Accommodation in Iceland: Reykjavík + Around the Ring Road

What to expect of accommodation in Iceland on an organized tour or as a digital nomad? These are the places we stayed at during a tour around Iceland’s ring road, and the places we booked ourselves. We were in Iceland between the 21st of September and the 9th of October, 2025. Iceland is an expensive destination, so I’m also giving advice on how to cut costs on a tour while staying healthy and well-fed.

Planning a Trip to Iceland? 🏡
Make sure to book your accommodation ahead of time ⏰ I’ve ended up too many times in mediocre leftover hotels or apartments far away from the action because I had to book last minute…🙄 I always book on Booking or Airbnb because they have the most options 😇 Not quite sure about your trip? Many places offer a full refund a few days before your stay! 💸

Reykjavík I: Old Town Reykjavík

Duration: one night. Book this well-located guesthouse here

After arriving in Iceland from Denmark with one of the last PLAY flights, we hitchhiked to the city, hopped on a city bus, and walked to this guesthouse. The location is unbeatable for anyone doing a tour in Iceland quickly after arrival. It’s right next to one of the major bus stop hubs and there are supermarkets in walking distance to stock up on some food and snacks.

Old Town Hotel Reykjavik where to stay in Iceland accommodation

Self check-in was convenient with a door code. We helped ourselves upstairs to our room, a double room with a shared bathroom. No keycard needed, it’s just a keypad. The room was small and basic, but had a sink with hand soap. This makes a huge difference for comfort as we can drink the Icelandic tap water (safe, but might smell sulfuric—put the tap all the way on cold and it goes away) and brush teeth.

Old Town Reykjavik hotel guest house room double bed sink shared bathroom

The room’s window was wide open upon arrival, but closing it and cranking up the heat makes for a cozy room in no time. The walls were a bit thin, but almost everyone went to bed early here. The double bed was heavenly and we both woke up reinvigorated. There’s only one nightstand with a lamp. There are plenty of charging spots and hooks and hangers for our thick winter clothing. Lastly, we had a door to the emergency stairs, which we used as our fridge overnight for the sandwiches we made.

Down the hall was the shared bathroom, which has two showers and one toilet. All were equipped with hand soap. The showers had some black mold in them, which was gnarly. None of us travelers through Reykjavík stay at this hotel long enough to catch health problems.

Downstairs is the common area with some couches, followed by the dining area, which has nice tables to share food at and a coffee machine with free tea and coffee. It was a social place, with many travelers popping by to pick up a cup of tea before retiring to their rooms, or sitting down to chat or relax. In late September, it was calm enough to get some work done.

Old town Iceland collage coffee tea common room area no kitchen

Though this hotel doesn’t have a kitchen, we managed to cook with the hot water dispenser from the coffee machine. Our first meal in Iceland was pot noodles, beans, and a tub of blueberry skyr. It was surprisingly good. I wasn’t impressed with the full bins and with the cleaning keep up the next morning, when we had a pot porridge before heading out for our six-day ring road tour. Old Town Reykjavík is within 100 meters from the Ráðhúsið bus stop, which is a pickup point for such tours. Like I said: the location is unbeatable!

Iceland’s South Coast: Hotel Drangslið Inn ⭐

Duration: one night. I highly recommend this hotel, which you can book here

After our first day on the tour, which comprised of Iceland’s Golden Circle, we arrived at this hotel at 17:40. The tour we booked has private bathrooms, which we prefer. We got checked in as a group, which took a while, but at least we got an introduction to the facilities on-site. The breakfast area has a hot water/coffee machine that’s accessible at all times. We had a standard double room at the main building of Hotel Drangslið Inn, with keycard access.

hotel Drangshlid Iceland south coast golden circle favorite

The room was very nice, with two single beds one can push together. The highlight was the comfortable sitting area next to the heating and with a view of the nearby turf houses built inside a rock and beyond that a church at the sea. It’s the best view we’ve had at any accommodation in Iceland. There was a coat rack, but without hangers to properly dry rained-upon clothes. Each bed had a luggage rack, which was nice for us and our individual backpacks. With the many lights, it’s possible to make the room nice and bright.

