Road Trip Advice For Iceland
When visiting Iceland, many people plan a driving trip around the country. It is the best way, as well as often the only way, to see many of Iceland’s best sights. I’ve included here some of the tips that I found helpful on my recent trip to Iceland.
Consider these two planning resources.
Purchase a guidebook to help you as the guidebook puts all the important bits and pieces of Iceland information into one easily accessible place (I prefer Lonely Planet).
Check out https://www.inspiredbyiceland.com/ for a good overall visitor’s guide to Iceland. It has a good section on driving in Iceland along with other websites to visit regarding such information as weather conditions.
Use http://www.road.is for relatively up to date road conditions with helpful webcams.
Iceland Tips.
1. You can easily see Þingvellir National Park, Geysir, and Gullfoss on the Golden Circle during one day of driving.
2. Rent your car at the Reykjavik airport. You can grab a free shuttle from the airport to your car rental company. Honestly, if you don’t have many bags or people with you, you can walk from the airport to most of them. Either way, the rental car agencies are not far from the airport.
Iceland Driving Advice.
Remember you drive on the right side of the road in Iceland (just as in the US, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland, and many other countries.)
You can use your American driver’s license to drive in Iceland. Also, Canadian and countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) driver’s licenses are alright to use for driving in Iceland. Other licenses are alright to use as long as on the license itself it includes: license number, holder’s photograph, valid date, and is printed in Latin characters All others will need to get an International Driver’s License to drive in Iceland. Also note: the minimum age to drive in Iceland is 20 and you must have held a full (not restricted) license for at least one year.
Iceland car rentals require a valid driver’s license, a passport, and a credit card.
Do NOT drink and drive. Iceland takes drinking and driving very seriously. The blood alcohol test level is low at .05%. The penalties for DUI/DWI are stiff. The base fine for a first offense is about 70,000 Kronur or $625.00.
Always have your headlights on. It’s the law in Iceland due to long low light summer days or the short dark winter days and during the spring or fall when the sun sits low in the sky the sunlight can be blinding to a driver. Also, the law says you must use seat belts.
Don’t drive while using your cell phone unless you have a hands-free system. Iceland is strict about this. The base fine for it is about 5000 Kronur or $45.00.
Note that, unlike in the U.S., turning right on a red light is illegal.
I found that driving in Iceland got a lot easier the further away from Reykjavik I went.
There are two big concerns with driving in Iceland. First, be aware of the need to keep your eyes ON the road. Iceland has an incredible scenery. Thus, it can be extremely distracting. Too, remember not all the other drivers will be keeping their eyes on the road. This makes it even more imperative that you drive defensively and be aware of all the cars around you. Second, once you get outside of Reykjavik you will most likely not see many police looking for speeders. However, you will most certainly run across speed cameras. If you’re going too fast in front of the cameras, then you will get a ticket. Nobody wants a souvenir like that. You will see a small sign with a camera on it shortly before each speed camera zone. I saw most of these cameras located near populated areas, but it is definitely a good idea to avoid speeding everywhere just to be safe. The speed limits in Iceland are: 50 km/h or 31 mph in urban areas; 80 km/h or 50 mph on gravel roads; and 90 km/h or 56 mph on paved hard surface roads. Also, unlike in the U.S., while there may be special warning signs indicating problems ahead like sharp bends, there is usually no separate road sign to tell you to reduce your speed. Beware of the sharp turns.
Some countryside bridges are single lane bridges. Be very careful when approaching and crossing these bridges.
Some roads will force you to transition from pavement to gravel as you get further from Reykjavik and the Ring Road that goes around most of the country. Be aware that some car rental companies will count any gravel damage against you if you do not have the insurance. It’s best to make the transition to these gravel roads slowly or you might lose traction on the gravel road. Most highland roads in Iceland’s interior are very narrow gravel roads which are not made to handle any kind of speed travel at all.
It is not necessary to rent a car rated for the F roads unless you plan on driving on one of the F roads. However, you might want to have the peace of mind that comes with having a raised SUV that can handle the worst road conditions that you might encounter. I was thankful that I had a F road rated vehicle when I almost got stuck in the West Fjords area outside of Drangsnes. However, you absolutely do not need all wheel drive or 4 x 4 vehicles if you only plan on driving in the capital or staying on Iceland’s Ring Road.
Driving off road is illegal. Do not do it!
The wind in Iceland is no joke. Be careful opening and closing your car doors on windy days. Some days it was downright impossible to open my car door into the wind.
If you see sheep, slow down. Watch for them to cross the road in front of you.
Fuel in Iceland is extremely expensive. Be sure to budget extra money for it. The only ways that I can think of to avoid this money drain are to stay in the capital or take a tour instead of driving yourself. Remember to fuel up the car whenever possible. Think ahead about putting fuel into your car. If you are going out into the countryside, check ahead to find where is the next gas station. You want to be enjoying the scenery, not worrying about whether you can find a gas station. Be aware, even on the Ring Road, there are some long stretches where there are no gas stations.
I only came across one toll in Iceland. That toll was to use a tunnel on my way to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. You can avoid this toll, but driving around this tunnel will add a considerable amount of time and fuel cost to your drive. It’s honestly better to just pay the toll, especially if you’re in a time crunch.
Iceland’s weather can be unpredictable. Check the forecast when you can to keep up to date about weather conditions where you are headed.
112 is the Icelandic version of 911 in the United States.
Money Savers for Car Rentals
Book your car rental for Iceland as far in advance as you can. The earlier, the better rate you will obtain and the more options you will have to choose from. Book a car with unlimited mileage.
Be sure to rent your vehicle before you get to Iceland to ensure you get the size and type of car for your needs.
Create a Rakuten account. Many travel arrangements can be made with Rakuten turned on which means you will eventually get a small percentage of what you spent back in a rebate. If you use the hyperlink that I provided and make a purchase of $25 or more with a new account, I will get a few dollars and you will too. I’ll be able to use the money from Rakuten to help pay for the costs of this website. You can use the money that Rakuten will pay you to help cover that first tank of fuel while on your Icelandic road trip.
Create an Expedia or Travelocity account and book through them - with Rakuten turned on - to get a low price and a % back.
Check out https://www.rentalcars.com/en/ and https://www.autoeurope.com/ These two websites often have the best car rental prices you can find.
You should explore if you can combine your car rental with your flight purchase to save more money by buying as a bundle and get a % back on the deal.
Pay for the rental car insurance. Iceland’s roads are often rough and things happen. Gravel roads often mean dirt, debris, and gravel are kicked up and hit the vehicle. Consider maybe even paying the fee so you can return the vehicle without a full tank (recommended if you are returning your rental vehicle the same day as your flight.)
The following link is an Amazon affiliate link.
Lonely Planet’s guidebook to Iceland: https://amzn.to/2yG9mMq