Diamond Circle Iceland: Map & 3-Day Itinerary from Akureyri

The Diamond Circle is a loop of about 320 km in North Iceland, starting and ending in Akureyri. On the way you get Goðafoss, the waterfall of the gods, the lava fields and hot springs around Lake Mývatn, Dettifoss, the canyon of Ásbyrgi, and Húsavík, where whales come into the bay. It’s the North’s answer to the Golden Circle, with fewer people.

I’m Jón Heiðar, editor of Stuck in Iceland. Akureyri is my hometown, and I have been driving this circle since I was a boy in the back seat. Below is the plan I give my friends: an interactive map, a relaxed three-day itinerary, and the practical things that make the difference, like where to sleep, which side of Dettifoss to see, and when to leave the car and just look.

My one rule: you are on holiday. Sleep in. You can drive the whole circle in one long day, but you would see most of it through the windscreen. Two nights on the road is about right.

Updated September 2026 · By Jón Heiðar Ragnheiðarson

Diamond Circle map

Tap any pin to see what’s there and read my article about it. Use the day buttons to zoom in on one day of the plan. The blue line is the route, the numbered pins are where you sleep, and the green pins are detours worth making if you have the time.

A relaxed 3-day Diamond Circle itinerary

This goes clockwise from Akureyri: Mývatn first, then Dettifoss and Ásbyrgi, and Húsavík last so you can go whale watching in the morning. The distances are rough and don’t count detours. Each day has a link that opens the route in Google Maps, which is handy on your phone in the car.

Day 1: Goðafoss and Lake Mývatn

Akureyri → Mývatn · about 90 km · 1.5 hours of driving

Leave Akureyri after a late breakfast. The road goes through the tunnel under Vaðlaheiði, and half an hour later you are at Goðafoss. The name means the waterfall of the gods. The story goes that Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði, the chieftain who decided at Þingvellir in the year 1000 that Icelanders should become Christian, threw his pagan idols into it on his way home. The Book of the Icelanders records his decision but says nothing about him dumping anything in a waterfall. It’s beautiful enough to deserve the name anyway. Walk both sides.

If you have a spare afternoon and the weather is dry, drive about 40 km south on road 842 to Aldeyjarfoss, a waterfall framed by rows of basalt columns. The last stretch is rough gravel, so drive slowly, and go in summer only.

Then on to Lake Mývatn. The lake is full of birds; more kinds of duck nest here than almost anywhere in the world, which makes it a treat for bird watchers. Take the road around the south shore. Walk the short loop around the pseudo-craters at Skútustaðir, then wander the paths through the lava pillars of Dimmuborgir. With legs left, climb Hverfjall crater for the view over the lake. My article on the quiet pathway at Mývatn shows a side of the lake most people miss.

End the day in warm water at Earth Lagoon Mývatn, formerly the Mývatn Nature Baths. In summer, bring a head net; Mývatn means midge lake, and on calm days you’ll understand why. They don’t bite, they just annoy.

Sleep: Lake Mývatn. The village of Reykjahlíð on the north shore has fuel, a shop and a few places to stay. Book early in summer.

Show day 1 on the map. Open day 1 in Google Maps

Day 2: Dettifoss, Ásbyrgi and Húsavík

Mývatn → Húsavík · about 150 km · 2.5 hours of driving

The longest day of the three, and my favorite. First stop is Hverir, just over the Námafjall ridge from Mývatn: steaming vents, boiling mud and a smell of rotten eggs. Stay on the paths; the ground is hot and thin. If you have time, take the short road north to Krafla and the Víti crater. The lava fields there are from the Krafla Fires, eruptions between 1975 and 1984. As a little boy in Akureyri, I remember being frightened by an orange glow in the eastern sky. The adults told me the lava had no chance of reaching us, and I went back to sleep.

Then east on the Ring Road and north on road 862 to Dettifoss, my favourite place on the circle. It’s 44 meters high and 100 meters wide, a grey wall of glacier water thundering into the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon, and often called the most powerful waterfall in Europe. From the car park on the west side, it’s a short walk to the falls, and 15 minutes more upriver to Selfoss, which is smaller but has nice basalt columns around it.

Road 862 carries on north, paved all the way to Ásbyrgi. On the way, turn off down the short gravel road to Vesturdalur for Hljóðaklettar, the Echo Rocks. No, it’s not the name of an eighties new wave band. It’s a place where the basalt columns have twisted into rosettes and honeycombs, a natural outdoor art gallery. You can spend a long time just exploring. The whole canyon is good walking country; see my article on hiking Jökulsárgljúfur.

Then Ásbyrgi, a horseshoe-shaped canyon about 3.5 km long with cliffs up to 100 metres high. Legend says it’s the hoofprint of Sleipnir, Odin’s eight-legged horse, when he stepped down to Earth. I find that a better explanation than the one I learned at school, about floods after the Ice Age. Walk through the birch wood to the pond at the far end, Botnstjörn. Ásbyrgi is special to me: I was there for the Sigur Rós concert in their film Heima, with the music bouncing off the cliff walls. One of those moments you keep.

From Ásbyrgi, the road follows the coast around the Tjörnes peninsula, with fossil layers in the sea cliffs and puffins from April until about mid-August. Then you roll into Húsavík. Before dinner, soak at GeoSea, the sea baths on the cliff above the bay. At sunset, it’s hard to beat.

Sleep: Húsavík.