The bathroom was very clean and dried quickly. There was shampoo, body wash, hand soap, and vanity kits. There was a place to charge our electric toothbrush. The shower was nice and hot after spending a long day in the cold or on the tour van.

bathroom hotel Drangshlid southern Iceland Golden circle recommendation

In the evening, I went to ask about the breakfast at reception. She said it was “Swedish breakfast,” which doesn’t sound like anything to me. The reception area is quite cozy, with comfy chairs and even some board games. The beer sold here (Icelandic lagers) is quite pricey at 1.365 ISK (€9.64 or US$11.25) for a small bottle.

collage hotel Drangshlid reception beer Iceland common area

As this hotel didn’t offer dinner, our tour guide had arranged for dinner a 10-minute drive away somewhere. But we were prepared to save money. Our dinner were the leftover cheese sandwiches we’d prepared the night before. That was a lot of food, so we just had some cups of hot chocolate from the machine with this, plus some tea. We took a hot beverage to the room as well to relax and process the day. Though the location of Hotel Hotel Drangslið would have been amazing for watching the northern lights, the forecast was bad and there were clouds. We slept really well and there was no noise from neighbors.

The next day, breakfast started at 7:00, with a departure time of 9:00 (generous). Everyone from our group and another tour group were there as early as it opened. The Swedish breakfast consisted of a buffet with cheese, salad, ‘spicy bread’ (not spicy, just spiced), soy milk, various jams, pancakes, hard-boiled eggs, and cream cheeses.

breakfast restaurant common area hotel Drangshlid southern Iceland buffet vegetarian options cheese salad spriced bread coffee tea

It was amazing and the second-best hotel breakfast we had in Iceland.

East of Vík: Hotel Hrífunes

Duration: one night. Book hotel Hrífunes online here

Our second day of the tour ended somewhere east of Vík. We arrived at 19:00 and completely drenched from a rainy day at the Katla ice caves. This accommodation complex in southern Iceland is quite spread out, so we had to walk outside to go from our room to the breakfast room/accessible kitchen. The location for aurora spotting would have been even better, but alas, it was cloudy.

Our little hut room was cute but small. As our waterproof gear was soaked, we spent several hours trying to dry them with the room heater, the towel warmer, and even the blow dryer—all so we can do this cold Icelandic weather thing again tomorrow. Luckily, this accommodation in Iceland had an electric kettle in each room, with some provided black tea and coffee. So we made our pot noodles/pasta with canned beans dish, ate some sweet stuff, and focused on getting clean, dry, and rested.

accommodation in Iceland budget dinner hotel kettle cooking pot noodles beans skyr money saving exercise

The bed was quite small and there was no night stand. In normal circumstances where we wouldn’t be forced to deal with wet clothes, I would have loved this cozy space. But it didn’t fit our needs for the night. We could also hear our neighbors, as I’m sure they heard us and our blow dryer well into the late evening.

closeup bed of hotel Hrifunes south coast Iceland ringroad travel

As this is not a geothermal area, the Polish staff who introduced us to the place told us to keep the water running to get it hot, and then not use too much as it’s limited. However, we had no problems with this as the shower was immediately hot and even a bit temperamental with the water pressure. The floor of the shower was little pebbles, which is a foot massage thing I enjoy, but won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. It reminded me of this great guesthouse in Bubaque in Guinea-Bissau we stayed at. Shampoo, body wash, and hand soap was provided. There was a plug to charge one’s toothbrush.

Back to the room, the sitting area next to the table with the kettle was small but it worked. There were plenty of wall sockets in the room to charge our phones. There’s no big table, so when I had to deal with a work emergency, I had to put my laptop on my lap on the bed. It was okay for a night. Though we slept really well here, the night blind shutters (same system as Reykjavík I) didn’t work well. It was never fully private.

The next morning, breakfast started at 7:00. The coffee was better than in the first two places in Iceland and was hard to trump in general. There was mushroom cream cheese, nuts, soy milk, and some other nice vegetarian-friendly breakfast things. The reception/restaurant area was a shoes off place, which I bypassed by wearing flipflops. Hotel Hrífunes had the best breakfast in Iceland.

Once the clouds cleared in the morning, we also had a beautiful view down the mountain of a river and a humble forest. Watching the northern lights from here would have been so good.

