2 years ago today in 2016, I was a University student with well-paying part time jobs that allowed for me to save up for experiences, as well as take as much time off as I wanted. I knew it was time to plan a “budget” trip to Iceland, because it was somewhere that my friends and I always wanted to go. The allure was the Northern lights, the cold temperatures, the beautiful natural craters, glaciers and beaches.etc.. Whats there not to like when you think of a magical escape on an icy island?
Here’s the steps I took to save money on our trip to Iceland, and still get the best experience possible:
1. We booked our flights by searching SkyScanner which is an amazing resource for comparing flight prices and seeing what fits your individual budget. Another great site that I absolutely LOVE for booking flights is Kayak Explore – My favorite feature of this website is the world map, where you can see prices to anywhere in the world, taking off from your closest airport! We were able to snag a great deal on our flights because we went in January, which is “off season” to tourists, but the absolute best season for seeing the Northern Lights and climbing glaciers. Our flights came out to $298 each.
2. We booked our stay at an Airbnb. I 100% recommend booking an Airbnb in Iceland, because all the hotels and hostels were super far away from the main attractions and the quaint little neighborhood, Reykjavik. In Reykjavik, we stayed in the cutest little home with the nicest host. The accessibility to literally EVERYTHING in Reykjavik was what made this home worth it to stay in for me. All of the tours we went on departed from the BSI bus terminal, which was about a 10 minute walk from the Airbnb. We were able to stay in the Airbnb for 9 days and 8 nights for $300 each! Check out the Airbnb we stayed at here!
Dont have an Airbnb account yet? Let me hook you up with this link:
https://www.airbnb.ca/c/savannaha239?currency=CAD
3. The majority of our money was saved on FOOD. When in Iceland, a burger and fries (or famous hotdog and fries) will run you about $20+ CAD. We did a few things to make sure our entire travel budget wasn’t spent on eating out. And we managed to spend $125 on food
- We Packed some good ol’ fashioned instant noodles! ( Okay, laugh at me now- go ahead, its actually really funny because one of my friend’s suitcases was filled with those noodle containers lol) But really! On the days we had tours and got home late, they were the perfect thing to cozy into our Airbnb with.
- We made sure to eat at all the places that were MUST tries. We definitely weren’t going to miss out on special opportunities because of our budget. As soon as we narrowed down the things we couldn’t miss out on eating, it was easy to pass up things while we were on tours.
- Finally, we Grocery Shopped which allowed us to buy (and try) a bunch of cool Icelandic food, and also helped us save money so we could pack snacks for our tours, eat inside at night, and spend our money on the experiences we wanted to!
4. We booked 4 tours while we were in Iceland, and I would recommend all of them! We booked all our tours on Trip Advisor and they were all reasonably priced.
We made sure to do the Golden Circle Tour– which consisted of seeing old craters, waterfalls and Geysirs (it was AMAZING. Let me know if you want to see a blog post all about what I did, in detail!) We also did a tour of South Iceland where I got to climb a glacier (ice climbing) and we got to see more waterfalls and natural wonders. We went to the Blue Lagoon which was definitely the priciest tour, but totally worth it! (If you’re in Iceland, you CANT miss it. Seriously amazing, and so relaxing) And last but definitely not least, we went on a tour to see the Northern Lights, which was the best thing ever. All of these tours ran us up at about $200 each and were our favourite part of the trip!
5. We quickly learned that the shops that ran along the main streets of Reykjavik were overpriced for souvenirs, so we decided to do souvenir shopping outside of the main strip. We went to lots of little thrift stores for authentic Icelandic wool sweaters and knits, and little trinkets from the shops near here. I spent about $80 on souvenirs for myself and my family/friends. Make sure you do lots of price comparison- some shops are much more expensive than others.
These are the 5 ways we managed to go to Iceland for under $1000! Make sure to book your flights in advance, and remember the best Northern Lights viewing season is from late November- February.
Make sure to check out my Iceland Travel Diary and subscribe to me on Youtube!