10-DAY ICELAND ADVENTURE TOUR

Most visitors see Iceland from a rental car window on the ring road. A motorcycle changes the equation completely, because the country's best moments — the gravel tracks, the volcanic ash of the interior, the river crossings, the tight coastal highway curves — are exactly the places a car full of tourists never goes and a rider never forgets. Our route is deliberately built to string together both worlds: the touristic sites and local culture everyone comes for, and lots of dirt and gravel with, at times, more technical volcanic terrain mixed in with great pavement.

Look at the highlights list on this page and you can read the whole argument for the destination in a dozen lines: Reykjavik, the Blue Lagoon, a glacier and waterfalls, whale watching, geysers, Gullfoss, Askja, a puffin colony, a plane wreck on the sand, and amazing dirt routes and scenery from the first riding day to the last. Very few 10-day loops anywhere in the world pack in a two-tiered waterfall like Gullfoss, a mysterious volcanic caldera in the Highlands, seabird colonies on the coast and a soak in the Blue Lagoon — and connect them with riding that earns a 100% fun score.

There is also the sheer strangeness of the landscape. Day five of our itinerary passes through Askja, a volcanic area so unearthly that NASA used it for training. Day three visits the glacier where a James Bond movie was shot. Day two stops at a plane wreck. Iceland does not do ordinary backdrops, and on a motorcycle you are in the scenery rather than looking at it through glass. The route runs along the coast, over the mountains and straight through the center of the island, so within a single trip you get ocean, ice, geothermal steam and black volcanic desert.

One honest note before you read further: this is a trip for riders with off-road experience. Iceland is not the tour we recommend as a first taste of gravel — road-focused rides in our catalog stay around 95% on pavement, and this one very much does not. If you are comfortable standing on the pegs on dirt, keep reading; the next section explains exactly what the terrain asks of you.

We publish a terrain profile for every tour so you can match the route to your skills before you book. Iceland rates 40% off-road, 50% comfort and 100% fun — one of the most dirt-heavy profiles in our catalog, roughly eight times the off-road share of a road tour like Oman. In plain words: a large part of this route is ridden on unpaved surfaces, and the itinerary assumes you can handle them. That is why the tour description says it plainly — this is an adventure for riders with off-road experience.

What does that 40% look like on the ground? Lots of dirt and gravel is the baseline. On top of that come the stretches that make Iceland famous among adventure riders: more technical volcanic ash, river crossings, and the interior Highland routes — day eight runs from Akureyri to Reykholt via Route F35, one of the classic roads across the middle of the island. Between the dirt sections the pavement is anything but filler: great asphalt and tight coastal highway curves as the route traces the shoreline between Vik, Høfn and the east coast villages.

The 50% comfort score tells the other half of the story. Riding here means the cool near-arctic climate, weather that can rewrite a day's plan, and long days in remote country — as we say on every departure, expect the unexpected. The itinerary can change without notice when weather or road conditions would jeopardize the safety of the group, and that flexibility is part of how Iceland is ridden properly. What comfort does not mean is roughing it: accommodation is planned in nice hotels and cabins for all nine nights, so however raw the day's riding gets, the evening ends warm and dry.

You are also never out there alone. A professional multilingual tour leader rides with the group, and a 4x4 support vehicle with a driver/fixer travels the entire route — carrying luggage, handling problems and providing backup on the remote interior sections. Fuel and road tolls are covered, and the schedule builds in a full rest day in Akureyri on day seven, with a bike check-up so the machines go into the final Highland days in top shape while you go whale watching.

The bikes are matched to the terrain. The base machine is the CFMOTO 450 MT, included in the tour price — light, manageable and well suited to gravel, ash and river crossings. Riders who want more displacement can upgrade to the CFMOTO 800 MT-X for +$799. Both are latest-model, professionally maintained motorcycles, and both damage and theft liability reduction insurance and mandatory third-party liability insurance are already included in the price.