Höfn: Hótel Höfn

Duration: one night, book this hotel here

This hotel was a substitution for the tour’s usual stop, Guesthouse Gerði below Vatnajökull Glacier. Hotel Höfn felt more like a business hotel, with big spaces in the main building and very standard hotel rooms in the annexes across the street. As this is in a ‘big town’ of 2200 people with many city lights, aurora watching was off the table. We received our keycard from our tour guide and then crossed the street to Block 4, where our room was on the ground floor. There was a sign on the main door to not let the local cats inside, who have owners, but just like to visit hotel rooms. Though we didn’t spot any cats, one lady on our tour did meet an audacious orange boy in the hotel restaurant.

The room was nice as it’s the first hotel with a desk and two chairs, which we used for eating, not working. There were two single beds pushed together, two night stands, two luggage racks, plenty of wall sockets, good curtains to prevent people outside on the soulless parking lot catching a glimpse. There was a small kettle in the room with four herbal tea bags and some coffee. The WiFi was strong. We didn’t use the TV in the room.

The bathroom was very spacious, but I didn’t like the floor texture. The shower had wonderful water pressure, but the sink was was too small and there weren’t many hooks to hang towels in the bathroom. As per usual, there was provided shampoo and body wash.

bathroom hotel höfn southeast Iceland shower shampoo sink blow dryer

It was inconvenient to walk in the rain to the main building for 7:00 breakfast with a departure soon after. There were scrambled eggs, beans, croissants, salad, fruits, and juices. The cheese selection had something new: villisveppir kryddostur (wild mushroom herb cheese). I didn’t know it was this cheese at the time, so in the context of a breakfast buffet, it looked a little sketchy. You can also buy it at Bónus. The highlight of breakfast was the great cake selection, and the option of good machine coffee as well as a quick filter coffee. There was a sign that says if you want to take breakfast with you on the road, you can ask the staff, and they will give you a box for 2000 ISK (€14.12 or US$16.41). I wonder how small the box is.

breakfast hotel höfn southern Iceland buffet take away box Icelandic cheese v2

Egilsstaðir: Hótel Valaskjálf

Duration: one night. Book this hotel online here

Our least favorite hotel on the ring road tour around Iceland happened to be on the nicest tour day. A long but relaxing drive with a stop in Djúpivogur to sample Icelandic craft beer ended at this hotel in Egilsstaðir. We had 15 minutes to check in, after which we immediately went to the Vök Baths for some spa time. We had already packed our day bag in such a way that we had our flip flops and beach towels in easy reach. During the short introduction time we had in the room, we read the bitchy sign about not taking hotel towels to the Vök Baths. At the thermal baths, it’s also possible to rent towels for €10, but it all feels like another money squeeze in an already expensive destination.

The room itself was small, but functional. There was a double bed, two nightstands, a desk with an electric kettle, nice tea, and plenty of light fixtures and wall sockets. The TV above the bed had its volume artificially limited, which was very annoying as it was too low for us to hear our show. Jonas tried to unlock it, but to no avail. We understand wanting to prevent hotel guests from making noise, but the staff did nothing about the guests singing opera in a room nearby for 30 minutes at 23:00 in the evening. There were also some big fat flies zooming around the room, which we had to kill in order to sleep.

The bathroom was very small and designed as an afterthought. As we’d showered at the Vök Baths, we didn’t shower here. There was some provided soap and shampoo. There was an electric outlet for our toothbrush. The towels looked a little raggedy. The (warm) water from the taps was the most sulphuric we’ve experienced in Iceland, so it’s very important to put the tap on ice cold and let it run for a bit before drinking it, as it won’t taste good otherwise.

bathroom hotel Valaskjalf double room shower sink toilet Vök baths accommodation in Iceland

Our room was next to the restaurant, which was great for quickly getting to breakfast in the morning, but not so great at dinner time. It was noisy and diners could look directly into our room. Breakfast started at 7:00. It was so-so. There were no labels on the food, no skyr (!), the thermos coffee had quite some grits in them, and the fruit wasn’t cut all the way through, which meant having to touch it at the buffet or taking an entire orange to your table. On top of that, it was very drafty and cold. However, we loved the balsamic vinegar and olive oil available, and this was the only hotel where you could choose both scrambled eggs and hardboiled peeled and sliced eggs. Jonas loved the adult-sized bread rolls. There wasn’t much in the sweets department, which is something we’d gotten used to during the tour.

