So you want to visit Iceland? And why wouldn’t you. It’s a beautiful country that has a wide variety of things to do and see. And while you may have heard about all of the wonderful things to do in Iceland, you’ve probably also heard how expensive Iceland is. However, after all was said and done, our trip to Iceland was not nearly as expensive as we were expecting. In fact, it’s one of the cheapest vacation we’ve ever taken (per day). How is that possible? Well, it just proves that there is an Iceland budget for everyone! And we’re here to help you save money, plan your Iceland budget, and get you excited about the real possibility of an amazing trip to Iceland.
In addition to helping you plan your Iceland budget, we also want to give you tips for saving money on your trip. You can use one, you can use them all, you can use none. They’re there to help you fit your trip into your budget so you can make traveling to Iceland a real possibility. With a little creativity, the use of these tips, and lots of advanced planning you’ll be able to create an Iceland budget that is perfect for you.
How Much Will A Trip To Iceland Cost?
The average Iceland budget is $200 USD/day/person. This would be a mid-range vacation and is the type of trip we took and the exact amount of money we spent. If you were interested in a budget level trip, you can spend as little as $100/day (you could even spend less but that would take some hitchhiking and couch-surfing).
We spent just around $5300 USD for two people to visit Iceland for two weeks in 2021.
Things in Iceland are expensive. However, when you consider that it’s an island and most things have to be shipped there, combined with the fact that the cost of living in so high and therefore the cost of labor is high, the prices make a lot more sense.
When making your Iceland budget using the tips below, be practical and stay within your budget. If you feel like you can’t have the Icelandic vacation you want within the budget you set, wait, save your money, and get the trip your dreaming of. Sure our Icelandic vacation was a bit pricy, but we also felt like we saw everything we wanted to see and got the exact trip we wanted. We wish this for you too! We’ve heard so many people just going to Iceland for a few days because that’s what they can afford and then being disappointed because they didn’t get to do all the fun things they dreamt of.
Paying For Things in Iceland
The Icelandic currency is the Krona, abbreviated ISK. Almost all charges, including tour bookings that you make online, will be in ISK. So make sure you have a great credit card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees.
While everything in Iceland will be in Krona, we’ll refer to average prices below in US dollars so that you can know what you’ll need to save to set your Iceland budget. Our transportation prices also assume you’ll be traveling from the United States.
When you’re in Iceland, you’ll NEED to have a credit card. There are places in Iceland that do not accept cash. Overall, you can probably do without cash. There are only a few places that you may need cash and one of those places is public restrooms which sometimes charge a small cash fee to use.
Iceland Budget For Transportation
You’ll need to include airfare and ground transportation into your Iceland budget.
First, a flight from the eastern portion of the USA will cost around $550/person.
Next, we think the best way to get around Iceland is by car on a self-drive road trip. You can forgo this cost, but you’ll end up spending more on activities because you’ll need to take a guided tour of everything. Iceland is not an easy country to get around without a car. Rental prices average around $79/day for a car.
Also, gas in Iceland is expensive. A liter of fuel costs between $2-3/L ($8-10/gal).
Tips For Saving Money In Iceland
You can take buses around Iceland. Check out the bus routes here. However, the stops are limited so your itinerary will need to be based around the bus schedule. It’s not the best way to travel if you have specific destinations in mind.
Hitchhiking in Iceland is very common. If you plan on hitchhiking, make sure to stick to the popular roads, like the Ring Road.
Avoid taxis! Taxi prices in Iceland are outrageous. Consider either tours or shuttles to get to popular destinations. Traveling as a group in these larger vans is less expensive than taxis for one or two people.
Many people assume you’ll need a 4×4 vehicle to drive around Iceland. However, to save on your Iceland budget, you can easily rent the tiniest, and therefore cheapest, car available if you’re visiting in the summer. You’ll need to stick to more well-kept roads but you’ll be able to travel the entire Ring Road with a tiny car. Additionally, your rental price will be less expensive AND your gas prices will be less as small cars generally get better gas milage.
If you can drive a stick shift, consider renting a manual transmission. The price saving isn’t a lot, but if you are doing a long trip, you can save around $12/day by renting a manual transmission rather than an automatic.
