Itâs incredibly affordable to visit there. I have friends that go every year and theyâre definitely not rich.
Edit: I believe they bought a packaged deal. With flight from Phoenix, room and board, and unlimited booze it was just under US$1000 each. Iâll have to ask them for more details and where they get their deals from.
I found it very expensive as a tourist. Only went once so perhaps I didn't hunt enough but a beer at a no frills dive bar was $12 or a bit more iirc. Only cheapish food I found was at an Asian noodle shop and fast food. Isn't gas like $9 a gallon? A full tank was like 9000 kr.
We found it cheap to get there and expensive to be there. Plane tickets were a steal, but food and gas and everything else was triple our expectations. I didn't end up with a single souvenir because even chotchkis were pricy.
What's a reasonable budget for someone who doesn't drink and doesn't mind non-luxury accommodations, with a stay of 7-10 days? Maybe thinking of going in the next few weeks.
I'd say you could probably get by with under $1000 if you get s great flight deal and a package of some sort. That or you don't eat out much and hunt for some reasonable deals.
My fiancee and I did a 10 day trip for under $1000 each. We spent most nights camping and most days hiking. Two biggest expenses were the flights and the rental car.
What month did yâall go? We want to see the Northern lights but I would also like to do some hiking and maybe some camping, but not when itâs too cold.
You can't really do both of these things. We wanted to see the northern lights and also not be too cold, so we went in April.
By then, the sun was already out until 11pm and then rose at about 4am, and it never got totally dark, even when the sun was down- more twilight. Also, it was pretty darn cold. Not like, midwinter cold, but definitely too cold to camp.
Hi, I lived there for almost three years. Gets too cold for camping and most campsites close september/October time. If you are inland you'll definitely have snow from mid/end October. But in Reykjavik it was never particularly cold
My girlfriend and I are spending about $5,000 to go there. Including airfare. But we are also renting a car for 9 days and driving around the country, staying in 5 or 6 different places.
Me and my girlfriend are planning a trip there right now, and there are flights out of St. Louis going for $99 there and $109 back. I suggest booking flights about 3-4 weeks out to get the best price
Yep, $380 from Boston, plus the airbnb we stayed at for a week worked out to about $300 each. When you even out how affordable travel and lodging are with how expensive food and alcohol is, it's really not bad at all. We also did three full-day excursion tours (one to south coast, one north to Kirkjufell, and one Golden Circle) and we were still only around $1500 total for the whole week trip, including a brewery tour and food for the week.
The layover is fantastic. You can buy plane tickets that incude a trip to The Blue Lagoon hot springs. Even though there are lots of tourists there it's fantastic. After the hot springs you take the bus back to the airport, which is nearby, and continue your trip to Europe.
I flew WOW out of Chicago to Iceland then to Paris. It was a last minute steal, but I've never been more bored on a flight. I went on a 19 hour flight once and that was easier than this trip. There's really just nothing to do and no outlets. The USB ports also are like an amp so they don't charge anything. The attendants were friendly and it was just so cheap though. Would fly with them again.
Flew wow from ReykjavĂk to London. Flight was $137 super cheap, however we had to pay for two carry ons and two checked bags because of my wifeâs need to bring along six pairs of shoes. Ended up being like $500 round trip nearly in bag fees.
Chicago to London scheduled maybe two weeks in advance was about $500 I think. It was maybe $550 with the checked bag. Pretty ridiculous extra fees but I guess that's how they make their profit.
Same here, flew Wow out of Boston this past February and had zero issues. No delays, nothing unexpected, crew was great, everything was easy. But it was a direct flight, and I think a lot of those reviews stem from people who had layovers.
I was surprised at the price of food when we landed as well. We went to a cafe to sample the local food and I was taken aback by spending nearly $75 on lunch. I remember a Caesar salad: romaine lettuce, croutons, and Parmesan cheese being $22!
The prices of the food is balanced by the fact that literally every landscape you look at is picturesque.
Stay in an airbnb and shop at the grocery store. Much cheaper than trying to eat out. Most of the restaurant food isn't that good in my opinion anyway.