Needless to say, I would not stay at this hotel again. As Egilsstaðir is a relevant destination for those taking the Smyril Line to or from Iceland, I’d like to offer an alternative. Egilsstaðir has an airport and is only 26 kilometers away from Seyðisfjörður, where the ferry leaves to Tórshavn and Hirtshals. There’s bus number 93 that takes you from Egilsstaðir to Seyðisfjörður for 1.380 ISK (€9.64 or US$11.14). Lyngás Guesthouse in Egilsstaðir has better ratings than Hotel Valaskjálf and is much cheaper, but breakfast is not included. There are plenty of supermarkets in Egilsstaðir to make your own for a fraction of the quoted price at hotels. If I were staying in Seyðisfjörður, I’d pick either Hafaldan Hostel to save money, or at Undiraldan in the old music school, which has the best value for money (whole house) I’ve seen in all of Iceland.

Akureyri: Hótel Norðurland ⭐

Duration: one night. Book this very central hotel in Akureyri online here

After the Diamond Circle, we arrived in Iceland’s second-biggest city Akureyri. This hotel was also the final stop on our trip. As Jonas and I were the first people off the bus with our luggage, we tried checking into Hótel Norðurland without the group, and it worked! So kudos for that.

hotel nordurland Akureyri accommodation in Iceland recommendations travel ringroad

The room we received was very close to reception and the breakfast room on the ground floor. There were some stairs down from the hallway, which was okay for us. Their standard double room has a desk with a kettle and nice herbal tea, a fairly narrow double bed, two nightstands, and a luggage rack. Though the bed was very comfortable, our sleep was a little interrupted by being on street level with its associated noises and lights. However, the curtains do its job well. We made our too-poor-for-Iceland vegetarian dinner with the kettle before hitting up town in the evening.

The bathroom was small, but had everything we needed: a charging spot, plenty of space for toiletries, lots of towels, and nice shampoo and soap. No notes.

bathroom hotel Nordurland Akureyri double room shower shampoo sink toilet accommodation in Iceland

In the evening, we walked a few hundred meters to the nearest craft beer bar in Akureyri, R5 Micro Bar. The location in downtown Akureyri is really the best part of this hotel. Unfortunately, these long tour days left us with just enough energy to go out for a drink and then returning to our hotel.

The hotel was packed with multiple tour groups, including a big bus of Chinese travelers that parked in front of our room. That meant that the breakfast room was too small for the number of guests at seven in the AM. Other guests were waiting, but we managed to squeeze in to maximize our breakfast time before heading back to Reykjavík. Staff was diligently refilling food and beverages that got emptied. Though there were no scrambled eggs, they served great jams, breads, coffee, and cookies, but I’ll remember this breakfast most to its unfettered access to a small brie, that none of the travelers from China or Hong Kong seemed interested in. This breakfast also introduced me to thin sourdough knäckebröd (by Finn Crisp), which I continued to keep in my diet far beyond Iceland.

breakfast buffet hotel norddurland brie cheese coffee tea fruit jam bread travel to Iceland

Bonus: Snæfellsnes Peninsula + Westfjords

While Jonas and I were on the six-day tour, part of our tour group was on an eight-day tour, which includes two days on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. Had it been two extra days on the Westfjords (Icelandic: Vestfirðir), we would have booked that extension. As we first had to drop off part of the group, we know where they stayed.

Borgarfjörður: the Hvíta Inn

Book this remote dark sky hotel here

As we dropped off part of our group, Jonas and I got maybe a little bit jealous. The prediction for the night was a good chance of auroras without clouds in the skies. I bet our fellow travelers finally had a good northern lights night.

Accommodation in Iceland the Hvíta Inn Borgarfjörður

We’ve only seen the outside of this hotel, but I trust it’s nice from the interior pictures online. Also, all hotels on this tour have been mighty fine, so I assume they keep the same standards: double rooms with private bathrooms. Some of the pictures of the Hvíta Inn show a desk inside such rooms.

I later found out this hotel is a replacement for the more accessible Hótel Borgarnes.

