If you are planning your holiday in Iceland, here is a reference for you to budget your trip.

We went as 4 people in high season in 2015, and we were there for 14 days (13 nights). We went couchsurfing in Reykjavik and camping for the rest of Iceland. We rented a small car and not a 4WD. In summary, we spent $48 per person per day. And $668 per person excluding flights to Iceland. Roughly $900 including flights (from Copenhagen and to Oslo).

If $900 can guarantee you an amazing trip, what are you waiting for?

Our Expenses, Your Backpacking Budget

Flights 

While Icelandic Air offers Iceland as a stopover for Europe-USA flights, not all of us necessarily go through that route. So, in other cases, flying from Norway (Oslo, Bergen), Denmark, and UK are the cheapest.

My flights were Copenhagen-Reykjavik ($135 Icelandic Air) , Reykjavik-Oslo ($90 Norwegian) , check fares at

http://norwegian.com http://wowair.co.uk   http://icelandair.co.uk

Transportation

In Iceland, we found the cheapest deal (Lagoon Car Rental) for the smallest car. We went there in June 2015 and we went around the whole Iceland (including west fjords). The car for 13 days and insurance cost us $835 and this cost was shared by 4 people. We paid about $350 for fuel for the entire trip, driving around 4000 km. The fuel efficiency of a new Toyota Yaris in Iceland was about 5-6 liters/100km. A liter costs 212kr ($1.6) at Okran (fuel station brand) with a discount card that comes with camping card or 223kr ($1.7) per liter at N1 (fuel station brand) with a discount card given by our car rental company.

As you know Distance × Fuel efficiency × Fuel Price = Total Cost   (In my case, roughly 4000km × 5.3 liters/100km × $1.65 =$350), I think you should be able to budget your trip if you know where you’d go and what car type you’d have.

It might actually be cheaper for you if you don’t go to the westfjords.

Accommodation

Couchsurfing is almost impossible in Iceland if you do plan to get out from Reykjavik. There just aren’t many people living in Iceland (their population is 0.3 million). So either you stay in a guesthouse, or you go camping. Or somewhere in between there’s this sleeping bag accommodation but the cost is similar to a guesthouse since you have a roof. We went camping in Iceland for 11 nights. The other 2 nights we couchsurfed in Reykjanes though it makes no difference to our accommodation cost as our camping card is valid for 28 nights. The camping card costs 15900 kr for 2 adults.  With lodging tax being at 110kr per tent per night, each of us paid $63 for camping for the entire trip.

Food 

We cooked our food most of the time. So our food cost was $95 for 14 days. However this actually includes dining at Hilton Hotel once for a lunch buffet, costing $26.5 per head. We did this at the end of our trip, and we knew how good for value this… and felt *grateful* for having this excellent buffet at this price! Anyways, skipping this buffet will bring your average even lower.

Entertainment 

And our cost per day is $47 because we went to

1. Viking Sushi Tour
2. Whale Watching Tour and
3. Horse Riding Tour (Horse Riding and Seal Watching in Iceland).

Altogether they cost $179.  If you have the budget, except for the horse riding tour I will recoomend you to spend on the tours. And if you have budget, Blue Lagoon or Myvatn will be on your list!

Other

And each of us spent $35 in the categories of other, and that’s because we had to buy things which you probably already have.

What’s A Realistic Cheap Budget?

While we spent $48 per day, You can do it in $26.5 per day. That is  close to the cheapest it can be if you are camping, cooking your own food and not going on any activity in a 14-day trip.

I don’t think there is any way to cut your budget less than $26.5 per day unless you are planning to hitchhike. But I was pretty happy about not having to hitchhike as the weather in Iceland can get very harsh. There was even one night we had to sleep in the car because the weather was so bad (wet and freezing). It is a matter of personal choice, if you are up for adventure, I don’t see why not. I saw quite many hitchhikers. And many cyclists too. Although most people at the campsites had vehicles. And there were more hitchhikers in the south than in the north.

So how will you do it in $26.5 per day? We were 4 people, though the car can fit 5 (if you don’t have lots of luggages). So that’s 4*296/5 =$237. You will end up spending about the same without a camping card. So $63 stays the same. Food will probably be the same, or less. And assume you don’t need to spend $26.5 on a buffet. So that’s $68.5. And if you bring everything you need with you and don’t do necessary shopping, then you don’t have to spend on others.  Finally, if you don’t visit any paid tours and explore the nature on your own (where you can), that’s $0.

So this will be your cost for 14 days, individually.

• $237 on Transportation including fuel ($17 per day) (including $70 on fuel)
• $63 on Accommodation($4.5 per day)
• $68.5 on Food ($5 per day)
• $0 on Other
• $0 on Entertainment

If you want to save on your trip, remember to bring warm clothes with you. Don’t think about getting them in Iceland. It is so expensive that is beyond your imagination. Things like shampoo, lotion, toothpaste are all similarly priced in other parts of the Europe. Grocery price is similar too if you compare the cheapest brands.

Do bring your own camping gear, can opener, crockery and sleeping stuff. Those things are also expensive. But if you don’t have something for cooking, go to IKEA in the outskirt of Reykjavik. (They open from 10 to 21), it will probably be even cheaper than bonus. And don’t forget to get a tax refund form if you are eligible to get tax refund.

Details…

Alright, here is the detailed expenditure of our trip if you are interested. The currency is mainy in Icelandic kroner.

1. Transportation ($296):

(Fuel efficiency for our Toyota Yaris was around 5.44L/100km)

677 euros for car rental ($750)
55 British pounds for insurance ($85)
5071 Fuel (22.75L@222.9)
5002 Fuel (22.44L@222.9)
4400 Fuel (@222.9)
6246(27.7L@225.5)
4175(18.73@222.9)
2940 (13.19@222.9)
5871(26.34@222.9)
6125(28.8@212.5)
5565(26.19@212.5)
1000 Toll tax

Total= roughly $1184 = $296 for each person

2. Accommodation ($63):

31800 (Camping Card*2)
220 (lodging tax)
220 (lodging tax)
222 (lodging tax)
222 (lodging tax)
440 (lodging tax)
100(lodging tax)
220 (lodging tax)

3. Food:

4719 (supermarket: day 1)
2662 (Supermarket: day 3)
2798 (Supermarket: day 4)
832 (supermarket: day 4)
5450(supermarket day 5)
600 Coffee (300 per cup)
2847 (supermarket day6)
989 (supermarket day6)
3989 (supermarket day 7)
334 (supermarket day 8)
280 (bakery)
811(supermarket day 9)
350(coffee)
4511(supermarket day 10)
4138 (supermarket day 11-small lobster)
811 (supermarket day12)
13800 (Hilton Lunch buffet) (That’s $26.5 per person)
594 (supermarket day 13)

4. Entertainment:

22233 Viking Sushi Tour ($167)
2400 Swimming pool, hot tubs and sauna ($18)
36000 Whale Watching Tour ($270)
26000 Seal Watching on Horseback ($196)

5. Other:

2000 SIM card
350 Fish hooks (which in the end we didn’t use)
549 Lighter
1890 Camping Stove
1300 towel and shampoo (which in the end we didn’t use)
3868 ice shaker and BBQ holder (a gift)
7085 souvenir shopping
1274 souvenir

Did this help? Let me know!