Iceland Trip Costs

Iceland is expensive so when you plan to visit here it is important to look at how to cut costs. This article outlines what drives these costs, how they change and what you can do to limit them.

What determines the cost of your trip to Iceland

The biggest factors to consider when you are planning your trip to Iceland are usually flights, accommodation and car rental. And the amount of these costs mostly depends on the month you choose for your visit. All over the world you pay much more in high season than in low season, however, in Iceland the difference can be especially striking.

The prices of nearly everything are lowest from November to April and highest in July and August. The difference between winter and summer months in, for instance, the prices of rental cars can be as much as three times! Given the fact that hiring a car is a big cost component anyway, having to pay triple is really huge. May and June (also September and October) are somewhere in between. You’ll see specific examples below.

Obviously, one needs to add food and admissions fees to various tourist attractions. These costs vary depending on your preferences and overall approach to the trip. But below we give you an overview of these costs and some recommendations as to what to skip and which places are worth the price.

Remember that as much as everything is cheaper out of season, not everything is available. Many campsites, B&Bs or restaurants only operate from spring to autumn. Nearly all mountain roads, and therefore the whole interior, are only open and available from late June till early September (Read more: Major roads in Iceland). And ice caves operate exclusively in winter. So as you see, the timing of your trip is key not only from the point of view of your expenses but also your itinerary.

Limiting the cost of an Iceland trip

Iceland is an expensive destination and it’s not uncommon to think about limiting the trip costs. Of course a short trip will be less expensive than a long one, but then in a per-day view, it will likely be the most expensive one.

So what can you do to visit Iceland and enjoy it, but don’t spend a fortune?

Even before you read the whole article, you can easily assume that the cheapest way to travel around Iceland is by bicycle or on foot. Then you don’t need to rent a car and buy insurance or gas. Moreover, while cycling and hiking through Iceland you can camp almost anywhere, so your cost of accommodation goes down to nearly zero (nearly, because it makes sense to spend the night at a proper campsite every few days).

But a cycling or walking trip is not for everyone. It requires solid preparations, really good gear, and if you want to see the whole of Iceland, your stay will have to be much longer. Iceland is a wonderland for hiking and biking enthusiasts and as costs of this kind of a trip don’t change too much between seasons, it is absolutely worth planning it for the summer months.

However, for most tourists the best and most convenient way to see Iceland will be be car. The most important rules to follow while organizing your trip and keep the costs low are as follows:

The cost of accommodation and car rental in Iceland

Choosing a car and places to stay are interlinked because Iceland offers a very interesting option of campervans + campsites. When you hire a campervan, you pay more than for a regular car but you save on accommodation. Often the total cost is very similar. But with a campervan comes a lot of flexibility: you don’t need to book campsites in advance so you can change your itinerary depending on the weather or yhow your group feels.

Camping with a tent is obviously the cheapest option. However, in April and May it can be a real challenge. And many campsites are still closed in April. Temperatures at nights go down to 10 ºC / 50 ºF or less even in the summer months. So sleeping in a tent may be a good idea from June to August. But even then very strong, cold winds are the norm, so sleeping in a tent, unpacking and packing up your stuff can prove tough.

Campervans are naturally more pricey than your own tent but even a big motorhome costs roughly the same per person as staying in hostels. A campervan is less comfy than a B&B or hostel but it gives you incomparably more freedom and flexibility.

In practice, a big advantage of hiring a campervan is that you can make tea or snacks in it throughout the day with no extra cost. In a country where a hot dog at a gas station sets you back 4-5 euro, these snacks and lunches can add up to a surprisingly large amount…

The table below illustrates prices of car rental and accommodation in May (for 7 days). For more comparisons (like car rental prices in other months) go here What kind of car to hire in Iceland.

Of course, as you can see, the cheapest option is to go in a group of 4 people, hire a rather small car with no 4×4 function and sleep in a tent. This way the cost of your trip (excluding plane tickets, food and additional attractions) can be much lower than 250 eur per person. Other options take it up to about 500 eur per person.

As we said before, the price of car rental changes significantly between different months. Fore more comparisons and detailed tables as well as tips concerning what is worth vs. not worth doing read this article What kind of car to hire in Iceland. Below, we only show a couple of examples from that article.

As you can see, altough the change in price between April and June is huge, the summer prices are still significantly higher.

In July both campervans and motorhomes are twice as expensive as in April. But when you compare their prices to the cost of hiring a regular passenger car do not forget to take into account the cost of accommodation. If you don’t want to sleep in a tent the costs of accommodation will eat big part (if not all) of the price difference between these types of vehicles.

Naturally, costs per person are to a large degree determined by the number of people traveling in the car. Campervan Renault Master with 4 people (and not 5 as calculated above) will be pricier per person than the luxury and spacious 6-person motorhome divided by 6.

Similarly, Toyota Aygo will clearly be the cheapest per person as long as it travels with 4 persons. However, you need to remember that having 4 people in a car this small means you need to have very little baggage. In practice, it is more of a 2-person car.

Interestingly, large, passenger vans do not cost less than regular cars. They become competitive per person compared to 4-person cars only when you divide the price into 9 people. But 9 people means 9 sets of baggage, which can be difficult to fit even in a big trunk of a van, especially if you take tents and camping gear.

Prices of flights to Iceland

Flight prices will depend so much on where are you flying from, that we can’t really discuss it here.

So let us just remind you that in low season one can buy plane tickets for half (or less) of the high season price.

Generally t is crucial to be flexible about flight dates because sometimes changing the departure or arrival date by a single day can save you hundreds of euros (or dollars)!

Low prices calendar

You can also take a ferry to Iceland and bring your own car with you. On long trips (about a month-long and longer) this could be an appealing alternative, if you can get to Denmark easily. The basic cost for 5 people and one regular passenger car with couchettes/bunk beds and no meals included is about 2700 EUR, about 550 EUR per person. This only route is operated by Smyril Line from the Danish port of Hirtshals.

The cost of food in Iceland

If you cook for yourself and shop in supermarkets the costs of food should be about the same for you, as anywhere else in Europe.

12-13 EUR per person per day is a good estimate, although one can spend way more or a little bit less.

If you choose to eat out however, paying less than 25 euro / $30 per person will be a challenge.

A gas station hot dog

Read more in these articles Grocery Shopping in Iceland: Prices and Store Opening Hours and Iceland for Foodies – What’s Worth Trying and Where.

The cost of tourist attractions in Iceland

We presented a rather extensive list of top attractions with their prices and links to booking sites in the article Prices in Iceland: how much does food, fuel, attractions cost.

You visit most attractions on our own – for free and without a guide. Paid parking or admission to smaller attractions is a small cost – a total of $50 at most for the entire trip per person.

And a trip to Iceland is full of excitement even if you choose not to buy any of the guided trips, but still: some of them are really worth the price.

Below we present a list of attractions you should really include in your itinerary and a list of extras that you might go for, but they’re not really essential to understanding Iceland.

Basic attractions

Basic attractions, the kind without which a trip to Iceland would be incomplete, are:

Unfortunately, the total cost of all these attractions is at least $500 per person (as of 2023). Each of these attractions is really worth the price, but if you must cut costs, see only the free lava cave (Surtshellir), skip the Blue Lagoon (instead, visit one of the free hot springs) and possibly skip a visit to Perlan. The two most interesting and unique attractions – the ice cave tour and the whale watching cruise – are about $300/person in total, and while that’s still a lot, it’s really worth finding the money for.

Additional attractions

If you want to use paid tours, the offer is extremely wide and you can actually spend as much as you want.

Here are just a few popular extras: