Wherever you travel, you should allocate enough money for the trip before the journey. Pack your credit card, cash is always handy, don’t keep the money at one place. Clear, right? However, there are couple differences when you travel to Iceland. The most important one is to allocate your money at the very moment you decide for a trip. It’s one of the most expensive countries I’ve visited, better make sure you can afford it or for how long you can manage to travel around. The other difference, you don’t need cash at all. Seriously, you can pay by card everywhere. At the groceries store and gas station, for attractions and coffee. If you don’t collect foreign currency banknotes, you do not need to bother with changing money or looking for ATM. And finally, what should you consider as your budget for one week in Iceland? Let’s count together.

The first thing you have to count to your costs are flight tickets. Well, as long as you don’t want to travel by a boat 😉 You can find relatively cheap deals from Europe, mostly thanks to low cost airlines like Wizz Air. Prices are around 100 EUR year-long. This includes only cabin luggage, of course. When traveling to Iceland, I recommend buying checked baggage too. The weather on this island is unpredictable, you will welcome more clothes to put on during cold rainy days. If you plan any hikes, your hiking gear will need more space that just 10 kg restriction on hand luggage, as well as when you travel with your camera gear. We were group of three, we shared two checked bags and the final price was 228 EUR per person. We were flying in March with direct flight from Prague.

Accommodation will be one of the most costly items on your Iceland trip. Prices vary depending on the season of the year and location. We traveled in March and paid for accommodation 434 EUR per person. Altogether, it was price for sever nights in six various hostels and hotels with parking place, wifi and breakfast included. We booked our accommodation two months in advance and we couldn’t complain. Rooms were clean and staff was very nice at all of them. However, there are two hotels I would love to highlight, as they were exceptional 😊

Hotel Stundarfridur was our first accommodation. It was situated somewhere in the nature, just 10-minute drive from Stykkisholmur. It was brand new and we were the first guests to this wonderful place. There are only couple rooms on one floor, so far. Hopefully, in the future they will grow a bit. To learn more about this hotel, read my review at TripAdvisor.

4-star Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon is situated in the middle of nowhere too 😊 It was the most luxurious hotel we experienced during our stay in Iceland and it wasn’t the most expensive! If you’re heading to in the direction of Höfn to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, it is approx. 20-minute drive. To see some additional photos, view the pricing and availability, go to Booking.com.

I believe everyone coming to Iceland wants to rent a car and travel around the country. Therefore, it is important to choose car rental wisely. There are many of them in the country, all the companies are situated directly at the airport too. First, you should know what type of car you need, so it can carry the number of people and all your luggage. Afterward, you can start looking for such a car and compare prices of different car rental companies. We were looking for diesel car with bigger trunk. Another condition was the vehicle frame, so it could easily drive on a rough terrain. After a deep research we found the best deal in Lotus Car Rental. We rented Kia Sportage 4×4 (model 2017-18, automatic shift, diesel engine), with full insurance, for seven days and the final price was 760 EUR. That means approx. 254 EUR per person.

When renting a car, do not forget to check its fuel efficiency. Gas is pretty expensive in Iceland too. It was 206 ISK (1.65 EUR) per liter in the middle of March 2018. For your better imagination, let me mention some numbers from our trip. Altogether we drove 1850 km in 7 days. We had to fill the tank 2,5-times and we paid 11.330 ISK (90 EUR) for one full tank (55 l). For one week we spent on gas 225 EUR, meaning 75 EUR per person.

Very good news is that most of attractions in Iceland are for free. 😊 Observing geyser, waterfalls, glacier lagoons, black beaches, insta-famous plane wreck, all that is for free! From the Iceland’s natural attractions, we had to pay only for the well-known volcano crater, Kerid. It was very cheap for Icelandic prices, only 400 ISK (3.20 EUR). Of course, you pay for popular thermal baths. The basic package costs 54 EUR per person, but can get as high as 228 EUR. You also pay the entrance into the museums that you might visit in Reykjavik. For example, the admission fee to the Whale museum for adults is 2900 ISK (23 EUR per person).

