August 10, 2017   blog , Iceland , Reykjavik , travel tips

Iceland: tours vs rental car

View from our rental car We almost always use public transportation wherever we go. It avoids us having the hassle of driving on unfami...

View from our rental car

We almost always use public transportation wherever we go. It avoids us having the hassle of driving on unfamiliar roads, finding parking and worst of all paying for parking. Iceland was the exception to the rule. The towns are very spread out and public transit didn’t allow us to go where we wanted to go in the short time we were there. Plus, two bus passes worked out to be about what the car rental cost so we decided to rent.

I will say gas is very expensive in Iceland compared to the U.S. We used a little more than a half-tank of gas and it was about $65 to fill up. Certainly that ate into the comparison to public transit, but the flexibility outweighed it.

Iceland

We wanted to spend time hiking to the beautiful places on the country’s western side, which were often about 30 minutes or more apart. We were especially eager to see the Northern Lights, which required far more planning than I expected. Both nights we were there were cloudy, meaning we had to go far to get a glimpse. It’s about all we saw, but it was well worth the trip.

If you want to go, consider booking a stopover fare with Wow Air or Icelandair. Basically, you’ll book a round-trip ticket between A and B that requires a connection in Iceland. Rather than rushing on the first available flight, you’ll get to stay in Iceland for 72-hours at no extra cost.