The words Iceland, and low-budget somehow seem to exclude each other. But, with some creativity, some ver strict rules and letting all hope for culinary standards go, Iceland is very do-able on a shoestring.
On my way from Denver, USA, to Amsterdam my flight with Iceland Air was stopping in Reykjavik for a couple of hours. Since Iceland had been my dream destination for so long, I decided to make it a six day stopover instead. I quickly had my bestie Miranda convinced to come join me from Amsterdam as well.
If you are wondering how you can make use of these free stop-overs, check out my blog dedicated to just that.
However, me as someone who had just started her own business and was mostly freelance, and Miranda having just made the big step to move back from South America to Amsterdam we both were on quite a tight budget. And Iceland is not really known to be a budget destination. There quickly were some things that we decided that we had to save on.
Transport
We were pretty clear that we would have to rent a car, for there is hardly any public transportation in Iceland, hitchhiking might take quite a while and we only had six days.
We were in Iceland in July, high summer and since this was the first time for both of us in Iceland we doubted a very long time between renting the cheapest little car available, or renting a 4X4. Thing is, most of the roads in Iceland are so-called F-roads. And you are not allowed to drive on these F-roads with anything else than a 4X4.
So renting a normal car would mean that we would have to stick to the ring road, the paved road that goes all around Iceland. This was a serious tough decision, since we wanted to do wildcamping, and hiking and get off the beaten track. But the 4X4 cars were also very out of our budget. So, we decided to rent a normal car this time, for it was our first time and sticking to the ring road would give us a good overview. And at a later stage in our lives in which we did not just start business, are continuously no(n)madding or starting companies we can always come back and rent a 4X4.
So after this decision, we found the cheapest company with pretty decent feedback: SADS cars. We rented a Volkswagen Polo but díd decide to buy the package for the extra driver so we could both drive, and get the good insurance. After all, how bad would it be if we ended up spending our budget for the next 10 years on car repair because we had a crash with a sheep, or whatever could happen. We ended up paying 370 euros for five days. So that was 185 euros each. I have to say, the car was fine. it was very small, but good enough for two people and two backpacks. It can get very, very windy in Iceland though, and we felt that it was not the most sturdy car for those open and windy roads. Something to keep in mind.
Luckily, the gas is really quite affordable in Iceland. In five days of a lot of driving we spend around 50 euros each on gas in total! So that is definitely a pro. Also, our car did not use a lot of gas, which might not be the case for a 4X4.
Accommodation
Accommodation is very expensive in Iceland!! Miranda has to spend the first night she arrived in Iceland in a dorm room in a hostel and ended up spending 40 euros. It was pretty clear that we would have to be camping. And luckily we both really love camping! Iceland is windy, and it can get (very) rainy as well. So make sure your tent is water- and windproof and even when it´s summer, make sure you have a nice and warm sleeping bag.
Officially you can wild camp in Iceland when the land does not belong to anyone. However, of course, all along the ring road, the land was always fenced and did always belong to someone. Which made that wildcamping was basically out of the question. Luckily there are lots of campsites all over Iceland. You can easily find them by typing ´campsite´ in Google Maps and it will show you all the nearby sites. The standard price seemed to be 15 euros per person. So for our little tent that fits two, we would have to pay 30 euros. This does include access to a little common room or kitchen if it´s there, but most of the times does not cover the use of a hot shower. The days we were in Iceland it was very rainy, and this made things a little tricky for us. We had no more dry or clean clothes, but using the dryers was very expensive, and the waiting lines were long. So instead we would put all of our dry underwear and bras on the dashboard of the car and hope it would dry this way. We also decided that we did not want to spend two euros each on every hot shower. But, also for that, we found a solution.
Municipality pools
Each municipality has a pool, most of them with hot tubs outside. You pay around six or seven euros and you can stay as long as you want. So this is great to go to every three days and take a long and nice shower, instead of the campsite showers with long lines and people knocking on the door after three minutes. However, some Icelandic rules to take into account that we were not aware of. Most pools also have a sauna, this is mixed for men and women and you are supposed to leave your bathing suit on. If the sauna is clearly for just men or just women, it might be ok to go naked, check first though. However, before entering the pool you are supposed to take a shower in the changing room, and this is supposed to be naked! And this is very important. Despite being Dutch and being very used to naked communal saunas and stuff, somehow back in the Netherlands, we actually take a shower with our bathing suits on already. And this was absolutely not appreciated by the locals in Iceland. In the pool in Reykjavik they were more used to tourists that don´t know, and actually put a sign, but in Vik we had to figure it out ourselves. So, don´t put on your bathing suit. Take some soap and thoroughly wash the following four areas: your head, your armpits, down there and your feet. After this, you can put on your bathing suit and enjoy the pools and hot tubs.
Food and drinks
Another very expensive category in Iceland is food and drinks. Especially eating or drinking out where you can easily end up paying 60 euros for a meal in a restaurant. The cheapest option would be the Icelandic ´hotdog´, but well, they are not very vegetarian, and they are still around eight euros. So instead, we took some mugs, plates and silverware from home and stopped by the discount supermarket in Reykjavik. They are only here, so make sure you stock up before taking off to the rest of the country. Here we took things that would not need a fridge, or potentially to be heated, but could feed us for some days. For example, crackers, granola, cream cheese and Skyr Yoghurt, tuna, veggies in a can, etc. And with these we would do little picknicks.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, this was not a very culinary holiday. At one point I was just cold and wet, so we found some hot water, poured it in a cup, put the tuna and a can of peas in the same cup and drank it. It was food I guess, and it was actually very cheap. Our groceries ended up around 40 euros each for these five days! However, we did have a little road side coffee now and then, which was around four euros each. And our last day in Reykjavik we treated ourselves to a nice coffee in a coffee bar, costing about seven euros each. Alcohol is extremely expensive in Iceland and is regulated by the government. This means that it can only be bought in special government stores which are only open so many hours a week, and have of course very high taxes. For us it was the best reason to go very much non-alcohol these days.
The water in Iceland is extremely pure and can be drunken everywhere. Miranda was so smart to have brought a foldable jerrycan which we could fill with water at every gas station, so we were never short on water.
Entrance fees
The good things is that the nature is probably the main reason why you came to Iceland. And nature is free! The hikes, the natural hot rivers, the viewpoints. However, there are some very famous attractions, like the Blue Lagoon, with a very famous entrance price as well. If you book online, the entrance fee is 50 euros per person and if you just show up there it´s around 65 euros. I am sure it´s pretty, though also very touristy with big tour groups joining, but we decided to not spend 65 euros on this lagoon. We found that all lagoons were this expensive, for example the secret lagoon which we had found turned out to be not so secret anymore and charge 40 euros per person.
As I said, most of Icelands attractions are free, for it´s really all about the nature, so it is up to you if you think it´s worth it to spend a little more on the few that require entrance. We were on a strict budget and decided not to do it.
Cost breakdown
So for a little cost breakdown. For camping, we ended up spending 60 euros each. For car-rental it was 185 each. For gas it was 50 euros each, and for food and drinks we ended up spending 60 euros each. So in total 355 euros for 5 days in Iceland.
Unfortunately, I had packed my backpack taking into account Colombia, Kenya and Colorado and had no wind and waterproof material. So I was forced to spend another 100 euros on a good windjack and a waterproof bag for my camera. But if you go a bit better prepared, you can save there 😉