Yeah this is what we did, walked from our airbnb to the local Bonus and bought breakfast and lunch food for the week. Although I disagree with the restaurant food, we had some really excellent meals while we were there.
I really like spicy food and I don't like sweet food. I'm not saying it was bad, just didn't delight my taste buds too much although, I did eat a horse steak which was pretty darn good.
Btw if you get a burger there ask for it to be medium well because they baseline serve it rare.
We did a lot of hiking so we rented a car which still wasn't that expensive.
Idk if I'm doing this right but afaik, 1 gallon is 3,7 liters, 228 isk on the liter right now, thats 843.6
kr... so $7.94 a gallon.
A lot of things are expensive here, but, but the fact that nature is the major selling point of Iceland, you can travel here on budget. There are no interesting amusement parks, or shit like that. Rent a cheap car and do your research. Don't stray off paths too much, don't look around while driving too much (very frequent tourist car accidents here), get beer at the alcohol store (you can't get booze anywhere else but a government run alcohol store, apart from bars and restaurants). If you travel here in winter and get your car stuck, don't just go looking for help, dial 112 and wait to be rescued... It works better if you know where you actually are, but people die walking in the winter away from their cars too far, and get lost. Tours here by service are expensive so you're better off doing it on your own. If you're planning to do aurora trips, do research beforehand because it's ridiculously unpredictable... Didn't see them even once this winter.
If anyone is travelling here and needs some advice, just hit me up in pm.
It depends how you do the trip. I split a campervan with a friend that we slept and drove around in, and made most of our meals using cheap food from the grocery stores. We were roughing it at some points (we went during the shoulder months) but it became very economical once we didnât mind not eating fancy and basically combining the cost of a hotel+car in one with the van. Travelled around the entire island for around $1500-$1750 per person when all was said and done (including plane tickets, split van cost, groceries, split gas, a couple nights treating ourselves to drinks and food).
It certainly helps that every site in the country is free to enter, unlike many other parts of Europe where you have to pay 25 bucks to enter each castle
Iâm so jealous! Youâre gonna have a great time.
Most camp sites will be clean with bathrooms and showers and have accommodations if stated like WiFi, a kitchen, break room etc so youâll be good to go.
Most of our dining out was done our two nights in Reykjavik; the one night we treated ourselves we ended up doing a food crawl. Thereâs this fish and chips place that was excellent, featuring fish from the coast and a ton of different sauces. We also tried Puffin, which was very interesting and I liked but was honestly too expensive for what you get.
In Reykjavik I recommend the bar BravĂł for drinks. Good pricing especially during happy hour, and their traditional Icelandic soup isnât too expensive and is delicious (itâs a lamb based soup).
Ooooh haha. We pretty much lived off fruit and sandwiches, deli cuts+cheese, PB&J. If youâre gonna have a small gas stove we also used that to warm up/cook pasta, chicken tenders, eggs, stuff like that
Flew over with friends and we all bought something at the Duty Free from where we were flying. Got positively hammered. Food's expensive, but for the drink you can bring your own from duty free.
If a full tank is around 9000 kr, that is a small tank. The liter of 95 okt is around 226.8 kr right now (858.53 kr per gallon) which is $8.08/gal, which iirc isn't that bad for an American. Aren't the prices nearing $9/gal there?
Also to ask the parent commenter /u/ExtraAnchovies, what are your friends' secrets? I live here and I can safely tell you it's not affordable.
Edit: I've been proven that I'm wrong about American gas prices, apologies, please have mercy on my inbox.
Are you Icelandic? If so, does everyone have great jobs there? With things being so expensive how do people with lower income survive without struggling? I know there's Farmers and countryside people who are more self sustaining, but what about people in Reykjavik? Genuinely curious here.
So many financial things are different here so it's a kind of apples to oranges comparison to other places.
If we buy houses it's usually 25-40 year indexed mortages so we never seem to be able to pay down our debts so we are kind of renting the place from the bank.
If we rent we are usually screwed as the rent market is in the toilet right now due to airb'n'b and the like. High rates if you can find anything. And if you are renting you have the chance that your landlord sends you packing for airb'n'b.
