What is the average Iceland trip cost? This is exactly the question we asked ourselves before our trip to this beautiful country. We had roughly calculated the travel costs for Iceland beforehand, but we have to say that afterwards it turned out to be a bit more expensive than we thought. How our costs were divided and what we spent in total, you can read in our report.
Iceland Trip Cost – Currency
Iceland’s currency is the Icelandic Krona (ISK). The exchange rate is about 1 Euro = 150 ISK.
| ISK | Euro |
|---|---|
| 100 | 0,66 |
| 1000 | 6,61 |
| 5000 | 33,06 |
How Much Does a Trip to Iceland Cost? Getting to Iceland
Iceland is usually flown to from any major airport in Europe or in the USA. The prices for the flights are about 200-400 Euro from Europe, depending on which time of the year you fly and how far in advance you book. We booked very short term due to COVID and therefore even paid 932 € for the flights for 2 people. Another way to travel to Iceland from Europe is by ferry.
Especially people with their own motorhomes or campervans often use this option to travel to Iceland. The ferry trip from Denmark to Iceland takes about 2 days and costs for 2 people with a normal car for round trip including double cabin about 1,700 Euro.
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Traveling within the Country
If you are only spending a few days on Iceland, you can explore the island with guided day tours or even multi-day tours with a guide*. A good starting point for this is of course Reykjavik. But the most flexible way to travel in Iceland is to rent a car.
If you plan a road trip to Iceland, you can set your own pace and decide according to your own interests which highlights and sights on Iceland you want to visit. We ourselves booked our rental car with the Iceland Specialist northbound.is*. To search for cars is very easy, especially for the highlands, and the prices of all car rental providers in Iceland are compared.
Car Rental at the Iceland Specialist with Years of Know-How:
Northbound.is
Northbound.is- compares all Icelandic car rental providers
- specialized in Iceland roundtrips and the highlands
- specialized insurances for the rough Iceland available
- free cancellation up to 48h before start of rental period
- normal rental cars, campervans, motorhomes, SUV (also with roof tent) & off-road vehicles available
Find The Best Prices for Iceland Rental Cars at northbound.is*
Alternative: Exploring Iceland by Bus
If you want to leave the capital Reykjavik, you have to rely on intercity buses. These are offered by a few companies, none of which cover the entire island. Furthermore, bus travel in Iceland is not as cheap as one might think. From 2 people it is almost worthwhile to take a rental car. More information about booking a rental car and the alternative of taking a bus can be found here:
Guide On How To Rent The Best Car For Your Iceland Adenture
Our Iceland Itinerary
We spent 3 weeks traveling in Iceland and circumnavigated Iceland once, visited the Westfjords and took several side trips into the highlands. Since most people tend to stay in Iceland for one to two weeks we have put together a different itinerary for you:
Iceland Trip Cost – Accommodation
We stayed in guesthouses most of the time during our Iceland trip. Often we had a double room with shared bathroom and shared kitchen. The accommodations cost on average about 80 Euro. Sometimes we also rented small cabins which were mostly between 120-150 Euro. Since we visited Iceland in June, the prices were somewhat cheaper.
In July and August, the prices are even higher. If you want to travel cheaper you can also camp in Iceland. You either have the option to rent a car with a roof tent or you rent a normal car and a normal tent, sleeping bags, etc..
Cheap Hotels in Iceland at Booking.com *
How much does Food cost in Iceland?
In order to save a bit when traveling, we like to cook ourselves and rather rarely go out to eat. Even in Iceland, we almost always cooked for ourselves. Our food costs are therefore almost exclusively made up of supermarket purchases. Only three times we treated ourselves to delicious fries, but they were really expensive.
We noticed during our shopping that there are some things that are only slightly more expensive than here, while others are much more expensive, such as bread and cheese. What you don’t have to buy in Iceland is water. We bought two large bottles of water at the beginning of our vacation and then always filled them up with tap water.
How much do Activities cost in Iceland?
In general, Iceland is quite expensive. But in terms of activities, you can get away quite cheaply. Most of the activities take place in nature, going hiking and seeing the spectacular waterfalls, canyons, etc. And those are usually free. Only a few attractions require you to pay money for parking or an entrance fee.
Our most expensive activities in Iceland were the whale watching tour in Husavik and the visit to the Blue Lagoon. Both were great experiences that we can definitely recommend. In the Blue Lagoon we spent the afternoon of our return flight and found this a great end to our trip.
Other Expenses
In addition to the expenses for accommodation, food and transportation costs, there are usually other costs that we have listed here. In Iceland, however, these were only two things … Souvenirs as well as the postcards for the families at home.
Iceland Travel Cost – Total Costs of our Round Trip
But how much was our trip through Iceland in total? As expected, the Iceland trip was very expensive. The only way to save money is to travel outside of the high season and book in May-June or September and if possible book everything very far in advance.
Especially the rental car can save a lot. If you do not yet have a rental car for Iceland, read our guide to car rental booking or look directly at the, in our opinion, best provider for rental cars to northbound.is*.
Do you have any further questions about the costs of an Iceland trip or were the costs different for you? Then write us a comment under the article!