In my first list of 10 tips for travelers in Iceland, I hopefully already gave you a few good pointers.
Here are 10 more, brand-new tips…
Tip 11: Use Google Maps… the right way!
How? Offline!
In Google Maps, you can download the maps for Iceland to your smartphone before your trip, so you won’t need a data connection once you’re there. The offline maps include things like the roads and the larger towns.
What’s not included are POIs, points of interest — sights in Iceland and the like. You can mark those as favorites with a little star beforehand and use a label to name them. They will then be available offline too and help you with navigation.
My app for Iceland travelers might also come in handy here.
Tip 12: Buy your alcohol at the airport
Since I don’t drink, this was never an issue for me, but others have pointed it out to me: If you like a glass of wine or a beer in the evening, you’ll firstly pay through the nose, and secondly there are only very few shops in the country that sell alcohol at all.
So you should simply stock up at the airport — alcohol is comparatively cheap there and the selection is quite decent.
Tip 13: Don’t fall for the budget airlines’ tricks
A flight from Berlin to Keflavik for under 100€: not a rarity anymore.
Most people know that checked luggage isn’t included — fair enough. What many don’t know: your hand luggage gets checked strictly. If it doesn’t fit into the metal frame at the gate that’s used to check its size, you’ll be charged 80€ or more. That quickly doubles the price of your flight. More than one piece of hand luggage isn’t allowed either. So if you quickly buy something at the airport that doesn’t fit into your hand luggage, you might end up paying extra as well.
Tip 14: The best sushi for little money
Food & drink is expensive in Iceland. A restaurant visit for two can easily swallow a three-digit euro amount. It doesn’t have to, of course, but it will definitely be more expensive than in Germany.
One small exception and an insider tip: sushi from the supermarket.
At the Krónan in the harbour area (here) you’ll find freshly caught and incredibly delicious sushi for really little money. Whenever I’m in Iceland stocking up on groceries, I do it here — and a portion of sushi is never missing. And chocolate-covered raisins for dessert 😉
Tip 15: Shower naked… before you swim!
Sounds odd, but in Icelandic swimming pools great importance is placed on showering thoroughly before entering the pool or the hot tubs. With soap and everything — but without your swimwear!
It makes sense once you know that Icelandic pools are not chlorinated. If everyone jumped into the tub with their everyday dirt, the water would quickly look very unappetizing, and that would spoil the fun for everyone.
So just do as the Icelanders do: trunks down or swimsuit off, hop under the shower and scrub yourself thoroughly.
Tip 16: Let others exit the roundabout
When it comes to driving in Iceland, there isn’t much new to get used to: everyone drives on the right, please never faster than 90km/h — pretty much what you’re used to from Germany.
But one thing is different and leads to scary moments every now and then:
In Iceland, the vehicles on the inner lane of a roundabout have the right of way.
That means: if you’re driving on the outer lane and the vehicle ahead of you on the left — on the inner lane — signals to exit the roundabout, you have to let it go.
In Germany it’s the other way around, and unfortunately many providers of rental cars in Iceland don’t point this out either.
Tip 17: See Reykjavik with a guide… for free!
With CityWalk.IS you can book a guided tour through the capital and have locals show you around the city.
The tour starts in Austurvöllur Park, in front of the parliament building, and takes you through the city for two hours. The English-speaking guides tell you all sorts of things about elves, Vikings, bankers, food and nightlife in Reykjavik. You don’t have to pay anything, but it’s more than polite to give a few krónur as a tip after the tour.
We’ve also put together a nice day tour through Reykjavik for you, and in our Iceland app you’ll find guided tours as well.
You can also book private tours with the company, for example if you’re traveling with a group.
Tip 18: Travel sustainably
An important point that probably can’t be stressed often enough: Iceland has a fragile nature. Beautiful, but also very delicate and sensitive. The impact that almost 2 million tourists have on a country with just over 330,000 inhabitants is enormous. So we should all treat it very carefully, so that others can experience it the way we do.
I could now write something like ‘stick to the rules’ and ‘don’t step over the white line’, but that would be dishonest, because I often don’t do that myself. What I find much more important are two things:
First: Inform yourself. Well, in detail, and from good sources. If you know how moss grows, you automatically won’t just trample over it, and if you understand how strong the currents in the Atlantic can get, you’ll keep enough distance from the sea where it’s appropriate.
Second: Use your common sense and don’t take unnecessary risks. Nothing — no photo of Iceland, however great, and no story of some stunt, however amazing — is worth causing lasting damage. Neither to Iceland nor to yourself.
Just always imagine that someone dear to you is in Iceland two months after you: they won’t necessarily see what you’re seeing right now, but what you leave behind for them.
Tip 19: Know your limits, communicate them openly and honestly
Be honest with yourself, and then with your fellow travelers and guides!
With the rising numbers of tourists in Iceland, the number of accidents unfortunately also rose last year, and there were more fatal accidents than ever before. In Silfra, for example, there have been four fatal accidents in the past seven years. Many of them would have been completely avoidable if those involved had respected their own limits: if you can’t swim and are only used to tropically warm waters, you should simply be very, very careful when it comes to diving in ice-cold water. There’s no shame in climbing back up the stairs and taking a seat in the car!
Be honest with your guides too: if you were ill shortly before your trip, had the flu or something worse, they need to know! Climbing a glacier takes a lot of air — ice-cold air that your body has to spend a lot of energy warming up. That’s not to be underestimated, and you’ll do well to let your guide know when you need a break.
Tip 20:
Just have fun & enjoy Iceland the way you want to!
Really: articles like this one can truly suck the fun out of it! “Do this!”, “Don’t do that!”… Yes, mom! 😉
Just do whatever you feel like and experience the country your own way. If you’re a party animal, skip the nature and check out Reykjavik’s nightlife. If you’re a homebody, spend 5 of the 10 days of your trip in your hotel bed with room service. If you don’t like the cold, stay in the Blue Lagoon all day.
Let the others be experts: it’s not their trip, it’s yours!
Have fun in Iceland!
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