Ok, so on to the ins and outs of camper van life in Iceland. Initially, we were going to rent a car and camping equipment to explore the island. After I was quoted over $1000 for the rental car alone, I decided to look into other options. After some digging, I came across the camper van option. Now I will warn you, when you see the price tag at first, you might freak out! BUT you have to remember this is your hotel and your rental car all bundled up in to one pretty awesome road trip.
Choose Your Camper Van Company:
There are tons of camper van companies in Iceland, so do your due diligence and make sure you pick the company that suits you, or in our case book last minute and go with the only company that has rentals left! Here is a list of common Camper companies to choose from.
Happy Campers
Kuku Campers
Go Campers
Camp Easy
Camper van Iceland
What To Consider In A Company:
Manual or Automatic Transmission: Since it is Europe, anywhere you rent a manual is going to be MUCH cheaper, but if you don't know how to drive a stick shift, make sure you find a company that offers Automatic vehicle options, just know that you will be paying more no matter what company you choose.
Unlimited mileage vs. Limited mileage: Some companies have daily caps on your mileage, which can limit your travels.
Size of the van and amenities: How many passengers do you have? What amenities do you require? Do you want a posh van or are you ok with the bare minimums?
Airport Pick Ups and Drop offs: Some companies will include airport pick ups for an additional cost, our company included FlyBus tickets for us to take the shuttle from the airport to our hotel/or the Bus Station the night we arrived. They also included a pick up from our hotel to their office where we were able to complete paperwork and pickup our van.
Do you want to explore the Interior? If you are interested in going to the Interior of Iceland you will need a 4x4 vehicle that can drive on the F roads. Normal camper vans are not allowed on these roads, so be sure you choose a 4x4 if that part of Iceland is on your agenda.
We chose CampEasy and their Camp Crazy option. This was basically considered to be a tent on wheels. We added air mattresses, sleeping bags, camp stove, utensils, pot and pan set, cooler, and 2 camping chairs. Each night we moved our luggage and groceries to the front of the van and made up our bed for the night. The camper did come with curtains, pockets on the walls and ceiling to store extra gear, and an emergency and need to know manual in the glove box. We loved this option because it was inexpensive and had everything we needed. When you take a look at the other companies and even the more expensive CampEasy vans, they are decked out with sinks, coolers, futons, storage, etc and that is why they are more expensive.
Picking up our van!
All of our luggage and camp gear
Camper Van Must Haves and Extras:
Necessities: Sleeping bags/mattress, gas stove, pots/pans, utensils, converter Charger (we brought our own which is capable of accepting a laptop charging plug and several USB ports - just plug it into the cigarette lighter and go!!!), Iceland road map (purchased for $15 from our Camper company)
Extras: Camp Chairs, electric Cooler, GPS (we used our road map and Ulmon offline maps on the iPad to navigate and had no trouble getting anywhere or getting lost).
Additional items to pack: Flashlights, spare phone charger, trash bags, paper towels, toilet paper, wet ones (to clean van or yourself), clorox wipes to clean dishes, iPad for maps, laptop (to download go pro videos and photos each day), camera, camera charger, snacks and granola bars, instant oatmeal packs
Benefits of Seeing Iceland in a Campervan:
*You can travel on a budget. These babies are your rental car, hotel, and restaurant all in one package!
*Camp Anywhere. Unless it's is marked as private property, you can pull off just about anywhere and camp for the night. We usually tried to find picnic areas to camp since they had trash cans and were usually in the most beautiful locations. We had our own private black sand beach, ocean views, private sunsets, a Northern Lights show, and more by camping in these spots. Just remember to clean up after yourselves and leave it cleaner than how you found it! There are designated campsites where you pay to camp, but we only needed to use these places on 2 occasions. One occasion was in the Myvatn area in Northern Iceland. Most of this entire area is private property, don't try to camp just go to a campsite. We were kicked out in the middle of the night and had to drive 5 minutes up the road to the campsite and pay. The plus was we got a shower that morning! We also paid to camp in Reykjavik since it is the capitol city and difficult to find parking to "camp" in. We camped in a site in the city, which made it easy to explore the area and have a hot shower the next day.
*Go at your own pace. The benefit of not being on a tour is you get to pick and choose what sites you want to see and how long you want to spend at each place. You can go as fast or slow as you would like and really take in your surroundings. Having the flexibility with a camper van you can drive until you find a place to pull off and camp. This means you never have hotel reservations booked ahead that you must make it to each day. You just drive and stop as you like.
