It’s not an overstatement to say that Iceland is one of the most amazing countries on our planet. It is the “youngest” land compared to the rest of continents. In addition, a combination of active volcanoes and glaciers makes Iceland a truly unique country you should certainly visit just to see all its wonders with your own eyes.
There are many options to get there depending on your budget.
If you’ve ever been told that Iceland is an expensive country, don’t believe it! It’s not true. The truth is that Iceland is incredibly expensive. Take your time and plan your itinerary very carefully to avoid needless spendings on the trip. Things are not all that bad however – there are ways to save a little at the stage of planning.
The first thing you can save on is visa. If you have a valid multiple entry Schengen visa, you’ve already saved EUR 60, because Iceland is a party to the Schengen Agreement.
Your flight to Iceland may become the second way to save on. Now, when low-cost airlines operate flights to cold Reykjavik, getting there becomes much cheaper. For example, the cheapest option for today is to get from Gdansk (Poland) to Reykjavik by Wizzair. When you buy tickets as early as possible, tickets may cost as low as 180$ one way. Look for their regular promo offers or sales to get the best price. EasyJet also offers cheap flights from the UK; however this option requires a UK visa.
Depending on the format of your trip, the next point to think over is how to travel around the country. Our idea was “to drive around the entire country on the perimeter” – anyway we needed a car. Besides, we had to stay overnight somewhere, because sleeping in tents didn’t suit us. As Iceland is far from cheap, we could save a little with our 2-in-1 option – we rented a house on wheels, the so-called ‘motor home’ or camper. It is a van on wheels which can accommodate up to 7 persons at a time depending on the configuration.
You can sleep, cook, store food in a fridge, take shower, use WC, and, certainly, drive. I must admit driving a camber was very uncomfortable – it’s more like a bus than a car.
The house on wheels has manual transmission. Of course, we found a lot of weaknesses, for example we couldn’t drive on the ground or somehow drive off the road; the vehicle has high windage due to its height, fuel consumption is quite high plus we had extra expenses on gas for heating and cooking. On the plus side, you become very mobile with such a home on wheels and are not restricted by check-in times at hotels or guest houses, you can cook meals any time you want and boil water for tea – a very useful drink in cold and windy Iceland. Most importantly, you discover amazing places to stay for a night, e.g. a site overlooking a waterfall.
It is better to choose equipped sites for night stay, such as camping grounds, though we spent several nights just in the middle of a parking site or somewhere on the outskirts of the city. Before the journey, make sure you have a map of camping sites along your route. All campsites are fee-paying in Iceland, but we paid for two of 12 nights during our trip in May. We arrived to the camping site late at night, after 10 p.m., when a camping manager had already left his post. Next day, at 8 a.m. we were on our way to the next destination. We had a good excuse: there was nobody to pay to.
Such car was a good solution for cooking. We dined out several times, but local price tags stroke visitors with a number of zeros, so a cooking top in the camper turned out a great solution. We found large supermarkets with a good range of products in Reykjavik, however even potato isn’t cheap as fruits and vegetables are imported. Besides, if you make a good stock of meat and cereals you won’t starve during your trip. Frozen food and perishable products can be stored in a camper refrigerator.
Special mention should be made of drinking water. In Iceland water is “live” in all waterfalls and streams – it is glacial meltwater, and there is no need to buy bottled water. We purchased a pack of bottled water at the very beginning of our journey, but preferred to take water from springs.
Although Iceland is far away from Ukraine, the precise operation of the banking system was a pleasant surprise for us. You can pay literally everything with your credit card, be it a parking fee or an entrance ticket to a museum.
All stories you might have heard about Icelandic weather are true for 100%. Choose your clothes very carefully. Take hiking shoes or boots and don’t forget to protect your footwear with a special waterproofing spray. Don’t forget about thermal underwear. You may walk long distances to get some sights, and thermal exchange may be affected by sweating. You also need gloves and a hat. If you’re not going to conquer tops of volcanoes, no trekking poles will be required.
Here is a brief story about how to prepare for a trip to amazing and beautiful Iceland. Take your good mood and enjoy everything you’ll see!
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