Iceland Travel Costs (in 2003)

Iceland is expensive, but not impossibly so. If you're prepared to camp, to use buses and/or hitching to get around, and to cook all your food, you could spend a fair bit less than we did. On the other hand, if you stay in hotels, go on organised tours, and fly around, you could spend a lot more.

We managed to get return flights London to Reykjavik for 180 pounds, with IcelandAir.

Dividing shared costs by two or three as appropriate, in 14 days in Iceland I spent ISK 108,000 (ISK 88 = 1 euro; ISK 77 = US$1, ISK 52 = AU$1). The breakdown of that was:

Transport - ISK 43,500

This included my share of car hire (half of 57,900 for ten days) and petrol, and public transport Keflavik<->Reykjavik (flybus), Reykjavik<->Heimaey (bus and ferry), and Thórsmörk->Skógar (two buses).

Food - ISK 32,000

This included about 20,000 on prepared food of one kind or another (cooked meals, coffees, hot dogs, etc.) and 12,000 on food from supermarkets (fruit, milk, tinned tuna, etc.).

Accommodation - ISK 18,000

We spent five nights in Reykjavik in Anna's spare bed, three nights camping (one free, 2x600), one night in a hut (1300), and six nights in hotels or guesthouses (2x1800, 2400, 3450, 3500, 2350). All the latter came with linen - two had cheaper sleeping-bag options.

Other

I spent about 3,500 on maps (and Camilla spent a similar amount on bird information). I spent 1,000 on Internet access and another 1,000 having photos burnt to CD. And I bought 5,000 worth of Icelandic books at the end of the trip.