I'll be on a three-day stopover in Reykjavik, and would prefer not to have to get any local currency if possible. I'd welcome opinions about whether I can get by in restaurants, museums, etc. just by using my credit card (Visa). What about the airport bus?
Thank you, Susan
If you are just going to be in Reykjavik, then yes you are fine without local currency. If you go outside of the city, you may need it for toilets, hot springs, etc.
Are you staying in Reykjavik the entire 3 days?
I'll probably be in Reykjavik all the time, but that's still up in the air. If I do decide to go outside of Reykjavik, it would be on a tour of some sort.
I visited Iceland for a week back in 2018 and even then I managed to get by without needing any cash. Everything and everywhere, including the public toilets, took cards.
Traveled around the country last August. No cash needed anywhere. Buy your airport bus ticket ahead of time.
https://www.re.is/tour/flybus/
Just spent 10 days in Iceland and we were able to use cards everywhere and never needed cash.
Our 8th trip is this summer, and we have absolutely needed cash at times. One hot pot in the Westfjords was cash only. Another rustic one in the Golden Circle. Several toilets along the south coast and just east of Snaefellsness needed coins for the toilets, no cards. If you stop at a roadside farm stand, it is often cash only. So there are places.
Tours are fine, but if you are comfortable renting a car, I would opt for that. It gives you more flexibility etc. Tours definitely have their pluses as well though. We have had good luck using Troll.is and I like that they have small buses so you are not on a big coach.
This past July I spent two weeks in Iceland. A few days in Reykjavík and then the entire Ring Road. I did not use any Icelandic money at anytime at all - paper currency or coins in the entire time I was there. Even rest rooms, if they charged, took credit cards. In fact, some left you no alternative - credit card machine, no human person.n. I think it was the first time I ever charged a pee!
While in Reykjavík at the start of my trip, I did a short city tour. I asked the guide where I could find an ATM to obtain some Icelandic currency. He emphatically said there was no need for any currency. He even showed me his wallet and there was one piece of paper currency in it. He said he had that piece of currency for a few months, and never needed it. I followed his advice and was never sorry for doing so.
Credit everywhere.
I haven’t been since 2017, and still remember being asked if I wanted to make up my lack of cash to totally pay for something quite small.
I had enough cash, bar about 25 cents , for whatever it was.
They said I could pay that 25 cents with my cc.
