5 Ways to Save Money in Iceland
Due to the dramatic price drops in flights to Iceland in the past years, tourism in Iceland has spiked and is rapidly growing. Although the pricing for flights is hard to pass up, something to keep in mind before planning your trip is the price of living once there. Accommodation rates are steep, transportation can get pricey, and eating out can seem impossible. On a backpacker’s budget, I found a few small ways to cut expenses down.
1. Stay away from restaurants
Hear me out. I understand that on vacations, you want to be able to indulge and go out, but going out to eat in Iceland is pricey. When walking around, I noticed that an average meal at most restaurants for one entree usually started around $30-$40. What I gravitated towards was grocery stores in order to make my own meals and get snacks so that I could eat throughout the day. If you are planning on eating out, the best time to go is around lunch time and happy hours! Iceland also is known for having the world’s best hot dogs, which are reasonably priced and filling.
2. Have a planned route
The majority of places to stay are located in Reykjavik and what I found was that the majority of places that I wanted to go were not close. If you are looking to stay in hotels / AirBnB’s, you should plan where you would like to go each day and reserve different places along the way (rather than one place for the entire trip). To get around, I found the only real way to get around is either renting a car or hitchhiking if you do not want to go on tours.
3. Stay in a van or a car with extra trunk space
Personally, I stayed in a van for the duration of my trip to Iceland. You can park for free overnight practically anywhere other than private property. This allowed me to be more flexible with what I wanted to do, in addition to seeing everything on my checklist. I know this isn’t a viable option for many people, but it is a great idea to at least rent a car with extra trunk space so you don’t have to keep driving back to where you are staying to get another change of clothes. Just remember to pack for the entire day prior to heading out, such as bringing a bathing suit if you plan to go to some soaking pools or snow boots if you plan to hike some glaciers, and of course, food throughout the day!
4. Drink tap water
This one is simple. Water in Iceland is definitely drinkable and buying your water throughout the day gets pricey, especially with the steep prices in Iceland. Don’t forget to pack some reusable water bottles and fill them for your day!
5. Use Public WiFi
In this day and age, everyone seems to need WiFi. Even if it is not used excessively, I would just opt out of paying for WiFi altogether. An astounding amount of locations had free connection throughout the country, whether it was outside of a restaurant, in a grocery store, or at a gas station. I was able to connect without a password throughout my stay and it was a nice tool to have for status updates back home or checking e-mails.
Let me know if you have any questions! Happy adventuring!
