Tips for Iceland on a budget
Iceland is known for its epic waterfalls, stunning landscapes, & geothermal hot springs. It is certainly not known for its wallet-friendly prices. Every family has their own travel budget strategy and knows what you are willing to splurge on and where to skimp. Here are some tips on how we traveled around Iceland for 7 days without breaking the bank.Flights - We flew the super-budget Icelandic airline, WOW. WOW has some unbeatable prices on flights to Iceland, which is part of the reason we wound up visiting in the first place. Flying budget airlines is only a budget option if you avoid all the extra fees. WOW allows you to bring on one personal item for free as long as it fits with in specific dimensions, but charges anywhere from $40-$100 for carry-ons that go in the overhead bins, and checked bags can get even more expensive. Pack light and double check to make sure that your bags fit with in the requirements. They do not offer any complementary beverages or food on board. Come prepared by bringing you own water bottles and filling them up once you get through security. Bring snacks from home or buy them at the airport. Even food you buy at the airport convenience store is better and less expensive than what you get on board a WOW flight. 
GPS/WiFi - If your cell carrier doesn't have international coverage, buy a SIM card once land. On the way out of the Keflavik airport, there is a duty free shop where you can pick up a local SIM card. Our campervan company charged 50 Euros to rent a GPS or 15 Euros a day to rent a WiFi hotspot. I bought a 1GB SIM card for $16 that kept us connected for the full week. We tried to be conscientious about our WiFi consumption so that we had enough data for GPS. 
The best way to conserve data use, and also help make sure you catch all the sites on your list, is to geotag all your points of interest, hot springs, and campsites in your phone before you leave. Yes there are signs everywhere for points of interest, campsites and restaurants but they are very, very easy to miss when you are in awe of the country side. Our two favorite hot springs had no signs at all and we would never have found them if I had not geotagged the location in my phone in advance. Even when my phone was on airplane mode GPS still worked to follow our little blue dot around Iceland. I had no clue how far 1 GB of data would get us, but we stayed off of social media and mostly kept the phone on airplane mode unless we needed directions, to look up campsites because our plans changed (surprise surprise), or to double-check road and wind conditions. Did you know there are over 100 Icelandic words for wind?Swimming - Skip the Blue Lagoon. I know that might sound like blasphemy to some Iceland evangelists. The Blue Lagoon is a must visit to almost anyone with an Instagram account and you too can take those perfect pictures starting at an $80 entrance fee with not much included. Maybe if I went back to Iceland again without a toddler, I might splurge on the man-made must visit spa experience. However we absolutely loved all four of our nearly private, virtually free geothermal swimming experiences.
GPS/WiFi - If your cell carrier doesn't have international coverage, buy a SIM card once land. On the way out of the Keflavik airport, there is a duty free shop where you can pick up a local SIM card. Our campervan company charged 50 Euros to rent a GPS or 15 Euros a day to rent a WiFi hotspot. I bought a 1GB SIM card for $16 that kept us connected for the full week. We tried to be conscientious about our WiFi consumption so that we had enough data for GPS. The best way to conserve data use, and also help make sure you catch all the sites on your list, is to geotag all your points of interest, hot springs, and campsites in your phone before you leave. Yes there are signs everywhere for points of interest, campsites and restaurants but they are very, very easy to miss when you are in awe of the country side. Our two favorite hot springs had no signs at all and we would never have found them if I had not geotagged the location in my phone in advance. Even when my phone was on airplane mode GPS still worked to follow our little blue dot around Iceland. I had no clue how far 1 GB of data would get us, but we stayed off of social media and mostly kept the phone on airplane mode unless we needed directions, to look up campsites because our plans changed (surprise surprise), or to double-check road and wind conditions. Did you know there are over 100 Icelandic words for wind?Swimming - Skip the Blue Lagoon. I know that might sound like blasphemy to some Iceland evangelists. The Blue Lagoon is a must visit to almost anyone with an Instagram account and you too can take those perfect pictures starting at an $80 entrance fee with not much included. Maybe if I went back to Iceland again without a toddler, I might splurge on the man-made must visit spa experience. However we absolutely loved all four of our nearly private, virtually free geothermal swimming experiences.
For a full itinerary on how we spent our 7 days in Iceland check out this post. We think that renting a campervan is the way to go when visiting Iceland with a toddler. Check out our top 3 reasons why we loved our campervan experience in Iceland.