TIPS AND TRICKS FOR A SUCCESSFUL DRIVING EXPERIENCE IN ICELAND!
Iceland is by far one of the best countries I have been to - to road trip around. Especially for the beginner road-tripper Not only is it super hard to get lost because there is only one road that makes a circle around the entire country, (plus a few side roads) but there is so much to see and do! There are actually a lot of interior roads, but those are only for super experienced off roaders with well equipped cars. I heard that a lot of tourists had been taking their normal rental cars onto these roads and getting stuck. Thus, blocking the road, having to pay to get it removed and what not. The cars they use to offroad in, in Iceland are insane! The tires are as tall as me! It is crazy. Also, if you are traveling in the winter months, there is no hope you are getting onto an interior road without one of those cars.Actually in Iceland they do not really call it “Off Roading” to them that means something totally different and is not acceptable. It literally means that you are going off the road, and because their land is so fragile that is not acceptable. I am not an expert on off roading in Iceland - I have a link Here if that is something you are interested in. Also, the country literally has the best cell service of any place I have ever been. I mean I would expect nothing less from a country with the highest per capita internet usage - gotta stay connected on the road! Now you might be wondering how I had cell service in a country I am not from. Well, you can click here to see how I have service or internet on the go in every country I travel to.
I can Ramble, big time and before I know it this post could get out of hand so....back to the point of this blog post: A road trip in Iceland.
WHAT TYPE OF CAR TO RENT:
Me and Robert went to Iceland mid March. From our experience the roads were super icy! Not that we slid around - but that is because we rented the right type of car. We rented a 4 wheel drive car with studded snow tires. Now, I grew up in Colorado and am an experienced inclement/snowy weather driver and had never driven with studded tires before. They were a life saver! There were times when we were driving through the East Coast, I think we would have for sure slid off the road straight into the fjord a few 100 feet below us (there were no barriers) without the studded tires. Pick a rental company that does not put a limit on kilometers or miles you drive. Some companies will have limits and that 25 cents or however much per extra kilometer can add up super fast!
We used Blue Car Rental. I would highly recommend them - they had great cars and were nice. We rented a kia sportage 4x4 Diesel (automatic). We both know how to drive manual’s. But if you are more comfortable driving an automatic, or that is the car you drive every day and you are traveling to a foreign country, I would recommend renting what you are comfortable in. However, one advantage of renting a manual is they are usually cheaper. Eventhough there is great service in Iceland - GPS is always great to have just in case. We got lucky and had it thrown in on a special deal for free - in the end it is up to you, but it is worth having especially since bad directions can cause divorces! Just kidding - but in all seriousness if you are the navigator and get distracted by the beautiful views and maybe you guys miss a turn - it can turn messy real quick depending on how hungry you guys are. So that English lady that always tells you were to go could be worth the extra few dollars a day.
I also recommend that you always buy $0 deductible car insurance from your rental company if they offer it. Yes, it is usually a little extra per day - but better than a $2,000 deductible if something does happen. Take it from me, I got in a bad car accident this summer in Ireland in a rental car (it was not my fault - just wanted to throw that out there) and luckily we had $0 deductible insurance for the extra 80 euros it saved us at least 2,000 euros.
The Road that felt like we were going to slip off of straight into the water if it had not been for our studded tires. It does not look like it, but it was a long ways down.
TO GET A GAS CARD OR NOT?
I had read a lot of posts on this particular subject before we went to Iceland and we decided to get a gas card. Well, that was a big mistake. I think we put 100 Krona on it and used it once, because once we left Reykjavik we couldn’t find another gas station that took that particular card. If you have a credit card with a chip and pin you should be just fine without a gas card. Also, I found them confusing to use. We ended up giving ours to some people picking up their car for their trip around Iceland when we were leaving. In hindsight we should have given it to someone that lived there. Maybe we were too embarrassed at the time to admit to a native Icelandic person that we had actually bought a gas card. #rookiemistake. Do not buy a gas card, or if you do make sure it is a popular gas station throughout iceland.
One thing I will say that was super helpful, is if you are driving the ring road and you see a gas station. Fill up, even if you are only a quarter tank empty - because you may not see another gas station for a long while. That is not a place where you want to run out of gas. You can be driving for hours and not pass another car in some of the more remote parts of your drive. That being said, also make sure you stop to use the restroom even if you do not have to go. This could be the only restroom you see in hours. But hey, you will still probably have cell service!
Icy Road. We were happy we had a full tank, just in case.
HOW TO FIND OUT THE ROAD CONDITIONS:
Icelandic people are very friendly and helpful people, they have some super helpful websites as well. One of the most helpful websites when driving around the country you can find here. It is called road.is - it can also be found through a quick google search “Iceland Road Conditions”. It gives you road conditions on the entire country. It shows you what is closed, what may be slippery, what is good. Etc. It was extremely helpful on our trip. On the East coast the roads do close a bit more often than is maybe desirable in the winter time. It is especially helpful to have so you can make other plans if that part of the road is closed for that particular day. We had actually told a nice women from Reykjavik that we would be doing the ring road. She literally looked at us like we were crazy and then basically told us that we would be lucky if we made it around the road due to the inevitable road closures awaiting us. luckily Robert is from Ireland and he often brings us his leprechaun luck, so we made it all the way around without having to change our plans due to road closures. The road was actually so icy and terrifying to drive on - I was surprised it was open (thanks god for those studded tires), do take it seriously when it says the road is icy - marked by blue. The website is def worth saving to your favorites in your browser.
