In early 2017 we traveled to Iceland with ten people (we might be kind of crazy). During our research for this arctic island, we discovered one thing was certain, it was going to be expensive AF to eat, drink, explore, breathe (okay maybe that’s excessive, but it felt this way) while we were there. Fear not fellow travelers, there are some ways to not go broke “save” some money while you visit. And luckily, we’ve put them here in this list for your viewing pleasure. So if you enjoy not spending all of your hard earned cash money when you travel, listen up!

• Food
  • Grocery shop
    • We cannot stress this enough! Even just to buy lunch stuff and snacks it’s totally worth it – the average lunch price was at least $15-$20 USD And not for a huge meal, just for a sandwich and chips!
    • Pro Tip: Go to Bonus for the best prices. It’s very hard to miss – the logo is a sad looking piggybank. Probably because you won’t have any money once you leave the country. But for real, they have the best prices and selection. Plus we forking love going to international grocery stores!
    • You do not have to bring your own bags to go grocery shopping in Iceland. This is literally unheard of in so many European countries, we are still scratching our heads on this one. 
    • Pro Tip: DO NOT BUY BOTTLED WATER!!!! For real. DO NOT. The cold tap water in Iceland is seriously some of the best water we’ve ever had traveling. It’s filtered by lava rocks, so that’s probably got something to do with it. Though we don’t recommend trying that method at home. But the point is, the hot and cold water come from separate sources, so drink all of the tap water. Bring a re-useable water bottle and go to town. Man we could go for a glass of that crisp glacier water right now!
• Alcohol
  • This is a huge tip-in general when traveling, alcohol is the most expensive thing when you go out, but in Iceland it’s a special kind of expensive. So stock up  at the duty free store in the airport and buy it all. Like be those obnoxious people with 12 carts just for booze. Because trust us, you will not see prices this cheap any other time. It’s not possible. And bonus, it’s generally cold enough in Iceland (let that sink in) that if you run out of fridge space, you can just set your alcohol outside to keep it chilled!
  • Download the happy hour app “Reykjavik Appy Hour.” We went happy hour hopping in Reykjavik which was super fun, but also necessary since it’s just about the only way to go out and drink because the prices are really that high. But we used that app and it was great!
  • We suppose another option is to just not drink alcohol. But let’s be honest, we like to imbibe at times and it helps warm you up from the inside (Or something)!
• Tours
  • Book small group tours instead of private. These are still not cheap, but they won’t cause panic attacks when you look at the price like the private tours will. We had ten people and still opted for small group tours if that puts the price into perspective for anyone.
• Go with a group
  • Clearly our passion is group travel, but also more people means more to split things with and that is super helpful! If you get groceries, you can go in on the bread and condiments, or even the snacks you want. Splitting anything definitely helps!

Overall Iceland is not cheap. But with some planning it really is manageable. Skal!