How many days to ride the Iceland ring road?

[sagalout]

I've visited Iceland before and loved it, so planning on going back late August and hiring a bike to tour the island with my daughter.

I was thinking the ring road seems like a good all round trip, but I'm limited to 4 or 5 days riding (7 days total). In European mileage this would be fine, as 250 miles per day on minor roads is what we usually average, but is this realistic in Iceland?

Any other recommendations for a shorter trip?

 

[Timolgra]

You could ride the ring road easily in that time but consider taking the gravel road F35 as a sort of short cut, it's not difficult at all on any bike, there's no river crossings and you'd get to ride into the interior.

 

[sagalout]

Thanks for the quick reply! Is it a well made gravel road, as I'll have a pillion

 

[Timolgra]

Easy peasy, this is about a rough as it gets

You could head through Pingvellir, past the Geysir and Gulfoss waterfall which is on the F35, the road becomes gravel shortly after.

Much of the road is quite smooth

 

[sagalout]

That looks great, nice pics

 

[Marathon Biker]

N1 is a great, easy way to get to parts of Iceland you want to see quickly, but as with most motorways, it's pretty boring. The real Iceland is off the beaten track!