Navigating Iceland: Helpful Tips and Resources

Navigating Iceland is not really that difficult. I’ve found the roads in Iceland to be very well-marked. We managed to find our way around Iceland (even took some detours away from the ring road) without getting terribly lost, and all we had with us was a copy of a good, old-fashioned, paper map of Iceland, which we didn’t even use that much.

Granted, we also had access to Google Maps on my tablet but we only ever used it to navigate our way around Akureyri and Reykjavik, two of Iceland bigger cities, which our paper map didn’t cover very well. So, here are some tips and resources that should help you navigate Iceland stress-free:

• Get hold of an Iceland map (Google Maps will do) and get yourself acquainted with it before you go. Check out where all the places you want to visit are located and figure out the most sensible route and itinerary. If making itineraries is not your strong point, check out some Icelandic tour operator websites. More often than not, they have some self-drive tour itineraries available on their websites (hint: do a Goole search for “Iceland self-drive itinerary”) that you can use without you having to book a tour with them (don’t worry, they wouldn’t know). Alternatively, you can check out our itinerary. It even comes with a map you can save into your Google Maps app!
• Research your destinations well, including how many hours of driving it takes to get from Point A to Point B (Google Maps can help you with this). If you’ve driven for longer than the estimated time but still haven’t seen your destination, you might not be on the right track. 15-30 minutes over the estimated time is usually enough to make me take a better look at the map.
• Have the address or the name of your destinations handy so you can just point at a name if you need to ask for directions because, let’s face it, Icelandic place names aren’t the easiest to pronounce and you’re likely to pronounce it wrong if you try. Don’t be afraid to ask the locals if you need help. Icelanders are very helpful and friendly and a great number of them speak English fairly well.
• Pay attention to the road signs. As I mentioned above, Iceland roads are pretty well-marked. If you pay attention to the signs, you won’t get lost. The beautiful scenery may distract you from paying attention to anything else, but it can be done if you try hard enough. 😉
• If you really have to, by all means, rent a GPS unit with your car, but please keep your common sense intact and keep in mind that there are multiple places in Iceland with the same name. If you follow your GPS blindly, you could arrive at the wrong place with the right name. That’s why it helps to know, at least roughly, where you’re going.
• Having a good travel guide book also helps. Need a free download of an Iceland travel guide book with GPS coordinates of many attractions? Here’s a link to the one I find most useful for a self-drive tour.

For our second trip to Iceland this year, we’ll be bringing my copy of the International Photographer map of Iceland. The map is waterproof, foldable, and, not only does it show all sorts of places of interest all over Iceland, it also highlights great places to photograph! We didn’t have this map the first time we went to Iceland and I’m very excited to finally be able to use it soon. I will also download an offline map of Iceland into my tablet from Google Maps, just in case. You can learn how to do it here. Maps are your friends!

I hope you find the tips and resources I posted above somewhat helpful. Have fun navigating Iceland and have a great road trip!