Iceland Budget For Accommodations
For a room for two people, you’ll pay around $190/night. This would be a mid-range accommodation. You can spend thousands of dollars for luxury hotels and tens of dollars for hostels.
Tips For Saving Money In Iceland
Camping in Iceland can be beautiful. There are some amazing campsites, especially the ones that are right next to beautiful waterfalls (like Seljalandsfoss). Most campsites charge a camp fee which is normally under $20/night. They also typically charge a per person fee as well, generally between $5-15/person, which is mandatory and covers amenities at the site like toilets and showers.
Iceland also has a ton of hostels. You’ll find everything from traditional bunkhouse style hostels to private rooms in farmhouses turned hostels. A majority of these hostel style accommodations will save you money compared to a hotel or cabin rental. However, prices vary widely in range depending on the location in the country and the availability of other nearby accommodations.
Booking several months in advance can help you to save money as the cheap-but-nice places to stay are always the first to get booked. We booked our hotels 6 months ahead of travel.
Iceland Budget For Food
Food in Iceland is expensive. As much as I would like to tell you there is a way around that there isn’t. If you eat out in Iceland expect to spend over twice as much as you would spend in the US. Breakfast can be reasonable. However, lunch and dinner costs between $25-100 USD/person.
However, this is one area that we recommend you splurge on. Because food in Iceland is a work of art! We visited hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Iceland where the chefs had their many culinary certificates hanging on the wall. And this pride in their work really showed in the food we ate. We routinely spent $100/person on dinners. We ordered sides of lobster tail. It was great! Some of the best food we’ve ever eaten was in Iceland.
You can eat at cheaper restaurants, but what we found is that you can pay $25/person for average food or $50-100/person for extraordinary food. We spent $50 on a pizza for two that we felt “meh” about. And we spend $150 for a 5 course meal at a rooftop restaurant. When we realized this we just decided to continue to splurge on meals because we felt like the “cheap” food wasn’t worth what we were paying for it but we felt like the “expensive” food was totally worth what we were paying for it in terms of quality.
Tips For Saving Money In Iceland
Grocery stores in Iceland are only located in larger towns. So you’ll have to plan your grocery stops accordingly. We loved visiting Bonus. Food prices at Icelandic grocery stores are still more expensive than in the US, however, you can find budget options. For example, meat and fruit are very expensive. So we ate meatless lunches and bought cheap yogurt for breakfast instead of fruit. We also got some super cheap caviar one night! So groceries can be a good option as long as you’re willing to eat a little differently than you normally would. Also, keep in mind that Iceland has far fewer preservatives in their food. So things go bad much quicker. This meant that we had to stop at a grocery store every couple of days rather than stock up all at once.
Food at gas stations is also a budget friendly option. Gas station food in Iceland is like fast food in America. You’ll find hot dogs, burgers, and fried food. This is cheap by Iceland standards but you can still spend $20/person on food here.
To help keep that Iceland budget low, don’t plan on buying drinks of any kind. Coffee, water, and alcohol are all expensive and unnecessary. Make coffee in your hotel and drink water out of the tap. Water in Iceland is some of the best around! If you want to drink, buy alcohol at the grocery store and have a drink at your hotel. Non-alcoholic drinks out run around $5 and alcoholic drinks are around $15.
What We Spent on Food In Iceland
What we would suggest is just accepting that food is expensive and enjoy. However, you can save money by only splurging and eating out once a day. We saved tons of money by grocery shopping and making our own breakfasts and lunches.
Additionally, we saved room in our suitcase to bring snacks and food from home. We packed all of our breakfast cereal, peanut butter, jelly and granola bars so that we didn’t have to spend extra money on those things in Iceland. Plus then we had room in our suitcases for the plush Icelandic sweaters we brought home!
Below are a few things we packed that helped us pack and prepare food in Iceland.
Having the option of cooking in your room may cost more in lodging but may save you money in food. However, we rarely had full kitchens and still were able to “cook” a ton of meals. Most hotels have coffee pots or electric tea kettles. This allowed us to boil water for tea, coffee and oatmeal, which we brought from home. We bought almond milk in small containers for cereal so that we didn’t have to have refrigerate milk. Additionally, we opted to pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches each day so that we didn’t have to refrigerate or purchase lunch meat or veggies.
