WELCOME TO THE LAND OF FIRE AND ICE

Full of glaciers, volcanoes, lava fields and mud pools, Iceland is a Nordic photographic oasis

- Bruce Raby

After seeing pictures and listening to people talk about the incredible Icelandic landscape, the amateur photographer in me had decided to visit. Unlike my usual photography trips to more remote locations, this was an opportunity to have my wife join me. We made all the arrangements ourselves. We chose our departure and return dates to get the lowest possible airfare, which, for us, meant a trip of 17 days at the end of July and into the beginning of August. High season!

We first referred to the itinerary of a guided tour trip to gather ideas on places to visit and stay. The way we ended up planning our trip had us circumnavigating the island counter-clockwise along Route 1 with numerous side trips for specific photo destinations.

For accommodation, we booked mostly what we would call B&Bs in Canada, which are more commonly referred to as guest houses in Iceland. We also booked a couple of small, boutique-style hotels. All were satisfactory and most of them offered spectacular views with great convenience, comfort, hospitality and breakfast. We usually stayed one night per location, but our daily driving distances were not great. We did, however, include three two-night stays, scattered throughout the trip, because of the number of things to see and do.