The south coast holds the highest concentration of Iceland’s headline sights of anywhere in the country, and it does so along a single well-surfaced road. Five days here gives you waterfalls, glaciers, black sand, a glacier lagoon and the Golden Circle at a pace that leaves room for weather, long lunches and the detours that turn out to be the best part. Compared with a seven-day Ring Road, you will drive roughly half as far and see most of the same highlights.
Day 1: Reykjavík to Vík
Leave early and take Route 1 east. Your first stop is Seljalandsfoss, where a path runs behind the sixty-metre curtain of water — you will get thoroughly soaked, so wear the waterproofs and put your phone in a dry bag. Walk five minutes north to Gljúfrabúi, which hides inside a narrow cleft in the cliff and which most visitors drive straight past.
Continue to Skógafoss, sixty metres tall and twenty-five wide, with 527 steps climbing the side to a platform above. The trail beyond it is the start of the Fimmvörðuháls route to Þórsmörk. Fifteen minutes’ walk behind the Skógar folk museum is Kvernufoss, which you can also walk behind and which is almost always empty.
Arrive in Vík with time to see Reynisfjara black sand beach in evening light. Roughly 190 kilometres in total.
Day 2: Reynisfjara and the Vík area
Spend a proper morning at Reynisfjara: the hexagonal basalt column wall, the Hálsanefshellir cave and the Reynisdrangar sea stacks offshore. Take the safety seriously — sneaker waves here have killed people, the warning light system at the entrance is not decorative, and you should never turn your back on the water or stand on the wet sand.
Then Dyrhólaey, the promontory just west, for the stone arch, the clifftop view along the whole coast and, from May to August, puffins nesting in the turf. Parts of it close during early nesting season, so check on the day.
In the afternoon, choose an activity: a guided glacier walk on Sólheimajökull, a short drive back west, or the four-kilometre walk each way across Sólheimasandur to the wreck of the US Navy DC-3 that crash-landed there in 1973. Driving out to the wreck is prohibited, so it is walk or shuttle. Second night in Vík.
Day 3: Skaftafell and Jökulsárlón
Head east across the sandur plains — vast black outwash flats built by glacial floods, and one of the emptiest-feeling drives in Europe. Stop at Fjaðrárgljúfur, a deep, mossy canyon with a rim path, noting that it has been closed periodically to let the vegetation recover.
Next is Skaftafell in Vatnajökull National Park, where a 1.8-kilometre uphill trail leads to Svartifoss, a slender waterfall framed by dark basalt columns that inspired both Hallgrímskirkja and Iceland’s National Theatre. Allow ninety minutes round trip.
Then Jökulsárlón, the glacier lagoon, and Diamond Beach across the road where icebergs wash back onto black sand. Two hours minimum between them. Fjallsárlón, slightly west, is smaller and much quieter. Stay near Höfn or back at Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Roughly 270 kilometres.
Day 4: Glacier day, or a slower turn west
This is the day to spend on something that requires a guide. Between roughly November and March, that means an ice cave tour into the blue meltwater caverns inside Vatnajökull, departing from Jökulsárlón. In summer, it means a glacier hike on Falljökull or Svínafellsjökull from Skaftafell, or a Zodiac tour among the icebergs on the lagoon.
If you would rather not book anything, use the day to drift back west at half speed — revisit the lagoon at a different light, walk one of the longer Skaftafell trails, or detour to Stokksnes near Höfn for the Vestrahorn massif above black dunes.
Day 5: Golden Circle on the way back
Turn west and, instead of retracing Route 1 the whole way, cut north onto the Golden Circle for the final stretch. Þingvellir National Park gives you the rift valley between the tectonic plates and the site of the Alþingi, founded around 930 AD. The Haukadalur geothermal field has Strokkur, erupting every five to ten minutes. Gullfoss drops the Hvítá river in two stages into a canyon.
If you have time to add one thing, make it the Secret Lagoon at Flúðir — a low-key geothermal pool built around an 1891 bathing spot, with a small geyser going off beside it, which is a considerably better end to a road trip than another waterfall.
Practical notes
Book accommodation in Vík and around Höfn well ahead in summer; the south coast has limited beds and they go early. A two-wheel-drive car is entirely adequate on this route in summer, though a 4x4 is worth having between November and March.
Take Sand and Ash Protection on the rental — the sandur plains east of Vík are exactly where wind-driven volcanic grit strips paint, and it is not covered by standard insurance. Fill up in Vík or Kirkjubæjarklaustur rather than relying on finding fuel further east. And check road.is and vedur.is each morning; the stretch between Vík and Kirkjubæjarklaustur closes in high winds with some regularity.
Written by
Erika Sand
Erika has spent the last decade driving, hiking, and hot-spring-hopping across Iceland in every season. She writes NRF.is’s itineraries, guides, and trip reports to help travelers see the country safely, affordably, and without the tourist-trap detours.