Stykkishólmur: Fosshótel Stykkishólmur

Book this hotel with a friendly cat here

While I don’t know exactly where the tour group stayed on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, I do know it was in the town of Stykkishólmur. I joined an Icelandic Facebook group called Spottaði Kött (cat spotting?), where the first post I saw was of an all-white hotel cat named Bliki in Stykkishólmur. The rooms look nice and up to standard for the tour, so I imagined they’d be staying here after a visit to the famous Kirkjufell Mountain. The rooms also look really nice. If I’d gone to Stykkishólmur, I would have 100% booked the hotel with the cat.

Hotel Stykkishólmur Snaefellsnes peninsula cat Bliki Iceland

According to the tour website, the likely candidate hotel in Stykkishólmur that our tour would likely stay at is The Stykkishólmur Inn. Cat not included.

Ísafjörður: Hotels + Guesthouses

In early 2025, Samy Berkani wrote a guest post about trekking the Hornstrandir Peninsula in Iceland’s remote Westfjords region for my blog. While I’m sad I didn’t get to go there during my short stint, I have looked intensively at the accommodation options in Ísafjörður. The most obvious option is The Isafjordur Inn, which our tour would probably have as a first-choice as well. Another option that’s a little bit more budget friendly is Mánagisting Guesthouse, but to save that money you’ll need to go for a shared bathroom.

Hólmavík: Guesthouses

Another watering hole for overland travelers in the Westfjords is the town of Hólmavík with its museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft. The village (pop. 375) even has its own craft brewery called Galdur Brugghús. The highest-rated places to stay in Hólmavík are guesthouse Kriukot (no breakfast) and Hótel Finna (breakfast included).

Reykjavík II: Small Central Airbnb with Kitchen + Shared Bathroom

Duration: six nights

Once we had confirmed our catsit in Reykjavík, we needed somewhere to stay in between the end of the tour and the start of the catsit. We found this Airbnb, which we originally booked for five nights. Two days before returning to Reykjavík, we realized we had a one-night gap; a miscalculation with this 6 Days 5 Nights tour. Luckily, we could pre-extend Apartment #1 in this Airbnb with one night.

It’s on the first floor of a rather old and decrepit building, but don’t let this discourage you. It’s self-check-in, which was very helpful. At first, we tried to get Apartment #2, which is slightly bigger, but that one was occupied. Three’s apartment #3 on the second floor, but that one has its own bathroom. We shared the bathroom with two other quiet people for the first day of our stay.

Our apartment faces the street, but as long as the windows are closed, the cars aren’t that loud. The door opens into the living room/kitchen area. Going through the door is a bit of a squeeze, but it’s the best configuration for the amount of space. There’s a cozy couch next to the heating, coffee table, board game, smart TV, and a kitchen with an oven (but no dishes that can go in), stove, electric kettle, microwave, toaster, fridge/freezer, plenty of pots, knives, and scissors. Technically, it’s possible to stay here with three people (I don’t understand how), so there’s only three plates, three bowls, etc. Dish soap, coffee, and tea, was provided and some other people had left some spices (but no salt/oil/pepper). We cooked all meals here and were satisfied with the setup. There’s a lot of pantry space.

Hooks to hang up our (often wet) jackets were in the bedroom. The bedroom has the dinner table/desk, which folds out. We moved it to the other side to have the best possible setup to work and eat from. Thankfully, all the kiddie stuff from the pictures wasn’t in the room. There are three fold-out chairs, which were comfortable enough to work from. There was no issue with the internet and we found it a nice and quiet working spot.

The bed had too many pillows and not enough wardrobe space to tuck them away.  The night stands on both sides of the bed were nice, although one was lower than the mattress. One had a bed light in a warm color. One of the wall sockets next to the bed didn’t work, so we charged our phones on the other side at the wardrobe. The wardrobe missed a door, which I think made it more convenient to use and store our backpacks and clothes. I enjoyed the decor throughout the entire apartment.

