137.97 ICELAND KRONA = 1 EURO = 1.50 SGD (based on the exchange rates that we got)
Hi everyone, we are back! :) As Joshua is sleeping (forever), I have nothing to do now so I decided to do up our Iceland post :)
Here's a new video that I did up in the cold lazy days here haha. Kinda sums up our Iceland trip!
So we would like to share our latest Iceland road trip itinerary and tips for fellow travelers/exchange students who want to visit probably the world's most beautiful country - ICELAND. We toured Iceland for 1 week and managed to keep our budget to $1250, inclusive of accommodations, car rentals, food (bread mostly...) and attractions! Flight tickets are not included in our cost because we flew direct from Singapore to Iceland so it will definitely be more expensive than if you were to fly from nearby countries in Europe. Hence, the flight prices to Iceland really varies depending on your starting point.
COST BREAKDOWN ONE WEEK (per person in SGD):
Accommodation: $356 (for 7 nights)
Food: $140
Attractions: $60
Petrol: $205
Car Rental: $481.90 (total $963.80 for 1 car for 7 days)
TOTAL COST PER PERSON: $1242.90
The cost per person can actually be even lower and kept to less than $1000 if you travel in bigger groups of 4 or 5, so that the car rental and petrol cost can be shared among more people. We only had two of us that's why more ex sigh :(
To travel Iceland, early planning is definitely necessary because once you're out on the road, the next time you actually find some form of civilization could take another 4-5 hours driving on the road and you definitely won't want to be stranded on the road in the cold and crazy wind. So the following are some tips from us to survive Iceland followed by our itinerary! :)
1. CAR RENTAL
Blue Car Rental: http://www.bluecarrental.is/book/cars/
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! I can't emphasize this enough but really, Blue Car Rental has proven its reliability and quality sooo much during our trip! We researched on quite a few car rental companies, and Blue Car Rental was one that had all positive reviews.
We booked a Suzuki Vitara 4x4 (automatic), with GPS included. Note that Iceland cars are all left-hand drive so for us Singaporean drivers who may not be that used to it, auto cars are recommended over manual cars. A 4x4 car is also recommended especially driving in the snow as it gives much more stability to the car. Insurance was included except the SAAP insurance, whcih protects against damages caused by sand and ash. We did not get this additional insurance as during winter, the roads are more likely to be covered by ice and snow. Hence, the chances of the sand and ash on the road damaging our car will be less. But neverthesless, while driving down South towards Vik and further, the road does get more rough with sand and stones, so we just drove slower on those roads to avoid damage to the car.
For Iceland, travelling by car seems like the only option if you are heading out of the city, Reykjavik, as the attractions are all far away from each other (few hours drive) . A good car is definitely a must for an Iceland road trip because we came across so many cars that skidded off the main road and got stuck off road in the snow. There was this car that was super jerky and unstable while driving through the snow in front of us and almost crashed to the side. It was just skidding crazily all over damn scary. I wanted to turn back because I was scared but Joshua decided to go ahead because he said he had faith in our car. And true enough, our car passed through that crazy snow patch well! Super thankful for our car really, it kept us alive yayyyy.
2. DRIVING TIPS
Petrol
REFILL WHENEVER YOU SEE A PETROL KIOSK!! Petrol kiosks are very far from each other once you are out of the main city or towns. They are all self-service stations and we paid for all our petrol by buying prepaid cards at the petrol kiosks. We found the petrol kiosk named N1 to be the most common around Iceland. Their prepaid cards are in the denominations of 3000, 5000 and 10000 Kronas (1 euro = 137.97 kronas). We usually get the 10,000 Kronas prepaid card which can fill up 1 full tank of 95 petrol. It is 188.60 Kronas per litre of 95 petrol. Do check the petrol that your car is using. Diesel is cheaper but not all cars are suitable for diesel petrol. The type of petrol would usually be made known using a sticker on the lid of your petrol tank.
Rope
Our car got stuck in the snow once when we were just stopping by the side of the road to take some photos. We didn't know that the side of the road would have that thick snow and our car just sank into the snow when we parked to the side. It sank so deep that I couldn't open my car door as it was stuck in the snow. But fortunately, there was another vehicle who helped us out with a ROPE. He asked us if we had a rope because to get a car out from the snow, you would have to attach your car to another car with the rope and the other car will pull your car out. And thankfully, he had a rope and we got our car out!! So just in case, you could always ask the car rental office if your car rental comes with a rope.
Driving In Snow
GO SLOW!! On snowless roads, we could drive at normal speeds like 90km/h. But on the snowy icy roads, we went at like 30-50km/h. It was quite a smooth drive along the Ring Road and up to the south at Vik. However past Vik towards the East direction to Jökulsárlón, we encountered crazy drives. The snow was so thick that when in the snow, you lose control of the car completely. Sitting in the passenger seat still made me very stressed and at one point I teared (not cried hor haha) because I didn't want to die lol. It's like I see Joshua's steering wheel turning all the way to the right but our car was actually going straight. He was just frantically turning the steering wheel all over to keep us going straight and not sinking into the snow. And not to mention that driving in the snow is very very bumpy and skidding is very common so you'll really have to go slow. You can check for the latest road conditions live at http://www.road.is/.
3. FOOD TIPS
Food in Iceland (and everything else) is very expensive. A budget fastfood meal cost at least 10 euros (about SGD15). And a normal cafe or restaurant will be around 25 euros (about SGD 38). So since we spent a lot on car rental and transport, we decided to go budget for our food. While there were days that we spent more on nice food (like meat, which is a luxury there I swear), most of our days were spent eating bread serious. I am fasting from bread now because when I see bread I feel like puking haha.
The budget supermarket in Iceland that is common in the city Reykjavik is called Bonus and can be easily identified from its cute pig logo. If you're on a budget, do stock up a lot of food like bread, spreads, biscuits etc when you are in Reykjavik before heading out for your road trip. Once out of Reykjavik, it may be difficult to find supermarkets with affordable food along the long quiet roads of Iceland.
Note their opening hours, they close quite early!
We hope that these tips are useful in you trip to Iceland, and our itinerary is in the following post!! :)
Nice tips. Thankyou.
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