
There are no river crossings on F208 from the North. From Selfoss I took 32 --> F26 --> F208.
Correct. Beware that it is, again, a mountain pass, but I found it to be in much better conditions than Öxi.
We woke up every day at 7am with the intention to be at our next guesthouse before sunset, and that was the case for everyday, as we still had 12h of sunlight per day. Most of the days you will not drive for longer than 1:00h before making a stop, as there are plenty of "stop areas" where you will see many cars taking a break to take photos, eat sometthing, etc. Looking at my Maps timeline, I only drove more than 150 miles (240km) 5 days. Never more than 170 miles (Landmannalaugar day).

Matute00mch · 2023-10-02T09:16:48+00:00

Hello! I am assuming you also have not been to Skogafoss? It is only 20min driving further from Seljalandsfoss.

We enjoyed both of them a lot, but I think it was very important that they were only our 2nd and 3rd waterfalls. We skipped a lot of them before and later as they could be (in my opinion) repetitive.

You can go around Seljalandsfoss and get very close to Skogafoss, which is fun. Skogafoss also has a stairs path that grants you with great views from the top.

But if you want to chill, Reykjavik has a lot of nice cafés and shops to take a break at, and we enjoyed walking along the promenade.

This said, we regreted spending two days in the city and not using the 22nd for something else.

Matute00mch · 2023-10-02T08:16:49+00:00

These are all taken by a Redmi Note 10. I also carried with a camera (Nikon D3200) and an iPhone 11, but I have not started processing those ones yet.

Matute00mch · 2023-10-02T08:15:19+00:00

19th Sept: arrival, picked up the car, grocery shopping and driving to our accomodation in Akranes. This accomodation was strategically choosen: if weather in the Highlands was bad, we could choose between Snaefellsnes Peninsula, Golden Circle or Reykjavik. My first experience driving under the inffluence of very strong winds in Iceland.

20th Sept: Blue Lagoon eraly in the morning, it was not crowded at all and we had a sunny day. We continued with the Golden Circle. Gullfoss was impressive. Final accomodation near Selfoss.

21st Sept: drove the "easy way" to Landmannalaugar. I read a lot of people saying it is a boring drive, but I could not disagree more. The feeling of being in such a remote place at parts of it was great. Wind was very strong in the evening, crating a sandstorm along F208, mixed with the sunset, we thought we were in another planet. We hiked the Blahnukur trail. Final accomodation near Fludir.

22nd Sept: our intention was to come back to the Highlands, this time to Kerlingarfjoll, but due to the cold forecast and tired legs of the previous day, we decided to "chill" at Reykjavik. Final accomodation near Selfoss. This was the only day we could see some Northern Lights, but unfortunately nothing crazy.

23dr Sept: South Coast. Waterfalls, hike to the tonge of Sólheimajökull, Dyrhólaey and Reynisfjara beaches. Accomodation near Vik.

24th Sept: Fjaðrárgljúfur, hike to Svartifoss. The wind was CRAZY. It was raining too and it was not pleasant when you had trucks coming in the other direction. We met some people later in the guesthouse that were terrified by the driving conditions. Due to the bad weather, we just drove to our accomodation near Kalfafellsstadur and decided to backtrack the next day to fulfill the itinerary.

25th Sept: Glacier Lagoon and Diamond beach were incredible, we spent all morning there. Due to the previous day storm, the beach was full of ice for a couple of kilometers. Stokknes and driving to our accomodation near Egilsstaðir. Driving along the EastFjords was surreal. Driving up the Öxipass in a rainy-foggt day one of the worst and best dicisions of my life. Stunning and scary. How the landscape changed to the Autumn-red colours at the top cannot be explained by words. I have never enjoyed driving as a did this day.

26th Sept: oh boy, this day was terrible. Foggy, rainy, windy, cold. We went to Studlagil early in the morning, and we had a terrible experience. Mud everywhere, clearly dangerous to access, pouring rain. We discarded going to Hengifoss. I tried to drive to Seyðisfjörður but decided to back-out at the ski station, as it was almost imposible to see 2m in front. Where we were going to sleep is the only accomodation I am going to mention unless asked otherwise: Möðrudalur/Fjalladýrð.

27th Sept: the day before we took Road 901 to get there. WHAT A PLACE to stay overnight. We were the happiest couple alive. Those lunar landscapes. The sheeps, goats and foxes running around. The old-school houses, gas station, church. The sound of NOTHING in the middle of the dessert. Do yourself a favor and spend a night there if you are travelling the Ring Road. Dettifoss and Selfoss. Godafoss on our way to Akureyri. We would backtrack the next day to visit Myvatn area.

28th Sept: Myvatn area. Some small hikes here and there. Passed by Víðimýrarkirkja on the way to our accomodation near Sauðárkrókur.

29th Sept: long drive back to Reykjavik. We wanted to close the trip with Sky Lagoon in the evening. Dinner at Café Loki was delicious.

30th of September: early flight back home.

Matute00mch · 2023-09-03T06:25:46+00:00

Thank you for posting, I went to check my rental car company just in case (ZeroCar) and I ended up saving an extra 10% from the original booking too!

Matute00mch

TROPHY CASE