Getting there & away
Sea
Cargo ship
Icelandic cargo-shipper Eimskip (525 7000; www.eimskip.com) sails the route Rotterdam-Hamburg-Göteborg-Århus-Fredrikstad-Tórshavn-Reykjavík, which takes eight days, returning to Rotterdam via eastern Iceland and Tórshavn only. The shipper can take up to three passengers on each of its vessels Dettifoss and Goðafoss, although passengers are not accepted between mid-October to mid-April. The trip from Rotterdam costs €1124 per person (€806 for the return journey), and €488 for a car.
Water
Ferry
You can travel to Seyðisfjörður in eastern Iceland from Bergen (Norway), Hanstholm (Denmark), Lerwick (Shetland Islands, UK) and Tórshavn (Faroe Islands) by the Smyril Line’s (www.smyril-line.fo) smart car-ferry Norröna. See p502 for the sailing schedule, and for details of the linking ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick.
Air
Keflavík airport (425 0600, flight times 425 0777; www.keflavikairport.com), located 48km west of Reykjavík, is Iceland’s main gateway. Flights to/from Greenland and the Faroe Islands use Reykjavík domestic airport in the city centre. A couple of international flights per week land at the tiny Akureyri airport, in Iceland’s ‘second city’ in the north.
Fares in this section are general indications only, and are for average-priced high-season return tickets. Cheaper deals are generally available if you are flexible, or if you travel in the low season.
Airlines flying to & from Iceland
Only a few airlines have scheduled flights to Keflavík, Reykjavík and Akureyri airports. All have great safety records:
Atlantic Airways (airline code RC; Faroe Islands 34 10 00; www.atlanticairways.com)
British Airways (airline code BA; 421 7374; www.britishairways.com)
Flugfélag Íslands (Air Iceland; airline code NY; 570 3030; www.airiceland.is)
Icelandair (airline code FI; 505 0700; www.icelandair.net)
Iceland Express (airline code HW; 550 0600; www.icelandexpress.com)
SAS (airline code SK; 505 0300; www.scandinavian.net)
Continental Europe
There are regular direct Icelandair flights to Keflavík from Amsterdam (€300), Copenhagen (Dkr2000), Frankfurt (€300), Oslo (Nkr2000), Paris (€400) and Stockholm (Skr3000), most of which take approximately 3½ hours. Icelandair also has seasonal flights between Keflavík and Barcelona, Berlin, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan, Munich and Zürich, taking between six and nine hours.
Iceland Express flies year-round 14 times weekly between Keflavík and Copenhagen (Dkr2300, three hours). In summer, there are two to four flights weekly between Keflavík and Alicante (€415, four hours), Berlin, Frankfurt, Friedriechshafen (all €450, 3½ hours), Göteborg and Stockholm (both Skr3000, three hours); and between Akureyri and Copenhagen (Dkr3300, three hours).
SAS runs direct flights from Keflavík to Oslo (Nkr3000, 2¾ hours).
Greenland & the Faroe Islands
In summer, Flugfélag Íslands flies from Reykjavík to Greenland: to Kulusuk (Ikr66, 000, two hours) six times a week; and to Narsarsuaq (Ikr60, 000, two hours) twice weekly.
Flugfélag Íslands and Atlantic Airways fly between the Faroe Islands and Reykjavík (Ikr45, 000, 1½ hours) up to four times weekly from April to October.
UK
Icelandair (0870 787 4020; www.icelandair.net) has flights to Keflavík from London Heathrow (UK£200, two hours) at least twice daily. Between April and October, there are flights from Glasgow (UK£150, one hour) four or five times per week; and two flights per week from Manchester (UK£380, 1½ hours).
Internet-based airline Iceland Express (0870 850 0737; www.icelandexpress.com) flies twice daily (less frequently in winter) from London Stansted to Keflavík (UK£300, three hours). It also runs two flights per week from London Stansted to Akureyri (UK£230, three hours).
British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.britishairways.com) are also muscling in on the Iceland routes, and now have a new service from Keflavík to London Gatwick (UK£300, two hours).
From Ireland, the cheapest way is to fly with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) from Dublin to London Stansted, where you can catch the Iceland Express flight to Keflavík.
USA
There are daily Icelandair flights between Keflavík and Boston, and several flights a week between Keflavík and Baltimore/Washington DC, Minneapolis, New York and Orlando. A new summer service departs from San Francisco four times weekly. Online return fares from New York to Keflavík cost about US$900; the flight takes around six hours. If you’re flying with Icelandair from the US to Britain or Europe, you can include a free stopover in Iceland as part of your travel itinerary.
