3 months in Iceland in a camper cell: stunning landscapes and little mishaps!

Welcome everyone!

It’s been a while since I last wrote a travel journal, but this recent trip to Iceland reignited my urge to write—both for the breathtaking landscapes we discovered and our adventure full of twists and turns!

This Iceland trip is part of our world tour, which we started back in August 2019. We (Sandrine and Flo) left by plane with our baby, Lena, who was barely 5 months old at the time. We backpacked around the Pacific for 5 months before returning home for a short break to see family. That was just before COVID hit, in late January 2020.

What followed was a bit chaotic... For the second part of our world tour, we were supposed to pick up a new vehicle: a brand-new pickup with a camper cell we planned to live in for several years. Due to lockdown, we received the cell weeks late, and with borders closing, we had to rethink all our plans.

So, we postponed our Iceland departure by over a month and a half, jumping on the first ferry accessible to French travelers after lockdown! Our goal is to spend 3 months there, from early July to late September, in our new camper cell. Our base vehicle is a Toyota Hilux we bought new, fitted with a flatbed where the cell sits, and we’ve prepped it for this trip (reinforced springs + airbags, snorkel, chassis protection, and off-road tires...). The aim is to tackle as many off-road tracks in Iceland as possible, knowing this is already our 3rd trip there (3 weeks in summer 2016 with a Durango, then 1 week in winter 2018).



I’m kicking off our travel journal here! Along with photos, I’ll also include our vlogs, which we’ve been posting weekly since our departure in June—hope you enjoy them too! :-)

TRAVEL JOURNAL SUMMARY The journey up to Denmark The horrible ferry crossing The south of the Eastern Fjords

The journey up to Denmark

So we left France on June 15th, a bit last-minute since we’d only just picked up the camper cell a few days earlier. We took our time crossing Germany—great chance to stock up on cold cuts ;-)



Since we were already in the north, we made a quick detour to the Netherlands. We loved the peaceful vibe, the little houses with perfect gardens, the canals everywhere, and the green, priority bike paths. We’ll definitely have to come back for longer!! Then we reached the Danish border, which had only reopened a few days before.

Crossing from Germany into Denmark went smoothly. It was actually the only place we had any checks. Our passports were photographed, and they asked for our ferry ticket to confirm we were just passing through. Within minutes, we were on the other side in Denmark—a pretty flat country, at least from what we saw on the highway.



We made our way up to northern Denmark fairly quickly, where we had to board the ferry that would take us to Iceland. In total, we’d already covered over 2,600 km from home!

The dreadful ferry crossing

We left Hirtshals in the morning, in the rain. Flo parked the camper in the hold of the MS Norröna, while I joined him a little later with Lena. We were about to spend 3 days at sea. For this, we had booked a windowless cabin for the duration of the crossing.

The first few hours went well, and we took the time to walk around the boat with Lena. Then, the nightmare began. The ocean got rough, and big swells tossed us around more and more. Flo was the first to get seasick. He rushed to lie down after throwing up 🤪. Then it was my turn. Luckily, we had a bathroom in the small cabin, which we took turns using... I’ll spare you the details! 🏴‍☠️ As for Lena, she was fine and, thankfully, let herself be rocked to sleep by the waves with us. 😊

We spent almost the entire first day and the morning of the second day in bed. We missed the first evening’s meal that we had pre-ordered, and it wasn’t refunded... We’ll know better next time—not to pre-order meals!! Flo was then able to take seasickness pills sold on the boat, which seemed to work. Since I was still breastfeeding Lena, I couldn’t take them, but luckily, the seasickness gradually faded. 🙂

In the afternoon of the second day, we arrived in sight of the Faroe Islands, where the ferry made a short stop. The weather was rainy, but we enjoyed the beautiful views from the deck (it was windy up there)!





Our second night went relatively well, except that the swell had intensified, and the boat creaked everywhere, constantly waking us up! I even almost fell out of bed.

On the morning of the third day, all drivers were asked to get tested for Covid. It was chaos! Everyone crowded together like a herd... If someone was sick, we’d all be! In the end, we decided to wait a bit before joining the queue. Flo went alone at first, as passengers weren’t yet allowed to get tested.

