A Ring Road Day Loop from Hvítá Trucks: What You Can See in One Day

First, the honest part: you can’t “do the Ring Road” in a day

Iceland’s Ring Road (Route 1) is about 1,300 km of pavement circling the whole country. Driven flat-out with no stops it is roughly a 17-hour lap, so trying to loop it from a single base means a day of windscreen and no actual Iceland. The good news for anyone staying at Hvítá Trucks is that you don’t need to. Hvítárbakki sits in Borgarfjörður, about 60 km and an hour north of Reykjavík on Route 1, and the region packs a tidy loop of geothermal, waterfall and saga sights within a short radius of the trucks.

A sane Borgarfjörður loop

This is the local “Silver Circle” done at a relaxed adventure pace. From the trucks, head inland toward Reykholt. Your stops, roughly clockwise:

• Deildartunguhver — Europe’s most powerful hot spring, gushing boiling water beside the road. Roughly 25–30 minutes’ drive from Hvítárbakki. The Krauma geothermal baths sit about 1 km away if you want a soak.
• Reykholt — the saga-era home of Snorri Sturluson, about 5 km on from Deildartunguhver (5–10 minutes). A quick, walkable stop.
• Hraunfossar & Barnafoss — water seeping out of a lava field into the Hvítá, about 20 km further inland (20–25 minutes). The two falls are a short walk apart.
• Húsafell — the end of the sealed road and the gateway to Langjökull glacier tours. Another 15–20 minutes past Hraunfossar.

Turn around at Húsafell and the drive back to the trucks is under an hour. The whole loop is comfortably a half to full day depending on how long you linger and whether you book a glacier or lava-cave add-on out of Húsafell.

Practical logistics

• Getting there: Hvítárbakki is on Route 1, about 60 km / 1 hour from Reykjavík. The loop runs mostly on paved Route 518/50; some side-tracks are gravel, so ease off.
• Total driving: the full loop is short — expect roughly 90–120 km of driving spread across the day, not the marathon a Ring Road attempt would be.
• Fuel: fill up in Borgarnes before you head inland. Services thin out fast past Reykholt.
• What to bring: waterproof layers (spray off the falls, changeable weather), sturdy shoes, swimwear and a towel for Krauma, and snacks — inland options are limited.
• Timing: build in buffer for weather and gravel. Summer daylight is generous; in winter, start early and check road conditions on road.is before leaving.

Where to Stay

Base the whole loop at Hvítá Trucks, the converted expedition trucks on the bank of the Hvítá at Hvítárbakki. Because you’re already an hour up Route 1 and right at the mouth of Borgarfjörður, you skip the round-trip out of Reykjavík entirely — meaning more time at the hot springs and waterfalls and less on the road. Roll out of the truck, drive the loop, and be back by the river the same evening. Book direct on Ourhotels.is for the best rate.

Photo: Jakub Hałun via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.