Camper van or hotel/rental car in September

If you want to travel inexpensively the best way to do it is to avoid Iceland altogether. But, yes, avoid a camper van in September. It can get very windy and strong winds can blow camper vans off the road. Also, camping outside official campgrounds is illegal.

I went to Iceland in September 2018, and drove the ring road. I thought about tent camping, renting a camper van, etc. I was trying to see how cost effective I could keep my lodging, as I was by myself, which is always more when calculating cost per person. Ultimately, when I considered the weather in the north of Iceland, I decided the tent camping was not an option, due first to weather and secondly to logistics (knowing there.would be days I would want to be in a hotel or some other lodging). When looking at the camper van option, I compared it to staying in hostels (something I'd never done), and ultimately ended up with a combination of half of my nights in hostels, and half in hotels. I was truly and wonderfully surprised at how clean, and even private, some of the hostels were. I also met so many really interesting people staying in the hostels that I never would have encountered otherwise. Most of the hostel options I looked at had several different options of room type, from single to multiple occupancy. You can also choose same gender only or coed, depending on your comfort level. I will say, I never once felt uncomfortable in any of the places I stayed. There were many options available.

I did stay in hotels near Myvatn and in Reykjavik, but that was a matter of choice, not availability. One of the places I read about often in terms of a place to have a drink or listen to music is the Kex Hostel in Reykjavik.

I also rented a car for the drive around the ring road, but dropped it off before my final two days in Reykjavik.