Iceland | Travel Tips

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• Drive the Ring Road if you can! It’s a great way to see many of the major sights while also allowing you to take excursions off the beaten path. Ideal to give yourself about 12-14 days if you don’t want to feel rushed.

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• Iceland is not a cheap place to visit! It has a high cost of living, and on top of that, it’s an island, which means just about everything is imported, adding to the cost. Food is expensive, and many find that eating out at a restaurant even once a day is a stretch. Restaurant fare often starts at around USD $27 for a hamburger or pizza. Entrees with fish, chicken or lamb will often cost $30-50 (and this is at an average restaurant – expect more at fine dining establishments). You can generally find all-you-can-eat soup/bread options at around USD $18 – $25, but don’t expect the soup to be hearty. Cheaper but not necessarily healthy foods, such as a hot dog or small sandwich, can be found at most gas station convenience stores for about USD $5 – 8. The best affordable option is to go grocery shopping (e.g., bread, butter, cheese, veggies, fruits, skyr or yogurt, granola) and eat as you travel. If the weather is nice, this option offers many picnic-ing opportunities!

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• Credit cards are accepted just about everywhere, and the very few places that are cash only will likely accept USD, Euros and other popular currencies. We spent 10 days in Iceland and never once used any cash or even an ATM.

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• If renting a car, 4×4 is recommended, particularly if you want to go off the Ring Road where many of the roads are just gravel or if visiting during the winter. If you intend to go off the Ring Road, gravel insurance is a good idea since you don’t want to be responsible for cracks in windows and other damages that are very possible to occur. Paying for the Wi-Fi hotspot is recommended over the navigation package. Google Maps is likely more up-to-date than the navi system, and having Wi-Fi access will allow you to look up information on sights and restaurants as you travel, not to mention that you can upload pics for social media as well as services like Dropbox in order to free up space on your camera/phone! Note that in the more remote locations, you will get dropped from Wi-Fi at times, but as long as you put your destination into Google Maps on your phone when you first set out, the phone’s GPS should still be able to track you and get you to your destination.

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• Wi-Fi is available all over Iceland from cafes to guesthouses and campsites, so if you don’t have a rental car with a hot spot, you’ll still be connected when you get to your destination.

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• Iceland is an amazingly pristine country. There is very little trash (if any) littered on the ground. Please be respectful wherever you go and hold onto your trash until you get to a trash can.

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• Guesthouses are extremely clean. Most offer an option for a private room with a shared bathroom at a more affordable rate than a private bathroom. If you’re sketched about sharing a bathroom, don’t be. As long as you’re choosing a fairly reputable guesthouse, you shouldn’t run into any problems.

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• Most Icelanders speak English, but it is highly recommended that you at least learn the basics of how to read those super long Icelandic words! It really helps when you look on a map or want to ask for tips/directions if you can actually say the word even remotely closely to how it should be pronounced! There are plenty of YouTube clips that can teach you the basics.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ border_color=”color-uydo” border_style=”dashed” shift_y=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1499471670014{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;border-top-width: 1px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;}”][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ align_horizontal=”align_center” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ border_color=”color-uydo” border_style=”dashed” medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/1″ css=”.vc_custom_1499480943308{border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h3″ text_size=”h3″ text_font=”font-377884″]Return to the main Iceland page.[/vc_custom_heading][/vc_column][/vc_row]