Best Places to Stay Across Iceland

Plan accommodation around your route, not the other way around

Outside Reykjavik and the South Coast, accommodation options thin out fast — some regions have only a handful of towns with meaningful hotel capacity. For a Ring Road or multi-region trip, it's worth booking key overnight stops before you finalize the rest of your day-by-day plan, especially in July and August.

South Coast: Vík and Hella/Hvolsvöllur

Vík is the natural overnight base for South Coast exploring, close to Reynisfjara and a sensible stopping point before continuing toward the glacier lagoon. Hella and Hvolsvöllur, slightly closer to Reykjavik, work well if you're doing the Golden Circle and South Coast as a combined loop rather than continuing further east.

Southeast: near Jökulsárlón

Options here are limited and spread thin along a long stretch of coast — towns like Höfn or smaller guesthouses near the glacier lagoon itself fill up well ahead of peak season. If a glacier lagoon sunrise or sunset is a priority, booking a stay within a short drive of Jökulsárlón is worth the extra planning.

East Iceland: the Eastfjords

The quietest, least touristy stretch of the Ring Road, with small guesthouses in fishing villages like Seyðisfjörður and Djúpivogur. Book further ahead than the region's low profile might suggest — there are simply fewer beds here than in the more heavily visited Southwest.

North Iceland: Akureyri and Mývatn

Akureyri, Iceland's second city, has the widest hotel selection outside Reykjavik, making it a comfortable base for exploring Mývatn's geothermal area and Húsavík's whale watching. Staying directly near Mývatn instead cuts down driving time if that's your main focus.

Snæfellsnes Peninsula

A manageable day trip from Reykjavik, but an overnight stay lets you catch Kirkjufell — the peninsula's famous mountain — at sunrise or sunset without the long return drive, and opens up the peninsula's western tip, which is easy to run out of daylight for on a single-day visit.

Unique and highland stays

Booking timeline

As a general rule: book South Coast and Reykjavik accommodation 3–6 months ahead for summer travel, and East/North Iceland 2–4 months ahead given the smaller supply of rooms. Winter travel has more flexibility, though popular aurora-season weekends still sell out.