Airbnb in Reykjavik accommodation in Iceland nice bedroom double room couple travel digital nomad

The bathroom is not right next door, which actually prevented some noise for us the two days we had overlap. There’s plenty of toilet paper, provided shampoo and conditioner, and a small sink we used for brushing teeth. As it is shared, we never kept our toiletries there, as good toothpaste costs like €6 a tube these days. The bathroom is cleaned three times a week. There’s also a washing machine with provided laundry pods and a dryer. I found it cold in the bathroom if the window was open, which I couldn’t close myself as it’s behind the machines and the shower. Jonas did that for me. After taking a super nice hot shower, he’d open it for me for ventilation.

airbnb in Reykjavik shared bathroom washing machine shower toilet sink dryer accommodation in Iceland

The apartment really has a good setup and use of space, all things considered. It feels like you have two rooms and not a studio. On an international scale, it’s of course really expensive for what it is, but for local standards it’s alright. Especially if you take the location into account. It’s close to a Bónus supermarket (the best in Iceland), many relevant bus stops, the Hallgrímskirkja, the pedestrian street, some nice Icelandic craft beer places, and a nice walk to the Kattakaffihúsið (cat café). However, the street the apartment is in, doesn’t feel that safe for pedestrians. Nevertheless, I would stay here again if I came back to Reykjavík.

Reykjavík III: Catsit THS Lukka

Duration: five nights

For a short but sweet time, we catsat a playful and vocal tuxedo cat in a suburb of Reykjavík. We arranged this about one month in advance, so we planned our exit from Iceland around this catsit. It was a lot of fun, but I’m of course not going to post pictures of their home as if this is something you can book. So instead, enjoy this sweet picture of Lukka the cat!

catsitting in Reykjavík accommodation in Iceland Lukka tuxedo cat feline travel

By housesitting via Trusted Housesitters, you don’t pay for accommodation since you’re providing essential care for someone’s beloved pet. If you want to learn how we got started with housesitting, visit this article. If you want to join the platform and travel while working online with other people’s pets, here’s a 25% discount for joining Trusted Housesitters. This last one is a referral link, so if you sign up (thank you!) using that link, we (might) receive two months of free membership on Trusted Housesitters.

Keflavík: Hotel Keflavík + Hotel Keilir (Flight Canceled)

Duration: one night. Book the fancy Hotel Keflavík here or check out the humble Hotel Keilir here

Our morning flight to Vágar was canceled while we were sitting at the gate. The reason? High winds in both the Faroe Islands and here in Iceland. The IcelandAir crisis team arranged our group a hotel in Keflavík next to the airport. We first arrived by standard Iceland tour bus at the fancy-schmancy Hotel Keflavík. They were responsible for feeding us lunch and dinner. After lunch, we were shuttled to Hotel Keilir, which is where we received room keys. We would also have breakfast at Hotel Keilir. All of this is compensated for by the airline, despite the weather being an ‘extraordinary circumstance’.

hotel keilir Keflavík accommodation in Iceland near the airport delayed flight canceled KEF

While this might all sound like smooth sailing, each step from the gate to the meeting point to the shuttle to the first hotel and to the second hotel, took a long time. The day was quite wasted. But thankfully, the EU has the Air Passenger Rights Regulation. And while neither the Faroe Islands nor Iceland are EU members, Iceland(Air) has signed this agreement. Had this happened anywhere else in the world, we’d been shit out of luck. We also count our blessings that the staff Iceland(Air) hires from all over the EU was competent. If it had happened in Spain, everything would’ve taken forever.

The room at Hotel Keilir was simple but well-setup. Two single beds pushed together with separate bedsheets (the Scandinavian sleep system), two nightstands, two bed lights. The bed faces a TV and a desk with a small fridge. The desk had a comfy chair and plenty of charging spots. We didn’t use the fridge as it didn’t cool enough. Also, the previous guests had left milk in it, which housekeeping hadn’t spotted. We used the little roof outside our window (we were on the second floor) as a fridge for our last Icelandic craft beers.

Next to the entrance door is a wardrobe with some hangers. On the other side is the door to the bathroom. The bathroom is small and only two towels were provided. The shower was nice and hot, as we’ve gotten used to in geothermal Iceland. There was some 2-in-1 shampoo body wash provided. As these rooms were probably cleaned in a hurry for our group, the roll of toilet paper was already looking a little small.

bathroom hotel Keilir Keflavik airport shower sink toilet basic

For food, we ate at Hotel Keflavík a seven-minute walk away through the blasting wind. Lunch was cheesy potato gratin, a mad-good kind of Greek salad with lettuce, onion, feta, tomato, and cucumber, red cabbage coleslaw, and sautéed zucchini, eggplant, and cherry tomatoes. There was also chicken or lamb schnitzel for the meat-eaters.

