Traveling in Iceland is wild, wonderful… and sometimes a little weird for newcomers. We had an amazing time but there are a few quirks you’ll definitely want to know before you visit the Land of Fire and Ice. These Iceland tips will help you set your expectations and make the most of your trip!
Transactions are 21st century
One of the biggest surprises for us while traveling Iceland is that Apple Pay and Google Wallet are everywhere, even pay toilets that have a credit card tap installed!
We needed to insert a physical card (despite the card being tap-enabled) at exactly one gas station, which required a PIN. Most US credit card issuers will tell you that you only need a PIN for cash advance – which you should never do because it’s incredibly expensive – but it is true that you could need a PIN when inserting your card overseas. We learned too late that Chase will only send you a PIN by mail if your card is more than 90 days old (so we couldn’t get one in time for our Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Business Preferred) but we were able to set up a PIN instantly online for our Capital One Venture X. Some gas stations have two machines and only one accepts digital wallets, so choose wisely.
Read more: Choosing the Best Credit Cards for Family Travel
Speaking of money matters, Amex cards are basically non grata in Iceland. While I didn’t inquire everywhere, I struck out every time I asked. The transaction fees are just too high in Iceland.
We took out cash at the airport (at an incredibly bad exchange rate) and didn’t need it even once in 11 days. In the end blew most of it at duty free (Grábrók whiskey is awesome) and kept some for our next visit only because we ran out of time. That said, if you’re a coin collector be sure to grab some of the adorable metal pieces here – each coin denomination of Icelandic Krona has different sea creatures on it!
Leave your tips in the US
Other than perhaps a little extra cash in the jar for a tour guide, there are basically no tips in Iceland – it’s not even an option on machines. According to everyone we spoke with the minimum wage is very high and workers are treated well, so don’t feel like you’re short-changing anyone. It’s not part of the culture.
Read more: 4 Iceland Tours That Are Actually Worth Your Time and Money
The Icelandic language is really hard
Let’s start with the most basic challenge, which you’ve probably realized if you’ve picked up even a single Iceland guide book: Icelandic uses 32 letters in total, and some of them won’t look familiar to you at all while others are essentially accented vowels that you’ll manage pretty well. The totally unfamiliar ones are:
- Ð/ð – pronounced like a “d” thankfully
- Þ/þ – pronounced as a “th”
- Æ/æ – pronounced like “I”
In addition, a “Ll” is often pronounced as “tl” – though not always – while “Hv” comes through as “kv”. You may already know that “J” sounds like the English “y”. There are some other unexpected treats you’ll learn as you listen closely (like Höfn being pronounced closer to “Hup”). The first syllable is always stressed.
Try out reading the town names on the road sign above for fun!
Thankfully Icelanders have a good sense of humor about it all. Everyone speaks English and 99% of signage is bilingual. We sometimes even heard Icelanders speaking with each other in English.
So why does it matter? It’s helpful to know a few of the unique characters and pronunciations. At least for us, one of the major mental hurdles to planning our route was an inability to say and distinguish the place names!
You will meet almost no Icelanders outside of Reykjavik on your trip
Iceland’s population is small, and roughly 60% live in and around the capital city. Before our trip I wondered how the country could support the enormous summer tourism infrastructure when those jobs disappeared in the winter.
The answer lies in geopolitics.
Outside of Reykjavik, you’ll mostly encounter workers from elsewhere in the EU – it’s how Iceland meets the demands of massive summer tourism without having crushing winter unemployment.
Minimum wage is much higher than in other EU member states, so many students get summer jobs in Iceland that pay for their expenses in Iceland plus most of the next school year. Plenty of them return year after year for three or four month contracts, and some of them eventually stay forever. They’re generally able to enter and get jobs with little more than a valid drivers license or ID card thanks to EU rules.
In many cases, these non-Icelandic people are the ones guiding you as you explore Iceland’s natural wonders that are such a tourist draw. We learned that most locals actually never visit the places we’ve traveled across the world to see: no glacier hiking, no whale watching, no glacial lagoons.
We met fascinating people from Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Belgium, Czech Republic, Netherlands and more. While they aren’t Icelanders, we found everyone extremely friendly and eager to talk about home as well as what they love about Iceland – if you love to travel in Europe, get chatting and swap stories. We even got great recommendations for future vacations!
Even in Reykjavik, you won’t see many Icelanders
Even in Reykjavik, most locals live in neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city and rarely venture to the center of town. It’s expensive, crowded and touristy.
