Tips for Iceland

Here a few tips for travelling (with a bike) in Iceland. Please add your tips in the comments. Additional tips for a safe trip can also be found at safetravel.is.

Food

• Tap water is more or less everywhere safe to drink. Also the water from a lot of streams is safe as well. However, check that there are no farming animals contaminating it.
  So there is no need for buying water in shops.
• A lot of the vegetables are imported and therefore pretty expensive.

Swimming / Natural baths

• There are a lot of hot springs around in Iceland. So make sure to bring with your swim suit. But before jumping in a natural bath, make sure to check the temperature...
• Almost every town has its own swimming pool (Sundlaug). And those are by far cheaper than the very touristy places like the famous Blue Lagoon. Neverthless they have at least one hot pot as well :-).

Traffic

• In general, traffic is not that heavy in Iceland. However, that's not really true in the area around Reykjavik and between Keflavik and Reykjavik. I recommend to either try to take side roads where possible or to take a bus.

Transportation

• It's normally not a problem to bring with your bike on a bus and the bus drivers are most of the time very helpful and friendly. However, you pay the bike extra, should be at the bus stop a bit earlier and you should be prepared to at least take of your front wheel.

Weather

• The weather can change very rapidly. It can be sunny and pretty warm in the morning and almost snowing in the evening. So be prepared also for cold days during summer time and never put your rain clothes too far away ;-).
• And yes, it can be very windy! The good thing is, that with the weather also the winds can change pretty fast. Check the weather forecast frequently, e.g. at vedur.is and adapt your plans accordingly. However, in general you have anyway at least once a day headwind ;-).