Iceland Winter Road Trip Guide

We spent 8 days travelling across Iceland during the heart of winter and trying to take in as much of her ethereal, snow covered beauty as possible!

Whilst I’d like to sit here and tell you this was an easy trip and that everything ran smoothly, this simply isn’t true!

During our road trip, we were stranded in areas numerous times, roads were blocked and extreme, blizzard-like weather conditions hampered our plans. That being said it was an incredible adventure and the only way to see Iceland covered in snow, which in my opinion makes the landscapes even more dramatic!

My biggest tips to anyone wishing to visit during winter is to have a loose plan and be flexible. We visited over the festive period, which made plans even more tricky as the roads aren’t ploughed as often and many shops and restaurants close on certain days.

We experienced below average temperatures too and the coldest December since 1974! You have to be prepared for any type of weather and for it to change completely day by day or even hour by hour!

The snow covered landscapes and Christmas lights make the atmosphere in Iceland very festive. December is also the darkest time of the year. Sunrise was about 11:20 am and sunset was around 3:20 pm. On sunny days you are blessed with extra long sunrises and sunsets, which allows you some extra daylight hours. However, your exploring time is still very limited and you have to factor this into your plans.

The plus side of very few daylight hours are more chances to see the northern lights. We saw them as early as 6:00 pm and also in the morning around 8:00 am when it is still super dark.

If you wish to take photos, I also highly recommend bringing a polarizer. I would also shoot slightly brighter than normal, maybe +1 exposure on your camera as the whites will appear more grey as the camera struggles to calibrate in white scenes, even more so with a polarizer.

We spent a good portion of our trip around the glaciers and the Jokgulsarlon Lagoon. There’s so much to see around the various glacial overflows and it’s definitely our favourite place to spend time. Surprisingly it’s an area most visitors spend a quick daytrip or tour before moving on.

The Jokgularson Glacier Lagoon is also a great spot to photograph the northern lights, with water, ice and icebergs acting as great reflective surfaces and foregrounds for images.

An image below of some icebergs trapped in the frozen, icy waters of the lagoon. There are some hikes around the main lagoon that take you up higher to gain a different perspective of the glacier and surrounding areas, which is where we took this photograph. Winter gave us the opportunity to explore much more of this area as so many other places were off limits due to the snow. There is so much to see in this area and it’s well worth getting off the beaten track a little and visiting some of the lesser know areas.

There’s so many places to stop and use a drone in Iceland, in fact it’s probably one of the only ways to capture the sheer scale and drama of the surrounding landscapes. On our trip though we didn’t get to use it all that much due to high winds and blizzards, I guess we we’re just unlucky but that’s something to bear in mind when visiting Iceland during any season, the weather can be unpredictable.

It’s also worth noting that camera and drone batteries will have much diminished life in the cold weather. We were quite surprised just how quickly the batteries drained in the minus temperatures so ensure you have plenty of spares and a way to charge them on the go if you’re camping.

Vestrahorn is a place we’ve visited numerous times and always love returning to. The sheer jagged peaks and black sand beaches are a great place to escape the crowds of tourists and spend some time exploring.

It’s also a place we’ve spent evenings camping and photographing the northern lights. The campsite isn’t the best equipped, but it is one of the quieter ones, and the atmosphere and scenery more than makes up for this.

A little past Vestrahorn you’ll find a stunning coastal drive along the Stokksnes peninsula. I especially like the views in both directions from the small lighthouse there. Its a place that you could stop off every 5 minutes or so just to enjoy the epic vistas!

I highly recommend taking an ice cave tour, and this was probably one of the highlights of our trip to Iceland.

This image below was taken on our first trip during covid when there were substantially less visitors. On our second trip we decided not to book this tour as many were sold out and it would have been too busy for us to enjoy during the festive period.

Godafoss has to be on the top of our list of places to visit during the winter season. We did have a long, difficult drive to get there, but it was completely worth it to see the whole area covered in snow. The icy, turquoise blue waters are something to behold!

Due to a heavy storm rolling in we were limited on time in the north, however we will definitely be returning to spend more time in the area as there’s a lot to see there.

We were fortunate to have two nights of Aurora activity when we stayed around the glacier lagoon. It was hard to photograph during the winter as much of the lake is frozen and there isn’t much to incorporate into a foreground.

I tried to use some of these frozen shards of ice and snow drifts as a foreground in the image.

It was extremely cold on our winter trip to Iceland and the wind is no joke! We tried to visit one glacier when it was windy, but we had to turn back as the wind was so bitter it cut right through us. Luckily we managed to get there the next day when the wind calmed down, although on the way back to the car, it started to snow heavily! The snow can cause you to lose visibility so always install an offline map on your phone that uses GPS, just in case. The weather changes rapidly and you may not be near your car when it does.

The glaciers are our favourite place to spend time in Iceland and we love to explore and hike the areas around the various glacial overflows.

When we arrived at the Jokulsarlon Lagoon there were loads of seals lying on the ice at the edge of the lagoon. The seal below in particular was quite the poser and kept moving to strike a pose! We got super lucky to see the seals out of the water as the next day they weren’t there. You can almost always see them bobbing around in the water though, with just their heads poking out.

One of the good things about visiting Iceland during the darker months is that you’ll have more opportunity to see the northern lights. This image was taken around 7:00 in the morning and even though the sky was quite cloudy we managed to capture this image stood literally right next to our camper van.

Some of the Auroras were quite intense as we quickly left our camper and ran up a nearby hill to witness the sky dancing in green light all around us. A pretty epic moment I wont forget!

As beautiful as Iceland is in the winter, it can also be brutal! Driving can be extremely dangerous so you must be a very confident driver to entertain renting a vehicle there in winter. Having our own transport is our favourite way to get around Iceland, but the conditions can sometimes mean you can barely see the road in front of you with blowing snow, snowstorms and patches of ice.

We didn’t rent a 4×4 and most of the time we felt it wasn’t needed, but there were a couple of occasions when the snow got a little heavier where a 4×4 probably would have been useful. It is more expensive to rent a 4×4 though and renting one doesn’t mean you are safer on the roads, it would just help you manoeuvre in heavy snow. We saw a lot of cars that had come off the road or gone down ditches so it is a very real possibility.

The road.is website is great and we were checking it constantly during our trip as it is regularly updated. It gives you an idea of how bad the conditions are on each road or even if they are completely closed due to heavy snow.

Vedur.is is the best weather website to use as it shows the weather for Iceland as a whole and more detailed for the different areas. It really can change drastically from one part of the island to the next. It will also show weather alerts such as blizzards and strong winds, which will be categorised. This can help you decide what to do (or not to do) each day, but you can’t rely on it too far in advance as it can change quickly.

You have to be prepared to change plans and possibly turn back on yourself if the weather gets too bad. Being flexible with the weather and road conditions is key.