Here are some useful things that I think might be helpful to those visiting Iceland.
Arriving at the airport - Keflavik airport has free wifi, with a fairly easy process to log in. You have to provide a name and email address to get it. So far I have not received any spam, in case anyone is concerned about it. There is a fairly long walk to get to immigration, depending on what gate you are at. Immigration does not require you to fill in any forms, which is nice. They only asked me how many days I planned to be there, stamped my passport, and then let me through.
SIM card - We purchased one at the airport. There is an Elko store on the top floor, but you have to go to the bottom one. Make sure you get the correct size SIM card, because I got the wrong one and it was a hassle to get that fixed. The brand they sell there is Alterna, or at least that is the brand that I purchased.
Transportation - I purchased Skybus Plus, which takes you to the central bus station and then you will either sit the same big bus or transfer to a smaller bus that will take you to your hotel. Quite hassle free. There is free wifi on the bus. Buying a roundtrip ahead of time will yield a small discount (4,500ISK for RT vs 2,500ISK each way). Not sure how much a taxi is, but I was quoted 11,500ISK (about USD$100) to return to the airport.
General things
-The weather changes very fast and fairly drastically - we went in the summer.
-Tips are not expected at restaurants.
-English is very widely and well spoken, so Anglophones will not have trouble getting around.
-Most hotels we stayed at were fairly standard and small. Bed, desk, closet. The only liquid they offer doubles up as shampoo and soap, so bring your own if you are fussy. The only hotel we stayed at that gave us different liquids for soap, shampoo and conditioner was the Hilton in Reykjavik, probably because it was a big chain hotel. If you are lucky, you get a kettle and it is clean-looking.
-Many restaurants and cafes have free wifi, but for some reason Akureyri cafes seemed to not offer wifi.
Groceries - I found this very useful link for grocery store locations. My grocery store of choices was Bonus, because it was supposed to be cheaper and the store sign had a cute little pig.
Bank - I tried 3 different ATMs and all assessed a small fee, <200ISK. I chose the cheapest at 125ISK. The maximum I could draw was 20,000ISK. Honestly, there was not a moment we needed cash. Even the hotdog stand took credit card. OK, I take that back, there was one time we almost forgot we had debit and credit cards with PINs and I tried to offer some random guy at the gas station cash in return for him using his credit card for our gas.
Driving - Driving is pretty easy. There is one main road, the 1 highway, also called the ring road, which circles around Iceland. There are supposedly a lot of cops in the summertime waiting to ticket you, and tickets are expensive, according to the brochure at our rental car office. There are also speeding cameras, which apparently work, since someone I knew got a ticket. I'm nervously awaiting the rental car company to send me an email telling me they have charged me... Headlights have to be on all the time when driving - I poopood it at first, but found it was useful especially to see cars on the other side when trying to overtake. You need a credit or debit card with a PIN to get gas, otherwise during gas station hours you can purchase a prepaid card. Prices are fairly uniform. The message in the gas machine sometimes will ask you how much you want to put in, and it is just an authorization amount - if you put in less gas, they don't charge you the full amount you authorized. Depending on gas station, you could pump first and then pay, or the above mentioned situation could arise.
Parking - In the bigger cities on the main streets, there are signs in Icelandic that have numbers and then some times (I know it sounds vague, but I'm not good at describing, but if you see it you will know what I mean). They are generally 15 and 10-16, and mean 15 minute parking between 10am-4pm, otherwise you got towed. The tow sign has a picture, so you will not miss that. In Reykjavik I checked out some parking meters, and the rate was 225kr for 60 minutes, between certain hours.
Ferry - There are a couple of ferries around. If you want to take your ferry on the boat, be sure to book in advance, the earlier the better.
Hiking information - This was a fairly useful site for information, otherwise information is generally sparse. I tried to write in my blog how long my hikes were, distance and time, but this one has a good summary.
Leaving Iceland - Security let me take peanut butter through, but not yoghurt. Boo to them. The good news is you can keep your shoes on, though you still have to take out your iPad and laptop.
