Iceland Day 3: The South Coast: Vík to Seyðisfjörður

On our previous day in Iceland, we drove from Reykjavik to Vík. On this day, we continued along the Ring Road on our family road trip from Vík to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach, and then continued all the way to Seyðisfjörður. It was a very long drive, over 7 hours of actual driving time, plus stops, but it was a lot of fun and we were wowed by both the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Seyðisfjörður.

Diamond Beach

After spending the night near Vik, our first stop of the day was about two and a half hours away. Our Iceland with Kids guide book suggested stopping at the west side of Diamond Beach. What a great travel destination!

The Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon’s smaller ice chunks wash out to sea and end up on this beach, making it a great playground whether you are traveling with kids or not!

Mom and teenage sons holding giant blocks of ice on Diamond Beach in Iceland.

Boy standing on a giant block of ice on Diamond Beach in Iceland.

Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

It was good that we stopped at Diamond Beach first, because when we arrived at the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, we were even more amazed than at Diamond Beach. No matter how many places you have see, nature will find a way to surprise you!

We would have loved to take the time to take a cruise through the lagoon, but with 7 hours of driving time, we simply didn’t feel like there was time. If we had one more day, we could have adjusted our travel plans and stayed closer to Höfn or Djúpivogur and cut out a few hours of driving.

In any case, if you are driving through plan to admire the water for at least 15-30 minutes and use the free restrooms before you leave.

Höfn

After you get in the car, there will be another hour of driving. If you time things right, Höfn will make a great lunch stop. You can either stop at a restaurant, or pick up a picnic lunch at the grocery store, if you didn’t do this in Vík.

Djúpivogur

In another hour and a half, you will reach the town of Djúpivogur. It is quite small, but there is a small, but fun playground.

You can also have your kids roll their eyes when you take them to Eggin í Gleðivík. There is a long row of egg sculptures by the water. It’s right up there with a visit to the world’s largest ball of twine, but it does make a nice place to get out of the car and stretch.

Eggin í Gleðivík in Djúpivogur, Iceland.

Seyðisfjörður

We continued driving and were feeling quite tired by the time we reached our final destination of Seyðisfjörður. The drive itself was very beautiful, sometimes hugging the water inlets along the coast. The last stretch from Egilsstaðir was over a beautiful mountain pass. When we finally got to Seyðisfjörður, we admire this beautiful sea-side village.

Stay tuned for a full blog post on Seyðisfjörður!

Landscapes

The drive from Vík to Seyðisfjörður was quite long – it’s longer than it sounds because the road is 2 lanes the entire way, with many curves, hills, and one-lane bridges. There were a few stops we would have liked to make, but simply didn’t have time. If you want to explore this area further, consider adding an additional night close to Höfn or Djúpivogur.

That said, we encountered a huge variety of landscapes. In addition to beautiful farms and wild flowers, there were the mysterious mounds of moss that looked like they could have been on the moon, black lava dust that looked a bit like a gravel parking lot (I wouldn’t want to be there in a wind storm), flat plains that looked a bit like we were in Montana, and more!