Getting around Iceland

Renting a car

Small 2WD from about ISK 8597 a day off-season, ISK 15967 in July. For the Ring Road year-round, a small 4x4 like a Dacia Duster or Suzuki Vitara (ISK 11054-ISK 22108) is safer in winter. For F-roads (Highlands, June-Sept only), you need a proper 4x4 by law. Automatic transmission adds roughly ISK 1500-ISK 2500 a day over manual, and in high summer the automatics sell out first, so book six to eight weeks ahead if you need one.

Book direct with local firms — Blue Car Rental, Go Car Rental, Lava Car Rental — rather than aggregators. Take gravel and sand-wind insurance (ISK 1842/day); rocks are the number one damage cause. Fuel is around ISK 983 a gallon. Most companies require a minimum age of 20 for 2WD and 23 for 4x4, and a credit card hold of ISK 200000-ISK 400000 is standard at pickup, released after a return inspection with no new chips.

Driving realities

Route 1 is 1,332km, mostly two-lane, and paved. Speed limit is 90 km/h on paved rural roads, 50 in towns. Speed cameras are common and fines start at ISK 22108. Do not stop in the middle of the road for photos — people die doing this. Single-lane bridges are frequent on Route 1, especially east of Vik; the car already on the bridge has the right of way, and headlights should be dipped as you approach at night.

Check road.is and vedur.is every morning in winter. Yellow flags on the map mean impassable. Do not drive on F-roads without a 4x4 — insurance is void and rescue is ISK 245640+. Reykjavik to Akureyri is about 389km and five hours in good conditions; Reykjavik to Vik is 187km, roughly two and a half hours; the full loop to Egilsstadir in the east runs close to 650km one way, so plan a minimum of seven to ten days for the Ring Road, not the four some tour ads suggest.

Buses and flights

Straeto (straeto.is) runs the Reykjavik city network (ISK 491 a ride) and some longer routes. It is slow — Reykjavik to Vik takes 3.5 hours. Reykjavik Excursions and Sterna do summer scheduled routes on the Ring Road but they are expensive, and both cut back to a skeleton winter timetable with gaps of two or three days between departures on the quieter Westfjords and east coast legs.

Icelandair operates domestic flights from Reykjavik to Akureyri, Egilsstadir and Isafjordur from about ISK 13510. These save a full day of driving in winter. Norlandair covers smaller routes, including Reykjavik to the Westman Islands and to Bíldudalur in the Westfjords, useful when Herjólfur ferry sailings or mountain passes are cancelled by weather. Domestic flights leave from Reykjavik Airport in the city centre, not Keflavik, so budget a taxi or Flybus transfer between the two if you are connecting from an international arrival.

In Reykjavik

The city centre is walkable — 20 minutes end to end. Straeto buses cover the wider area with a ISK 491 flat fare (exact change or the Klappid app). Taxis are expensive: ISK 1842 minimum, no Uber. Hopp scooters (ISK 123 unlock, ISK 37/min) are useful in summer. Most downtown hotels, including Center Hotels Plaza, CenterHotel Klopp and the Hotel Reykjavik Grand, sit within a ten-minute walk of the main Laugavegur and Hverfisgata bus stops, so a car is dead weight for a city-only stay.

The Flybus from Keflavik airport to BSI terminal is ISK 4176, or ISK 5527 to your hotel door. The drive from Keflavik takes about 45 minutes; a private taxi runs closer to ISK 20000-ISK 25000 for the same trip and only makes sense for groups of four or more splitting the fare. If you are hiring a car for the whole trip, most agencies will meet you at the airport, so skip the Flybus entirely and collect the car on arrival.

Camper vans and motorhomes

Kuku Campers, Happy Campers and CampEasy all rent small camper vans from around ISK 15000-ISK 25000 a night in shoulder season, doubling in July and August. They suit travellers doing a slow Ring Road loop who want to skip nightly hotel bookings and use Iceland's network of campsites (roughly ISK 1800-ISK 2500 per adult per night), most of which run only from May to September. Larger 4x4 campervans exist for Highland routes but are heavier on fuel and awkward on F-road river crossings.

The catch is winter: unheated static camping is miserable from October to April and many campsites close entirely, so vans are really a summer tool. Pick a van with a diesel heater if travelling in the shoulder months of May or September. For a comparable budget, a small 4x4 rental plus guesthouse rooms is often more comfortable and barely costs more once fuel for a heavier van is factored in.

Ferries

The Herjólfur ferry runs from Landeyjahöfn (or Þorlákshöfn in bad weather, adding an hour) to the Westman Islands, a 35-40 minute crossing several times daily in summer, dropping to two or three sailings a day off-season. Booking ahead in July is worth it for cars; foot passengers can usually walk on. In the west, the Baldur ferry links Stykkishólmur on Snaefellsnes to Brjánslækur in the Westfjords via Flatey island, a useful shortcut of two and a half hours that avoids a five-hour detour around Breidafjordur by road.

Both ferries carry vehicles, so they fold into a Ring Road or Westfjords itinerary rather than replacing driving. Sailings are cut without much notice in high wind, so build a spare day into any schedule that depends on one, particularly the Landeyjahöfn crossing in autumn and winter.

Cycling and hitchhiking

Touring cyclists do ride the Ring Road, but headwinds, narrow shoulders and single-lane bridges make it a serious undertaking rather than a scenic option; most experienced cyclists budget three to four weeks and avoid the September-to-May window entirely. Hitchhiking is still practised and generally safe by reputation, but traffic thins fast outside the southwest, and waits of several hours are normal on the east coast and in the Westfjords.

Neither is a realistic way to see the country on a fixed schedule. If budget is the driving concern rather than time, a small 2WD split between two or three people usually costs less per day than the food and lodging saved by not renting one, once slow progress and weather delays are counted.