You won’t meet many Icelanders unless you go to places like a public pools, supermarkets, buses and playgrounds away from tourist areas (and in our experience it’s not so common to strike up conversation in those kinds of places in Iceland unfortunately). Even our excellent Reykjavik city tour was led by a man who relocated from the neighboring Faroe Islands.
But you’ll make friends in Iceland
If you’re doing the Ring Road, get ready to make friends! We often saw the same people numerous times in a single day. There are only so many routes you can take around the country. We ran into one family four times in one week. Even in Reykjavik we met the same couple three times in a single day in completely disparate parts of the city.
Tour groups are everywhere
You’ll get annoyed by tour buses if you aren’t on one. They’re at nearly all of the major sites, especially ones that have tourist centers with restrooms, cafes and gift shops. You can’t escape them on the Golden Circle – see the river of people above at Þingvellir – though they peter out as you get further east.
The same goes for cruise ship groups in Akureyri and Seyðisfjörður. Thankfully those cities only have huge boats a few days per week but sometimes it can be intense – based on this calendar, Akureyri can have up to seven thousand cruise passengers in a single day (that’s almost half of the population). You can find the Seyðisfjörður schedule here. It may be worth avoiding certain days if you have flexibility in your itinerary.
You won’t generally find those huge groups on harder or longer hikes, so if you want to avoid the crowds go ahead and challenge yourself! You can also visit some popular sites after dinner in the summer to have them (relatively) to yourself. Another option is to go where the typical tour buses can’t, namely over challenging mountain passes or into the Highlands.
Icelandic homes are hot
Because energy is almost free for Icelanders and it’s rarely warm outside, they heat homes year-round and adjust the interior temperature by opening or closing windows. Even when turning radiators down all the way, some places we stayed stubbornly stuffy. We did have one rental apartment that was quite chilly at night, but it was honestly a welcome relief after so many warm ones – and the huge duvets provided kept us nice and cozy.
So be sure you bring a mix of pajamas to relax comfortably after a long day of exploring. I love this line and they pack down tiny!
Welcome to the land of Teslas (and other EVs)
Teslas are everywhere in Iceland. We’re talking about California in 2020 level of popular. While I don’t love renting an EV on vacation, Iceland could be an exception. The Tesla Supercharger network is vast so you should have a pretty smooth experience.
Iceland doesn’t charge import duty on electric vehicles so the price is comparable to what Americans pay. Also while most Teslas in the U.S. are midnight steel metallic, in Iceland they’re predominantly pearl white – that’s Europe’s default color these days. “Spot the white Tesla” is a perfect Iceland road trip game! If you look closely, you’ll see two backed in at the charger pictured above.
If relying on your credit card rental car insurance, know that Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Business Preferred explicitly exclude Tesla while Chase Sapphire Reserve and Capital One Venture X exclude cars over $75,000 USD (which could potentially include some higher end long-range Tesla models).
We didn’t rent a Tesla but did choose to go with a hybrid RAV4 to save money on gas. Many public lots had charging spots and we could have plugged in to save even more – if you get a PHEV be sure to ask about a charging cord for it. We couldn’t find one in our vehicle so we didn’t plug in, but even so the regenerative breaking system saved us some gas money.
Bathing has strict etiquette
One of the delights of traveling in Iceland is dipping into the luxurious thermal baths and fun public pools every chance you get. The water is always warm and inviting, no matter the outside temperature!
But it’s important to keep bathing etiquette in mind: everyone showers totally in the buff before entering pools and thermal baths, and no one is sheepish about it (except maybe some of my fellow Americans). Just strip down and carry your swimsuit with you to the shower area. The shower water is warm and soap is provided everywhere; the fancy tourist-oriented baths have nice shampoo and conditioner as well.
Universal showers are so important because when everyone enters clean, they can use less chlorine in the water – making for a more pleasant bathing experience. You can leave your towel in the shelves near the showers because you’re expected to clean yourself up and be fully dry before you re-enter the locker room after bathing. The upside is that if you visit a lot of pools and baths, you won’t have to bother showering at your accommodations (so don’t stress about booking a place with a shared bathroom, which is common in Iceland).
If you’re visiting Iceland with kids prepare them to see all different types of bodies. There are usually at least one or two private stalls in case you really need one, and often baby tubs or high chairs are provided so that moms can get thoroughly clean while their little ones are safe.
Planning your trip to Iceland
Get ready to start planning an incredible trip to Iceland with these articles: