Once upon a time, when I was a traveling technology consultant, two friends/co-workers somehow convinced our company to let us fly to Iceland. For the weekend. We flew Chicago to Reykjavík on a Thursday night and returned on Sunday evening. Since it was a fairly last-minute plan, I didn’t do much research in advance of the trip. I certainly learned a lot in the three days we spent there, and there are a few things that I think people should know before visiting Iceland.
While I’m sure I will return someday, for a (hopefully) longer period of time, three days was long enough for me to come up with these three basic tips that anyone visiting Iceland needs to know. So, here we are — three things to know before visiting Iceland.
1. Most rental cars are manual
It was a week before my 25th birthday, which meant that Avis wouldn’t let me rent a car without tacking on a ton of extra fees. So one of my slightly-older friends put the rental in her name. When we arrived at the Keflavík Airport car rental counter, she informed me that she had rented a manual car — an automatic would have cost more than twice as much. Luckily, she knew how to drive a manual. (I don’t, so that would have been a problem.)
Keep this in mind when renting a car while visiting Iceland, especially during the winter months if you’re going to be driving a lot. While the countryside is beautiful (it kind of feels like being on Mars), driving an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar country — especially when the roads are snowy or icy — can be tricky.
And if you’re going to rent a car, particularly in another country, be sure you rent using a credit card with built-in protection, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred or CapitalOne Venture X. These are two of the best travel credit cards on the market, and both will ensure you’re covered in the case of a rental car snafu.
2. It’s very, very, very expensive
I often joke now that it’s a good thing we only spent three days in Iceland, because I would have gone broke if I’d been there any longer. Though I lived in London when the GBP was stronger and I’ve traveled to other Nordic countries, I was somehow totally unprepared for just how expensive Iceland was going to be. People warned me they regularly spent $60 on meals there, but I figured they were going out to nice dinners all the time. Not so.
First of all, Iceland uses their own currency, the Icelandic Króna (ISK). Like other Krona using countries — Sweden, Norway, and Denmark — prices are in the “hundreds” of krona for an item. Which can make it really easy to get confused about how much you’re actually spending on things.
When we were there in 2017, a regular-sized espresso drink (like a latte or cappuccino) at the Icelandic Starbucks-equivalent, Te & Kaffi, cost around 800 ISK. And back then, this was the equivalent of about $8 USD. At bars, the least-expensive cocktail was about 2000 ISK, which would set you back about $20 USD.
Here’s my favorite example when I’m trying to explain the cost of food/drink in Iceland: fish and chips. In the U.S., at any American restaurant, this meal would probably cost about $12. In London, it would maybe cost $16. In Iceland, it cost $30 — and that was the cheapest thing on the menu!
Update 2024: While Iceland still isn’t a cheap destination, it seems like the U.S. Dollar is quite a bit stronger against the Icelandic Króna than it was in 2017. Now, 800 ISK is about $5.79 USD rather than $8. Time to plan another trip to Iceland, I think. 😉
3. You might not see the Northern Lights
If you want to see the Northern Lights while visiting Iceland, your best opportunities are between November and March, when the nights are longest. Being there in December — with only about four hours of daylight — we were all feeling pretty good about our chances. With our rental car, we were prepared to drive a bit outside the city if the conditions were favorable; I packed my tripod and brushed up on Northern Light photography tips.
Each day we feverishly refreshed the Aurora forecast for the evening. When it didn’t look extremely promising — an anticipated forecast of 2 or 3 on a 10-point scale — we’d try again later, holding out hope. But by 9 p.m. each day, the forecast had changed to 0 or 1, and we were forced to admit defeat. It stung a little bit. We were disappointed.
Go into your trip with no expectations. High Aurora activity happens purely by chance, so don’t build anticipation for something that may not happen and that you have no control over. Enjoy the rest of your trip and consider it a stroke of luck if the Northern Lights decide to be active while you’re there. And if not, it gives you a good reason to go back someday.
What other tips do you have for travelers visiting Iceland? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
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Originally Published on February 18, 2018.
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