7 Days in Iceland: The South Coast, Golden Circle & Snæfellsnes

A 7 day Iceland itinerary works best as a loop through the south and west of the island. You fly into Keflavík, spend your first night in Reykjavík, then take in the Golden Circle, the south coast waterfalls and the Snæfellsnes Peninsula before flying home. That is one week in Iceland with one long drive and no rushing.

Why skip the Ring Road? The full circuit is about 1,300 km and needs ten days to do well. In seven days, most of your hours would go to the road, and the east and north would blur into long stretches of tarmac. Keeping to the south and west keeps the drives short. Vík is about 2.5 hours from Reykjavík, and the waterfalls, the glacier and the black beaches sit close to the road in between.

The Ring Road still has its place. Our Essence of Iceland tour follows much of this route over eight days, and adds the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon.

Each row shows where you sleep that night. Drive times are estimates, and they change with the weather and the stops you choose.

Reykjavík is small enough to walk in an afternoon, and most of your first day will be spent on foot. Hallgrímskirkja, the tall concrete church, has a tower with views over the coloured roofs. Harpa, the glass concert hall on the harbour, is worth a walk around even if you do not go to a concert.

Keep the first evening easy. You have probably flown overnight, and the Golden Circle starts early the next morning. A simple dinner on Laugavegur, or a table by the harbour, is the right way to begin.

The Golden Circle is the loop most first-time visitors ask about, and on this route it fills the second day. Þingvellir is a national park in a rift valley, where the North American and Eurasian plates are slowly pulling apart. The Alþingi, the parliament, met here from 930 AD, which makes it one of the oldest parliament sites in the world.

Geysir is the geothermal field that gave its name to every geyser on earth. Strokkur, the geyser beside the old one, erupts every few minutes, so you will not wait long. Gullfoss is a two-step waterfall on the Hvítá river, and it is the place to stand still for a while.

The loop is about 230 km with stops, so plan a full day. Then drive on to Hvolsvöllur, a small base close to the south coast waterfalls, and settle in for the night.

The south coast packs more of Iceland into one morning than any other stretch of road. Seljalandsfoss is a waterfall with a path behind the curtain of water, so expect to get a little wet. Skógafoss is wide and about 60 metres high, and on a sunny afternoon it often throws a rainbow.

Sólheimajökull is a tongue of the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap. A guided walk with crampons takes you onto the ice, and your guide will explain how far the glacier has pulled back in recent years. Book the walk ahead for summer dates.

Reynisfjara, the black sand beach near Vík, has basalt columns and an Atlantic that can surprise you. Sneaker waves can run far up the sand without warning, so stay well back from the water and follow the safety signs. Then settle into Vík, a small village with a church on the hill above the beach, for the night.

Snæfellsnes is a 90 km peninsula that runs out into the Atlantic, with a glacier at its tip and some of Iceland's most photographed scenes close together. It is the reason this route goes west.

Kirkjufell, the mountain shaped like an upturned cone, rises near the village of Grundarfjörður and is an easy stop. At Arnarstapi, basalt sea cliffs line the shore, with a natural rock arch you can walk toward. Búðir is a small black church standing alone in a lava field.

At Djúpalónssandur, on the south shore, four lifting stones sit among the black pebbles. Fishermen once used them to test their strength. On a clear day the Snæfellsjökull glacier fills the skyline, and Jules Verne chose it as the starting point for his novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Sleep in one of the villages on the north shore, so the evening light on the fjord is yours.

The drive back to Reykjavík takes about 2.5 hours, so leave after breakfast. The Blue Lagoon sits in a lava field about 20 minutes from Keflavík airport, which makes it an easy afternoon before your last night.

The water is warm, at about 38°C, and the silica mud is part of the ritual. The lagoon is busy, so book your time slot before you travel rather than hoping for one on the day.

Stay in Reykjavík near Laugavegur for your first and last nights, so you can eat out on foot. In South Iceland and Vík, look for a country hotel or guesthouse near the coast road. On the peninsula, a small guesthouse in one of the north shore villages puts you close to Kirkjufell. Hotels outside the capital are small, and they often book out months ahead from June to August.

June to September is the best window for this route, because the roads are open and the days are long. June and July bring light for most of the night around midsummer, and puffins are on the cliffs in the summer months. July and August are also the busiest, so book early. The highland F-roads open only in the summer and need a 4x4, so this route keeps to the main roads.

September is quieter, with autumn colour on the hills and the first dark nights for the northern lights. May and early June are quieter again, though the weather in the south can still feel wintry. October is a shoulder month, with unpredictable weather and shorter days.

From November to March, the northern lights are the reason to come, if the sky is clear and dark. Daylight is short, and in December Reykjavík gets only about four to five hours of it. Storms can close parts of the main road for short periods, so a winter week needs a spare day and a private driver. For the wider picture, read our Visit Iceland guide.

Only have eight days? The Essence of Iceland tour gives you the same south and west, with the glacier lagoon added. Nine or ten days? Our 10 day Iceland itinerary covers the full Ring Road, and the Iceland Ring Road tour is the private version of it.

Want the glacier lagoon instead of the peninsula? Stay two nights in Vík and make a day trip to Jökulsárlón, about 2.5 hours each way. You will swap the western villages for icebergs on Diamond Beach.

Want Norway too? The fjords are a few hours' flight from Iceland, and the Norway fjords and northern lights tour pairs well with a winter week in Iceland.

We build your week around your dates, your pace and what you care about most, whether that is the glacier walk or a slow breakfast in Reykjavík. We book the driver, the glacier walk, the Blue Lagoon time slot and the hotels on the route. We check road and weather conditions before each drive, and we adjust the day when the forecast changes. A real person on our team is your contact from the first email to the flight home. For every Iceland trip we offer, see the Iceland destination page.