Why Iceland
The island sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where two continental plates are pulling apart: that is what gives the volcanoes, the geysers, the lava fields and the hot springs, all within a few hours of one another.
Three hundred thousand people for a territory the size of a fifth of France, and most of them live on the coast: the interior is a stone desert with no paved road, reachable only in summer.
Getting around
A rental car is unavoidable; public transport does not serve the sites. The ring road circles the island in a week at a reasonable pace.
The interior tracks — the F-roads — are closed to vehicles that are not off-road, and the rental contract excludes damage caused on them. They open only in June or July depending on the snow. Checking the official road and weather sites every morning is not a precaution: it is how you plan a day here.
Money
The country is the closest thing to cashless in the world: cards settle everything, right down to public toilets and small huts. It is perfectly possible to spend two weeks here without touching a banknote.
Prices are among the highest in Europe, above all for eating out and alcohol — sold only in state shops and in bars. Cooking with supermarket shopping is what makes a budget hold.
Before you go
The wind is the real danger, not the cold: it tears the doors off rental cars — a classic and uncovered form of damage — and makes some roads impassable. You open your door holding on to it.
Natural hot springs can be scalding and the crusts of geothermal ground collapse: you stay on the boardwalks. At the pools and lagoons, showering naked and with soap before bathing is compulsory and monitored.
Driving off-road is forbidden and heavily penalised: volcanic moss takes decades to grow back from a single track.