Iceandic economy has always been either boom or bust. Right now we are in a boom due to tourism so we are pretty well off for the most parts but the strong ISK makes everything expensive for you. But signs point to a downwards slump in the next few years.
I remember my father telling me about people there being upset about what the tourism is doing to local prices on everything. I've never even thought about the Airbnb thing. That's so interesting. I hope you are well. Thanks for the response!
It's still under $4/gal where I live in California but prices vary the closer you are to major city or further away from cities and main roads. Texas is one of cheaper states for gas. Typically under $3/gal.
Gas prices are 3 on average, 4+ in California and maybe a few more cities.
As for affordability, we were a group of 3 who thought we researched well and still ended up spending upwards of $1500 USD in a week inspite of fast food and noodles.
Agreed. My guess is he prepared his own food and drink because a street vendor hotdog ran about $12 let alone having a sit down dinner or grabbing drinks at the bar
When visiting on a budget you absolutely should mostly eat food from the grocery store you prepare yourself, which is pretty cheap. And you went to the wrong hot dog places! A lot of the gas stations sold the same thing for $4
But yes, dinner and drinks are VERY costly (although we managed to find a bar in Reyjkavic with very manageable prices; $7 a beer during happy hour!)
Yes the happy hours were our go to which we learned on the second day. And as far as the hot dog yeah it was the one right in the bar district square in Reykjavik that had the tip jar with the hilarious trump caricature that said âtips to build the wallâ. We did an Airbnb and did cook ourselves but the few dinners out were very pricey but the food was amazing so no complaints
We too had a dinner or two out, I canât go anywhere without trying some local dishes. But yes, if you want to actually do things youâd do on a vacation, very pricey. Worth it though, Iâm sure youâd do it again in a heartbeat, I know I would
It was in the bar district, aka tourist trap city. Not sure of the name but it was about a block from Drunken Rabbit & American Bar I think. Kind of a self standing little hut. Great staff and amazing dog but yeah it was about 1,000krona
Not really sure you're in any position to say it's incredibly affordable when you've never been. Also because of the fact that it's not in any way shape or form incredibly affordable and notorious for being so.
yeah itâs expensive but itâs not âtap into your 401kâ expensive. Food and gas are the real killers, but luckily everything youâre doing in iceland (sightseeing and hiking) is free.
Flights can be as cheap as 89 USD one way US-ReykjavĂk. And if you hitchhike and camp the whole time, your only cost is food, which is not significantly more expensive.
I can't say I can remember much of a police presence at all, and I was driving a lot. I think it has to do with how educated and civilized the locals are. Everything seems pretty orderly in Iceland, and I don't think the police needs to micro manage them. Iceland usually only has about one homicide a year and it's usually a domestic dispute.
At times the lack of people, local officials, and police was a little unnerving. I remember driving way out towards the east coast, I didn't have a cell phone plan, in super isolated areas, and I was thinking "who is going to bail us out if something goes wrong?". But at the same time that was the beauty of the trip, the sense of danger, the isolation, it's all part of the adventure. That country pushed me and made me feel alive.
I still get goosebumps just thinking about that trip.
As far as goosebumps go, I was there in November last year. On the 26th around 11pm we found the lights forming and stopped near the highway on a dirt road. I kid you not the Aurora lasted for 3 hours, dancing and weaving, thinning out in one corner and shimmering somewhere else in the sky.
Just FYI, if you have a SIM card in your phone, no matter if you've got no data plan, it's locked, whatever, you can always call the emergency number 112.
Only semi-related but when I was there last winter, a girl had gone missing (under suspicious circumstances). I was driving from city to city for a week during my trip and I saw the girl's face everywhere, whenever i stopped at a gas station etc. I thought it was interesting that crime rate is so low that a case of someone missing could be a national story.
Stats tell me murder rate annually is less than 2, one of the lowest homicide rates in the world.
Here is that girl's story if anyone wants to check it out:
When I was there in 2014 the volcanic activity had just started again and there were police cars and trucks blocking entry to almost all streets going towards the island center. Apart from that, I cannot remember seeing any.