Time passed, and the boat was 3 hours late... We couldn’t wait to leave this cursed ship! Downstairs, the line for testing was still long, and I wondered if I’d even get tested before arriving... Finally, the boat docked, the tip of Seyðisfjörður appeared, and passengers still hadn’t been tested!



We later realized that many had lied to pass themselves off as drivers so they could disembark together. We were too well-behaved and ended up stuck.

Drivers were called to go down to the hold to take out their vehicles, but I found myself alone with Lena in the queue, with none of her things! It was mealtime, she was screaming, and I couldn’t get priority, so I ended up breastfeeding her on the floor in the stairwell, surrounded by dozens of people in line. Not one of them took pity on me! 😠

Then Lena fell asleep in my arms. So I called Flo to the rescue, who came to help and found me a chair while he waited in line for me. After an hour, I finally got tested! We all went down to the hold, where our camper was the last vehicle still parked! We ended up waiting nearly another hour to go through customs at the exit... This crossing was truly hell!

But luckily, a beautiful blue sky greeted us in Iceland! What a relief! Once on the road, we smiled again! Glorious weather, stunning landscapes... the adventure was beginning!



If you want to see more, here’s the video of our crossing!

https://youtu.be/yUND_c5rctA

Iceland, an unforgettable memory. I'm off! Keep a bunk warm for me

Welcome! There’s still plenty of room on board 😉

The Eastfjords' southern reaches

We arrived in Egilstadir under a beautiful blue sky, super motivated to head north and tackle our first 4x4 track, the F946. But on the way, we had the slightly late bright idea to check road.is and realized the track was still closed 😕. Reluctantly, we turned back and ended the night at the tiny campsite north of town—a cozy little spot where we were only one of five cars (and yes, this year, there’s barely anyone!! Well, mostly Icelanders with their big caravans, but overall, it’s super quiet, and that’s really great 😎).

The next day, we decided to head south instead and postponed the F946, which was still marked as closed. We set our sights on the stunning Mjoifjordur fjord, but when we checked road.is again, surprise—the F946 had just opened! 😮

We were... how to put it... gutted!! Especially since with the snow on the peaks and the puffins out in early season, it would’ve been absolutely magical. But since we were already pretty far away, we let it go, figuring we’d probably have time to come back in the next 3 months (though we were wrong...).

But back to Mjoifjordur, this little fjord we fell in love with—the approach road is just stunning. Snow was still everywhere, and the waterfalls were plentiful. We loved it!





Next, we headed closer to Neskaupstaður, and since we’re a little crazy, we wanted to take the mountain road instead of the long tunnel on the main route. We drove up to the ski station only to find a closed gate... Yep! The old little tunnel near the ski station had been taken out of service! So we had to turn around and take the main road. Later that day, we went for a walk in Fólkvangur Nature Reserve in Neskaupstaður, a charming little spot by the fjord.





We spent the night at the Neskaupstaður campsite.

The next day, we were pumped to finally try out a 4x4 track to test our new ride and see what it could do. We headed toward Viðfjörður, a little-known fjord only accessible via a super rugged mountain track, the F959, which isn’t even on most maps.





We spent the day almost entirely alone in this little corner of the world, and the only vehicle we crossed paths with was a French couple we’d already met on the ferry—we’d even given them directions the day before 😉. We tackled our first mini river crossings, the track was horribly rough, and we even turned back before the end since it didn’t seem all that worth it. We spent the night at the Reyðarfjörður campsite.

The following day, we continued south along the fjords. We barely saw anyone on the backroads, and we soaked it all in! We stopped at the pretty Nykurhylsfoss waterfall and noticed the road continued above it.



Curious, we took it. It turned into a track but was marked as a hiking trail with a sign at the entrance... So we hesitated but curiosity won out.

We followed this track, climbing from plateau to plateau above the fjord. At every new level, we discovered gorgeous waterfalls!







We climbed for over an hour until we found ourselves in front of a snow patch we barely managed to cross! No room for error! Seeing even more snow higher up, we decided to turn back. On the way down, I dozed off, then suddenly woke up and spotted little dots in the distance—reindeer!! 😮 A herd was roaming just a few hundred meters away! We grabbed the binoculars and got a great look at them! What luck to run into them here since they’re so rare in Iceland.

That evening, we slept at the Djúpivogur campsite, where we faced our first storm of the trip.

