In-Depth 5-Day Northern Lights Road Trip to Iceland’s Golden Circle & Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Today, you'll explore the highlights of West Iceland, with visits to mountains, waterfalls, and lava fields.

Start the day by leaving Reykjavik and heading past the city mountain Esja for a quick photo stop. If you're not in a hurry, you can drive along the Hvalfjordur fjord instead of taking the tunnel. The route is a little longer, but you'll enjoy incredible mountain and ocean views. 

On the other side of the Hvalfjordur fjord, you'll drive through West Iceland's farmlands until you near Borgarnes town. Before you reach Borgarnes, we recommend you take a slight detour to some of West Iceland's most beautiful attractions.

Start by visiting the beautiful Barnafoss and Hraunfossar waterfalls. The former rushes violently through a narrow, rocky gorge, and the latter trickles down black lava from the Hallmundarhraun lava field, which formed during an eruption over 1,000 years ago.

While here, you can head into the Vidgelmir lava cave on an optional tour. Visit the depths of this lava tube to see its strange rock formations, glistening icicles, and fantastic color display.

You can also have a slightly different underground adventure today and tour the ice cave tunnels of the mighty Langjokull glacier. These manufactured tunnels were carved inside Iceland's second-largest glacier and provide a unique insight into the ever-changing nature of the ice cap.

As you head back toward Borgarnes, you'll drive by the hot spring Deildartunguhver. It's worth exploring this area and witnessing Mother Nature's tremendous power firsthand. You can explore it further by stopping at the Krauma geothermal spa. Hot water from Deildartunguhver mixes with cold water from a nearby glacier, creating the perfect bathing temperature.

Borgarnes town is a great place to stop for a bite before continuing to your accommodation on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. If you still have some energy left after the day, you can explore the area a little and look for the northern lights. However, you'll have the whole day tomorrow to do this, so don't worry if you're too tired.

Today, you'll explore "Iceland in miniature" with a self-guided tour of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in West Iceland.

After breakfast, pack a day bag and get ready to leave. You'll return to the same accommodation tonight, so you don't need to repack your luggage or check out of your room.

Start your drive along the peninsula's northern coastline. You can stop to stretch your legs in the fishing village of Grundarfjordur. It was once an important trading port, but people now flock to it for another reason. 

Nearby, you'll find Kirkjufell, the most photographed mountain in Iceland. Fans of Game of Thrones might recognize it as the "arrowhead mountain" used in seasons six and seven. Stop at the nearby Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall for one of the best views.

From here, you'll continue west into the Snaefellsjokull National Park, one of three national parks in Iceland. You'll pass small fishing villages as the mystical Snaefellsjokull glacier-topped volcano seems to grow with each mile.

This 700,000-year-old stratovolcano is the entrance point to the underworld in Jules Verne's classic novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. On a clear day, its snowy peak is visible from Reykjavik.

Inside the national park, you'll find the Djupalonssandur beach, but to get there, you'll have to walk through a maze of natural sculptures made from hardened lava. The beautiful beach is made of smooth black pebbles and jet-black sands. Scattered around the area are the remains of a trawler that fell to the water 70 years ago.

The Snaefellsnes Peninsula's southern coastline is gorgeous. You can stop at the Londrangar rock stacks and the ancient Hellnar and Arnarstapi hamlets as you return.

After a day of exploring, return to your accommodation. Remember to look out for the northern lights as you go. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula has excellent places to see the aurora borealis, surrounded by Iceland's natural beauty.

Spend your penultimate day in Iceland enjoying the magical sights of the Golden Circle, Iceland's most famous sightseeing route. 

After checking out of your accommodation, you'll drive southeast toward the Golden Circle. This driving route has three main attractions: Thingvellir National Park, the Geysir geothermal area, and the Gullfoss waterfall.

Before you leave the west behind, you can stop at the Gerduberg cliffs. The cliffs are about 1,600 feet (roughly 500 meters) long and have hundreds of hexagonal basalt columns that stand tall like an army.

Continue your countryside journey until you reach your first stop on the Golden Circle route, Thingvellir National Park. The park is the birthplace of Iceland's parliament, the Althingi, making it a place of immense historical importance in Iceland. It's also a geological wonder sitting in a rift valley between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. 

The unusual location results in some remarkable landscapes. Throughout the park, you'll find cracks and fissures that form as the tectonic plates move apart. One of these fissures, Silfra, is filled with crystal-clear meltwater from the Langjokull glacier.

You can opt to take a snorkeling tour inside the fissure to discover a beautiful blue underworld. Participants need to be comfortable in the water and able to swim.

Make your way from Thingvellir National Park to the geothermal area of Geysir. You can see bubbling mud pools, steaming hot springs, and erupting geysers here. The most active geyser is Strokkur, which shoots a column of water into the air every few minutes. 

The final stop of the Golden Circle is the mighty Gullfoss waterfall. "Gullfoss" means "golden falls" in Icelandic, and this waterfall gives its name to the whole sightseeing route. The waterfall has two tiers, and the water cascades from 105 feet (about 32 meters) high in a spectacular display of power. 

Another optional tour today is an exhilarating snowmobiling tour on the Langjokull glacier. Get your blood pumping as you race across the ice cap.

From here, travel to Reykjavik to check into your accommodation. Stop off at any beautiful sights on the way to wait for the northern lights or gaze up at the stars.