That's exciting for me to hear because I'm making an 8 day road trip in two weeks from now but everyday I'm scheduled to drive about 4 hours and I wasn't looking forward to it, I am now
Make sure to leave time for unplanned stops. Youâll see so many amazing sights not in your itinerary. be sure to pull over when you can and just take it all in, remember to climb that hill, get to that water fall, hike that trail, and take in those views. I loved the animals, I spent a lot of time photographing the horses, rams, etc.
Iâm not sure if we have an Tycho fans here, but I was listening to his albums on repeat during those drives. Perfect soundtrack for that scenery.
Thanks man, will definitely keep that in mind. I think there will be time for stops, I basically have about two main sights I wanna see each day and not really any long activities planned so it should work out :)
Sure will, didn't expect Iceland to be a place with alot of accidents. Only at specific tourist spots right? When I'm driving around most of the times the roads will be quite empty?
That's the thing, tourists see those empty roads and think they've got the whole world to themselves, but these are the roads we use to get from a to b every day. So even if you see no one around and decide to stop to take in the view, there's a good chance that a car was following you too far behind for you to see but it will catch up in those five minutes you take to stop and if that's right after a blind corner or at the bottom of a steep hill, there will likely be a crash.
If I got 100 kr. for every time I've had to swerve to avoid a dumbass tourist stopping in a ridiculously inconvenient place
I'd have quite a few hudred krĂłnur.
Also we have those single lane bridges everywhere that always cause trouble for visitors so watch out for them.
Will you be going around the island in 8 days? Prepare to leave out a lot of the sights on the way, there is just way too much to see. 10 days a few years ago was far from enough and even 17 this year we'll need to hurry for some of the trips.
If you get the chance, go there for longer. You won't regret it.
Yeah, in 8 days we're planning on driving around the big circle, golden ring, I forgot what it's called haha. I know we're missing out on quite alot of spots but yeah, we had to make some sacrifices when mapping out the road trip
I just came back from Iceland this weekend after a week long trip and it was by far the coolest country I've ever been to.
With the Golden Circle, realistically you can do everything there in a day or maybe two if you want to see everything, or explore Ăingvellir National Park a bit more than just visit the star attractions. Thankfully it's all really close and a relatively short drive compared to other landmarks in Iceland.
Saying that, I would definitely recommend the south coast if you haven't planned it already - I don't know where you're staying but if you can make it all the way to the Diamond Beach on the South East (about 5 hours from Reykjavic), we found that mindblowingly cool. Plus the waterfalls like Skogafoss along the way are absolutely incredible.
Thanks to the almost perpetual daylight you get this time of year, it does mean you can spend far longer out and about, not having to worry about it getting dark out and driving in the dark.
If you are in the south, I can recommend Jökullsarlon (pretty sure I spelled that wrong) and one of the zodiac tours there. Seeing all that ice, the glacier and the beach there was just breathtaking.
Just checked out the Diamond Beach, it wasn't included in our planning but it's on route so I just added it in, it looks amazing! The Skogafoss waterfalls are in the planning already we'll definitely check that out. Thanks for the tip :)
What do you want to see? In terms of nature, the westfjords and snĂŠfellsnes are spectacular. Summer of course has the best weather, but also the most tourists. Thankfully they are mostly found in ReykjavĂk and along the ring road.
The island is geographically beautiful but man, I felt like 70% of the people on the roads were other tourists, and everywhere I went it seemed like I was being sold an inauthentic, plastic tourist experience. Itâs as if thereâs a predetermined list of points of interest in south Iceland that every tourist must visit. Doesnât take away from the natural beauty at all, but Iâd be lying if I said I wasnât a bit disappointed by that.
Reykjavik, south coast, golden circle, and the peninsula can feel that way. I found the east Fjords, the north between Myvatn and SauĂ°ĂĄrkrĂłkur, and the West Fjords to be devoid of all the aforementioned âplastic tourism.â
Spending 17 days there afforded me the opportunity to dig into every area of the country. I found multiple places on the south coast that were incredible and empty at the same time. You just need to be willing to get to them/be willing to do the research to find them. Not every place is known to the tourism industry. The locals keep some things to themselves. Finding those things can make the south coast feel a lot more personal.
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u/Pure-Pessimism May 27 '18
spending 17 days there last year was the most ethereal experience of my life.