All about driving in Iceland

by mark | 17 Aug 2022, 8:18 p.m.

Updated by mark | 17 Aug 2022, 8:34 p.m.

I have been to Iceland a few times and driven around it. One of my IRL friends wanted some advice. I decided to make a blog post about it in case I am asked again. So, without further ado:

My Guide to Driving in Iceland

Getting a Car

There are three ways of getting a car in Iceland. 

1. You can buy one
2. You can bring one, on the ferry from Denmark, via the Faroe Islands
3. You can hire one

Option 3 is what we are talking about. You can hire cars from the international airport at Keflavík, in Reykjavík itself, and sporadically elsewhere in the country. You should reserve your hire car far in advance as they often sell out. All of the car hire firms have web sites you can place your reservation through. Make sure you have the reservation confirmed; you occasionally find you have merely requested to hire a car, not agreed to hire a car. This happened to me once and we had to hire the last car in the shop, which was a giant 4x4 thing we did not want or need. However the agent took pity on us and let us hire it for the price we thought we would be paying (I wouldn’t count on this happening to you!). 

There are a variety of cars you can offer. In the summer, if you are just doing tourist things on main roads, you do not need anything more than the low end VW Fox equivalents. I am very tall so this physically doesn’t work for me but maybe it will for you. If you are doing something slightly off the beaten track (i.e. on well maintained, numbered gravel roads) you will want at least an SUV style thing which will be able to deal with the bumps a bit better. These may be four wheel drive but I would be very wary about taking them properly off road, into the deep interior or fording rivers. You can hire actual off road vehicles for that at great expense; there are a few river crossings where you genuinely need massive ground clearance and snorkels. 

If you are arriving in winter and are doing anything other than tourist trap stuff at the Blue Lagoon and in Reykjavík I would want an SUV style thing at the very least. The extra weight helps with grip. I think. 

Another option is converted vans with beds in, rarely with loos. These have become a bit of a pain now as there are all kinds of restrictions about where you can park up for the night. Iceland is like everywhere else and bans people having unsightly fun.

The hire places directly outside Keflavík are very convenient but charge a bit more than the places with shuttle buses to the depots outside the airport perimeter. There is also a shuttle bus that runs from the terminal to the places within the perimeter if the weather is bad or if you have lots of luggage. 

As with all hire car places the cars come with free third party cover and a very high deductible first party cover. They’ll try and upsell you lower excesses for a vast price. You can buy this cover in advance for about £30-£50 from an insurer. Look for ‘car hire excess cover’. I believe some credit cards offer it as well. We’ve had to use it once when someone opened their door into the car and drove off. The hire car company charged our credit card a very large number; we sent the receipt and some other paperwork to the insurer who reimbursed us within a week. 

Driving the Car

Iceland is all left hand drive vehicles which go on the right hand side of the road. Icelanders drive like maniacs especially in the snow. You don’t have to copy them. The standard of driving can be very bad as people get distracted by the sights. Pay attention to the road. Also, everything is in kilometres not miles. 

Speed limits are low and the Justice League (this is a literal translation of what the Icelandic police call themselves) will be efficiently expensive if they catch you. Don’t even think about drink driving. However roads (outside of tourist hotspots and settlements) are dead quiet so it is a relaxing drive. 

Automatics are standard but there are some manual cars. 

Oh No there is Nature Outside

Relax. 

There is a regulation that all cars have to have winter tires on during the winter. Winter tires mean metal studs which bite into the snow and ice to provide grip. It is like driving on wet tarmac; take it easy and you’ll be fine. This is also why I only drive four wheel drive vehicles in the winter; if one wheel loses grip you have traction in the other three. 

You won’t believe how good winter tires are until you’ve used them. This pic (from Lofoten, not Iceland) shows what you can drive on at 60kmh easily. 

Main roads get winter service. They are kept clear and gritted. Only during and immediately after snowstorms will conditions be poor. They can be extremely bad; in the very worst snow storms you will crawl along as visibility will be just barely to the next snow marker at the side of the road. Keep an eye on the weather forecasts and the road conditions. Serviced winter roads are fine to drive on, and are quite something to see, as you zoom along surrounded by a sea of snow. 

Interior roads are closed outside of high summer. Do not think about driving there; it’s a crime without authorisation and you need a specially modified super jeep to cope with the drifts. You wouldn’t be reading this post if you knew how to do it. 

Gravel roads are fine. Bumpy and full of potholes and go through some of the planet’s finest scenery. Drive slowly and carefully. Some can technically be done in a three door hatchback but I want an SUV at least for long stretches of gravel. 

River fords need to be treated with respect. Most of them are shallow but some of them require you to have a snorkel on the car to avoid hydrolock. Oh yeah - getting river water in your car’s air intake will kill the car and this will be very expensive. Don’t chance it unless you know what you are doing. There is one on the F249 that is especially bad; just pay a guy to drive you over. If you are at all unsure turn around. It’s not worth it. 

This is at Landmannalaugar. You can park up just before the ford and walk to the trailheads. It's fine!

So. Rent a car and have a blast. Don't go in rivers.