Iceland
FOR THE TRAVELERS | EPISODE 01
Presented by Matador
FOR THE TRAVELERS | EPISODE 01
Five Days. No Plan. Iceland.
A road trip through Iceland’s south coast—and a reminder that the best parts of travel rarely follow the itinerary.
Welcome to For The Travelers
For The Travelers is a documentary series presented by Matador, following filmmaker and traveler Olessia Pliousnina as she spends a year chasing stories that make travel meaningful.
For the first episode, she heads to Iceland with five days, a rental car, and almost no plan. The trip didn’t unfold the way she expected, and somewhere along the way, that became the whole point.
Below you’ll find the route from the film, a day-by-day itinerary, travel notes from the road, and Olessia’s reflections after five days in Iceland.
Iceland South Coast Road Trip
I had a car, five days, and nowhere to sleep.
That was night one.
Getting to Iceland took 48 hours, four flights, a missed connection, and an unexpected day in France. By the time I finally landed in Reykjavík, I was completely done. Day One became simple: pick up the car, check into the hotel, find food, and recover.
From there, the plan was intentionally loose. I wanted to drive, see how far we could get, stop when something looked interesting, and book places to stay as we went.
It sounded great in theory.
Then came the weather, the missed check-in, and an unexpected night sleeping in the car. We changed plans around the rain, got soaked at waterfalls, walked farther than expected, and kept pulling over for places that were never on the itinerary.
Somewhere along the way, the trip stopped being about getting everything right.
Before this trip, I thought a good travel story meant things going smoothly. Iceland taught me the opposite. The nights in the car, the rain, the wrong turns, and the places we found by accident weren’t the trip going wrong. They were the trip.
Steal My Iceland Itinerary
Planning your own trip? Here’s the route from the film, adapted into a six-day road trip through Reykjavík and Iceland’s south coast.
It covers volcanic landscapes, waterfalls, black sand, canyons, glaciers, and plenty of road between them. Use it as a starting point—not a checklist. Iceland is better when there’s room to change the plan.
Route: Reykjavík → South Coast → Glacier Lagoons → Höfn → Reykjavík
Trip length: Six days / five nights
Day One | Arrival + Reykjavík
Land at Keflavík International Airport, pick up the rental car, and make the roughly 45-minute drive into Reykjavík.
I kept Day One simple. Check in. Walk around. Find food. Find coffee. Recover from getting there.
After 48 hours of travel, ambitious sightseeing wasn’t happening. And that’s okay.
Drive: Keflavík Airport → Reykjavík: ~45 min
Stay: Reykjavík hotel or guesthouse
Travel Note: Don’t overbook arrival day. Jet lag makes its own itinerary.
Day Two | Kerið Crater + Seljalandsfoss
Kerið Crater
The rust-red volcanic walls, dark soil, and bright water make Kerið one of those places that looks slightly unreal in person. Walk the rim, then head down toward the lake if you have time.
Drive: Reykjavík → Kerið Crater: ~55 min
Seljalandsfoss
Yes, you can walk behind it. The trail wraps around the waterfall and puts you directly into the spray. That’s part of the experience.
Drive: Kerið Crater → Seljalandsfoss: ~55 min
Stay: Hvolsvöllur or nearby
Travel Note: Have a direction. Stop when something gives you a reason.
Day Three | DC-3 Plane Wreck + Skógafoss
DC-3 Airplane Wreck
The wreck sits alone on an enormous stretch of black landscape and feels completely out of place. The walk is flat but longer than it looks—plan on roughly 45 minutes each way.
Drive: Seljalandsfoss → DC-3 Airplane Wreck: ~35 min
Skógafoss
There’s a staircase along the side for the view from above. There’s also the easier option of standing at the base and getting completely soaked. I recommend both.
Drive: DC-3 Airplane Wreck → Skógafoss: ~15 min
Stay: Vík
Travel Note: We got wet a lot on this trip. Eventually you stop fighting it.
Day Four | Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon + Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon
Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon
Glacial meltwater carved through the landscape here, leaving steep moss-covered walls and a canyon that changes every few steps. Walk the rim. Take your time.
Drive: Skógafoss → Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon: ~1.5 hrs
Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon
Quiet water. Icebergs drifting past. A glacier sitting behind the entire thing. This was one of those places where the scale doesn’t fully register until you’re standing there.
Drive: Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon → Fjallsárlón: ~40 min
Stay: Continue toward Höfn
Travel Note: Don’t treat the drive between stops as dead time. The road is part of the trip.
Day Five | Höfn + Black Sand Beaches
The drive east toward Höfn became one of my favorite stretches of Iceland—not because of one specific destination, but because of everything between them.
Black sand. Glaciers. Cliffs. Open roads. The kind of scenery that makes a 50-minute drive take two hours because somebody keeps saying, “Wait. Pull over.”
Do that.
Drive: Fjallsárlón → Höfn: ~50 min
Stay: Höfn
Travel Note: If something catches your eye, stop. Some of the best parts of this trip weren’t scheduled.
Day Six | Make Your Way Back
The six-day route ends back in Reykjavík, but I’d keep the final day flexible.
Use the return drive to revisit something the weather forced you to skip, make the stops you passed the first time, or simply give yourself more time on the road.
Don’t turn the final day into a race back. The trip isn’t over until the car is parked.
What Iceland Taught Me
Part of the inspiration for this trip was The Secret Life of Walter Mitty—a story about someone who spent a lot of time imagining adventure before finally deciding to go.
That was the feeling I wanted to chase. Not the perfect trip. Not the perfect highlight reel. The actual thing: messy, unplanned, and a little uncertain.
The uncomfortable night in the car became part of the story. So did the rain. So did the ranger we found on her hands and knees trying to save a dying bee. So did the hotel we stumbled into at the end of the trip with horses outside and breakfast waiting in the morning.
None of those things were the plan.
That’s why I remember them.
Travel Notes
Leave room for detours. Some of my favorite moments weren’t on the itinerary.
Plan where you’re sleeping. I learned this one the hard way. Flexible travel is great. Missing check-in and spending the night in the car is less great.
Expect the weather to change things. Our days moved around the rain constantly.
Don’t rush the drives. Iceland’s in-between places deserve just as much attention as the landmarks.
Stop when something catches your eye. That became the philosophy behind the whole trip.
Gear From The Road
Traveling this way means constantly moving between the car, short hikes, hotels, waterfalls, and whatever else the day turns into. The gear featured in the film came along for exactly that kind of travel.
About Olessia
Olessia is a filmmaker, traveler, and host of For The Travelers. She travels to experience places as they are — not just as they’re recommended — and follows the moments that make a trip worth remembering.
About For The Travelers
For The Travelers is a documentary series presented by Matador. Each episode follows Olessia to a new destination, pairing real travel stories with practical guides for going there yourself.
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