Check out the video of our East Iceland adventure here: https://youtu.be/asn8EgMSb_E

Hi Sandrine,

Since there’s still room in the van and the boat’s already gone, I’m hopping on for the rest of the adventure!

I'm in too! 😄 I discovered Iceland with a short trip in June 2019, and ever since, I've really wanted to go back... Thanks for this great travel journal! 😊

Hi Sandrine! I’ve been following your adventures (and especially your videos) during your trips across the American West! So I’m joining you in Iceland, especially since I’m planning to do it in the coming years (walking from north to south across Iceland)... Cheers, Franck

Hello Sandrine, I’m joining you in that awesome Hilux too 😉. I’m so happy to catch up with you and Flo, but most of all, I’m thrilled to hear the family’s grown... 🙂 Though I’m embarrassed I didn’t follow your world tour on your blog—I’ll have to check it out . Good thing I didn’t have to endure the crossing, since I get seasick . Now I can just relax and follow your Iceland adventure 😎.

Welcome aboard Girardinpho and Cathielescot!!

Hello Sandrine! I followed your adventures (and especially your videos) during your trips in the American West! I’m joining you in Iceland, especially since it’s planned for the coming years (crossing Iceland from north to south on foot)...

Hi Franck, it’s great to see a loyal reader 😉 By the way, I don’t think I ever finished that USA travel journal Anyway, hats off if you manage to do your trip on foot—it’s really something extremely difficult. We met a few people cycling, and we already felt sorry for them, so on foot!! The hardest part is the wind, which can stop you from moving forward! But choose your route carefully because the F26 isn’t very pretty, and neither is the F35. The tracks that cross from north to south don’t offer the most beautiful landscapes—it’s very monotonous, even by car.

Hello Sandrine, I’m joining you in the Hilux too—it’s amazing 😉. I’m so happy to see you and Flo again, but especially to discover that the family has grown... 🙂 Though I’m embarrassed I didn’t follow your world tour on your blog—I’ll have to check it out . Luckily, I didn’t have to endure the crossing—I get seasick —so now I can follow you peacefully in Iceland 😎.

Hi Isabelle! So happy to see you here again 🙂 And yes, so much has happened since last time!! To be honest, I haven’t shared much here about our world tour project—we only talked about it on our Facebook page, and even our website isn’t up to date yet (we’ve been so swamped since the baby was born, she takes up so much of our energy). But we did go back to Hawaii twice in the meantime—once in 2018 to get married there and 3 months in 2019 to create a complete guide to the destination. We can’t wait to go back in 2021 🙂 But let’s get back to Iceland—I’m rambling

Hello,

Boats aren’t really my thing either—they make me sick too 😕 Now that you’re back on solid ground (and what beautiful ground Iceland is!), I’m jumping in the Hilux if there’s still a little spot!

We’d planned to visit Iceland in October 2020... but given the circumstances, it’ll have to wait. So I’m counting on living this trip vicariously through you!

Hi,

How did you handle the gas?

Did you easily find gas bottles compatible with your camper?

Thanks

Hey Froesch, Great question—it’s a real consideration when traveling long-term in Iceland with a camper! Generally, it’s best to leave with at least one full gas bottle, but refilling on-site can be a bit tricky. French (or European) bottles aren’t always compatible with Icelandic systems, so you might need an adapter (you can find these online before departure or at some accessory shops in Iceland, but it’s better to plan ahead). Alternatively, some travelers stock up on compatible bottles when passing through Germany or Denmark—it makes the rest of the trip easier. Once there, you’ll find gas at some gas stations, especially N1 or Olís, and sometimes at well-equipped campgrounds. Don’t hesitate to ask locals or check traveler groups—things change a lot from one year to the next.

Thanks for your reply.

The issue is that the gas compartment in my FWC cell is small—the hatch only fits bottles up to 27 cm wide and 45 cm tall. I’ve got 5 kg German bottles in there. A month ago, I was able to refill it in Sweden. I have the adapter kit.

In Iceland, 5-6 kg bottles are 30 cm wide. I contacted the N1 station website.

In our caravan, we have a 13 kg bottle. Back in 2016, during our first trip to Iceland, we found a compatible bottle. On our second trip, everything had changed, and we made do with just our one bottle by economizing.