Camping with Kids

[behegney]

Hello! In the summer of 2016, my husband I rented a camper van and toured the ring road (must have been close behind you at some point from the journal entries it would appear!) 🙂 We LOVED it so much we decided to go this summer and bring our kids. Our two girls will be 11 and 7 but the ring road in one week will be way too much driving and so we’re trying to figure out the best strategy to give them a good flavor of hiking, waterfalls, glaciers, horses, and not all the time in the car. We’re thinking the southern area, but love staying off the entirely touristy parts–perhaps even camping just 5 days, then airB&B for a couple days in Reykjavik for a whale watching tour and over to the blue lagoon (yes, touristy I know…) Honestly, there’s no plan yet and could use help with refining even that. Now that the airlines are booked, the “What was I thinking?” has set in. Any help in strategies to get them out and active but still getting to see enough of Iceland to get a good flavor of the variety of terrain and beauty would be appreciated! Sooooo much to see and running them ragged would be the worst!

[Eric]

Hi! First, I like your approach: Don’t try to see it all!

The South Coast definitely would be perfect for you, except that it’s pretty touristy. Still, I think it’s okay to go for it in the summer. You can choose to hit some of the outdoor attractions early or late, when the crowds are lighter. (Use the 24 hours of light to your advantage!)

If you do choose the South coast, book lodging now! South Coast lodging fills up very quickly.

Another option is to head to the Snæfellsnes peninsula. Here are some of our live updates from there (the first one written by my son!):

https://icelandwithkids.com/2016/06/22/sunday-june-19-update/
https://icelandwithkids.com/2016/06/22/monday-june-20-update/

All of that is on the southern part of Snæfellsnes (besides the museum at the end of the second post), and are less than an hour of driving from start to finish. Well, once you get up there.

You could head around to the north, and get some glaciers in on the way:

http://sfn.is/tours/glacier-lava/

(I don’t know anything about that tour, other than it looks great and the ages work for your kids!)

Up north there are some waterfalls too.

You could do Reykjavik, the Golden Circle, and then a few days in Snæfellsnes; I think that would make for a great trip without much driving.

So maybe check out our South Coast of Iceland touring plan and see what you think. Then decide between more time there or heading up to Snæfellsnes.

Either will be great. Good luck, and hope that helps!

[Author]

Posts