15 Random Iceland Travel Tips for your Ring Road Trip

Planning a trip to Iceland? Looking for some helpful Iceland travel tips that you might not find elsewhere? I got you covered! In this guide, I’ll go through some random Iceland travel tips that will hopefully help you when planning your trip to Iceland along the ring road.

This is not meant to be an all-encompassing list for tips on an Iceland Ring Road trip — and I’ve left out a lot of basic, Captain Obvious tips that you’re going to read on every other blog out there (as in, “prepare for all kinds of weather!” “get the full car insurance” “it’s expensive” and “dress in layers” – so hopefully you can find something unique here. Most of these tips can be applied no matter what time of year you go, but I went in summer so my experience is all based on high season, when everything is open.

Let’s begin!

1. Iceland Travel Tips: Get a PIN for your credit card

This is really important, especially if you are traveling in remote areas of Iceland — especially the Westfjords. Gas stations are few and far between and often times, they are unmanned, and require you to enter a PIN.

Before you go to Iceland, call your credit card company and request a PIN. Some credit card companies require the PIN to be MAILED to you — you can’t just set it over the phone — and it can take up to 14 business days to receive it. I dawdled around and didn’t request mine right away, until we were about a week and a half away from our trip. Luckily, my PIN arrived the same day we were leaving! And good thing too, because we ran across gas stations requiring PINs more times than you’d think!

Related: View all of my Iceland posts here!

2. Iceland Travel Tips: You don’t need any cash whatsoever

We used our credit cards the entire time we were there, no matter what we were purchasing.

I always bring a few different credit cards just in case. I have 3 VISAs and an AMEX. Most of the time, AMEX is NOT ACCEPTED (in Iceland or anywhere outside the USA for that matter. It’s very rare to find a business that accepts AMEX).

3. Iceland Travel Tips: The entire country is covered in lupine

Even though it looks so pretty, lupine in Iceland is actually an invasive species. It’s everywhere – and I do mean everywhere. I first noticed it when our plane touched down at KEF – yes, there was lupine growing along the sides of the runways. So if you see a patch of lupine and you want to photograph it, but there’s nowhere to pull off, don’t fret, you WILL find more. Trust me.

Lupine season is typically mid May through mid July. When we left in mid July (July 13th to be exact), we could tell that the season was winding down; some of the flowers were going to seed.

4. Iceland Travel Tips: The cheapest gift shops are at the airport

Yeah, I’m serious. You can easily save your souvenir shopping for when you depart, because there are tons of duty free shops after security and again after customs, that you will find almost anything you saw in those Reykjavik shops for a lot cheaper. I purchased a bunch of chocolate bars, soaps, and my favorite gift, my wool puffin blanket all at duty free — I priced all of this out and it was much cheaper at duty free! I wish I would’ve known this beforehand — but at least my most expensive souvenir (the puffin blanket) was a lot cheaper at duty free than in Reykjavik!

5. Iceland Travel Tips: You CAN plan a summer trip to Iceland last-minute

I know because I did it. I started planning the second week of May, for a June 28th departure! Now, of course, you’re probably going to get better deals if you plan months ahead, and you’ll get your choice of lodging, but there is no reason why this can’t be done. I did not have any issue getting lodging — all of the places (except for one) were wonderful and reasonably priced (for Iceland). I only had issues getting lodging in the Vik area, which corresponds to my least favorite place I stayed. But otherwise, no issues getting lodging. If you are planning a trip and having trouble finding lodging, you just have to keep looking. People often hold on to multiple reservations at a time and then cancel before the cancellation deadline. There are ALWAYS places popping up!

As far as tours, we didn’t do any sort of guided tours or excursions. The only things we needed tickets to were Sky Lagoon (booked the day before we went) Blue Lagoon, and the Ferry Baldur to the Westfjords. I had no issues making a reservation for us and the car. I looked into doing a glacier lagoon tour and we would’ve been able to do this if we wanted to.

One caveat: We were traveling as a couple. It would be much more difficult to find lodging that accommodates 3 or more, when planning last minute.

