Roaming Pogues

Iceland is expensive, there is no way around this, and as much as I can write that here, you won’t fully grasp how expensive it is until you get there, it’ll be the one thing you grumble about the whole time and one of the first things you mention when someone asks what it was like.

Food

Restaurants are outrageously priced, two and sometimes three times what you would find for the same item in the states. For comparisons sake, we stopped at KFC on our way to the airport and got the equivalent of a $5 fill-up box and it costs $15. When we ate out, we just came to understand that it was going to be pricey and we looked for the best deals. The way to mitigate this is to try to make sure you get a hotel room with a kitchenette and prepare as many of your own meals as possible. Bonus and Kronan (KR) are the two most affordable grocery stores you’ll find.

Rental Cars

One of the best ways to get around the country is with a rental car, there are buses if you are just trying to get from one town to another, but so much of Iceland is the beauty that you’ll find along the Ring Road and the Golden Circle, a rental car is just going to be far easier. With that said, there are some things to keep in mind, gas is expensive, we paid about $4.50 a gallon. Gas is also sometimes dispensed at unattended stations. These stations require you to use a credit card that has a pin, that bit surprised us and we were forced to only use attended stations. The insurance options range from full and expensive coverage, all the way down to the possibility of charges that could equal the cost of the vehicle, so do your research. Finally, parking is expensive in Reykjavik so a hotel that has it included is more valuable than you might think.

Excursion Prices

Some of the excursions we ran across were very expensive but were also once in a lifetime type trips. It’ll cost you $400 per person to be lowered into a dormant volcano but where else can you do that? It’s another $200 to snorkel between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, but again, where else can this be done? Then there are the trips you can do just about anywhere like whale watching. Spend your money wisely and do just what you won’t find anywhere else. If you’re in the country during Puffin season then that might be worth it but there are plenty of places accessible by rental car where they hang out. My last note on excursion is to have a backup plan, excursions will be cancelled if the weather does not cooperate and that’s a fairly regular occurrence.