Iceland cover

Travel on a budget: Iceland

Would you like to know how to travel on a budget to Iceland?

It’s a lot easier than what most people think. In this post, I will tell you how I traveled to Iceland on a budget.

  1. Book tickets in advance
  2. Book your holiday based on the flight tickets
  3. Don’t go alone, go with a group
  4. Reasonable or cheaper? (Rent a car or not)
  5. Booking accommodation

Before moving forward, you might want to have a look at the video I made from my trip to Iceland.

 

Book tickets in advance

Based on my experience, buying the tickets is the cheapest part of this trip. I booked my tickets from Manchester to Keflavík through easyJet and it cost me £70 for a return flight. I booked the tickets almost two months in advance. The tickets are usually cheaper during the week, but we wanted to go on a Friday and come back on a Tuesday.

There’s always good offers wondering around, so keep an eye out for them.

 

Book your holiday based on the flight tickets

Probably most people do this or at least that’s what I do. I look around for flight tickets and based on that I decide when I book my holiday. Usually, I never have a specific time of the year when I take my days off, I just go on holidays when there are any good offers.

Have a look at the following image:

easyJet Offer
easyJet Offer

If you’re looking for the cheapest option, flying to Amsterdam on a Thursday morning is almost three times cheaper than on a Friday. Also, coming back is always way cheaper on a Monday or Tuesday than on a Sunday.

 

Don’t go alone, go with a group

This really depends on your budget. When going to Iceland, I found that it works out cheaper to go with a group. Especially when it comes to renting a car.

Going with a group means that you can share the accommodation price and most of the other expenses, like gas for example. Plus, we all know that is a lot more fun to experience fun stuff with your friends.

FlipOut Manchester – the go to place for fun and workout

Reasonable or cheaper? (Rent a car or not)

Honestly speaking, I don’t believe that you can experience Iceland to it’s fullest without renting a car.

You basically have two options: rent a car or take the coach.

The coach takes a preset route, showing you most of the touristic attractions, based on what tickets you pay for. It’s cheaper than renting a car but it offers you very little flexibility. You always depend on that coach to take you from one place with another.

Renting a car offers you more flexibility, you can cover more ground and visit more places and do random stops anywhere you would like. The only downside is the cost, that is a lot higher than taking the coach.

Most of the things are quite expensive in Iceland, but renting the car cost the most in our trip. That’s mainly because on top of the car renting cost, you must pay for an additional insurance. Something that the website we used to book the car didn’t tell us about. When you get there and you’re ready to take the car, they basically say to you: “You must pay £ XXX amount for insurance, otherwise you will be required to pay for anything that might happen to the car whilst you’re renting it.”. Bearing in mind that when we booked the car it said that the insurance was included.

You should know that renting a car is almost impossible/super expensive without a credit card. Most renting car companies won’t rent any cars without a credit card. Also, if you’re under 25 is more expensive as well, as you must pay some extra taxes.

We decided to rent a Mazda 2, 2014/15 model I think it was. It wasn’t 4×4, but it suited our needs perfectly. Be aware, with small cars like this you’re not allowed to drive on their Type F roads.

Booking accommodation

When it comes to booking accommodation, there’s one website we always check and use: Airbnb

Yeah, of course, we check other websites as well to compare prices, but Airbnb always works out cheaper or better value for the money. In addition, renting through airbnb is awesome. You get a much better experience, just like a normal individual living there. I never liked hotels, I’d rather live in a cottage next to a farm, in the middle of nowhere.

The only time I used booking.com was when we went to Venice, Italy. The accommodation had great pictures, the location was perfect and the price was reasonable, but when we got there the place was actually terrible and we couldn’t wait to get out. From that day on I always prefer to pay a bit more on Airbnb than using their website.

 

In conclusion, going to Iceland it has been one of the best experiences in my life and I will definitely go there again. That place is just magic. Going there with a group it’s a lot more fun, especially when you spent loads of time driving from one place to another. The glaciers are amazing and all the mountains just call for you to go for hiking. Renting a car is more expensive but totally worth it and Airbnb’s are great on the island. Most people speak really good English.

 

 

 

#tbt to almost two weeks ago. #geysir #iceland #hot #water #holiday #trip

A post shared by Somcutean Doru (@somcuteandoru) on

 

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