Most of our posts are all about travel tips that essentially tell you what to see, what to do, where to go and generally what you should be doing. Now we’re going one step further and trying to tell you what you should NOT do.
Hopefully the very first tip makes it clear that you shouldn’t take this too seriously — and hopefully the ones that follow help you get the most out of your trip to Iceland.
Here we go…
Don’t let anyone tell you what to do!
Most people travel to Iceland for the freedom, the untouched nature and because it’s one of the few countries with so much left to discover: So go and discover — don’t just work through to-do lists.
The most beautiful places I’ve found for myself in Iceland came up during completely spontaneous moments: Just following my nose and taking a random turn to the right or left. Just stretching the day by 2–3 hours and heading out again after dinner for another drive or hike. Exploring the area without a guidebook and without a guide.
If you’re driving the Ring Road, for example, you’ll find dozens or even hundreds of spots where you can take a little detour: One example is the tunnel just above Reykjavík. Only a few kilometers north, for many the start of their round trip around Iceland, you can drive through a tunnel heading north in 10 minutes. But you can also take a detour along the fjord and explore the countryside there. What there is to see, I won’t reveal here 😉
Don’t come to Iceland unprepared!
Contradicts a little what I wrote above, doesn’t it? Yes, I’m noticing that too as I write this: But it’s also a bit intentional.
I recently wrote an article about the things I wish I had known before my first trip to Iceland, and that’s exactly the point I’m trying to make here: The perfect amount of preparation is somewhere in the middle between too little and too much — so usually: just enough.
If you watch videos and browse photos of the northern lights before your trip to Iceland, you might be massively disappointed at your first sighting: The aurora is rarely as impressive as it appears in photos and videos. The camera sees the lights differently, and once the filter collection comes into play…
On the other hand, if you don’t read up on Icelandic customs, you might step into one faux pas after another in Iceland: Shower naked before bathing in hot springs? Always yield to the inner lane in a roundabout? Don’t call the horses ponies? Those are still the rather harmless slip-ups — it gets more interesting when it comes to the weather conditions in the land of fire and ice, as well as the rules around camping and how to treat nature in general.
Besides, Iceland’s top sights didn’t earn their fame for nothing: Most of them are simply, genuinely breathtakingly beautiful, and even though they often suffer under the crowds of tourists these days, they’re really no less worth seeing.
In short: You should know the most important things, and a rough plan helps. It doesn’t rule out a change of plans, after all.
Don’t stop in the middle of the road!
Let’s get to the more concrete don’ts: Please don’t stop in the middle of the road. And please don’t pull over onto unpaved shoulders and switch on your hazard lights either.
The roads in Iceland, even the paved ones, are often built on very unstable ground. In the middle, where the actual lane is, they’re stable enough: Millions of cars drive along the Ring Road every year. But at the edges they’re often less solid, and every time a car drives over them, the shoulder becomes more brittle.
And if you actually stop in the middle of the road, for example to photograph the stunning landscape or the sunset, you quickly put yourself and others in danger: You’re a guest here and you don’t know the route. You don’t know what the road looks like after the next bend and whether a car has enough room there — or not.
At particularly beautiful spots along Iceland’s roads there are usually pull-outs: There you can park safely and take photos in peace, or simply enjoy the view.
Don’t drive off-road or cross-country!
A few weeks ago, several cases made the news of people in Iceland driving their jeeps far away from any designated roads and pitching their tents overnight. The upshot: Fines of several tens of thousands of euros and above all: a permanently damaged landscape.
What looks like dead ash is often a living little miracle: Mosses and other plants grow in the ash and hold the whole package together. That matters when heavy rain falls, when glacier water comes down from the highlands, or simply in strong winds. Iceland’s soil is fine and sandy. Erosion can become a massive problem if you, for example, carve ruts into the ground with your car.
There are more than enough highland roads you can follow without destroying nature. There is no reason to leave them. By the way, the same applies, in a milder form, to hiking: Please be careful when and where you tread. The moss on Iceland’s lava fields grows very, very slowly, and a footprint can last a long time. If you slip and scrape the moss off a rock, you destroy decades of work by these little plants. They often grow so slowly that damage caused by humans is de facto irreparable.
