Iceland, Certified the Whole Way Round
A 10-day ring road itinerary, bed bug-safe certified every night.
You can now drive Iceland's entire ring road and sleep every night in a bed bug-safe certified room.
Since the beginning of the year, the Valpas team has taken a few trips to Iceland. Back then, only a few hotels in the market had been certified. Since then, Icelandic hoteliers have done something no other destination has: they answered a guest concern as a community rather than one property at a time. Travellers already act on this: 7 in 10 take precautions to look for pests like bed bugs when they travel, and more than half inspect their room on arrival (Phocuswright 2026). Around 30% of hotels, guesthouses, and lodges across the country now certify their guest room condition in real time with Valpas, and the shared ambition is for Iceland to become the first bed bug-safe certified destination in the world.
Here is a ten-day itinerary shaped entirely around where those stays are.
Days 1 and 2: Reykjavík, with a Viking detour
Start slow in the capital. Eyja Guldsmeden is the boutique choice, a warm and personal hotel with a real emphasis on sustainability. During the day, walk the harbour, see Hallgrímskirkja and take a swim at one of the local pools, all outdoors and geothermally heated. For the second evening, check into Fjörukráin, the Viking Village hotel in Hafnarfjörður, family-owned and about as traditional as it gets.
Day 3: West to Borgarnes
An easy morning drive north puts you at Hotel Hamar, sitting on a golf course at the edge of Borgarfjörður with big windows over the fjord. From there the Settlement Centre in Borgarnes covers the Icelandic sagas, and the lava waterfalls at Hraunfossar are less than an hour away.
Day 4: The Westfjords
Most ring road itineraries skip the Westfjords. This one does not, because Hotel Flókalundur sits right by the Vatnsfjörður nature reserve and makes the perfect base for a day of hiking or trail running. The natural hot pool at Hellulaug is a few minutes' walk from the hotel, and Dynjandi, the biggest waterfall in the Westfjords, is an easy day trip.
Day 5: North to Akureyri and Mývatn
This is the long day of the trip: seven to eight hours behind the wheel from Flókalundur, so give it the whole day. Cross back east, break the drive at Goðafoss, and sleep at Fosshotel Mývatn with the lake in front of you and the Mývatn Nature Baths just ten minutes away for a morning swim.
Day 6: The east fjords
The east is the quietest stretch of the ring road, one fjord after another. Hotel Breiðdalsvík anchors the night in a village of a few hundred people. Keep your eyes open for reindeer.
Days 7 and 8: Höfn and the glacier country
Höfn is the langoustine capital of Iceland and earns two nights. In town, Hotel Höfn and Höfn Inn Guesthouse are both certified. But the farm stays around the town are the real find: Arnanes Country Hotel, Seljavellir Guesthouse, Hótel Jökull and Brunnhóll all sit under the edge of Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier, with nothing between you and the ice but pasture.
Day 9: Jökulsárlón
The glacier lagoon is the postcard of Iceland, and you can sleep almost next to it. Ekra Glacier Lagoon is minutes from the icebergs, Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon is the bigger design hotel option, and Smyrlabjörg is the countryside stay in between. Watch the ice float out to Diamond Beach at sunrise before the buses arrive.
Day 10: The south coast home
The drive back covers the black beaches at Vík and Skógafoss. For the last night I would close the loop where it started: back in Reykjavík, with one more geothermal swim before the flight home.
More than half of travellers say they wash everything the moment they get home from a trip. This is the itinerary where you skip that ritual. Every stay above certifies its rooms in real time, so what you bring home is wool sweaters and too many waterfall photos.