Accommodation in Iceland | How We Made Accommodation Cheap in Iceland

İzlandaIn general, it is a very expensive country for Turkish citizens. We spent part of our one-week trip to Iceland by staying in a tent in order to keep our costs optimum. Apart from the tent, we stayed in the Guesthouse for three nights and in the hotel for one night. Prices of accommodation options in Iceland and what you should pay attention to I compiled it in this article, enjoy reading!

Tent Camp

One of the cheapest ways to stay in Iceland is to stay in a tent. Accommodation prices at the campsites start from 1500 Isk (13-14usd) per person. There are camps that charge separately for showers, kitchens and vehicles. The price of the shower is generally 200 Isk, the kitchen is 500 Isk, the car is 500 Ik. We mostly preferred camps with a common area/kitchen, since we cook all our meals ourselves and it is very difficult to prepare meals outside in cold weather, so the indoor kitchen was very useful for us. Some of the campsites with closed kitchens did not have a stove in the kitchen, so if you are going to cook your own meals, you should definitely have a camp stove. We also came across places that have stoves but are difficult to use due to the crowd. The camping stove saved lives.

Accommodation in Iceland - Tent - Lotus Car Rental — Accommodation in Iceland – Tent – Lotus Car Rental

We brought our own tent, but we rented the vehicle in Iceland. Lotus Car Rental He did us a favor and gave us a vehicle with its own tent on it. So instead of dealing with setting up and removing our own tent, we used the vehicle top tent.

Car rental in Iceland Click to browse the article.

One of the important points in tent accommodation is the weather. Iceland is a country with rain, wind and low temperatures, so if you're going to stay in a tent, make sure your gear is suitable. Take care that your tent has high wind resistance, if your tent type is not suitable for this, the rods of your tent may break. Make sure your sleeping bag is suitable for cold climate, my sleeping bag got cold even though it was -5 degrees comfort level.

Tent camps are usually open from May to October. Some of the camps close on September 15, others on September 30 or October 1. Before you go, make sure your camping site is open. We decided at the last minute about the camps we will be staying at. Since our vehicle has internet, we made a list of the suitable camping areas on our route and looked at the internet to see if there was a common area one by one, and what was the price, and decided accordingly. All the prices on the websites were up to date and all the information provided was consistent. In fact, when we saw that tent accommodation could be made in the form of "Hobbit House" in one of the camping areas we stayed, we immediately turned the direction of our car there, it was very enjoyable.

You can find information about the campsites we stayed below:

Skogafoss Camping

Located just at the entrance to the Skogafoss waterfall, this campground has no communal areas or kitchens. For the money you pay to the campsite, you can only benefit from the ground and toilet services, 1500 ISK per person, and if you want to use the shower, you have to pay an extra 200 ISK.

The main problem here is that it gets too much wind. It was our first camping night and we were afraid that we would be blown away by the wind 🙂 The best part of this camp is that it has a view of Skogafoss and the price is affordable. Another shortcoming is that there is no wifi in the campground.

Svinafell Campground

This may be our favorite campground among the campgrounds we stayed in during our Iceland trip. We paid 1700 ISK per person to this campsite, which is very close to Svartifoss.

Shower, toilet, common kitchen use were included in this price. The communal kitchen is really a great convenience when camping, especially for a cold country like Iceland. The back of the campground is also hilly, so it cuts the wind well, so it's a nice place to camp. And the taste of waking up to the sounds of sheep in the morning is priceless 🙂 There was free wifi in this campsite only where the consultant was. However, we did not take advantage of it, as the information desk was quite far from the kitchen.

Vogar Camping

While traveling from east to west in Iceland, Mytavn seemed to us the best place to stay. There are multiple campgrounds in this area. We chose this place, considering the common kitchen area as a criterion. This was the most expensive campground we stayed at. We paid 2000 ISK per person and 500 ISK for the vehicle.

The campsite in the middle of the lava fields is really enjoyable. Although the common kitchen is not as big as in Svinafell, it did the job. The best gift of this place to us was to catch the chance to watch the northern lights at night. While there are no restaurants or places to buy tours in other campsites, there is a pizzeria right next to it. The company is also a tour agency, you can arrange daily tours from here. You can see its location on the map below.

Hverinn Camping

The reason we chose this camping area close to the hot spring area was the "hobbit house" we saw on the internet and thought it would be very useful when the storm was approaching. They have turned two old greenhouses into a camping area, and since the hot water from the hot springs passes through it, it is warm inside. It has been a great solution for the windy and cold Icelandic climate. There was no kitchen here, the shower was included in the price. We didn't need a kitchen when there were tables and chairs in the Hobbit House. We paid 2000 ISK per person.

