The Real Cost of Iceland: Budget & Packing Tips

How do I afford to travel so much? I’ve written about how I save money and eliminate my bills. I started tracking my spending on my 7-month Latin America trip and wrote a long post about the trip. I believe in full transparency. Travel is cheaper than you think.

I avoided Iceland for a long time do to the cost. I was convinced that it would be the most expensive trip of my life, but I spent surprisingly less than I thought. I did stay with friends a majority of the time, camped and slept in my rental car. I realize this skews my budget a bit. I’ve included the normal cost of accommodation below to help you budget for your own trip.

Total Cost for 10-Day Iceland Trip (excluding airfare): $978.38 USD

 

Detailed Breakdown of Expenses

Transport

My 2WD rental car was $347.28 for three days. I spent $192.61 on gas. (Gas is crazy expensive – $6/gallon!) Now, this also includes the amount of gas I split with my friend when we drove his car. I also paid for a bus to the airport and a ferry to an island in the harbor. I spent $1,050 USD roundtrip on my flight from my home base in Austin, Texas to Iceland. I flew out of Boston to Reykjavk on Iceland Air ($750). I traveled in Boston and NYC after my trip. 

Food & Accommodation

I spent $175.29 eating out. I only ate in a few restaurants and hostels in Reykjavik and Akureyri. Most of my meals were premade sandwich’s from cafés and gas stations. Clearly, that’s not ideal, but I wanted to maximize my photography time  and didn’t want to waste an hour or more to eat in a proper restaurant.  I spent $43 at the grocery store when I could find one.  I spent $25 on six beers in 10 days. Five of those beers came from a bottle shop for $4/each. One was $9 in a bar.

Again, since I stayed with my friend, I didn’t spend much on accommodation. Hostels cost on average $40-50 USD, which does NOT include bed linen or towels. Camping is roughly $10-15 a night. Kex Hostel in Reykjavik is really nice, and their breakfast buffet is fantastic. (It’s $4 cheaper if you pre-pay the night before.)

 

When to Go to Iceland

First, decide what you want to see in Iceland, then plan your trip accordingly. The summer is filled with endless sunlight. Sunrise is roughly 4:30 a.m., and sunset is around 11:30 p.m.. The sun never quite sets so the nights look like dusk. In winter, there’s only five hours of sunlight.

Northern lights: September to mid-April
Puffins: April through September
Ice Caves: November to March

Budget Tips

• Reykjavik City Card. This card offers free entry to the majority of the museums and discounts on other attractions. Frees range from $30-47 and have a time limit of 24-72 hours.
• Camp. Hostels cost roughly $40-50/night, and campsites range from $10-15/night. Be warned – some charge outrageous amounts for showers. (Skaftafelt charges roughly $5 USD for five minutes of water!) Unless you have the proper gear, avoid camping in the winter!
• Shower at the public pools. Every city in Iceland has a geothermal public pool, which are awesome to visit. Entry is roughly $6-8, which is cheaper than the showers mentioned above. All pools have gyms and saunas, too! Some even have water slides!
• Sleep in Your Car. I slept in my rental car twice. (I slept in my rental car for four days in Australia driving the Great Ocean Road with friends. Some of the best stories from the trip came from sleeping in the car.) There are gravel lots on all the main roads for scenic viewpoints with plenty of people either camping or sleeping in their cars. Be aware that many main attractions don’t allow this, but smaller lots are no big deal. Again, this is not a good idea in winter.
• Buy Groceries. Cooking at campsites or hostels will save you a good amount. I bought premade sandwiches and yogurt a lot. Skyr yogurt is AMAZING!
• Splurge on breakfast buffets. Many hostels have breakfast buffets with cold cuts and cheese. I made sandwiches to eat later for lunch. Two meals for the price of one!
• Don’t buy food at gas stations. It’s overpriced. Every town will have a grocery store with cheaper prices.
• Pay in the local currency. Many shops will give you the option to pay in your home currency (or USD), but the rate is 5% higher! (Trust me, I did the math!) Always pay in local currency. I had no choice but to pay in Euro for my rental car, which worked out in my favor since I booked far in advance. The rate dropped so I saved about $25!
• Buy alcohol in duty free when you arrive. Beer is $9 in restaurants and $4 for a bottle in a bottle shop. Cut down on your partying or stock up when you arrive! Hostels do have Happy Hour deals where you can buy $4 beers.
• Don’t pay for Wifi. Free wifi is everywhere. Harpa, Reykjavik’s main concert hall, has free Wi-Fi. All the buses for the main tour companies have it. If they are nearby, you can just hop on their network. The entire city of Stykkishólmur has free Wi-Fi by the harbor.

 

What to Pack

• Snacks. I lined my suitcase with granola bars and packs of nuts. In hindsight, I wish I’d packed some dried fruit!
• Sleeping bag. Bring a warm yet high compact sleeping bag. (I borrowed a friend’s sleeping bag because it was really warm, but it did not pack well.) Hostels charge extra for sheets. Seriously. It’s ridiculous.
• Rain jacket, pants & bag covers. Pack a quality WATERPROOF rain coat and backpack covers. Go buy the $20 rain pants at Academy Sports. (That’s exactly what I did, and they worked well!) Keep a cheap plastic pouch in your bag just in case. I used mine several times to cover me and my backpack, which made it easier to take photos and keep my camera safe. I also use these plastic camera covers for my gear as well.
• Hiking boots. This is the first trip I’ve ever packed hiking boots, and it really helped in the rain and near the waterfalls. (I’m a runner so I always pack my running shoes over hiking boots.)
• Towel. Unless you stay in a hotel, you’ll have to pay to rent one. I’m a big fan of the quick dry towels.
• Camping gear. It’s worth paying to check any extra bag to bring your own gear. It will be cheaper than renting or buying it in Iceland.
• Tripod. If you are going to visit in winter to photograph the northern lights, pack a compact tripod. I didn’t pack one because it was summer. I honestly didn’t really need it.

 

 

Where to Splurge

Rent a Car

The best way to see Iceland is the drive. There are buses but they they only run once or twice a day. Iceland is probably safest place in the world to hitchhike, but if you’re on a time crunch, don’t risk it.

Since I visited in the summer, I rented a 2WD Suzuki swift, the cheapest option available. I used Route 1 Car Rental. They were great and by far the cheapest in Iceland. Trust me, I agonized over this for ages. They picked me up and dropped me off for free. My biggest tip for Iceland: Get the full insurance coverage for your rental car! It covers gravel, which is crucial since so many cool places are accessible by rough gravel roads.  (FYI Americans: Your car insurance will not cover your rental in Iceland!)

Wow Air vs. Iceland Air

Wow Air is a new airline that’s shaking up the budget airline scene with insanely cheap flights to Iceland. There’s a catch – they charge a fortune for all bags based on weight and size. Plus, you only get ONE carryon bag that’s limited by size and weight, which they charge accordingly for. They do NOT allow a second personal item as a carry on. That was the deal breaker for me. I don’t check my camera gear or the gnome. My camera gear would not fit securely in a bag that met their size requirements. Be sure to look up their baggage costs if you are taking your own camping gear. (It was $88 each way to check a bag and have a carry-on bag.) I ended up paying $150 more for the Iceland Air flight, which includes two carry-ons and two free checked bags for free. Iceland Air also offers free stopovers en route to Europe and other destinations, which is a great deal.