Keflavík Airport (KEF) is Iceland’s largest airport and the country’s main transportation hub.
Most international travel to and from Iceland passes through Keflavik Airport (also called Reykjavik-Keflavik). The airport handles flights to and from major cities in Europe, North America and South America. It is here, rather than at the tiny city airport of Reykjavik, that most passenger aircraft land. The airport has two active runways that are 3,000 meters long and 61 meters wide. They are large enough to handle even a NASA space shuttle or an Antonov An-225.
Most tourists start their visit to Iceland with a tour of Reykjavik. However, this is not a necessity and usually not optimal. Understandably we want to get over the jet lag and get accustomed to local weather etc, but you’ll actually be better off leaving the capital for the end of your trip.
Reykjavik is not the reason you visit Iceland, so it is better to leave it as a “safety buffer” at the end of the trip. If for some reason you’ll be in a bit of a hurry to the airport on the last day, it’s certainly better to shorten the Reykjavik tour to, say, 2 hours (or skip it altogether) than to miss a trip to a volcano, waterfall, cave or even a hot spring…
If you need to save some time it’s best you save it on Reykjanes and Reykjavik, then anything else that would otherwise make up your last day plans.
Also: a lot of flights arrive to Iceland at night or so late in the evening, that you won’t see much on that day anyway. Or so early in the morning, that it’d be a waste to spend the whole day just sightseeing Reykjavik.
If you arrive early, do consider picking up your car right at the airport and starting your self drive immediately.
If you arrive late, perhaps take a bus to Blue Lagoon and go to Reykjavik from there, after you’ve rested in the hot pools enough. And don’t worry about your travel luggage – there’s special storage boxes for that at the Blue Lagoon parking lot. Book your Keflavik-BlueLagoon-Reykjavik transfer here: Keflavík Airport – Blue Lagoon, Comfort Admission & Transfer.
And if you’re arriving at night, or after a very tiring flight, don’t put another hour (or two, in reality) between you and the bed. Stay at Keflavik and leave the driving for the following day. Iceland will wait 🙂
Here are some suggestions for attractive accommodations near Keflavik Airport:
Exit
Later in the article we describe in more detail the various options for getting from the airport to your accommodation or hotel in Reykjavik (and back), but if you don’t rent a car at the airport, the most convenient – and often the cheapest – transportation is the shuttle buses:
In the rest of the article you will find detailed information about the advantages and disadvantages of each mode of transportation.
| Getting from Keflavik to Reykjavik: Total costs | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| type of transport | remarks | 1 person | 2 persons | 4 persons | 5 persons | 6 persons | 8 persons |
| rental car | usually a fixed surcharge of ca. $15 | $15 | $15 | $15 | $15 | $15 | $15 |
| shuttle bus | $36.50 pp (w. hotel drop-off) | $73.00 | $109.50 | $146.00 | $182.50 | $219.00 | $255.50 |
| taxi | fixed fare for a party of 4 or 8 | $120 | $120 | $120 | $155 | $155 | $155 |
| city bus 55 | 1920 ISK pp | $13.70 | $27.40 | $54.80 | $68.60 | $89.90 | $110.70 |
| Getting from Keflavik to Reykjavik: Cost per person | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| transport | remarks | 1 pax | 2 pax | 4 pax | 5 pax | 6 pax | 8 pax |
| rental car | usually a fixed surcharge of ca. $15 | $15 | $7 | $3.50 | $3 | $2.50 | under $2 |
| shuttle bus | $36.50 pp (w. hotel drop-off) | $36.50 | $36.50 | $36.50 | $36.50 | $36.50 | $36.50 |
| taxi | fixed fare for a party of 4 or 8 | $120 | $60 | $30 | $31 | $25.80 | $19.50 |
| city bus 55 | 1920 ISK pp | $13.70 | $13.70 | $13.70 | $13.70 | $13.70 | $13.70 |
As you can see, the cost of travel for a single person strongly depends on the size of the group in which you are traveling. Picking up your rental car at the airport will always be the least expensive option (if you are renting a car). City bus is slow and not too convenient, but certainly inexpensive. And taxi is your best choice if you’re travelling in a party of 4 or more, while the shuttle buses are best if you’re travelling alone or in a group of 2 or 3.
Although the airport is sometimes referred to as Reykjavik-Keflavik (or simply Reykjavik, or Reykjavik International), it is about 50 kilometers from the Icelandic capital. Iceland lacks railroads, so the journey to Reykjavik must be made by road.
Virtually all car rental companies allow you to pick up and drop off your car directly at Keflavik Airport. This often involves an additional fee, but it is usually not high. In practice, even if you need to rent a car for 1 day more just to get it to/from Reykjavik, it may still be worth it. Considering the prices of bus or cab rides (see below), renting a car right at the airport is a very attractive option, especially if you don’t intend to spend more than one day in Reykjavik (and it’s not likely to be worth it).
One certain exception to this is campers. Here, the usual fee for picking up and returning a car at the airport is slightly higher. However, compared to the price of a cab or bus ride (see below), also the cost of picking up or returning an RV at the airport is not exorbitant. In addition, by renting an RV right at the airport, both the first and last night will be spent at a campground (in Reykjavik, Keflavik or, for example, in nearby Grindavik), so in a way you save on a guesthouse or hotel.
If you arrive in Iceland late at night, it may be better to spend the first night in one of the guesthouses or hotels in the nearby town of Keflavik. You can pick up your car in the morning and only then set off to “conquer” the island. A beer in a pub in Reykjavik costs about 40 zlotys, so there is no need to set yourself up for an “evening on the town”.
A cab is, of course, the fastest and most convenient way to make this trip. The trip takes about 45 minutes, and the cab picks you up as soon as you leave the terminal and right at the door of your hotel, guesthouse or hostel.
