Iceland in November: Driving the South Coast as a Day Trip

The daylight maths that shapes your day

In November Reykjavík gets roughly five hours of usable daylight, with sunrise drifting from about 09:15 early in the month to 10:45 by the end, so the practical rule is: leave before light and treat Seljalandsfoss as your first stop. Route 1 south from the city to Seljalandsfoss is around 125 km, comfortably under two hours outside the morning commute. Fill the tank at Hvolsvöllur or Selfoss; fuel stations thin out badly east of Vík, and a head torch belongs in the glovebox, not the suitcase.

Drive times are honest ones, not brochure ones. Seljalandsfoss to Skógafoss is 30 km and about 25 minutes; Skógafoss to Vík is 35 km and around 30 minutes. Add ten to fifteen minutes per stop for gloves, boots and a wet-weather layer, and you are looking at a ten-hour day from hotel door back to hotel door. That is fine in November — it is not fine if you try to bolt Jökulsárlón on the end, which adds roughly 380 km and four hours of driving.

Skógafoss, Vík and the stops worth your time

Skógafoss is the crowd-pleaser: a 60-metre curtain off the old sea cliffs, with a metal staircase up to the top if the steps are not iced. Twenty minutes east, the Skógar folk museum is a good rain plan. Seljalandsfoss lets you walk behind the fall, but the path will be slick and you will get wet; a waterproof shell beats an umbrella in the wind. Reynisfjara, just west of Vík, is the black-sand beach below Reynisdrangar — keep well back from the water, because the sneaker waves there are not folklore.

Vík itself, population around 300, is the natural halfway point and the last real services before the east. It has fuel, a small grocery, cafés and a cluster of guesthouses and hotels around the church on the hill. Most South Coast day-trippers turn around here, and in November I would too: the light is gone by 17:00 and the drive back to Reykjavík is 180 km, about two and a half hours on dark, often wet Route 1. If the forecast shows a yellow wind warning, book a night in Vík instead of pushing back.

Where to sleep, and which base actually works

Reykjavík is the sensible base for a November day trip: 101 downtown, the 101 Hótel cluster near Hverfisgata, and the guesthouse belt around Laugavegur put you ten minutes from Route 1 by car. Parking downtown costs money and the streets are narrow; a hotel with a garage, or one just outside the ring road in Kópavogur or Hafnarfjörður, saves real time at 08:30. Many downtown properties only start breakfast at 07:00 or later — check, or plan a petrol-station breakfast at Hvolsvöllur instead.

South of the city, the alternatives are Selfoss, a service town of about 8,000 with reliable hotels and a bonus: it shortens the day by roughly 45 minutes each way. Hvolsvöllur works well for an early Seljalandsfoss start. Vík is the one to book if you want to split the drive over two days, which is what I would choose for a November trip — one night in Vík, one in Reykjavík, and the South Coast stops spread across golden-hour light rather than squeezed into a dash. Book November rooms early; the aurora-hunting season fills the small properties.

Weather, road conditions and the drive back

Check road.is and vedur.is before you set out, not after. November on the South Coast is typically 0 to 5°C, with sleet, rain and wind that can close the Hellisheiði pass between Reykjavík and Hveragerði for hours. Studded tyres are not universal on rental cars, and the F-roads are closed for the season — do not be tempted by the track up to Þórsmörk. A rental car with winter tyres, a full tank and a charged phone is the whole kit; there is no mobile signal in stretches between Skógar and Vík.

Coming back after dark, the drive is straightforward but dull: Route 1, the lights of Selfoss, then the pass. Allow three hours from Vík with a fuel stop. Skip the Blue Lagoon on the way back unless you have a pre-booked slot — the access road and car park eat an hour you do not have on a one-day trip. Better: a hot shower, a bowl of lamb soup on Laugavegur and an early night. If you have a spare day, the Golden Circle (Þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss) is a shorter loop at about 300 km and fits November daylight far more comfortably.