Following Iceland’s ring road is one of the world’s greatest road journeys, with stunning landscapes on the 1,000 mile loop. Each section of the journey is different, with incredible waterfalls, volcanoes, glaciers, forests, barren deserts, mountains, geysers and fjords all visible from the vehicle. Iceland is very sparsely populated, but you will pass small fishing communities and vast farms full of beautiful Icelandic horses and sheep. In this sense, the only way to get the full picture of Iceland is to do the full circle.

Here’s what Luca, Llama Travel director, saw during his time in Iceland - all the photos in this blog are his own. 

In October 2021 I travelled to three of Europe’s hidden gems on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Lesser travelled than other corners of Europe are the three Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Our Best of the Baltics holiday takes you from south to north, starting in Vilnius, going on to Riga and ending in Tallinn. As with any country, there is more to the Baltic trio than their famous capitals. To list a few of the region’s attractions, there are fairy-tale castles and palaces, endless coastline and vast areas of pristine forest waiting to be explored.

Back in October this year, I was lucky enough to visit the truly stunning country of Slovenia. My last flight out of the UK was way back in January 2020 so needless to say, I was eager to have the opportunity to explore a country that has always been on my bucket list.

I visited Bucharest on a short city break back in February 2020 and it left me wanting to explore more of Romania. Fast forward to September 2021 and I was lucky enough to revisit Romania on a week-long tour.

In September 2021, after over a year of being unable to leave the UK, I was lucky enough to visit the enigmatic Balkan country of Albania, a country whose recent past and closed border until 1991 has meant the nation is shrouded in mystery.