{"id":621,"date":"2021-08-11T21:13:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T21:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catmantravels.com\/?p=621"},"modified":"2025-09-05T06:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T06:54:07","slug":"day-8-perfect-two-week-iceland-ring-road-trip-itinerary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catmantravels.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/11\/day-8-perfect-two-week-iceland-ring-road-trip-itinerary\/","title":{"rendered":"Iceland Day 8 – Black Sand Beaches & Glaciers Galore! We found some Diamonds on a Beach!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to day 8! We have less than a week to go \ud83d\ude41 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that the eastern side of Iceland is always gloomy so we decided to get as far south\/west as we could. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first stop of the day is L\u00e6kjavik<\/a>, a small nature preserve with a black sand beach and rock formations in the southeastern part of Iceland. There weren’t too many people here so we decided that this would be our breakfast spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We passed by this chair on our drive. #redchairiceland<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the weather still crappy, we made a pitstop in H\u00f6fn<\/a>, an Icelandic fishing town in the southeastern part of the country. We went to the local Nett\u00f3<\/a> and bought some snacks and food items, and then filled up our tank of gas. Our camp stove’s butane canister was also running out so we picked up another one of those as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sadly this narwhal tusk in H\u00f6fn isn’t real \ud83d\ude41 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After driving an hour west of H\u00f6fn, we arrived at a 2 for 1 site: J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n<\/a> & Black Diamond Beach<\/a>. J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n is a glacial lagoon, bordering Vatnaj\u00f6kull National Park<\/a>. The Glacier Lagoon flows through a short waterway into the Atlantic Ocean, leaving chunks of ice on a black sand beach. This was the sight of our first glacier in Iceland as most of the glaciers are in the south!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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mmmm fresh ice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The glacial lagoon was beautiful, but be warned, there were a ton of people there. Busloads of tourists visit this place. I think this was probably the busiest place we’ve been to so far on our entire trip. We did see a bunch of seals swimming against the crazy force of the glacial river from the Atlantic ocean into the lagoon. It was super cool to see some of them make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, we did a quick 20 minute walk to Diamond beach across the river as well and it was beautiful there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In total, we spent around 2 hours between the glacier and the beach and then continued on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Glaciers and waterfalls! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We decided to camp at Skaftafell Camping<\/a> in Vatnajokull National Park. I think the cost was around 1400ikr but the best part of this campsite were the super nice showers and FREE laundromat. The views of the mountains were also spectacular as well. This was our favorite campsite so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I mean… just look at that view. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The timing worked out perfectly too since we had packed about a week’s worth of clothes each and were just running out so we were able to get a refresh for the rest of our trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forecast for tomorrow looks to be more glaciers! See you there! <\/p>\n\n\n\n