This was the most interesting campground we stayed at. Of course, there was no wifi here, even the amusing uncle who runs the camp suggested “chat among yourselves” 🙂 We really chatted with our next-door neighbor Lithuanian friend.

Guest House

After the economic crisis in Iceland, local people started to open their homes to tourists. Thus, a new accommodation alternative has been added in Iceland. Some have opened the rooms of a farmhouse, some have added two or three rooms next to their house, and some have turned the ground floor of their house into a guesthouse. We have stayed in 3 of these houses. All of them were extremely clean, the hosts were friendly and comfortable. Since the houses were converted into guesthouses, all of them had shared bathrooms and toilets.

In these places, the kitchen is also a common area and you can cook your own meals. We also cooked our own meals in these houses. Again, although there was a kitchen in one of them, there was no stove, and the other two had elaborate kitchens. You can also use all the materials in the kitchen. Prices for double rooms start from 70 euros and continue upwards. The beds in the rooms are usually 2 single beds.

We had originally planned to stay at the guesthouse for only two nights, but after the storm warning and the temperatures would drop below zero, we spent another night at the guesthouse. Since September is slightly lower season Booking.comThis accommodation was cheaper than what we had previously booked with a last minute deal from .

Akureyri – Lonsa Guesthouse

This is a cute family business, outside the city center of Akureyri, with a small stream flowing by it. The landlords, who live on the upper floor of the two-story building, operate the lower floor as a guesthouse. Over time, they have increased their accommodation options in annex buildings and bungalow houses and gardens. There is also a camping area, but they closed it when we went.

We paid 86 USD for a double room, shared bathroom and kitchen area. A little weak in the room, good wifi in the kitchen, I can say that this was the only negative place. You can see the location of the house on the map below:

thingvellir –Hlid Guesthouse

In Thingvellir National Park, we had originally planned to camp for one night and stay at a guesthouse for the night. However, with the oncoming storm warning and the effect of cold weather, we decided to take advantage of the last minute opportunities for overnight accommodation. This guesthouse, which we found at a cheap price of 63 USD among the last-minute deals on Booking.com, was also very useful for us as it is very close to the Silfra diving spot, which we will do very early the next morning. Although this place has a kitchen, there was no stove in the kitchen, our own camp stove again worked for us. Here wifi was fine both in the room and in the common areas. We never saw the people who run this guesthouse. They e-mailed us the building door access code, and the room key was on it. They took the payment online from the credit card. Literally self-service guesthouse. However, the amount taken from our account is well above the price on Booking, our appeal process continues. You can see the location of the guesthouse on the map below:

thingvellir – Laugabol Guesthouse

And we came to our last night. This time we chose an accommodation between Thingvellir National Park and Reykjavik. The guesthouse in a huge garden between the greenhouses is built as an addition to the main house and consists of 4 rooms, 1 bathroom and 1 kitchen. The owner Laila greeted us in a very friendly way. Although we had to wait in line for the kitchen and bathroom due to a Thai group that filled the other rooms on the night we stayed, this was a nice and cozy guesthouse. With the price of 104 USD, this was the most expensive guesthouse we stayed in. Prices increase as you get closer to the capital Reykjavik.

This time the wifi in the room was good, but not in the kitchen. I don't understand how expensive it is to increase wifi power.

Hotels

Of course there are many hotels in Iceland. Hotel accommodation is the most expensive accommodation option in Iceland. We only stayed one night in a hotel close to the airport as we landed at Keflavik airport late at night. The prices of this place, which was actually a hotel + hostel, were at the level of guesthouses. When we arrived at the hotel, it was even better to learn that our room type was upgraded from standard to comfort.

Since this place also serves as a hostel and it is a hostel close to the airport, people staying here and leaving the country left their kitchen utensils that they did not want or could not take with them to the kitchen for those in need. There were tubes (cartridges) for many camp stoves, which were left behind, so we took a few with us, and what we couldn't finish we left at the place where we stayed the last night, along with some of our other kitchen supplies.

Keflavik – Base Hotel

We chose this place for the first night because it is close to the airport and the price is affordable. Even though it was the hotel room we stayed in, the shared bathroom and kitchen were in use. The clean and tidy hotel also has a large bar. Of course, we didn't have a chance to experience the bar when we arrived at 02:00 at night and left at 08:00 in the morning 🙂 67 USD is the amount we paid for this hotel.

For details about Keflavik airport> Iceland Keflavik Airport

In this article, I tried to summarize the best ways to find cheap accommodation in Iceland, traveling with our own vehicle also allowed us to be flexible in choosing accommodation. The fact that we don't have to stay where we want when we want or to be close to the city center has also reduced our accommodation costs. We made our reservations for the guesthouse and hotel months in advance, and the prices increase as the travel time approaches during the high season. Since September is a quieter period, we were lucky to have a last-minute opportunity.

My Iceland Travel Articles

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