Beyond the Ring Road
Your plan to explore Iceland's glaciers, hidden waterfalls, and Highland wilderness — far beyond the standard itinerary.
By Jen Ahana, Host of Explore This
Releases March 19th. Use code MARCH at checkout for 20% off.
The Ring Road Is Just the Beginning.
Planning an Iceland trip sounds incredible — until you're three hours deep in travel blogs, every itinerary looks identical, and you still have no idea how to get off the beaten path without getting lost on an F-road in a 2WD rental.
I've been there.
That's why I wrote this guide — for the traveler who knows there's more to Iceland than the standard loop, but doesn't know where to start finding it. Inside you'll get the exact routes, access notes, and hard-won trail knowledge I used to explore the Iceland most visitors never see — the hidden waterfalls, the Highland valleys, the Westfjords coastline with nobody else on it.
This is Iceland beyond the Ring Road. And it's worth every detour.
Inside this Ebook
- 200+ Pages of In-Depth Regional Guides
- Custom Google Earth Map with Every Location Pinned and Ready
- Interactive QR Codes Linking to Trail Maps, Road Conditions, and Explore This Episodes
- Seven Off-the-Beaten-Path Waterfalls with Full Access Notes
- Jen's Trail or Bail — An Honest Verdict at Every Major Destination
- Highland and F-Road Guide So You Know Exactly What You're Getting Into
- Iceland-Specific Packing Guide Built for Unpredictable Weather
- Sample Itinerary Frameworks for 7, 10, and 14-Day Trips
- Planning Mistakes That Quietly Ruin Iceland Trips — and How to Avoid Every One
- BONUS: Northern Lights Guide — When to Go, Where to Go, and Top Guided Tours
- BONUS: Video Walkthroughs — Exclusive Explore This footage of the waterfalls, Highland routes, and planning mistakes so you can see exactly what you're walking into before you get there
- BONUS: Guided Tour Recommendations — Jen's personal picks for the tours worth taking in Iceland, who they're right for, and exactly why they made the cut
Releases March 19th. Use code MARCH at checkout for 20% off.
What's Waiting for You (Besides a Very Good Reason to Book the Flight)
Planning Iceland shouldn't mean spending weeks piecing together a trip from a hundred different blogs that all recommend the same five stops. This guidebook gives you the full picture — the iconic and the unexpected — so you can stop researching and start actually going.
✔ 200+ Pages of Insider Knowledge
Not a highlight reel — a real guide. Every region is covered with the specific detail that actually helps you plan: what time to arrive, which roads need a 4x4, what to do when the weather turns, and where to go when you want the view without the crowd standing in front of it.
✔ Flexible Itinerary Options
Iceland doesn't come in one size. That's why I've built several different trip frameworks — 7, 10, and 14-day options for different travelers with different priorities. Use one as your starting point and make it yours. The goal isn't a rigid plan. It's to stop wasting days figuring one out.
✔ Interactive QR Codes
Every location in this book is pinned on a custom Google Earth map — trailheads, Highland access points, hidden gems, all of it — ready to pull up the moment you land. QR codes directly to the resources you need to explore.
✔ Pro Tips I Learned the Hard Way
Iceland has an unwritten code that most visitors never crack — what's worth the extra effort, when to show up somewhere iconic and when to sleep in and go later. These are the tips that great an Iceland trip you'll be talking about for years.
✔ F-Roads and Highlands Guide
The Highlands are the heart and soul of Iceland — and getting there requires knowing your F-roads. This guide covers exactly what they are, when they open, what vehicle you need, and how to read conditions before you point the car at the interior.
✔ Iceland-Specific Packing Guide
This is based off of hiking 90 miles in the Highlands and dealing with 4 seasons almost every day. Know Iceland's layering requirements, unpredictable weather, what to bring, what to leave behind, and the very real possibility that it will be raining sideways in July.
Releases March 19th. Use code MARCH at checkout for 20% off.
I Didn't Plan to Fall This Hard for Iceland
I showed up with a rental car, a rough itinerary, and the same list of stops everyone has. And then somewhere between a gravel road that looked like it was going nowhere and a valley so impossibly green it stopped me cold, something shifted.
I've stood on a glacier so vast and so silent that I lost all sense of scale — just ice in every direction and the strange feeling that the world had been quietly erased around me. I've followed gravel roads into valleys carpeted in fairy moss so green it almost hurts your eyes, and stumbled onto waterfalls I stood next to completely alone, soaked and grinning, knowing the tour buses were miles away and had missed the turn entirely.
That turn wasn't on the Ring Road. None of the best ones were.
I wrote this book for the traveler who suspects there's more to Iceland than the standard loop — and is right. For the explorer who wants the famous places done properly and the hidden ones done at all. For anyone who's looked at a generic Iceland itinerary and thought: this can't be everything.
It isn't. Not even close.
Iceland has a way of getting into you. My hope is that this guide helps you find the version of it that stays.
Releases March 19th. Use code MARCH at checkout for 20% off.
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