The most expensive attractions are the glacier-related tours. The Ice Cave Tours start at approx. 19.990 ISK (163 EUR per person). This was the price we paid for the classic three-hour glacier adventure in Skaftafell. The tour is easy and includes walking on the glacier, inside the cave and beautiful views. If you want to learn more about our ice cave tour experience, read my blog on 8 Must-See Attractions in Iceland.

There are plenty other glacier tour possibilities, mostly in winter months. Their price depends whether it is a day-tour organized from Reykjavik, or it leaves from a designated place near the glacier. You can choose from Snowmobile Tour, Ice and Lava Tour, Glacier Lagoon Boat Tour, or even Heli Tour into the Glacier. Prices range from 19.500 ISK (156 EUR) to 189.400 ISK (1.515 EUR). If you decide for any of these adventures, I recommend comparing individual providers’ websites, prices can be slightly different. And one more tip, book in advance, otherwise tours can be sold out during your visit.

Food is quite expensive, mostly when you decide to eat at restaurants. We were clever enough to book accommodation with breakfast what saved us big deal. It depends on the hotel how rich the breakfast is. However, there was a coffee machine everywhere and you could prepare also tea to take away with you. (To not forget packing your thermos and other vitals, read my blog on What to Pack for your Iceland Trip in March). We also packed some snacks from home, just to make sure we’ll never get too hungry on our way. As traveling around Iceland is about the actual ‘traveling’, is it preferable to have something with you at all times. We stopped at groceries stores couple times too and bought something light for dinner (drinks, sandwiches, fruits and local sweets). We spent there approx. 7.000 ISK (55 EUR) in one week (18 EUR per person).

As for the coffee houses, bistros and restaurants, prices are as follows. One coffee is 555 ISK (4.40 EUR), piece of cake is 1.125 ISK (9 EUR), soup or smaller meal is 2.250 ISK (18 EUR). Dinner at Hard Rock Café Reykjavik costs up to 30 EUR per person. Well, I think this painted the picture for you 😊

Finally, there are some additional costs you need to take into consideration. They can be, for example, tolls. To shorten your journey from Reykjavik to the western and northern parts of the island, you need to take the Hvalfjörður Tunnel. It is a road tunnel that goes under the Hvalfjörður fjord in Iceland. One-way toll for small vehicles is 1.000 ISK (8 EUR). We used this tunnel twice and paid 5.30 EUR per person.

If you are a huge souvenir fan, you can expect to spend a lot of money in Iceland. They have a rich merchandise promoting their local jokes (“What part of Eyjafjallajökull don’t you understand?”), Vikings, sheep and favorite Puffins. For a cute Cuddly Lamb plush toy (36 cm) you will pay 4.200 ISK (34 EUR). Puffin ball-point pens cost around 2.300 ISK (18 EUR), magnets approx. 7 EUR, lava candle handle 1.990 ISK (16 EUR) and traditional Icelandic chocolate 450 ISK (3.60 EUR).

If you are a fan of outdoor clothes, you can shop at the 66° NORTH Iceland or Icewear, the local sportswear brands. You can find there high-quality sports clothes and accessories. However, prepare couple hundreds of euro for your purchase. 😊

When I count all the costs per person (in bold), I got the sum of 1.185 EUR. This includes flight tickets, accommodation, car rental & gas, attraction fees and tolls. Flight ticket was cheap, however, we paid for additional checked baggage. Accommodation wasn’t fancy, but it included private bath, breakfast and wifi. We didn’t visit Blue Lagoon, yet we booked three-hour long glacier adventure tour. That means, that you can decrease this price by lowering your demands and standards. Depending on your additional costs on food and gifts, you can fit in the budget of 1.500 EUR per person for one week in Iceland.

Love & happy travels,
RLT

P.S.: If you have any questions, different experience or suggestion, please share it in a comment below. 😉