Feel free to ping me if you have other questions! I hope this was useful!
Arriving at the airport - Keflavik airport has free wifi, with a fairly easy process to log in. You have to provide a name and email address to get it. So far I have not received any spam, in case anyone is concerned about it. There is a fairly long walk to get to immigration, depending on what gate you are at. Immigration does not require you to fill in any forms, which is nice. They only asked me how many days I planned to be there, stamped my passport, and then let me through.
SIM card - We purchased one at the airport. There is an Elko store on the top floor, but you have to go to the bottom one. Make sure you get the correct size SIM card, because I got the wrong one and it was a hassle to get that fixed. The brand they sell there is Alterna, or at least that is the brand that I purchased.
Transportation - I purchased Skybus Plus, which takes you to the central bus station and then you will either sit the same big bus or transfer to a smaller bus that will take you to your hotel. Quite hassle free. There is free wifi on the bus. Buying a roundtrip ahead of time will yield a small discount (4,500ISK for RT vs 2,500ISK each way). Not sure how much a taxi is, but I was quoted 11,500ISK (about USD$100) to return to the airport.
General things
-The weather changes very fast and fairly drastically - we went in the summer.
-Tips are not expected at restaurants.
-English is very widely and well spoken, so Anglophones will not have trouble getting around.
-Most hotels we stayed at were fairly standard and small. Bed, desk, closet. The only liquid they offer doubles up as shampoo and soap, so bring your own if you are fussy. The only hotel we stayed at that gave us different liquids for soap, shampoo and conditioner was the Hilton in Reykjavik, probably because it was a big chain hotel. If you are lucky, you get a kettle and it is clean-looking.
-Many restaurants and cafes have free wifi, but for some reason Akureyri cafes seemed to not offer wifi.
Groceries - I found this very useful link for grocery store locations. My grocery store of choices was Bonus, because it was supposed to be cheaper and the store sign had a cute little pig.
Bank - I tried 3 different ATMs and all assessed a small fee, <200ISK. I chose the cheapest at 125ISK. The maximum I could draw was 20,000ISK. Honestly, there was not a moment we needed cash. Even the hotdog stand took credit card. OK, I take that back, there was one time we almost forgot we had debit and credit cards with PINs and I tried to offer some random guy at the gas station cash in return for him using his credit card for our gas.
Driving - Driving is pretty easy. There is one main road, the 1 highway, also called the ring road, which circles around Iceland. There are supposedly a lot of cops in the summertime waiting to ticket you, and tickets are expensive, according to the brochure at our rental car office. There are also speeding cameras, which apparently work, since someone I knew got a ticket. I'm nervously awaiting the rental car company to send me an email telling me they have charged me... Headlights have to be on all the time when driving - I poopood it at first, but found it was useful especially to see cars on the other side when trying to overtake. You need a credit or debit card with a PIN to get gas, otherwise during gas station hours you can purchase a prepaid card. Prices are fairly uniform. The message in the gas machine sometimes will ask you how much you want to put in, and it is just an authorization amount - if you put in less gas, they don't charge you the full amount you authorized. Depending on gas station, you could pump first and then pay, or the above mentioned situation could arise.
Parking - In the bigger cities on the main streets, there are signs in Icelandic that have numbers and then some times (I know it sounds vague, but I'm not good at describing, but if you see it you will know what I mean). They are generally 15 and 10-16, and mean 15 minute parking between 10am-4pm, otherwise you got towed. The tow sign has a picture, so you will not miss that. In Reykjavik I checked out some parking meters, and the rate was 225kr for 60 minutes, between certain hours.
Ferry - There are a couple of ferries around. If you want to take your ferry on the boat, be sure to book in advance, the earlier the better.
Hiking information - This was a fairly useful site for information, otherwise information is generally sparse. I tried to write in my blog how long my hikes were, distance and time, but this one has a good summary.
Leaving Iceland - Security let me take peanut butter through, but not yoghurt. Boo to them. The good news is you can keep your shoes on, though you still have to take out your iPad and laptop.
Feel free to ping me if you have other questions! I hope this was useful!
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