Iceland advice??? Mse style??

Shimrod

Ballard wrote: »

You can’t buy alcohol in standard shops there, you need to go to a government shop. I have no idea of the prices.

The shops are called Vinbudin, and only open at set times. Figure on around twice the price of he UK for a bottle of wine, with a starting price of around £11

Ballard wrote: »

I did see a box of cornflakes for £8 and a loaf of bread for £9. A basic breakfast was about £12 if memory serves me right

I've been six times and never paid prices anything like that. Possibly if you are looking for brand name products that have been imported, but not if you buy the local equivalents. Supermarket shopping is generally only a little more expensive than in the UK.


We budget on £2,000 for a week - but most of that is accommodation and car hire. Typically 4 or 5 nights self-catering and a couple of nights in a hotel, with car hire around £450-500 depending on offers availabe.

cubegame

pelirocco wrote: »

We didnt find it overly expensive tbh ...well not much more than other European Capital cities ( I think Stockholm is the out right winner !) Alcahol is expensive , restaurants prices vary , basic meals arent too bad price wise . If you are going outside of winter hire a car and tour round you will see so much more . We were in Reykjavik in February , and very lucky that we had loads of snow ( looks much prettier in winter when its covered in snow ! ) didnt see the lights , they are a very rare sighting . The blue lagoon was fun in the snow , and the golden circle tour would be a bit diasppointing had we not had the amazing covering of snow I think
I would like to go back in the summer and tour round
I was pretty impressed with Icelandair btw

Summer is a different story in terms of costs.

We've were considering for this summer. Put off by costs though. A decent B&B we stayed at for 80 quid a night at Lake Myvatn was £320 a night...... That is not a typo.

Twopints

In Reykjavik we found that meals in bars / pubs were good value, and some of the bakeries.

Pub food

for drinks there is a guide to happy hours in Reykjavik

Happy hours

There used to be an Happy Hour website but I think it may now be an app

joylikes2shop

I've been to Iceland (Reykjavik) twice - April 2015 and October 2016.

The prices in 2015 were absolutely fine...not anywhere as expensive as I'd expected... on average I'd say it was no more expensive than a 'good' holiday in the UK. We stayed in a small, centrally located 'boutique' hotel with breakfast included in the price, and did most of the usual tourist trips -because we weren't sure if we'd ever be back again. A pint of beer was around £4.50 and most bars had 'happy hours'...this doesn't mean '2 for 1' but normally gives some kind of discount.

October 2016 - due to the difference in the exchange rate - was a completely different story. We booked a centrally located one bedroom apartment, and couldn't believe the difference in price for EVERYTHING... Breakfast was super expensive..2 coffees,an orange juice,a pancake & a bagel with bacon cost over £40.
Beer was around £11 a pint...even the 'happy hour' didnt seem to make a big difference.

Supermarkets didn't sell alcohol, and as previously mentioned, alcohol is only sold in one shop in Reykjavik, which was not cheap, and had limited choice.

*MSE tips -

ALCOHOL-Buy at the airport before you leave the uk/ireland, or on arrival in Iceland airport...you cant miss the duty free shop when you arrive, its at the bottom of the escalators as you head out of the airport.

TOURS-Take a free walking tour...Reykjavik is easy to walk around, and we did a 'free' walking tour where you only 'tip' your tour guide whatever you feel the tour was worth. Our guide was knowledgeable and entertaining.

LAUNDRY- if you really need to do your laundry when you're in Iceland, be sure to check out the laundromatcafe where you can put your laundry on to wash, while having a meal in the restaurant ?!?!?

SHOPPING - Kringlan...An indoor shopping centre with a FREE bus shuttle from Reykjavik [URL=http://en.kringlan.is/news-events/news/free-shuttle-bus-on-every-hour[/URL]

Hope this info helps a bit.

Katiehound

I would also recommend a cruise- whilst not in the budget category you can sail right round the island & see different areas.
The scenery is stunning.
My cousin (who hired a 4 wheel drive) said it was the most 'David Attenborough' place that they had ever visited.

pompeyrich

I'm in the "it's not that bad" camp. We booked a 4 night trip with EasyJet hlidays and it was a real bargain, December but only £170 for flights and hotel, the hotel had breakfast included and free parking.


We hired a car for the 5 days for under £100 which wasn't much more than a bus to/from the airport. Petrol was a similar price to here. As has been said visit the duty free either before you fly or on arrival, the arrival DF has beers at reasonable prices as well as the usual spirits, wine tobacco goods etc.


As has been said there is a KFC and Dominos etc. which are similar prices to here and can keep costs down a bit. Although some of the restaurants in Reyjavic did seem pricey, we didn't feel the need to eat there.


There are budget supermarkets, we used Bonus, seemed reasonable for crisps, coke and other snacky type stuff


Get yourself a decent credit/debit card as this is the normal way to pay, even for small things like parking meters etc.


Pre-book tickets for the Blue Lagoon, if that appeals to you, there are cheaper options for geo-thermal pools but we felt as it was our 1st and possibly only visit the BL was a must do, we loved it, drinking a beer in the hot water while the snow fell, surreal. We also liked that the attractions on the Golden Circle tour, we self drove it, were free as was parking.

ianh1956

Went in 2012 and it was a bit more expensive than the UK but reasonable, sounds like the prices have increased quite a bit since though.

Definitely do the golden circle tour and blue lagoon if you can though, well worth it imo

Shimrod

ianh1956 wrote: »

Went in 2012 and it was a bit more expensive than the UK but reasonable, sounds like the prices have increased quite a bit since though.

Definitely do the golden circle tour and blue lagoon if you can though, well worth it imo

In 2012 the exchange rate was about 220ISK to the £, but it is now around 140ISK to the £, so everything has become a third more expensive. The number of tourists has also increased from 672,000 in 2012 to 2.2m in 2017, which I expect has put some upward pressures on prices, especially accommodation. Even in winter, accommodation around Reykjavik is around 90% occupied.


Interesting, the majority of both Icelanders and tourists think there are too many tourists ( https://www.ferdamalastofa.is/static/files/ferdamalastofa/Frettamyndir/2017/juli/tourism-in-iceland-2017-9.pdf )

ianh1956

Don't think I'll be planning a return trip any time soon then!

.Johanna.

Can anyone recommend any airport transfers? Would it be better to book these in advance?