*Have Iceland to Yourself. When you aren't at a campground and camp in Iceland you will almost always have that area to yourself. There were no instances where we had other campers camping in the same place. This just means that you get to have Icelandic nature all to yourself.
Iceberg Lagoons
Our private black sand beach
Price of Renting a CamperVan:
The price for camper vans varies by company, transmission, high/low season, size, and what extra amenities you want. In general during the Fall season you will pay between $80-$200 per day depending on the company. We paid about $110 per night and added on our sleeping bags and mattress, cooler, stove/pots/cutlery, and 2 camp chairs for a small additional fee. We had unlimited miles, a gas card, free hotel pick up, free Flybus tickets from the airport to our hotel, and a free drop off when our trip was over. We were really impressed with our company's inclusions, and customer service. The best advice is to book as far out as you can since these companies do book out quite quickly. Shop around for the right company and price point for your budget and try to get it booked sooner rather than later.
Gassing Up:
Most camper companies will give you a free fuel discount card for any N1 station. This was a nice bonus to reduce the cost of fuel and, let's be honest, we both got pretty excited anytime we found an N1 gas station. I know that sounds completely strange and random, but the N1 stations almost always have the coveted and famous Icelandic hot dogs! These things were absolutely delicious and everyone raves about how tasty they are. They sure know how to make a hot dog! But also, these stations are a great place to use the restroom, get some free WIFI, and stock up on any items you may need along the way. Most N1 stations also have a tourist section with free maps and point of interest books. I always picked these up to reference and see if there were places we may want to add to our trip each day. They also will have maps of all the N1's in Iceland, which can be helpful, and maps of where all the Bonus supermarkets are located so you can plan when to stop for food.
Icelandic Hot Dog
Showering:This was the big concern I had when we decided to camp in a van. The truth is you will likely not be showering everyday. There is so much to see in Iceland that showering will be the least of your worries. We were able to shower the 2 times that we stayed on a campground, when we used the Blue Lagoon and Myvatn Nature Baths, and then you can also pay at various camp grounds along the way to use their showers. Between all of these options you will get a shower every few days and that should suffice. In the meantime we used wet wipes to wash ourselves daily and keep ourselves pretty clean between showers. A few days I even washed my hair outside with bottled water and shampoo! You do what you have to do to feel clean!
Eating:
Once we got our camper van our first stop was the Bonus Supermarket in Reykjavik. This a chain of discount grocery stores on the island and we made it a point to get groceries at these places to save money. You have to remember that Iceland is EXPENSIVE!!! I packed granola bars, instant oats, and other snacks in our luggage to save on some cost. We stocked up on: bacon, veggies, fruit, bread, bottled water, beer, chicken, crackers, cookies, peanuts, cereal, milk, pasta, pasta sauce, hot dogs, cheese, lunchmeat. Our camper company had a food pantry where we grabbed: toilet paper, paper towels, peanut butter, nutella, pasta, pasta sauce, salt/pepper, etc.
Bacon and Oats on our Camp Stove
Camp Easy food pantry
We did eat a few restaurants along the way and I will highlight that in future posts, because you have to try to local food, right!?
When to Go:
We started our trip at the very end of August and into September. It was pretty great weather, but it does get chilly at night. We had our sleeping bags, but both slept in warm pants, long sleeve shirts, a fleece, and wore a hat and sometimes our gloves to bed. This wasn't always necessary and we did blast the heat while we watched our movies each night, so by the time we turned the car off we were warm and were able to fall asleep comfortably. Some camper vans have a built in heat system that work overnight to keep the van warm, but our budget van did not include this extra. These vans would be perfect from the spring into the fall, but I am not sure how it would work in the winter.
In terms of high season and low season, that also plays into the cost of Iceland. At the beginning of September the prices for things will drop as many tourists only come to visit in the summertime. So several of our admission to the Blue Lagoon, Horseback riding, whale watching, and our camper rental price were cheaper than they are in the summer. I really recommend September because the weather is not drastically different from the summer and you will start seeing the Northern Lights during this time too. We only saw them one night, but it was incredible.
Final Thoughts:
I know some people probably thought we were crazy doing this, and camping is definitely not for everyone. Overall, it was an inexpensive way to see such a beautiful but expensive country. If you don't need fancy hotels and fancy rental cars, you will love this adventurous option. Most of the companies do offer larger RV's if you have a larger family and are interested in doing a trip like this. This was our most exciting and memorable trip yet, and we both cannot stop talking about our next trip to Iceland.
Enjoying a hotdog
First night of camping!
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