After exploring Reykjavik and The Golden Circle on our drive of Iceland’s Ring Road, Julia, Owen, and I made our way towards the Southeast portion of the country. The Ring Road is a spectacle in it’s entirety, but if I had to choose one section to see again, I would choose the Southeast. With waterfalls, black sand beaches, basalt columns, puffins, and glacier lagoons, there is no shortage of incredible things to see. In this guide, I will provide a map, photographs, and a detailed trip write up for those of you planning to explore Southeast Iceland on your visit.
To start our Ring Road adventure, we began with Iceland’s Golden Circle. This drive passes Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park, the Strokkur Geysir, and Gullfoss Falls, and Kerið Crater. We also added on visits to Hjalparfoss and Gjáin. Below you will find a site map with all of the points of interest, as well as site overviews with photos and descriptions.
The Blue Lagoon is a popular geothermal spa in Iceland. In this guide I will include a brief history of The Blue Lagoon, directions on how to get there, a few key points about visiting, and my own personal experience from a recent visit.
For travelers driving Iceland’s Ring Road, there are a few activity options for their first day after flying into Keflavík airport. Some visit the Blue Lagoon, others head straight to the Golden Circle, but we chose to spend a day in Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavík. In this self guided walking tour I will provide a map, a downloadable GPX, and a detailed walking guide with photographs and information for the tour highlights.
I just returned from an epic vacation to one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever visited. Over the last two weeks, Julia, Owen, and I drove nearly 3000km on a road trip around Iceland. We covered the entire Ring Road and also traversed many side roads as we made our way around the island. I will be sharing our daily activities and a full guide to the Ring Road in the weeks ahead. For now, here are my favorite 40 photos that I hope will make you want to drive the Ring Road!
The Salkantay Trek begins south of Machu Picchu in the town of Soraypampa at 12,800ft. Hikers cross over the 15,177ft Salkantay Pass on day one, and then continue for 40 miles of mostly downhill trails on their way to Machu Picchu. In this guide, I’ll provide all of the information a traveler will need to enjoy a hike of the Salkantay Trek with a final day at Machu Picchu.
The Ausangate Trek is a 43 mile backpacking trip that runs through one of the most beautiful landscapes in the Andes. Starting at 12,000ft and reaching high passes close to 17,000ft, the Ausangate Trek reaches some seriously high elevations. Along the way, you’ll pass by small villages, glacial lakes, towering snow capped peaks, and herds of alpacas. The Ausangate Trek is an adventure of a life time, and I’ll be covering all of the details in this guide.
The Huntington is a private, non-profit institution that was founded by Henry Huntington in 1919. During his life, he put together one of the world’s finest research libraries, accumulated a world renown art collection, and cultivated a botanical garden with plants coming from geographic regions all over the world. In this guide, I hope to provide an overview of The Huntington and a visiting plan for those hoping to see as much as possible in one day.
I spent 10 days enjoying the beautiful country of Japan this year, and finally got around to putting together a short timelapse video of my visit. I wrote a post for my 10 day itinerary, that has gone on to be one of my most viewed posts this year. Enjoy the video!
In this road trip I visited Yosemite and had a nice run to the summit of Half Dome. See my trip report here.