It's not all ice, but the roads can be narrow.
BEWARE OF SPEED CAMERAS:
Always follow the speed limit in Iceland! The speed limits in Iceland may seem extremely slow - With the general rule being 90 km/hour (56 MPH) as the max speed you can drive outside of town and villages and on unpaved roads that goes down to 80km/hr (49 MPH). There is no where in Iceland that you can legally drive faster. On their main Highway 1 or the Ring Road the speed limit is 90 KM(56 MPH) per hour and they will get you if go over. Now personally I liked the slow speed limits. You are on vacation you should not be in a rush and it kept my speed demon husband (who sometimes scares me to death) at a enjoyable speed. In our experience you will not see many cops, and you will not see the speed cameras (as they are well hidden), but you will see the email from your car rental company with the hefty fine. You can ask Robert all about that, as the one day I was not paying attention (I was writing postcards while he was driving) I have to constantly remind him to slow down - he got a speeding ticket. He did not know he had gotten the speeding ticket until we got home and got a friendly little email from our car rental company, with a not so friendly fine. The funny thing about it, is we had driven around the entire ring road and were just coming into Reykjavik for our last night. At least I find it kind of amusing, I do not think that Robert does... I the bottom line is Don’t Speed in Iceland because they will get you. Robs not the only person I know that has gotten a speeding ticket. I Know someone else that got pulled over by the police and had to pay a fine of over 400 Icelandic Krona on the spot.
DRIVING lONG DISTANCES AT NIGHT IN ICELAND:
We only did this once - because it was terrifying! Driving at night in my opinion is already harder than driving during the day for multiple reasons. The reason I would avoid it in Iceland, is because for one the roads become icier, but the main reason is because of the trucks. Large Semis drive at night (at least that is when we ran into them). If there is snow on the ground they throw up the dust from it and it completely blinds you. I had to stop several times, while I was praying that we were not going to go off of the road because we were literally enveloped in a cloud of white smoke. I did not want to slam on my brakes because of the ice...so it took us some time to stop, even though we could not see where we were driving. The first time it happened to us, it was terrifying because we were not expecting it. The second time, we had already started slowing down, so it wasn't as bad. IF you do drive at night, just be weary that this could happen to you. Also, if you are driving during Northern Lights Season have your passenger keep their eye peeled for the Elusive Aurora.
ONE WAY BRIDGES:
These are fairly common and easy to navigate. The person that gets there first has the right away. If cars are behind them, often they will follow them through. Just make sure you yield and look across the bridge before you go.
Example of a one way Bridge. Yes this is for two way traffic.
A FEW MORE THINGS:
Keep in mind that Car Headlights must be switched on at all time even during the day. This is a hard thing to remember, especially for me. I am the type of person that will get into a car without automatic headlights at night time and forget to turn them on for a minute because I just expect them to come on. This is something to mentally remind yourself about.
Mind the Doors. Iceland gets really high winds and if you open the door with the wind, it could be ripped off. The car we had advised that you hold on tight to the door handle and possibly park your car into the wind. But be careful because it could slam back into you, if you are not.
Of Course wearing a seat belt is required by law.
The emergency service number in Iceland is 112.
They have a 112 Iceland App that is worth the download just in case. I downloaded it before I went. You can call for help by pressing the red emergency button on it and your location will be sent to the 112 response center. My favorite feature was the green check in button, that allows you to leave your location with them in case something happens and you go missing in your car. Unlikely, but you can never be too safe. The great news is you are not disturbing anyone because the information goes to a computer that only saves your last five locations. Click the link here to find out more about the app and to download it.
An Icelandic Road from above. Yes, that is a two lane road. it actually is not as narrow as it looks. But still pretty narrow. Also note there is nothing insight as far as the drone can see.
CHECKLIST:
Rent a 4x4 Car with Studded Tires
pick a rental company that does not put a limit on the amount of kilometers you can drive
GPS is great to have just in case
Buy $0 deductible insurance
Fill your car with gas whenever you can, even if you are almost full
Save road.is to your browser favorites in your phone - for the most up to date road conditions and closures
Don’t Speed ever!
Keep your headlights on at all times - even during the day.
Click it, or ticket
Emergency service number of Iceland is 112, Download their hand dandy app.
. Mind The Doors in the high wind.
Above all Drive Safely and have the time of your life. Take in the scenery and stop as often as you can. Of course not on the main road, but on one of the many pull outs. Final helpful link with some videos and more information about driving in Iceland.
Did I cover everything? If not, leave some comments and I can add it in later!
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