We also did meal planning to help us save money in Iceland. This meant that we planned when we would be eating out and when we would be cooking. This helped us to know what to pack for Iceland, and what we needed to buy at grocery stores. We stopped three times at grocery stores in our two weeks in Iceland. For breakfast and lunch we ate meals that we prepared and every dinner we ate out.
We spent $134 on Groceries and $910 on eating out.
Iceland Budget For Activities
Activities in Iceland are generally free! Or at most, you’ll need to pay for a small parking fee. It’s one of the best parts about traveling to this amazing country. Your Iceland budget can really shrink if you’re willing to travel independently. However, if you want to do guide tours, you’re likely to spend about $150/person/day for tours. We’ve included some tour versions of things we visited below if you’re interested.
The one tour we would absolutely recommend splurging on is a glacier tour. It was one of the most unique experiences and it was amazing.
Tips For Saving Money
The best tip for saving money on activities is to only do the free activities. Sure you could fill your days with Icelandic baths, glacier tours, and whale watching tours, all of which are great. But if you want to save money you can still have a great time in Iceland without having to spend over $10/day on activities.
There are several tours that you can do on your own for a fraction of the cost. So if you are considering doing a tour, price out how much it would cost to do it on your own. Chances are if you’re traveling as a duo or family, the self-drive option will be cheaper than the tour group. For solo travelers, the tour will probably end up being cheaper as it will mean you don’t have to rent a car.
Another suggestion is to stay out of Reykjavík. In cities, activities always come with a price tag. However, in the countryside you can come across an amazing waterfall on the side of the road that you can park at and hike to for free.
Our Actual 2021 Iceland budget – Adjusted For Visiting In July 2024
Below is our actual budget breakdown. This includes everything we spent money on; from the flight to Iceland to each day’s activities. I’ve looked at the July 2024 pricing for all of the exact same things. And here is what our 2024 Iceland budget would be if we re-did our exact 2021 Iceland vacation. I should also note that these prices were checked 6+ months out, which is how far out we booked our original trip.
Travel for two weeks in Iceland for a couple – $7550
- Flight – $800/person
- Transportation – $78/day
- Accommodation – $270/night
- Food – $45/day/person
- Activities – $32/day
Other Money Saving Tips For Your Iceland Budget
Book everything in advance. Surge pricing can be crazy in top tourist destinations, like Iceland, and the best deals are always the first to go.
Visit in the off-season – maybe. If trekking around in cold wet weather doesn’t bother you, consider visiting Iceland in the Fall-Spring when the weather gets colder and snow closes some popular attractions. We normally love traveling in the off-season. However, we wouldn’t recommend this for Iceland. Even in the summer, the weather is unpredictable. Plus, during peak tourist times the attractions in Iceland are so remote and spread out that we never felt like we were crowded. Also, lots of businesses close in the off-season due to a lack of business, so while the remaining business are likely to give an off-season discount, your options will be limited.
Finally, if you’re reading this you’re already doing our number one money saving tip for Iceland: preparing an Iceland budget. Do your research, know what things cost and know what you can (and can’t) afford. This will save you money and it will decrease your travel stress. If you have any questions or comments, we’d be happy to help if you leave them in the comments section below.
Could you kindly share your itinerary? It’s the length I’ve been considering but a bit unsure of stops.
Not a problem. All of our Iceland posts are here, including our two week itinerary, along with some shorter ones as well.
https://acoupledaystravel.com/the-ultimate-iceland-travel-guide/
Where did you stay in Iceland? Interested to visit Iceland in October 2023
We drove around the Ring Road. So we stayed somewhere different each night. This post here describes the locations where we stayed: https://acoupledaystravel.com/ring-road-trip/
We aren’t high-end travelers but like a good bed each night. And we had great stays throughout Iceland!
Thank you so much for going to all the trouble to write this up very helpful.
Glenda Gold Coast Australia.
You are so welcome. I’m glad you found this helpful and I hope you enjoy your Iceland vacation. We sure enjoyed our Gold coast vacation, though it was warmer 😉