Gravel roads in Iceland: how to drive them and protect the windshield

Where you meet gravel in Iceland

Vegagerðin, the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration, maintained 12,937 km of national roads in 2024, about 5,878 km of them paved (annual report 2024, in Icelandic). Its newsletter puts the gravel at about 7,000 km, or 54% of the network (Framkvæmdafréttir, September 2025, in Icelandic). Route 1, the Ring Road, more than 1,300 km long, has been fully paved since 2019. So expect gravel here:

• Side roads to sights, farms and summer houses: uneven gravel roads are frequent once you leave the most popular roads (Vegagerðin).
• Stretches of other main roads: the UK government warns that some main routes can be gravel (GOV.UK), and the Government of Canada that many inland roads are unpaved, narrow and lack shoulders (travel.gc.ca). Our regional guides show the gravel on each route: the Westfjords, East Iceland and North Iceland.
• Road works and fresh chip seal, even on paved roads: Vegagerðin's Steinkast (flying stones) sign marks newly laid or repaired chip seal where stones can be thrown up (traffic sign manual, in Icelandic). Current road works are listed on umferdin.is.
• F-roads in the highlands, which only a four-wheel drive car confirmed as F-road approved may drive, only when they are officially open and never the F-roads our terms rule out for every car (F-roads).

To see which roads on your route are gravel, open the Pavement map on umferdin.is, Vegagerðin's road information site: it shows paved roads and gravel roads in different colors.

How to drive on gravel

The limit on gravel is 80 km/h unless signs say otherwise (Ísland.is), and it is a maximum, not a target: the police remind drivers to always adjust their speed to the conditions and the traffic.

• Slow down before the asphalt ends. The warning is a triangle with an exclamation mark above the plate Malbik endar (traffic sign manual). Tires can lose grip where the surface changes, and if you drive too fast you can easily lose control (Safetravel).
• Take bends and crests slowly. Gravel roads can be narrow and hilly, with sharp turns where the grip is not the same as on asphalt. At a blind hill (sign: Blindhæð), slow down and keep as far right as is safe, in case a car comes over the top (Samgöngustofa).
• Steer and brake gently. At unsafe speeds, tires lose their grip on gravel and the car can spin out (Vegagerðin); sudden steering or hard braking makes that more likely.
• Meeting a car: slow down and keep right. Windshields have shattered when two cars met at high speed on a gravel road (Vegagerðin). Where there is no shoulder, move right only as far as the road surface allows.
• Dust: in dry weather, the dust behind another car can make visibility very poor (Vegagerðin). Drop back until you can see, and never overtake into dust.
• Potholes, ruts and washboard (ripples across the road): slow down before them, as a hard hit can damage a tire, a wheel rim or the underside of the car. After rain, expect mud and puddles that hide how deep a pothole is.
• Graders: the sign Vegheflun (a road grader on a warning triangle) means a grader is maintaining the gravel road ahead (traffic sign manual). Pass it slowly, and cross ridges of loose gravel and stones in the road slowly and straight.
• Single-lane bridges (sign: Einbreið brú) are common both on and off the Ring Road, which has had 26 since a new section through Hornafjörður opened on 24 June 2026 (Government of Iceland, in Icelandic). The car closer to the bridge has the right of way, but slow down and see what the other driver does first (Safetravel).
• Stop only off the road, for photos too, even on a quiet gravel road (Samgöngustofa).

How to protect the windshield and paint

The danger is stones thrown up by tires: Vegagerðin warns that driving on gravel frequently kicks up small particles that can damage a windshield (Driving safely in Iceland). The same habits protect the paint, headlights and mirrors:

• Keep well back from the car in front, so that the stones from its tires land before they reach you.
• Slow down when a car comes toward you, and keep right. When both cars slow down, a stone hits both windshields with far less force.
• Let faster cars pass: slow down and keep right so they get by quickly. Overtake on gravel only with a long, clear view ahead, never into dust.
• Watch for the Steinkast sign on paved roads too: new or repaired chip seal can leave loose stones on the road (traffic sign manual). Slow down there and keep your distance.
• Give trucks and graders extra room, and don't follow them closely.

If a stone chips the windshield

Before you drive off: look over the windshield at pickup. Chips already there belong on the Vehicle Condition Report you sign, and we send you our photos and a 360° video of the car; damage not recorded then is presumed to have happened during the rental unless you show otherwise (rental terms 10).

1. Stop somewhere safe, off the road, and photograph the damage: a close-up, and a wider photo that shows where it is on the glass. Note the time, the place and what happened, for example that a car coming the other way threw up a stone.
2. Tell us, the same day if you can: send our online damage report with your photos (when only the rental car is damaged, that report is enough), or call or message us on +354 779 9499.
3. Don't have it repaired yourself. Repairs need our written consent first (an email or a message is enough), and repairs we haven't approved are not reimbursed (rental terms 20 and 50).
4. If a crack spreads or blocks your view, stop driving and call us on +354 779 9499: our assistance line is open 24/7 (rental terms 50).
5. At the return, show us the damage. How we inspect the car and handle a damage charge: How damage works.

What each cover option pays

Travelers often call it gravel protection or gravel insurance. With us it is Tire and Windshield Protection (TWP), a waiver under the rental agreement, not insurance. What each option pays for gravel damage, from our rental terms (clauses 34, 36, 38 and 40) and price list:

• With every option, MAX included, a €150 damage administration fee is added each time damage is charged (rental terms 38 and 40(m)).
• TWP on its own is sold as an add-on for €20 a day (price list); on this website, adding it to the included BASIC + SCDW gives you PLUS (rental terms 34).
• Add it before the trip: you can add protection at any time, but it never covers damage that happened earlier, known or not (rental terms 39).

Is TWP worth it? If your route includes gravel roads, such as the Westfjords, the east or side roads to sights, we suggest it: €140 for seven days, against €550–850 for a new windshield on our price list. With TWP you still pay the fitting, and the €150 damage administration fee still applies. On paved main roads the risk is lower, but not zero. Every option in detail: Rental car cover and Cover & extras.

Questions about gravel roads and windshields in Iceland