Table of Contents
A Guide to Traveling Iceland in a Campervan
Manual or Automatic?
Most rental cars in Iceland are manual. If you absolutely cannot drive a stick, be prepared to pay a premium and book far in advance. Also consider the terrain when deciding — most roads, even when they begin paved — turn into rough gravel.
Suitcase vs. Backpack?
If you can comfortably fit all of your gear in a large backpack, that’s the easiest. Suitcases are doable, as long as they are not gigantic. Whatever you choose to bring with you, be prepared to move them onto the front seat every night. We brought two of the medium-sized suitcases in this luggage set.
Insurance
There’s so many options for insurance in Iceland that we actually felt a little overwhelmed (we mistakenly had not researched it beforehand).
Happy Campers includes CDW with all of their rentals; this is a mandatory insurance in Iceland, so it should technically be included with any and all rentals. Just accepting the Collision Damage Waiver will limit your liability to 2500 EUR ($2,800 USD), although you can choose to purchase more extensive insurance packages that cover common damages the car may incur during your travels.
I’d personally recommend at least getting gravel insurance since nearly every road will have gravel that will kick back at your car and may leave cosmetic blemishes. For more in-depth information on different types of insurance, see Happy Camper’s Insurance Q & A here.
If you have a credit card that offers auto insurance, check with them before you leave. This will be your cheapest option, and you may even have discount options available to you for already having CDW provided!
Camping Fees
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Hi everybody, I am visiting Iceland by campervan in 15 days and my question is: should I book in advance all the campings I will need to spend the night in? Or I can just arrive and ask for a place in a camping the very same day?
Great article. Being a campervan fan, Iceland has been on my bucket list for some time. Didn’t know there was really only 3 places to stock up on the groceries. Very handy. Also didn’t know it is now illegal to camp anywhere but campgrounds. That’s the thing about sparse countries and few towns, if you do the wrong thing, you stick out a lot and can easily get busted. I guess we’ll be staying in camp grounds. No free camping in Iceland!
I completely agree about skipping the camper chair rental. We rented chairs for the 2 weeks we were there (end of Aug) and I think we were only able to use them once. They proved to be a pain to move around everyday when we were packing up.
Good to know we didn’t just get very unlucky with the weather! Lol
Great tips! We’ve been traveling around America just in my car, and I keep saying how I wished we would have gotten a campervan. Definitely on my to-do list when I make it to Iceland 🙂
Campervans are such a fun way to travel!! I wish we had one of our own. 🙂
Hi Christy,
I see renting from the right company as being a huge factor in having a pleasant experience. Once you get that down, Iceland has the rest covered. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ryan