Sleeping in Iceland
 

hello

When I travel (Africa mostly) I camp whenever possible and almost always I don’t camp in camping sites...

Is it possible to camp in Iceland? (and out of the camping sites? Most probably is forbidden)


For a small group of motorcycle bikers what do you recommend? since we will probably spent all our money shipping the bikes we will be looking for a cheap solution…

thanks in advance

bernardo feio

Hi bernardo
I was in Iceland 6 years ago. It was may. We camp in every place without paying. Fact that in May all campings was closed.
Sometimes we slept in campings buildings for free, also in scout center. Everything is open. Live everything in the same conditions and no problem.
In Reykyavik we slept even in Polish church and order.
Near Husavik we slept in touristic center (was empty this time) with heating and hot water, all doors open.
It is amazing in this country.

Bartosz

You can camp everywhere as long as you stay 150m away from any property. And like Bartosz say, leave everything the way you came. And yeah the people over there are very friendly and help full.

Rode 2 weeks in Iceland last summer. Stayed 2 nights in the hotel and all other nights camping.
Iceland has lot of camping grounds, I would say 50% were free of charge where I stayed.

I live in Iceland and I travel a lot in the summertime. I find the campingcard to be the best solution in regards of cheap camping.
You pay one fee when you buy the card and you get as much camping nights as you wish over the year for that one fee with no extra or hidden costs.
Check it out here Utilegukortid you can click on the campingsites on a map to see what they have to offer.

Camping Card!
 

I second the camping card idea! It was 100 Euro and it covers 2 adults per card in a variety of camping spots. Most campsites come with free wi fi and places to cook and eat inside. If you have a week of rain you will be willing to plunk down cash to get inside for a hot meal. We found the camping card paid for itself just on Internet fees and getting warm before going back out to the tent!

We also camped wild, but only in the interior, and that was up for debate if it was allowed or not. We did not camp wild inside national parks but rather just outside. We were there for 4 weeks and we only paid for accommodation for 2 nights outside the camping card. Both were due to severe wind and storm conditions that made camping impossible.

It is illegal and taken seriously to camp in the national park outside campsites, but ok anywhere else.Driving offroad anywhere will get you in deep shit.For good reason..erosion control.

I thought the camping card was a bit of a con, in that it only covered maybe a third of the campsites available which you may only discover after you've bought it.

Going there in Sept meant many campsites had already closed, so finding one close by that was open mostly meant the card was useless. If you don't mind having your route altered by aiming for the campsites in the scheme, and you will be there in August, then maybe a good idea.

On arriving we stopped in Seyðisfjörður for the night, next day bought the card in Egilsstadir tourist info to find that lasts nights stay should have been discounted, and they could/should have sold us the card if we'd known :(

At the closed campsites we stayed on often had someone come and say hello, and no-one minded us being there. Water gets turned off and plumbing removed, so its just a field :)

This road map shows a lot of campsite locations, shows dirt/tarmac, and isn't a bad size for a tankbag Ferdakort 1:200000 ISBN 978-9979-67-209-8

:)