Car rental Iceland

General information and regulations

In order to rent a car you must be at least 20 years old (age may vary by car category) and have held your license for 1 year. Drivers under the age of 25 may incur a young driver surcharge.

Seatbelts are mandatory and traffic travels on the right. Off-road 'adventures' entail heavy penalties in Iceland, in other words: do not enter 'unmarked roads'. Also, beware of horseback riders. Cattle (all domestic animals) always have the right of way.

Speed limits in Iceland are: in the city 31mph/50kph, on open Roads 49mph/80kph and on highways 55mph/90kph.

Driving in Iceland with a rental car

Iceland has about 13,000 km of roads. Please note that only 4,600 km is actually paved. Route 1 is the large Ring Road connecting Reykjavik with all of the other towns along the coast. The road runs along the entire coastline, the midlands of Iceland are barely inhabited. The large road is 1,339 km in length and consists mainly of asphalt although a few segments are paved with gravel.

The main attractions in Iceland are its wells, geysers and waterfalls. The 'Dettifoss', not far from Lake Mývatn in the North of Iceland, is a famous waterfall. Furthermore, the country consists of moss, lichen and grassland. The arctic desert-like scenery emanates a desolate atmosphere although this might be just the reason for its beauty and popularity. In addition, Iceland is a country that can be explored perfectly by car.

Renting a car in Iceland

Thanks to the accessibility of the country by car, many car rental companies are located at Keflavik Airport. Rental companies include Akureyrar, Alamo, Atlas, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and National.

Another option is to reserve a car through EasyTerra, a website that compares the rates of local car rental companies for your convenience.