In the evening, we returned with high hopes as the hotel had set the bar quite high for lunch. But there was only shrimp fried rice and a little of the good salad. We asked if there will be anything vegetarian, and fifteen minutes later, a guy came out with two glorious bowls of a kind of breaded and deep fried cauliflower in sauce and with roasted almonds. The amazing salad also got refilled, so we were quite happy.

hotel Keflavík accommodation in Iceland near Reykjavík airport KEF canceled flight delayed where to stay

Back at Hotel Keilir, we had already tested the sleepability of the beds between lunch and dinner. In the evening, we retired to the room as the wind kept banging on the metal pipes in the building (somehow). Our craft beers had been cooled to an okay 7°C.  We would have to get up at 4:45 tomorrow to have breakfast at the hotel at 5:00 and be on the van back to Keflavík Airport by 5:30. Our rebooked flight was from Iceland to Denmark to the Faroe Islands.

bedroom double bed hotel Keilir Keflavík airport Iceland replacement canceled flight

Breakfast at Hotel Keilir was non-existent at 5:15. The night receptionist was sitting on the couch, so I confused him for a stranded passenger at first. He eventually let us into the breakfast area, where we used the coffee machine. The man scrambled to get us some yogurt and sliced cheese without bread. By that time, we had three minutes to scarf down a some food before the bus took us and one other passenger back to the airport, where we boarded our flight to Copenhagen, flying past the Faroe Islands. We eventually made it to Vágar. Traumatized by the whole shebang, I would not stay at this hotel again.

nonexistent breakfast emergency canceled flight hotel Keflavík airport hotel Keilir no food at 5 AM

Bonus: Smyril Line Cabin on the Norröna

Accommodation in Iceland accommodation in the Faroe Islands accommodation in Denmark Smyrill line Norröna ship MV cruise ferry North Atlantic Ocean

The Smyrill Line is the ferry that connects Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Denmark. We took it from Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands to Hirtshals in Denmark. Since it also calls on the port of Seyðisfjörður in east Iceland (27 kilometers from Egilsstaðir), it’s also kind of Iceland. The total ferry duration from Iceland to Denmark is about 67 hours, depending on the season and the weather. If you want to read about our cabin comforts, check out the accommodation in the Faroe Islands article. I’ll also write an extended post about taking the Nörrona Smyril Line past the Shetland Islands and what it’s like aboard.

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Old Town Hotel (Reykjavík I): €109 per night for one night

Hotel Drangslið Inn ⭐ (included in the tour): the price ranges between €150 and €220 per night. Book this hotel on Iceland’s south coast online here

Hotel Hrífunes (included in the tour): the price ranges between €130 and €194 per night for a (budget) double or twin room. Find this hotel online here

Hotel Höfn (included in the tour): the price ranges from €143 to €172 per night for a similar room (including breakfast) like we had on the tour. Book this hotel that’s open year-round online here

Hótel Valaskjálf Egilsstaðir (included in the tour): this hotel costs between €186 and €219 per night, but they often have discounts. Find them online here. However, my main recommendation for Egilsstaðir is Lyngás Guesthouse in Egilsstaðir

Hótel Norðurland Akureyri ⭐ (included in the tour): the last hotel on the tour ranges from €138 to €187 for a standard double room. Book this central hotel in Akureyri online here

(Reykjavík II): €770 total for six nights here on Airbnb. That’s €128 per night.

Catsitting Lukka (Reykjavík III): €0 for five nights. Join Trusted Housesitters here and enjoy a discount from us!

Hotel Keflavík/Hotel Keilir (canceled flight): €0 for one night under the EU air passenger compensation law. Normally, this hotel costs roughly a whopping €323 per night (including breakfast) in a best case scenario. I wouldn’t go for it, but if you want it, find this hotel next to Keflavík Airport here

The math is messy, but that comes down to a total of 18 nights in Iceland, of which only 12 were self-organized. Of those 12 nights for a total of €879, it averages down to €73.25 per night. Adding the average price of the other hotels (excluding the tour cost), the 18 nights of sleep cost us €2.037. That averages to about €113 per night, but I’m sure the tour groups get a better deal than a private individual. This is a painful amount of money, but we don’t have to return here.

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