I just finished up the trip recap for our first family trip to Iceland… in 2023. Yes, I’m a little behind.

Refreshing myself on those experiences, I wanted to take an opportunity to distill some of our learnings in the hope they’ll help others who are planning to visit this amazing country. Note that we’ve only spent around 2 weeks total in Iceland, so this is in no way comprehensive. Further, things change and some advice ages poorly.

Notes

These are in no particular order:

1. Iceland population
   • There are around 380,000 people in the entire country.
   • There are around 220,000 people active in the labor market.
   • This means Iceland is doing a LOT with a little.
2. Your rental car
   • Picking up your rental car. You’ve just landed and you’re excited to start to explore in your rentalmobile. Take the time to photograph and video the outside and inside of your car. Point out problem areas like dents and scrapes with your finger in a photo. You probably don’t need to go back inside and talk to the rental people unless there’s something severe, but having the photos is better than not having the photos.
   • I’ve sworn off renting from Hertz in the US due to their (ab)use of AI technology to detect damage and charge you, with little recourse for errors or pre-existing damage. The Hertz franchise in Iceland seems more chill. We’ve rented twice now, and both times Hertz was fine both with pickup and drop-off.
   • If you’re renting an EV and plan to stay mostly near/in the Golden Circle, you should be fine for charging. You may need to download several apps and create accounts, so maybe do that on wifi before you venture out.
   • The photos of your car you took at the airport? Favorite one that has your license plate number in it. If you don’t, I can guarantee that at least one time you’ll park, walk alllllll the way over to the machine where you pay for parking, not know the tag # to type in, and have to walk alllllll the way back.
3. Iceland can be windy Given that, some things to be aware of:
   • Be mindful of the wind when you park. If the wind is whipping behind you and you go to open your door, your door becomes a sail. You might dent the car next to you… or worse. This hasn’t happened to us, but I’ve read stories.
   • Iceland has volanic soil that, when whipped up by strong winds, doesn’t feel good to people and isn’t nice to cars. No real advice here beyond having the photos from when you picked up the car to determine if there’s any new damage.
   • Sometimes it might take extra concentration to stay in your lane, even if a heavier car like a Tesla Y. Almost all of your time will be spent on roads with one lane in each direction and no physical barrier between you and oncoming traffic.
4. Driving in general
   • They drive on the righthand side of the road.
   • Roundabouts. Generally: vehicles already within the roundabout hold the right of way. Drivers entering the roundabout must yield to traffic approaching from their left. But: on a two-lane roundabout (and there are a fair number of these around Reykjavik), vehicles that occupy the inner lane have the right of way. Those vehicles in the outer lane must yield.
   • Speed cameras. Given the size of the labor market, Iceland seems to lean heavily on speed cameras to help enforce speed laws. You will have long stretches of road where you don’t see any other cars around, but be mindful these cameras can be anywhere.
   • If you see a sign for a ‘foss’, that means waterfall. You can probably pull over and check it out spontaneously!
   • More and more, Iceland is adding parking meters to the lots at natural attractions. This is a good move to offset the impact that tourism is having on the attractions. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a unified system for paying. Look for signs when you pull into a lot, as there may be a parking meter machine somewhere you may need to interact with.
5. Cell data service
   • You can get an eSIM before you leave your home country. Add the eSIM following their instructions, then turn the new line off.
   • I’ve had good luck in Iceland with Airalo.¹
   • Keflavik airport has wifi, so this is the other place you can set it up. But it works perfectly fine if you buy and activate it from home and then just turn the line on once you land in Iceland.
6. Food and groceries
   • Restaurants are expensive. You knew that already.
   • Most of our breakfasts and lunches were food bought at grocery stores. I’d recommend looking for Bònus, specifically, as they seemed to be the best value. Nettó was also decent, though we didn’t see as many of those.
   • Speaking of Nettó: the one we went to was very busy with tourists, but the tourists seemed averse to using self-checkout. The self-checkout has an English language option and is pretty much the same as other countries. Feel free to bypass the standard checkout lines and use those. We probably saved at least 15 minutes at one stop by doing self-checkout.
   • In South Iceland, if you’re between Selfoss and Vik, look for a little white building on the lefthand side that says STREET FOOD. This is Heimamenn. The fish & chips were stellar, along with the soup.
   • If you’re over near Reykholt/Gullfoss/Geysir, in that area, check out Efstidalur II family farm. You’ll have a hard time finding a shorter farm-to-table line anywhere. They have an outdoor ‘bounce pillow’ here, too.
7. Bounce pillows (or jump pillow or jump pad)
   • My tween and teen kids loved these. I know of one at Efstidalur II, another one at Hotel Husafell, and one at Lava Centre kind of half-way between Reykjavik and Vik.
   • Here’s a map if you can speak Icelandic.
8. Summer in Iceland
   • Our first trip was in June, when it never gets truly dark. (This is a bug and a feature) In August, there was an actual night, but days are still very long.
   • Popular nature destinations like waterfalls can be really busy during the daytime hours: lots of individual visitors in cars, plus tour buses. If you’re able to forego having an open gift shop or cafe, go in the early evening. For Gullfoss, arguably the most popular waterfall in Iceland, we went after dinner around 7:30pm and the number of people was very manageable. We were able to take our time, enjoy the sights, and snap photos without other people in them or being rushed. It was the same with Geysir.
9. Reykjavik
   • Reykjavik is around 45 minutes from Kefkavik airport via bus or car. (There aren’t trains)
   • For getting around, there are taxis, buses, and even electric scooters for rent with an app.
   • You won’t need a car in Reykjavik, assuming you’re cool with some walking and gradual hills. So:
     • If you’re doing Reykjavik at the start of your trip, consider renting your car at the domestic airport located in Reykjavik once you’re ready to venture out into the country.
     • If you’re doing Reykjavik at the end of your trip, it’s the same advice for the domestic airport. Drop your car there and then make your way to your accomodations.
     • Getting from Hertz at the domestic airport back into the center of town, say the Hallgrimskirkja area, was about a 30 minute walk. If you’re lucky, there might be at least one of those rental electric scooters there.
10. Currency
    • I don’t think I used cash for anything. Anywhere. I’m not even sure what Icelandic Króna looks like.
    • I don’t recall being asked to tip. That said, tipping seems to be creeping over into parts of Europe from America based on recent trips to Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany.
    • When settling a bill in a restaurant, they’ll bring the credit card machine to the table. From there you can tap your card, tap your phone, tap your watch, or insert your card.
    • When paying with a card, the machine may ask you which currency you want to use. Always use the local currency. For example, in Iceland after tapping, it might ask if you want to pay in ISK or USD. Pick ISK. Your bank/credit card company will give you a better exchange rate (which happens behind the scenes) than whatever bank the restaurant uses for merchant services.²
11. Other Stuff
    • When checking in to lodging you will almost certainly need to show your passport. In my experiences traveling to Iceland, Germany, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Germany, Japan, India, UAE, and England, I am always asked to show my passport when checking in to a hotel. The front desk person will record some information and hand the passport back.
    • You should not let them keep your passport, though. The exception might be in Eastern Europe, parts of Asia, and budget hotels where they want to use it as payment collateral. Still… be wary.

Media

Bounce pillow

Food along Route 1 between Selfoss and Vik

Later Hours Visits to Natural Attractions

Relative peace at Gullfoss at 8pm in June:

Geysir at 9pm in June:

Footnotes