If you’ve ever spotted bargain easyJet flights from Edinburgh to Reykjavik in Iceland and thought: “Sure they’re cheap, but it’ll be too expensive when I get there,” you might actually be talking yourself out of a surprisingly affordable holiday.
It’s true that Iceland has a reputation for being expensive, and, to be fair – it can be.
The beautiful Nordic country has one of the highest costs of living in the world, meaning many potential visitors write it off as an unaffordable “luxury” destination.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t cut those costs right back and visit Iceland without breaking the bank. There are loads of budget-friendly things to do, including £7 public thermal pools right in the centre of Reykjavik – more on them later.
By using Skyscanner’s “flights from Edinburgh to anywhere” option, and choosing flexible dates, I managed to bag return easyJet flights to Iceland’s capital for just £50. Similar prices are currently available for dates in March 2025.
Accommodation
Hotels in the city can be very costly, so my friend and I hunted through Airbnb for cheap accommodation options.
We ended up booking a recently renovated private room with two single beds and its own wee kitchen. It was just 30 minutes walk – or a short bus ride – from the centre of Reykjavik, and cost £65 per night. It had a shared bathroom but we didn’t see anybody else while we were there.
It was a small room, but it was also quiet, safe and clean – fine for a short stay.
Our cheap bolthole was right beside a stunning leafy area called Laugardalur, which is the site of Húsdýragarðurinn Park and Zoo. It’s also known as ‘hot spring valley’ because its also home to natural open-air thermal pools (Laugardalslaug) also known as “hot pots” where savvy locals go to swim all year round.
Getting around
We bought ourselves a 24hr city card each. A city card costs £28 and with it you get free entry to a wide selection of museums plus those all-important thermal pools.
If you don’t have a city card, an adult ticket costs just 1300ISK (just over £7), and the water is heated by Iceland’s abundant natural volcanic energy. The open air swimming pool is around 26C and the hot pots vary from 36-43C.
There are some important rules to follow. The main one is that everyone has to shower naked before they can swim – and there aren’t any private cubicles. Icelandic people won’t stare though – they’re all very used to getting their bits out in public.
Food and drink
After spending a couple of hours soaking, relaxing and chatting, we decided we fancied a beer and a bite to eat.
To be honest, eating and drinking cheaply was the main challenge on the trip, however, a kind Reykjavik resident who we met at the pool tipped us off about a phone app called “BarHopp”.
It’s an Icelandic app that helps you find different happy hour deals for drinks like beer, cocktails and wine. it shows information regarding when happy hour starts and when it ends for different days; helpful in a city where a pint can cost up to £15.
Using the app, we found a friendly pub in the town centre called Den Danske Kro. They had two-for-one offers on between 4pm and 7pm every day. A pint of lager was usually 1500ISK (£8.50), the deal brought that down to £4.25.
Obviously the ideal pairing for a beer is a burger, and we were able to find a budget option for that as well. We moved on to Lebowski Bar to take advantage of their happy hour half price deal which bagged us a burger and fries – any from their full range – for 1250ISK, less than £7. They’d usually set you back about £14.
They’re big, too. I had the Honey Boo, topped with honey glazed bacon, cheese, lettuce and Japanese mayo. While we were there, we couldn’t resist sampling their famous White Russians, which were a bit pricey at £9.50 each, but delicious.
Other than that, we mainly shopped at supermarkets and made our own sandwiches – very demure, very mindful.
Things to do
On the second day of our visit, we decided it was time to experience some of Reykjavik’s many excellent museums, as these were included in the price of our city card and we still had several hours left on it.
First, we headed to The Settlement Exhibition, curated by the Reykjavik City Museum. It’s based around the archaeological excavation of the ruin of an ancient Icelandic longhouse – one of the oldest man-made structures so far found in the country. Without a city card it costs 2900ISK, about £16, which is a bit steep.
After that, we practically legged it to the National Museum of Iceland before our 24 hour cards expired. It was a huge and impressive collection, although the highlight (for us) was probably the option to dress up like vikings. Without the city card the museum costs 2500ISK to get in, around £14.
Blue Lagoon
With all of the incredible savings we’d made on activities as well as food and drink, we were able to afford to splurge on the biggest expense of our trip – a visit to the huge, stunning Blue Lagoon near Grindavik.
In hindsight, it was pretty unnecessary as the public thermal pools that were included in the price of our city card are technically the same thing. I’ll just admit it – we wanted the Instagram pics.
We booked a £124 guided trip to the Blue Lagoon, which included bus transfers and the entrance ticket to the iconic spa complex – famous for its hot, milky blue waters and rejuvenating white silica mud, which visitors plaster all over their bodies.
The ticket price also included a drink at the swim-up bar, which was a nice touch. It was very luxurious, with complimentary bathrobes and towels – though, as with Laugardalslaug, be aware that you’ll still have to shower naked before you get in.
Final thoughts
The entire experience was epic, a true once-in-a-lifetime treat. However if you do decide to visit make sure you don’t do what I did and drop your phone into the water while trying to take a selfie. Waterproof cases are a must.
The total price per person for three nights, not including food and drink, was £299.50, though almost half of that was the cost of the Blue Lagoon trip, which was a bit of an extravagance. Without it, we’d have spent just £175, which to me, is quite the bargain.
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