Budgeting for a Trip to Iceland | How Much Did We Spend?
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Iceland is famously expensive. How much does it cost to vacation in Iceland?
Here is the breakdown of our spending on this 4-day Iceland trip for one adult and one child:
Table of Contents
Flights - $870
We chose Icelandair Economy Light class as we were going for just a few days and we had enough room in our carry-ons for everything we wanted to bring. The round trip flight cost was $345/person.
Since Economy Light does not come with seat selection, and I did not want to chance being separated from my daughter, I paid $70/person for Extra Legroom seats on the way there (definitely worth it!) and $20/person to select “regular” economy seats for the return flight. I am pretty sure we would have been seated together anyway but I did not want to worry about it.
Total $870.
Taxi To/From the Airport - $260
You can take a FlyBus to/from the airport to Reykjavik for a $50-65 round trip (depending on the drop-off location). Kids under 12 are free. However, their departure schedule did not work with our flight time. It would have made us arrive at the airport either too late or too early. Plus, I read a few unflattering reviews of the bus. I have decided to spend extra $$$ and book a $260 round trip with Hreyfill Taxi instead.
It worked out great: we had a driver meet us as soon as we cleared the immigration, and on the way back, the driver pulled up to our apartment right on time, 5.30 am as requested. I was happy not having to deal with luggage and switching the buses early in the morning, and it was worth it for me.
eSim - $10
To keep connected, I got an eSIM card from Airalo. I got a 5GB data plan for $10 ($13 less $3 coupon). We only used 2.25GB so I could have easily gotten a 3GB plan.
Use my referral code LARYSA252 to save on your order.
Apartment - $794
We stayed at Alfred’s Studios, balcony room. These are great little apartments: perfect location steps away from Laugavegur and the kitchenette made it easy to save money on dining out for every meal.
The total for 5 nights (we chose to pay for an extra night to be able to check-in early in the morning vs waiting till 2pm) was $794.
Binax-NOW COVID Tests - $150
I am sure if I have told my daughter she needed to have the “brain tickle” COVID test to get back to the US, she would have just stayed in Iceland. To avoid the more invasive test and to be able to get it done without leaving our apartment, I got this at-home COVID test from eMed.
There are six tests in the kit, so they are $25/test. Technically it cost us $50 to get tested, but for now the other four tests remain unused.
Day 1 - Arrival/Reykjavik - $168
Hallgrímskirkja Tower – $9. 1,000 ISK/adult (~$8), 100 ISK kids 7-16 (~$1).
Lunch: Baejarins Bestu Pylsur – $7. The famous Iceland hot dog & soda.
Dinner: 101 Reykjavik Street Food – $30. Seafood Soup and Fish & Chips.
Groceries – $50. We got some groceries at Bonus to save some money on our meals. For $50 we got: skyr (a must-try when in Iceland, we are addicted now), donuts, pizza bread, cold cuts, candy, 2 pre-made sandwiches, nectarines, blueberries, a few non-alcoholic beverages, and two hats that were on sale.
More groceries – $72. After trying skyr we got from Bonus and realizing how delicious it was, we went to another grocery store, 10-11, to get a variety of new flavors to try. Plus we got more blueberries (the best blueberries we’ve ever had), watermelon, bananas, energy drinks, and coffee (our apartment only had instant coffee which I am not a fan of), and a bunch of snacks for our South Shore trip (chips, pretzels, protein bars, etc).
Day 2 - Reykjavik - $202
Settlement Exhibition – $12. Kids are free.
Fly Over Iceland – $40. Family ticket (one adult & one child)
Lunch: Sea Barron – $25. Lunch special (Lobster Soup & Grilled Fish Skewer) and Potato Skewer.
Omnom Ice Cream – $13.
Strætó bus ticket – $4. We took a bus from our apartment to Perlan to save some time. Kids are free.
Perlan – $54.
Dinner: Cafe Loki – $54. Bagel with ham & cheese, mashed fish, rye bread ice cream, skyr pancake dessert, and a glass of white wine plus 10% tip.
Day 3 - South Shore, Blue Lagoon & Volcano - $333
Car rental – $165. Europcar rented via Expedia.
Gas – $70. Reykjavik -> South Shore (see our itinerary on the stops along the shore) -> Blue Lagoon -> Volcano -> Reykjavik.
Blue Lagoon – $61. Comfort package. Kids are free.
Slushee for the kiddo at Blue Lagoon – $6. One beverage is included with the admission, but, since kids 13 and under get free admission, we had to pay for it separately.
Seljalandsfoss parking – $8.
Volcano parking – $8.
Hreyfill taxi – $15. We returned the rental car a little after midnight and then took the taxi from the Europcar office back to our apartment.
Day 4 - Golden Circle Tour - $161
Brauð & Co. – $14. Three pastries and a coffee.
Golden Circle Tour with Gray Line – $55. Kids are free.
Gullfoss Cafe – $45. Fish & chips, ham & cheese sandwich, and lamb stew.
Souvenirs – $13. We got a magnet and a tiny Viking boat from one of the souvenir stores on Laugavegur.
Dinner: Baejarins Bestu Pylsur – $11. More hot dogs! So good! $11 for two hot dogs and a soda.
Groceries – $23. We got candy for the next day flight, yogurt parfait, juice, coffee for the next morning, and, of course, more… skyr.
Day 5 - Departure - $51
Duty-free – $19. I got six tiny bottles of Icelandic spirits and two water bottles at the store in the airport.
Food at the airport – $32. We grabbed two sandwiches to eat on the plane as there is no food served in the Economy class plus a smoothie and a cappuccino.
Grand Total - $2,999
It almost sounds like an advertisement: the total trip is less than $3,000, it is only $2,999! I didn’t realize it would total to this, but, unless my math is off, here it is – $2,999 for one adult and one child a 4-day epic trip.
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