This is often considered the most expensive way of getting to Reykjavik, and if you just catch one at the airport, it very well may be expensive. But you can pre-order your cab and then for a party of 4 or more, this is actually a very inexpensive transfer to the city.
Cabs can be ordered by phone or also through their dedicated apps (moderately convenient). Uber, on the other hand, does not work in Iceland.
See one of the companies operating at Keflavik airport here: Taxi Reykjavik. 2023 prices: 16.500 ISK for 1-4 pax ride, 21.500 ISK for 5-8 pax.
Perhaps the most popular way to get from Keflavik Airport to downtown Reykjavik is by shuttle bus. It is a comfortable, reasonably inexpensive option (especially for single travelers), quite comfortable and safe. However, it is not without its drawbacks.
Shuttle services are organized by two main companies: Fly Bus and Airport Direct.
Large tourist coaches depart from the Keflavik terminal at times synchronized with airplane arrivals and the number of tickets purchased. Together with the wait for departure, the trip takes about an hour (the ride itself is about 45 minutes). The coaches are comfortable, the drivers helpful, and there is wifi on board :-).
Fly Bus coaches go to the main suburban bus station: the BSI, and from there they offer travel further (within the city center) on smaller buses, vans or cars (for a surcharge).
Airport Direct works similarly, but the transfer point here is the parking lot in front of the Bus Hostel. If you are looking for economy accommodation in Reykjavik then the combination of this hostel and the bus line will be perfect for you. The hostel itself is about a 10-minute walk east of BSI.
The price of a one-way bus ride between Keflavik Airport and downtown Reykjavik is $29 per person or $36.50 if you want to be dropped off at your hotel. For individual travellers, this is certainly the best offer.
Naturally, you can also do it the other way round: take a bus from Reykjavik to Blue Lagoon, and then from there directly to the airport. Or take a simple Reykjavik – Blue Lagoon – Reykjavik option.
The ride offers pick-up and drop-off at any hotel in Reykjavik and together with Blue Lagoon admission it costs $155 per person.
Check availability and buy your tickets here: Keflavík Airport – Blue Lagoon, Comfort Admission & Transfer.
City bus at Keflavik Airport – line 55.
source: straeto.is
Such a ride costs 1920 ISK (ca. 13.50$) per person and takes about 1:15 h. Young people aged 12-17 pay 672 ISK (under $5), children aged 6-11 pay 292 ISK (ca. $2), and children under 6 ride for free. Currently the main way of paying for your ticket is via special app – Klapp. For now however, you can still pay for your ticket with the bus driver, upon entry. Be aware, however, that if you want to pay in cash, the driver might not give you change (it’s better to pay by card, as for everything in Iceland).
Unfortunately, city buses do not adjust their schedules to the arrival times, and this route is only served by Line 55, which has few runs during the day (see the schedule at link above). Line 55 goes from Keflavik Airport to BSI bus station.
The bus ride certainly takes the longest, but is also by far the cheapest option. If you’re arriving after 10pm (so you’ll probably miss the 10:55pm bus) or departing very early in the morning (so a bus arriving at the airport at 7:38am is too late), and you don’t want to pay for more expensive forms of transportation, book accommodation in Keflavik, preferably at the Aurora Hotel as the town itself is a good few miles away from the airport.
The latest schedules are always available on straeto.is (although the site is not the easiest to navigate) and via the straeto mobile app (Google Play Store; Apple App Store).
Here’s Straeto’s official website dedicated to getting from the airport to the city center: straeto.is.
The first airport in Keflavík was built by the US military during World War II. It consisted of two separate, two-lane airfields, built simultaneously, located about 4 km apart. These were Patterson Airport (opened in 1942) and Meeks Airport (opened March 23, 1943). During World War II, the airport was used only for military operations, but at the end of the war it became a refueling stop for international civil aviation crossing the Atlantic. After the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the base, it was handed over to the Icelandic government, which renamed it Keflavík Airport.
A new civilian terminal was opened in 1987. It was named after Leif Erikson, a Viking with Norwegian-Icelandic roots, who was the first European to arrive in North America. Over the following years, the terminal was successively expanded.
Today, Keflavík Airport is equipped with 25 check-in counters, three baggage claim lanes, 14 gates and many stores and restaurants. It also has cargo facilities and a parking lot with 1,150 long-term and 365 short-term spaces. Naturally, a number of car rental companies are also represented at the airport.
A remnant of NATO’s presence in the area (Iceland has no armed forces of its own) is the Rockville radar station, about 5 km north of the airport.
A plane from Reykjavik arriving at Husavik Airport
However, there is also a second airport called Reykjavik. Be careful not to confuse the two places.
Reykjavik Airport (IATA: RKV; isl. Reykjavíkurflugvöllur) is a small airport almost in the center of Reykjavik. It primarily serves domestic flights to smaller airports in Iceland. So you can fly from here, for example, to Akureyri, Husavik or the far-off Grimsey in the north, Hofn (Hornafjordur) and Haimaey in the south, Egilsstadir and Vopnafjordur in the east, or Gjogur and Isafjordur in the Western Fjords.
However, it is not stricte a domestic airport (although it is also sometimes referred to as such – Reykjavik Domestic Airport), as you can also fly from here to Greenland and the Faroe Islands too.
Cruise flights from Reykjavik Airport (map)
The airlines flying from Reykjavik City Airport are primarily small local airlines.
You can simply walk to this local airport (it’s about 1 km from Hallgrimskirkja Church), take a cab (no more than 5 km from almost any point in the city) or take a bus. City line 15 stops about 300 m from the airport terminal – stop Reykjavíkurflugvöllur.
