Frugal Trip to Iceland

MissShoestring is just back from 4 days in Iceland. She went alone as this was a holiday destination we rejected earlier on in the year because it is so expensive. However, MissShoestring did very well at cutting the costs and I'm going to share a few of her tips here.

The first one is to fly midweek with a budget airline and only take hand baggage. Also, reserve airport parking before going or get a lift to the airport, or use public transport. She also timed her flights so that she got 4 full days in Iceland but only paid for 3 nights accommodation. She flew out on the 0615 which arrived in Iceland at 0820, plenty of time for sightseeing all day on Monday. The flights cost £30.49 both ways with Easyjet from Luton making an air fare total of just under £61.

Next she booked beds in hostels which cost between 20 and 30 pounds a night making a total of £70 for accommodation. Lastly, she booked a really, small hire car at a cost of £75. She bought £50 worth of petrol and saved on food by visiting the cheap supermarket in Reyjkavik before setting out. She spent £25 on food and lived on breakfast bars, pasta and sandwiches. There were very few cooking facilities in the hostels, just a single ring and no mugs or cutlery ! She was glad that she had bought easy to prepare food.

So, for a grand total of £281 MissShoestring had an unforgettable visit and brought home plenty of pictures and some Icelandic sweets she picked up in the supermarket. If you are going in a group, then the petrol and car hire costs would be shared, so that would be a further saving. She also met lots of people who were camping, but she said that it is so windy there she might have worried about the tent blowing away! Also, bringing camping equipment is going to add to your flight costs.

Iceland is somewhere that I have on my wish list of places to visit, so maybe I'll start saving for a long weekend later in the year !