Two Weeks in Iceland: Full Cost Breakdown & Tips

Iceland has become a top travel destination in the past decade but is notoriously known as a pricey place to visit! While it’s true that a trip to Iceland’s cost can be high, it doesn’t have to be a budget-breaker. Below, I’ll break down my two-week, ring road adventure in Iceland, including how to save money and keep your cost down.

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How Much Does a Trip to Iceland Cost?

Let’s dive into where our budget went! This is a high-level overview of the main spending categories. In the next sections, I’ll break down what’s included in each and how I arrived at these figures.

For references, I traveled with 2 other adults, so majority of the cost are split 3 ways. Obviously the more people you travel with, the cheaper some areas will be per person. In the following sections, I’ll include price per person, as well as total price so you can gauge how much it might cost you if you are traveling with more or less people.

Cost shown in USD

Flights to Iceland

How much your flight costs will vary depend on where you’re flying from, which airline you are flying with and what time of the year you are visiting. Our cost from Atlanta to Reykjavík
(with one stop) cost $895 per person.

To give you an idea of our flight cost, we flew from Atlanta, used JetBlue and Icelandair, and traveled during mid May. We booked our tickets about 6 months before our trip and were able to get tickets under $1000. When we checked 1-2 months later tickets for the same plane tickets were starting over $1000!

Transportation

This section covers everything we spend on transportation including renting a car, gas, and tolls.

Rental Car

We rented an automatic, AWD Suzuki Vitara through Go Rental Cars. The price above includes wifi and a cooler, both which we added on. Wifi was an extra $130 for the whole trip (it is priced per day) and the cooler was an extra $16.

We also booked our car during Black Friday, so we saved around $300 with the promo they had going on. We opted only for there basic insurance that is included in the price (protects against gravel but not sand & ash) and we were fine with that level. There are two other levels of insurance if you plan on doing more off roading, or just prefer higher insurance to feel safe.

If plan on booking through Go Rental Cars, be sure to use my code Caitlyn5 for 5% off your car!

Gas

I knew gas was going to be more expensive than what I was used to here in America (on the east coast) but was still surprised that it was around $8 per gallon. Our car was a hybrid, getting 38 MPG, and we spent just under $400 on gas. To be fair, we did do quite a bit of driving since we traveled the whole ring road in Iceland with a few detours off here and there.

Parking/Toll Fees

Most popular tourist attractions (waterfalls, National Parks, points of interest) will have a parking fee. They were typically between $5-$10. In Reykjavík parking can be a little more and in some places are calculated per hour.

There is only one toll road in Iceland and its the tunnel right next to Akureyri. The price depends on what type of vehicle you are in (car, medium or large bus). For regular cars, it is ISK 1,850 or around $13.50 USD. You can pay online, if you failed to do so the price goes up to around $17.50 + $27 admin fee and will be billed to the cars owner (the rental company).

Unfortunately, we didn’t know this ahead of time so we ended paying $45 for the toll once we returned our car.

Accommodation

We stayed 11 nights in Airbnbs and one night in a hotel in Reykjavik. The Airbnb’s were around $200-$300 per night plus cleaning fees. Most of the Airbnbs slept 3-4 people, had a washer and a full kitchen. This is around the cheapest prices you’ll find in Iceland on Airbnb, its hard to find anything less than $200.

Food

Knowing meals cost at least $20 in Iceland, we planned to avoid eating out for every meal during our two-week trip.

We did eat out for dinner or lunch maybe 7-10 times and treated ourselves to quite a few pastries during our trip (included in the restaurants price). Some of meals did include hot dogs, which are cheaper than regular meals, or times when me and my wife shared, cutting down on cost.

We had almost every breakfast at our Airbnb and made sandwiches to eat for lunch. We carried granola bars and other miscellaneous snacks around so we never went hungry. For dinners, we had burgers, chicken sandwiches, burritos, frozen pizza, and pasta at our Airbnbs. If you are looking to cut down on cost, I definitely recommend buying groceries and cooking a few meals at your Airbnb!

Attractions

What attractions/activities you decide to do will vary depending on your budget and interests.

We planned to do Sky Lagoon, the Whale Watching Tour, the Glacier Boat Tour, and Katla Ice Cave ahead of times. These were non-negotiable for us, and we were all super excited about them!

We ended up doing Vok Baths because the weather didn’t work out for the other items we had planned. Luckily, Vok Baths was super close to our Airbnb and a great way to spend the day!

The same thing with the Puffin Tour, we originally planned to see puffins at Borgarfjordur Eystri, however we didn’t feel safe driving the road there in the weather conditions we had. Still wanting to see puffins, we booked a boat tour out of Reykjavik on our last day to see them.

Souvenirs

While souvenirs are optional, most people like to bring atleast one or two things home with them.

Together me and my wife spent $208 total on souvenirs. This included t-shirts for us, post cards, a magnet, keychain, and a few gifts for family members. I didn’t include a total cost in this category because I’m not quite sure what my dad spent on souvenirs.

How to cut Costs on a Trip to Iceland

What most people ask when planning a trip Iceland – What does a trip to Iceland cost & how can I save money?

• Transportation– Look for promo codes, or book during Black Friday like we did to save money. 2WD and smaller cars tend to be a little cheaper. If you aren’t planning on leaving the ring road, you could save a little money getting a 2WD instead of AWD. Manuel cars are usually cheaper too, if you know how to drive one.
• Accommodation– I do recommend Airbnbs with a kitchen to prepare your own meals, however if you opt for hostels or camping, you can save on accommodation.
• Food– as mentioned above, buy groceries and prepared at least 2 meals at your Airbnb if possible. Also try to avoid alcohol, as drinks in Iceland are pricey. If you would like to enjoy a few drinks will on you trip, just pick up some at the duty free area before leaving the airport. If you have to eat out more often, hot dogs and food in gas stations tend to be a little cheaper. You can also find prepared sandwiches in cafes for less.