Are you curious to know how much we spend for our 8 days 7 nights trip to Iceland? I'm going to breakdown each of our expenses while in Iceland and also any expenses related to Iceland. Below table is our spending on airfare, rental, food, fuel, misc expense, travel expense, parking and covid test. (cost is in US $)
| Description | Cost | Cost | credit | |
| Campervan | 1724.12 | | 260.87 | |
| Icelandair | 607.85 | | 2739 | |
| Fuel | 554.18 | | | |
| Food | 206.29 | 500 | | |
| Expense | 40 | | | |
| Parking | 13.51 | 76 | | |
| Camping | 194.51 | | | |
| Covid test | 150 | | | |
| Hot Springs | 185.32 | | | |
| 3675.78 | 576 | | |
| | | |
Iceland is EXPENSIVE !!! That's the answer you get when you research any Iceland trip. But it can be also affordable if you know how to save money during the trip and select the right season to go.
April travel - There is a reason why we choose April as the month to travel to Iceland. There is pros/cons about April travel. Most pros is cheaper rental fares and not extreme weather. There is also cons for traveling in April as not all camping location is open.
Comparing the cost from 2020 vs 2022, I think price has increased a lot from pre-pandemic. The rental cost is 40% more than my rate in 2020. The airfare probably not much increase, but I booked the trip a bit late, hence the rise in cost. Our airfare cost already paid for since 2020. We have a $2739 credit and I added another $607.85 for 5 passenger. I did upgrade the ticket from Economy Light to Economy Flex. Economy Flex allow no cost flight change and also include one check-in luggage. Economy Flex also allow airline refund incase airline cancel your flight and unable to accommodate.
Rental cost for campervan. We used a travel agent to help us with rental. I book my rental campervan through Campervan Iceland. They are a travel agency. They help us to book a campervan through CampEasy. They will required 15-20% deposit to secure your reservation. The remaining balance will be paid during campervan pickup at the rental agency. Original reservation, I only have the minimal insurance coverage purchase. I change my mind and I wanted full insurance coverage for my rental period. I paid the differences at the rental agency. Total rental cost is less than $2000.
My other spending include
- Parking - There is parking fee in a few attraction (golden circle & south iceland)
- Cell data - I purchased international plan for 5Gb of data and phone usage from t-mobile. This plan will covered my data use up to 10 days. If I reach my data usage, overuse data will be throttle.
- Relax at Hot Springs - $185 for 5 person entry cost at Vok Baths. That's with a 10% discount coupon code found at my campground.
- Fuel - Campervan is diesel, but it's $8.5 per gallon. April 2022 price. It's much more higher now.
Here is some tips for cost saving
1. Cooking instead of Dining - Buy Grocery and cook all meals. This is the most saving on a trip. We are camping, right? Why dine out when you have all the equipment to cook? We have brought some Dry food and can from US. One of the suitcase was half full, so we packed a lot of drinks (instant powder drink mix), can (SPAM) and food (instant noodles, rice, instant meal). We buy fresh fruit, bakery, milk, yogurt, bread in Iceland. We use Costco and Bonus supermarket. There is only one Costco in Iceland. We filled up with grocery/food before head out. Along the way, there will be a lot of Bonus supermarket. Our Grocery cost for 5 people in 8 days/7 nights is around $500. We do spur for some local food like hotdogs and Icelandic cuisine lunch experience.
2. Minimized guided tour - This is a self guided tour. Most guided tour cost a lot to sign up. Guided tour is needed for a lot of activities. For this trip, I keep it to none for cost saving. I do hope to signup guided tour of hiking ice caves and glacier in my future trip.
3. Camping instead of hotel/hostel/airbnb - Camping is probably the cheapest way. We spend about $200 in camping fee. Most campground only charged us 2 adult and camping fee range 2000-3000kr per person. A typical accommodation will cost $100+ and we have 5 person in our group. I might not able to accommodate 5 person in one hostel/hotel room. AirBnB also have higher cost. Most of my reason for camping is the freedom. I don't need to stick with schedule. I pull in the campground without reservation.
4. Covid test - For now, the return requirement to US required negative covid test. You have 2 option. Test in Iceland or BYOK (bring your own kit). I did BYOK. I purchased 5 test kit from US $9.99 each and purchase video proctor $20 for travel compliant. If I purchase test in Iceland, it would cost us $53 per person. BYOK is $23 dollar cheaper and saving for 5 person is $100+. Test kit is getting cheaper now. So, this pricing only valid during my travel. As covid requirement continue to change, I cannot provide future info. I hope the testing requirement will be relax in future, so this expanse is not required. This requirement is no longer needed after CDC announcement to remove the requirement for covid test after 12:01am 06/12/2022
5. Book you travel early. The cost will be lower for airfare & rental. Use many online resource to find the cheapest cost. There are a few airline fly to iceland. There are many rental company renting campervan or RV.
6. Mention above, travel during low season. Any off-season trip will be at least 50% off from high-season trip. High season start from June to end of August.
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