Iceland Info

Getting around:

I highly suggest renting a car from Blue Car Rental in Iceland. It was by far the most affordable option and it was very easy to navigate. They use a contact-less check-in, too. There is a shuttle that leaves from the front of the airport (just walk outside) and takes you to all the car rentals. It's about 5 minutes. We simply put in our code, grabbed our keys, and left. Upon return, we parked out front and they looked over the car in about 2 minutes. I appreciated that they didn't charge us for the day we missed due to our canceled flight.

If you're up for more of an adventure, we saw many people renting sleeper vans and we were quite jealous. This would be ideal for a couple, but probably not a family. It appeared that you could park at almost all of the major sites for free and we were told by several people that there are showers nearby like most campgrounds offer.

I do NOT think you can do Iceland without a car unless you plan to only do tour busses.

Gas

Gas is sparse as you drive around some parts of the island, so the rule of thumb is to fill up at half tank. Personally, we didn't drive far enough for that to be an issue, but just keep that in mind!

Pumps only accept cards with a pin, so if you don't have a pin for your credit card, make sure you bring your debit card!

The regular fuel is the green pump and diesel is black. It's the opposite of America. Some of these stations we used weren't labeled, so we had to look it up :)

Accommodation:

We stayed near downtown Reykjavik at Reykjavik Natura (also called Icelandair Hotel). It was a hotwire deal and we lucked out. I think anything near the city center is a great spot for a night; however, I wouldn't recommend staying in Reykjavik for more than a night. I suggest driving the whole island and staying in hotels or BnBs along the way (or in your camper van!). We regretted having to drive back to Reykjavik each night and wish we'd planned better.

If you're NOT renting a car, make sure you stay somewhere with a free airport shuttle. The airport is about 45 minutes away from Reykyavik, so it'd be an expensive uber or taxi.

Money:

We did not take out ANY cash during our trip. Everything (restaurants, food trucks, car parks, etc.) took a credit card and everything was cashless payment. They use the Icelandic króna and the conversion rate is tricky (at the time we went, 1 ISK was .0072 USD). I suggest having a conversion app.

Water:

Bring a water bottle with you. Iceland prides itself on having the best drinking water from any tap (including bathrooms), and they ask tourists to avoid bottled water since they have to pay to ship all recycling. Everything is SO expensive in Iceland, that we were thankful we weren't paying for bottled water every day.