Reykjavik is the capital of one of the most beautiful countries in the world and is the gateway to explore one of the places that have more natural beauty per square kilometre: Iceland. Visiting Reykjavik is part of any trip to Iceland, but you should not spend more than one day in the city, unless you want to use the city as a “base camp” and go on tours. But, this last option will make the trip much more expensive because the tours in Iceland are around € 150 to € 200/day. Ideally fly to Reykjavik, rent a car there and then explore the country on your own.
General tips
– Book earlier a hostel using the internet because you will save money and assure you a place to sleep. In summer, hostels are fully booked months before;
– Try travelling outside the months of July and August because the prices of accommodation and car rental drop to less than half;
– Search for a hostel that offers kitchen (like Reykjavik City Hostel) as this will save you a lot of money on meals;
– Use recyclable bottles and fill tap water every day in the morning. The water of Iceland has excellent quality. It is only a sustainable behaviour;
– If you have student card, Youth card, HI Hosteling card or a teacher card take it with you. That will give you discounts on hostels and some local attractions.
– Camping is the most economical way for travelling in Iceland.
– Choose well the places where you will have lunch. Give preference to street food, like hot-dogs, pizzas, soups and sandwiches. They are cheap and allow you to eat fast to enjoy your day.
Transportation
How to go: We flew from London to Reykjavik with WOW. It’s a low cost flight so the trip was very affordable. In two return flights (because later we went to Greenland), we spenp € 100/person (additional luggage included). Carry-on baggage may be sufficient for a getaway of 10 days but for those who, like us, go camping, do trek and then travel to Greenland, it was not enough. Thus, the flight was a bit more expensive because it is here included the money for extra baggage.
Access to the airport: There are two airports in the city of Reykjavik. Keflavik airport is 50 km from Reykjavik and this airport receives most of the European flights. The domestic airport has some flights to Copenhagen and Greenland. This airport is located in the city center.
There are several ways to get to and from Keflavik airport. The metro is not an option, and that leaves you only the taxi and the bus. Taxis are too expensive, so we also excluded this option. The trip can cost about 18000 ISK (about 120€). It can be faster but the price is too high. The best option is to use one of the two shuttle companies that connect Keflavik and the main hostels and hotels in the capital. The companies that provide this service are the Flybus and the Airport Express. The ticket costs 2400 ISK (one way) or 4000 ISK (round trip). There are shuttles that connect to all flights. We use the service of the Airport Express because this company makes the connection between the hostel and the airport, and allows you to stop at the Blue Lagoon, collecting you in a few hours later to take you to the hostel. The shuttle costs €24 (3700 ISK) per person. This visit is possible in both directions.
The Domestic Airport is in the city center and is served by city buses. To reach the city center just take bus number 15 for Hlemmur and then see the place you want to go to. For the Reykjavik City Hostel (where we stayed) we just took the bus No. 15 to Hlemmur and then change to bus No. 14 and get off at Laugarásvegur bus stop.
Within the city:
Bus: Reykjavik has an excellent bus system with regular services to and from all major cities and attractions of the Icelandic capital. The central station Reykjavik bus stands at Hlemmur and is located on the main shopping street Laugavegur.
Each bus ticket costs 350 ISK (about €2.15) and can be purchased on board. Note that the driver does not give you change; you will need the exact amount of money. When you pay your bus ticket, be sure to ask for a transfer ticket or “skiptimidi” in Icelandic. The transfer ticket is the proof of fare payment for a second bus trip, since carried out within 75 minutes. You can also get on board sets of 9 tickets for 3000 ISK or pass for a day for 900 ISK. The site Straeto allows you to plan your trip.
We do not use the bus to travel between different places around Iceland but if you want to do it, you can consult this page Straeto that have maps, schedules and prices. BSI Bus Terminal is in the city center. Just take bus No. 14 to the port or the same bus in the opposite direction, if you are going to the campsite or Reykjavik City Hostel. In this case, you should get out in Laugarásvegur stop.
Things to do in Reykjavik?
– Go for a whale watching tour
– Snorkel or dive in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
– Getting around in the city of Reykjavik
– Golden Circle Tour (for those who do not rent a car)
Things to do in Iceland?
To enjoy Iceland with some freedom is convenient to rent a car and plan your trip. That’s what we did. We rented the car in an Icelandic company – Procar.is – and we collected the car at the company’s office in downtown Reykjavik. We rented the car online, but you can do it at the airport, in the city center or, like us, through the site itself. You can also get in touch with them through facebook. The car we rented was a TOYOTA YARIS, new and it was our “buddy” for 10 days. The car was very good and allowed us easy movements and enough independence.
Well, we scheduled our trip in advance. We chose a number of places we wanted to know, we saw how to get there and we draw our itinerary around the island.
Carla Mota
I am a tirelessly curious portuguese world wanderer and also a travel photographer. My main passion lies in capturing disappearing ancient cultures, human condition and amazing nature wonders, challenging situations. My passion for travel photography has taken me to more than 80 countries which has helped me to create a vast collection of images of people and places from around the world.
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