Don’t ignore barriers — and don’t stay silent when others do
Should go without saying: Barriers are there for a reason, and even if that reason isn’t immediately obvious to you, you should respect them.
On my last few trips to Iceland I saw so many people walking straight up to barriers only to climb over the fence or the rope with such self-assurance, as if the land belonged to them.
And here comes an interesting point: I no longer consider it enough to just shake my head, write about it here or raise a virtual finger in some forum:
You have to say something when others misbehave!
Me too, of course. It’s simply important to be active here and not just stand by. A short “Excuse me, did you not see the barrier?” is absolutely neutral, no reason for an argument — and if the person still refuses to see it: Even better, then you’ve caught someone for whom speaking up matters all the more!
When you’re in Iceland, give it a try and point it out every time someone does something that’s not OK: I’d love to read your comments about how often you had to do it!
Don’t leave places less beautiful — leave them more beautiful than you found them
During my visit to the small swimming pool Seljavallalaug in April 2018 it became clearer to me than ever before: Many tourists are absolute pigs! How can I say such a thing? Well, look at the following picture and tell me how I could NOT say it:
In October 2017 I was traveling through the Westfjords and found many wonderful hot springs. Some of them were so filthy that you completely lost the desire to bathe. Already on the first day, I decided not only to refuse to be part of this pollution but to actively help stop it. Since then, my backpack has always contained at least one plastic bag, which I used to pick up a few pieces of trash. Depending on what’s lying there, you can turn the bag inside out, pick up the disgusting item, then flip the bag back and seal it.
So am I Iceland’s garbage man now? Well, even if I am: I hope you’ll think of me for a moment the next time you find a beautiful, clean hot pot.
So here’s my request to you, dear reader: Help keep this country clean and natural! Every piece of paper, every forgotten pair of swim trunks and every can you pick up helps the next visitor have a good time. Not being part of the problem sadly isn’t enough anymore — so become part of the solution!
Don’t ford rivers without knowing what you’re doing!
I always thought a warning like this would have to be aimed at experienced Iceland travelers, because newcomers wouldn’t dare venture into the highlands anyway. Then, when I was in Thorsmörk in April 2018, I learned otherwise.
Even here, where one of the most dangerous rivers in the country separates the highlands from the south coast, visitors don’t just regularly put themselves at risk of having an accident while fording: Even the drive up to the river is breakneck in an unsuitable car.
I was traveling with a friend in a Land Rover that had been specially converted for the Icelandic highlands. I myself was driving a normal SUV at the time and wouldn’t even have attempted the road out here: My worry about permanently damaging the vehicle would have been far too great. It was a Subaru Forester — a genuinely off-road-capable vehicle that was even approved for this route.
Shortly before the river, already several kilometers into the highlands, we came across a couple of Dutch travelers in a station wagon. To this day I have no idea how they even made it there or how they got back out again. They were in the middle of planning to ford the river, and if my friend hadn’t explained to them what a terribly stupid idea that was, they probably would have drowned in the river shortly after.
Even today, I still wouldn’t dare cross this river without someone along who has done it before. Not only because something could happen to me, but also because the rescue teams who would then have to help me would be putting themselves in danger — and don’t even get paid for it.
Don’t take your drone out of the car!
I love drone footage and I’d really love to have one myself. Someday I’ll surely buy one, and then I hope to be in places as often as possible where there’s not a soul around and I can capture great shots with the thing.
Everywhere else, I’ll leave it in the car, because: Drones are annoying!
In Iceland it’s forbidden to fly over people anyway. That alone rules out almost all of the country’s sights for drone owners. Or so you’d think…
Almost everywhere, but especially at the waterfalls on the south coast, at the geyser Strokkur or at the glacier lagoon Jökulsarlon, I kept hearing that annoying, high-pitched buzzing and humming on my last trips to Iceland. If I’d had something to throw, I don’t know whether I could have restrained myself!
If you have a drone: Please, please leave it in the car when other people are around — or at least ask them! You’re not alone in this world, and even if it doesn’t bother you personally, your little device might ruin an otherwise beautiful moment for others!
Conclusion: Some things are better left undone!
I hope the list above helps you a little with planning your trip to Iceland. Most of these things certainly aren’t dramatic, but a vacation is definitely nicer if you can simply skip the faux pas. That leaves more time for what really matters.
Have fun in Iceland!
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