Iceland rewards riders who get off the bike, and the itinerary builds that in from the first evening to the last morning. These are the anchors of the tour, day by day:

• Reykjavik (day 1). The tour opens in the capital: airport transfer to your accommodation, the group briefing, and the paperwork for the journey ahead — so the first riding morning starts with nothing left to sort out.
• The Blue Lagoon and the south coast (day 2). The first riding day runs from Reykjavik to Vik, stopping at the famous Blue Lagoon and exploring waterfalls and the plane wreck along the way — three of Iceland's most iconic sights before the first day is done.
• The James Bond glacier (day 3). From Vik to Høfn, visiting the glacier where a James Bond movie was shot — film-set scenery you ride up to on your own motorcycle.
• Puffins and a microbrewery in Bakkagerdi (day 4). The east-coast leg from Høfn to Bakkagerdi ends with a puffin colony — watching these seabirds and their playful antics in their natural habitat — and a visit to a local microbrewery offering gin and beer. Wildlife and village culture in one stop.
• Askja (day 5). Riding from Bakkagerdi to Myvatn, the route passes through Askja, the mysterious volcanic caldera in the Icelandic Highlands known for its rugged beauty — and for NASA training. For many riders this is the day Iceland stops looking like Earth.
• Dettifoss (day 6). On the way from Myvatn to Akureyri we stop at the Dettifoss waterfall — raw glacial power on the northern side of the island.
• Whale watching in Akureyri (day 7). A full non-riding day in the north: a whale-watching boat trip out on the water while the bikes get their mid-tour check-up. The boat tour itself is optional and not included in the tour price, so you can choose it on the day.
• Gullfoss and Geysir (day 8). After crossing the Highlands on Route F35, the route reaches two of Iceland's signature sights: the majestic two-tiered Gullfoss waterfall, showcasing nature's power and beauty, and the geothermal area at Geysir — the place that gave every geyser on the planet its name.
• Pingvellir and the old telegraph route (day 9). The final riding day runs from Reykholt back to Reykjavik, stopping at Pingvellir and exploring the old telegraph route — history under your wheels on the way back to the capital.
• Reykjavik departure (day 10). Transfer from Reykjavik to the airport, included on the official departure day.

Group activities and entry fees for the included stops are covered in the tour price, so there is no ticket-counter arithmetic along the way. One planning note worth repeating: the itinerary may change without further notice when weather or road conditions require it — in Iceland that is not fine print, it is how a safe tour is run, and the route is built with the flexibility to absorb it.

The motorcycles. The base bike is the CFMOTO 450 MT, included in the tour price, with the CFMOTO 800 MT-X available as an upgrade for +$799. Both are latest-model, professionally maintained machines, and damage and theft liability reduction insurance plus mandatory third-party liability insurance are already included. A refundable security deposit on your credit card is required to take the bike out, sized according to the rental bike you choose.

The group. We keep Iceland deliberately small: minimum 6 riders, maximum 10, led by a professional multilingual tour leader with the 4x4 support vehicle and driver/fixer alongside the whole way. Riding two-up? The Add Passenger option (+$3,999) covers your co-rider. Accommodation is in shared rooms by default, with a single-room upgrade available for +$1,299.

What the price covers. The tour starts at $6,999 per rider on the CFMOTO 450 MT in a shared room. That includes 9 nights of good accommodation in hotels and cabins, all breakfasts, the base motorcycle rental, fuel and road tolls, both insurances, group activities and entry fees, a pre-tour preparation guide and briefing, transfers to and from Reykjavik International Airport (KEF) on official arrival and departure days, up to 25% discount on riding gear and accessories from our partners Klim, Giant Loop and Mosko Moto, a MotoDreamer appeal gift, and all taxes. Airfare, lunches, dinners and drinks, the optional whale-watching tour, personal paperwork and visas, and tips are not included — and for travel and evacuation insurance with cancellation coverage we point riders to Global Rescue.

Booking and payment. Hit Book Now, pick your date and pay the deposit; we accept bank transfer, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal and Bitcoin, and you can split the balance into monthly payments with no interest. Booking as a group is rewarded: when 5 riders pay, rider number 6 travels free (valid on the base tour price only, not on upgrades or already discounted tours). Every booking is backed by our price match and departure guarantees, and for private groups of 6 or more riders we run Iceland as a private or customized tour on dates you choose.

Who can join. You need to be 20 or older with at least one year of experience on a 500cc-or-bigger motorcycle, hold a valid driver's license with motorcycle endorsement, carry a passport with at least six months' validity at tour start, and — specific to this route — bring genuine off-road experience, because 40% of this tour is ridden on dirt, gravel and volcanic terrain. If that describes your riding, Iceland will repay it with some of the most unreal roads you will ever point a front wheel at.

Seventeen-plus years of operating tours and more than 4,000 riders have shaped how we run Iceland: safety first in the destinations, routes, bikes and partners we choose — and the rest is pure, 100%-fun riding through one of the strangest, most beautiful islands on Earth.