On the ground, whether you're planning to take buses around the country, hire a car or cycle about, you'll probably spend a good deal of time on Route 1 , or Hringbraut , the Ringroad , which largely follows the coast in a 1500-kilometre circuit of the country via Reykjavik, Akureyri and Egilssta?ir. With the exception of a long gravel run in the northeast between M4vatn and Egilssta?ir, most of the Ringroad is surfaced, and in winter snowploughs do their best to keep the route accessible to conventional vehicles, though you'll still need to take care and use snow tyres.

Elsewhere, while stretches around towns might be surfaced, the majority of Icelandic roads are gravel. Some of these are perfectly decent if bumpy to travel over, while many others - such as roads through the Interior - are only navigable in high-clearance four-wheel-drives. Note that interior roads are only open between June and August: exactly when each opens and closes each year - or whether some open at all - depends on the weather, and the going can be difficult even then.

You can check on the current road conditions anywhere in Iceland by logging on to www.vegag.is , a continually updated Web site in English and Icelandic that shows maps of the country with roads colour-coded according to their state.