Contrary to my advice in Ireland and elsewhere – I would suggest booking everything before you arrive. There’s just no telling where the next available hotel might be, and how much it’s going to cost.
Whereas in Ireland I stayed almost exclusively at Airbnb’s (see post), in Iceland I spent only one night at an Airbnb (to see the Northern Lights). My experience searching on Airbnb in Iceland was I could book an entire house for $500 a night that slept 8, or a room at a spa for $300 a night with spa services extra, or I could stay in a Yurt for $100 a night. Not so much.
I ended up staying in hotels, farm-stays and hostels for between $90-170 (CAD) a night. And like the range of prices, the styles and facilities of these accommodations varied widely.
Interestingly enough, unlike in some other countries, I wasn’t always finding the same properties on multiple websites. Some only list on Hotels.com, others only on Booking.com – those are my two go-to sites.
Iceland definitely required more planning than Ireland. I mapped out how far I was willing to drive each day and then would look for a hotel in that general area. Some days because I was traveling off-season, some options were closed, so I ended up having to drive further, or pay more money.
Book ahead would be my words of wisdom.
Recommendations
These are not endorsements, just recommendations.
These recommendations account for 5 of my 10 nights, I do not feel comfortable recommending the others. And forgive the lack of photos, the idea for a Blog came after my trip, so moving forward I’ll have more photos of hotels and the like.
The Hörgsland Guesthouse could use some signage, it’s all a bit confusing where to pick up keys and which building you’re in. But I ended up in what appeared to be a pre-fab building with brand new everything. I had a perfectly tiny room with everything I needed, a great little bathroom and access to a shared kitchen.
The Brunnholl Country Guesthouse is also a functioning dairy. I was too cold to sample any, but the front desk also sells ice cream. Bonus. And the bed was probably the most comfortable I slept in during my stay, plus all the beds have beautiful local wool blankets on them.
On the Eastern tip of Iceland tucked at the end of one of the fjords is Reydarfjördur, one of the biggest small towns I went through. Since it is a Port, of sorts, it has one of everything, a bar, a grocery store, a liquor store, a post office and a clothing shop. One of the places to stay is the bar – the Tærgesen Guest House. If you can get one of the new rooms in the building next door jump for it – I only know about it because the kind staff upgraded me. Maybe the best shower I had in Iceland.
My one Airbnb experience was purely to see the Northern Lights – this little house was in the middle of nowhere and all the other guest were there for the exact same reason. The Lambalækur Guesthouse is an old farm house that would be crowded if fully booked, but still has lovely farm house touches.
I had learned earlier about where to check whether the Northern Lights were going to be visible in your area, and what time. https://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora/ This is a great website run by the Icelandic Met Office, and it gives you the Aurora forecast for the next 3 days. On the top righthand side is the forecast, from 0 to 9. You can also toggle the time along the bottom. I went out at 10pm and there was nothing, but the website said it would get better closer to midnight. I took these photos at a 3, which is called Moderate. And honestly with the naked eye there was a green tinge to the sky, but with 15 to 20 second exposures I was able to capture one of nature’s wonders.
Plus there was also just the plain old Milky Way which never gets old. As a city dweller I always love finding myself away from light pollution at night and just looking up. Nothing like our Universe staring back at you for some perspective.
And finally – My hostel by the Airport was actually one of my favourite experiences – Graystone Guesthouse in Sandgerdi is in an old post office, but they’ve gone super futuristic. I saw no one the entire time I was there (my inner Introvert did a little happy dance). Before check in I was sent a code to get in the front door, and into my room, which was the perfect little room that sort of felt like a pod on a spaceship. The hallway & bathroom lights were on motion sensors, and everything was immaculately clean. Plus in the morning it was a 5 minute drive Keflavik Airport. I would 100% stay again, plus it was my cheapest night in Iceland.