6. Iceland Travel Tips: Pack cold medicine

You might get sick. Even if you’re like me and never get sick, it can happen. I never get sick but of course, as chance would have it, I came down with a nasty cold a few days into our trip, and come to find out, they don’t sell cold medicine in Iceland (either that, or it’s very difficult to find – I’ve heard you can get it at some pharmacies but I asked at the ones I went to and they said they didn’t sell that sort of thing). Also, cough drops are tough to find. Unlike the USA, you won’t find them sold in a grocery store. You have to go to a pharmacy.

7. Iceland Travel Tips: Download one of the parking apps

If you’re planning on visiting any of the big tourist attractions in Iceland along the Ring Road, chances are you’re going to need to pay a small parking fee. Most of this is all done online, via an app. I used Parka.is and it was really easy to use. Don’t think you’re going get away with not paying; most of the car parks photograph your license plate as you drive in. If you don’t pay, your rental car company will be sending you a bill.

8. Iceland Travel tips: Take time to play on a jumping balloon

These things are everywhere in Iceland! I saw my first one at the Foss Hotel on the Snaefellsness Peninsula and was fascinated by it. These “jumping balloons” are essentially a trampoline anchored to the ground and found in city parks all around the country. These jumping balloons are on timers which inflate in the morning and deflate at night. Anyone can use them! And best of all, they’re free!

Here is a map of all of the trampolines in Iceland.

9. Iceland Travel Tips: It’s not easy to do your laundry

There very few laundromats in Iceland, with most being in Reykjavik. Hotels do not have self-service laundry like they do in the USA. So what do you do if you need to do laundry? There’s a few options:

• Stay at a guesthouse / apartment that has laundry facilities. Keep in mind that while they may have a washing machine, they might not have a dryer. If you stay at one that does have laundry, take advantage of it and do a load.
• Some of the hotels will do your laundry for you, most charging by the bag. We ended up not needing to do this, but most of the time, when I asked, it was roughly $20-25 per bag.
• Pull into a campground. Most have laundromats for anyone to use, even if you’re not staying there.
• Find a laundromat. Like I mentioned, there are maybe 2 in Reykjavik, but I did find one a full-service one in Hofn and they were reasonably priced. Be mindful of the hours! When we used the one in Hofn, we had to cut short our time at Vestrahorn because we needed to get there 2 hours before they closed so they had time to do our laundry.

10. Iceland Travel tips: Be mindful of the regular gas / diesel fuel pump colors

The colors on the pumps are opposite of what we have in the United States. Green is for regular, red or black is for diesel. Make sure you know what type of gas you’re putting into your car before you start pumping!

11. No Tipping

Like many places in Europe, you do not need to tip in Iceland.

12. Lots of one-lane bridges

As you travel the Ring Road, you’ll find one-lane bridges everywhere. But don’t worry too much, there just isn’t that much traffic where you’d come across someone going the opposite way. Just watch out for the signs and if you see someone coming in the opposite direction, there will be a small pullout where you can pull over and wait for the vehicle to pass.

13. Booking.com is totally fine

Outside of the Courtyard by Marriott hotel that I stayed in, I booked everything through Booking.com. I had no issues, and it was the best site around to find out what was available for lodging during my trip.

14. Grocery store hours are short

You’ll find big signs with posted hours on lots of stores in Iceland, including Bonus and Kronan.

Grocery stores, especially Bonus are located everywhere in Iceland – you won’t have trouble finding a place to grab some food. You will have trouble with the hours once you venture outside of Reykjavik though!

15. Wifi Device for the car doesn’t always work

I loved having the wifi device that I got with my car rental. For the most part, it worked perfectly, but you can’t expect it to work EVERYWHERE. Sometimes it would randomly stop working and I had to reset, especially when driving through mountains. I thought this was easier than getting a SIM card, but a SIM card would work great too.

There you go! Hopefully my list of tips and tricks for Iceland helps you when planning your trip! If you have anything else to add, please let me know in the comments! Happy planning!