Show day 2 on the map. Open day 2 in Google Maps

Day 3: Whales, then back to Akureyri

Húsavík → Akureyri · about 75 km · 1 hour of driving

Spend the morning on the water. Skjálfandi Bay is known for its whales, and humpbacks are regulars in summer. North Sailing runs its trips on old oak fishing boats from the harbor, and my newsletter readers get a discount. If you think whale watching is a sit-down activity, think again: you’ll be up and moving around the deck the moment someone shouts.

After lunch, drive back to Akureyri. It’s an easy hour. End the trip at the Forest Lagoon, warm pools among the trees just across the fjord from town, and then have dinner in Akureyri.

Sleep: Akureyri.

Show day 3 on the mapOpen day 3 in Google Maps

Give Akureyri a day

Akureyri is my hometown, and I can vouch for it. It’s small enough to walk, with good cafés, the botanical garden, the church steps and ice cream at Brynja, which people from Akureyri will defend to the end. My top eight things to do in Akureyri has the rest, and here is where to get a good coffee.

Whales come right up Eyjafjörður too, so you can go whale watching from near town: from Akureyri itself, from Hauganes, where you can also sit in hot tubs on the beach, or from Árskógssandur. Several of these have reader discounts in my newsletter.

Where to stay? I recommend Hótel Kjarnalundur in the Kjarnaskógur forest just above town. It’s run by my sister, Hildur, so I’m not neutral, but I wouldn’t send you there if it wasn’t good. Give her my love. For other options, here is a search for North Iceland.

Only have one day?

In summer, with long daylight, you can drive the whole circle in one day. It’s about 5 hours of driving, so leave early and pick your stops: Goðafoss, Hverir, Dettifoss, Ásbyrgi, and Húsavík. You won’t have time for whale watching and a proper soak, so choose one. Or drive only half: Goðafoss and Mývatn, then back to Akureyri the same way, which leaves the afternoon for Dimmuborgir and the Earth Lagoon.

If you are coming around the Ring Road, you don’t need to start in Akureyri. Coming from the east, turn north to Dettifoss and Ásbyrgi, sleep in Húsavík, and continue to Akureyri via Mývatn and Goðafoss.

Tours on the Diamond Circle, with reader discounts

• Whale watching: North Sailing in Húsavík, and from Hjalteyri in Eyjafjörður.
• Sea baths: GeoSea in Húsavík.
• Ice cave, super jeep, buggy and snowmobile tours at Mývatn: Geotravel, including the Lofthellir lava cave, which is full of ice all year round.
• Whale watching near Akureyri: Hauganes.

The codes for all of these come free with the Stuck in Iceland newsletter.

Renting a car: reader discounts that anyone can use

You’ll need a car for the Diamond Circle, as buses don’t reach most of the stops. You can rent in Akureyri or drive up from Reykjavík, about 5 hours. These discounts are open to everyone. Book through the link to get the saving:

Before you book, read my notes on the mistakes people make renting a car. Insurance terms differ between companies and change, so read them carefully and ask the company directly if anything is unclear.

Hot springs on the Diamond Circle

• Akureyri: the Forest Lagoon, across the fjord, or the town swimming pool, with its hot tubs and water slides.
• Mývatn: Earth Lagoon Mývatn.
• Húsavík: GeoSea.
• Near Akureyri: the hot tubs on the beach at Hauganes.
• Further east: Vök Baths near Egilsstaðir, if you’re carrying on around the Ring Road.

For every pool in the country, see my complete hot spring guide.

Driving the Diamond Circle: what I tell my friends

• Never stop on the road for a photo, however good the view. Use the pull-outs and car parks.
• The tunnel under Vaðlaheiði, just east of Akureyri, has a toll that you pay online. Ask your rental company how they handle it. You can also drive the old road over the pass in summer.
• Speed limits: 90 km/h on paved roads, 80 on gravel, and 50 or lower in towns. There are speed cameras.
• Gravel side roads to Aldeyjarfoss and Hljóðaklettar: slow down, and give way on the narrow bits.
• Sheep wander onto the road in summer. In September, farmers bring them down from the mountains, and you may meet a réttir round-up.
• Fuel: there is none between Mývatn and Ásbyrgi, so fill up in Reykjahlíð.
• Every morning, check umferdin.is for road conditions, vedur.is for the weather and safetravel.is for alerts. In an emergency, call 112.

The Diamond Circle in winter

From October to April the North is dark, snowy and beautiful, and the northern lights are out on clear nights. But it’s a different trip:

• Rent a 4×4 with proper winter tyres.
• Road 862, past Dettifoss to Ásbyrgi, is not always cleared in winter. Check umferdin.is before you set off, and be ready to turn back.
• In December you get only a few hours of daylight this far north. Drive only in daylight.
• Mývatn in winter is quiet and white, with steam rising from the hot ground. Geotravel run ice cave and super jeep tours from there.
• Base yourself in Akureyri or Mývatn and do day trips, rather than moving every night.

See my guides to Iceland in winter and the northern lights.

Diamond Circle FAQ

Before you go

• My Ring Road plan, which takes in the Diamond Circle on days 7 to 9
• My South Coast road plan
• My Golden Circle itinerary
• How to stay safe in Iceland
• How to dress for Iceland

Written by Jón Heiðar Ragnheiðarson, editor of Stuck in Iceland. I grew up in Akureyri and have written about travel in Iceland since 2012. If something in this guide has changed on the road, let me know, and I’ll fix it.