1

With only 2WD I would stick to the Ring road, Snaefellsnes and the Westfjords.

The highlands are special place and with out 4wd you can not get the same experience anywhere with 2WD. It is a completely different holiday, but still a great one.

2

So there, for example, no dayhikes that can be recommended from somewhere where you can get to by a 2wd?
Or maybe I will be better off joining one of those one-day excursion to those areas from Reykjavik? Are those (re.is, hostel.is or other) something you can recommend, or is it just too many hours spent on a bus seat?

I do plan to focus on Snæfellsnes and possible to Myvatn-area by the way :-)

3

There are plenty of possibilities of hiking, but what I am trying to say is that visiting the highlands is unique and different. You can not get the same landscapes on lowland as on the highlands.

Even though the experience is not the same, there are plenty of things to do and visit! You should not dispare about that, and days spent for example in Myvatn will give plenty of raw nature. I also do love west part of Snaefellsnes with the glacier in the back.

If you are up for hikes, hiking in South from Skogar to Thorsmork (Fimmvörðuháls), is 22 km hike, that takes you past the new volcano lava created in 2010. Depending on when you land here (it is summer tour).

Some more can be found here (some guided and others on your own):
http://nat.is/gonguleidireng/gonguleidir_allt_landid.htm
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/iceland/0260020115.html
http://www.adventures.is/iceland/hiking
https://www.mountainguides.is

Basically if the option is riding in a bus, I would go for 4x4. Even if it was just for part of the tour. It is of course more expensive, but again it brings you the best of the country. 2 days on jeep can give allot of adventures, if it is well spent. But that is just me of course :)

4

Going into Þórsmörk for a day trip with the bus is neither complicated nor expensive if you already have a rental car. Don't start in Reykjavik. Instead, drive and park your car at Seljalandsfoss and catch the bus there. It's only an hour by bus from there into Þórsmörk. Take the early bus, enjoy the many hiking trails, and return to your car with the evening bus.

If you want a taste of the south central highlands north of Landmannalaugar, I highly recommend taking road 32 to Hrauneyjar, which is paved to that spot. The scenery along the road is beautiful, with a great view of Hekla volcano, and stop at the waterfall Hjálparfoss and the old ruins of Stöng. Have coffee or a snack at Hrauneyjar (or even stay overnight there) and hike one of the trails there behind the building. If you're camping, I recommend the campsite on that route (if you're interested in that, I'd have to check the name and exact location again, but coming from the south on 32 it's on the left hand side before you reach Hjálparfoss.)

Edited by: manaljos

Edited by: manaljos

5

#3 has given you some good ideas for getting some interior options with a 2wd. If you want to drive on some mountainous roads with a 2wd, head for the Westfjords, where, especially on the route from the ferry to Isafjordur via Patreksfjordur, you cross several passes.

6

Thanks for info on this thread. Exactly what I was looking for :)

7

Just wanted to report back on this thread.

Driving in Iceland it very efficient along the main roads. There's very little traffic, straight and fast roads (at least compared to western Norway). So you can reach quite a lot.

We ended up parking the car at Hella and taking a special bus trip to Landmannalaugar to get a sense of the more inaccessible parts of Iceland. That was well worth it. You'll spend a few hours on a bus (with enough to look at), and a couple of hours in Landmannalaugar is quite a special. Wonderful place, and you'll have time to do a short (1-1,5 hour) hike and take a bath in the natural hot bath just by the lodge where the bus stops. Very much recommended.

Without 4wd there is still enough wonderful sceneries to go around, though. If you have a 2wd, it is a perfectly good options to jump onboard a bus trip to get a sample of the interior. We used Reykjavik Excursion (re.is), and they offer tours to a number of destinations you can't reach by 2wd.

If you've got the money - by all means go for a 4wd. You will feel more comfortable riding a 4wd on other smaller and rougher roads too, even if they are accessible for 2wd. But if not, doing a day trip by bus is a nice alternative. A good tips, from Manaljos, is to not start the bus trip in Reykjavik but jump along from another place closer to your goal. For our trip to Landmannalaugar we jumped onboard at Hella.

I would like to thanks for the tips I received in this thread. I really appreciate those who find the time and opportunity to help out in forums like these.

Bileygur mentioned in this thread that love the west part of Snæfellsnes, which I can agree with. We spent one day circling around Snæfellsnesjökull. Lots of powerful and beautiful nature, lava fields, bird cliffs, rock formations, craters and countryside. We also bought a ride up to the top of the glacier as well.