Rental vs. Bus for 2 night stopover in Reykjavik

I would rent a car as that gives you the most flexibility and is not that much more than the Flybus. That is what we almost always do.

Are you locked into staying in Reykjavik? If not, I would just stay at the Aurora Hotel the night of arrival and then pick up the car in the morning. You could do part of the south coast or Snaefelsness that next day. I would stay the night in one of those places to maximize your time. Then in the morning head back towards Reykjavik or KEF. You could go to Reykjavik for a couple of hours, could do a hot spring, or see some of the Reykjanes Peninsula.

If you are locked into the Reykjavik Hotel, do not worry about on street parking. It is very easy and does not cost much.

If you rent a car, I highly recommend taking the full insurance and not using AAA or anything like that. Book local and use a local company. If you ge the full insurance, then you are not on the hook for anything. If you use your own credit card for insurance, remember that if anything happens that you have to pay upfront and then deal with getting reimbursed. On our trip just the other week, we were stuck behind an accident where the roof had to be cut off the car to get the people out. They were visitors, and I cannot imagine having to deal with insurance after that.

Also, if you rent a car, you need to allow time to get to KEF, which from Reykjavik is about 45 minutes. Plus time to return the car and then you still want a full 3 hours at KEF before your flight. Security has never had long lines, but Passport Control can be incredibly long, and there have been a few times that we needed that full 3 hours.

Now, if you do not want to rent a car, then you could consider a taxi instead. We don't bother with Flybus anymore as we are not fans of transferring at the central bus terminal, so the times the we do not rent a car, we take a taxi. They have a flat rate now, 22,500KR, so $180 or so. We use Hreyfill, which you can call upon arrival or book it ahead of time.

If you do not rent a car, then look at local companies for a tour. We have used Troll, Nice Travel, and Bus Travel Iceland for day tours and they are all very good. We did have one booked with Arctic Adventures but it was cancelled due to weather. I will say though that they processed the refund immediately, so we were obviously pleased with them.

Do not book through Viator, Get Your Guide or anyone that is a 3rd party reseller and stick to local companies.

For specific tours, I would not do the Golden Circle unless you just want a fairly short tour. You will see much more if you do a south coast or Snaefellsness tour. Then on that second day you could do the Citywalk "free" walking tour in Reykjavik, or the food tour, or both. Both are excellent and we have done both of them several times each. Just walking around the city it nice and there is a lot to see.

I hope some of this helps in your decision making. We have been many times, so if you have more questions, just ask.

We just returned from our trip – shoulder season so it will be more crowded in June. Rented an economy car for a week in Downtown Reykjavik, hit Reykjavik (before & after rental), Golden Circle, Vik, up to Diamond Beach, out to Snæfellsnes Peninsula. From my hindsight trip view, it will really depend on what kind of travelers you are & will your hotel store luggage on Sunday.

If you may be tired from travelling by the time you get to Iceland & your hotel will store your luggage, then hassle-free may be the way to go. At your arrival time & hassle-free, it’s taxi or FlyBus (you’ll be able to use public bus to the airport). FlyBus will take you to your hotel but it’s approximately 1.5 hrs door to door w/1 transfer at a main hub. It was $77 for 2 from hotel -> KEF. We used the public bus on our arrival @ 9:30am. Also took about 1.5 hours w/1 transfer for about 1/3 the price.

From my self-drive experience I’d do a tour out to Snæfellsnes Peninsula. It's a taste of all Iceland offers with less crowds. At the tour hot spots on the Golden Circle, there were multiple tour buses parked during shoulder season – only saw 1 on the Peninsula. The amount of time you have on Sunday is more than enough to see all that Reykjavik has to offer with the possibility of one of the lagoons as well. I’d recommend Sky Lagoon – it’s more natural. While at Sky, I overheard a man in his 40s saying he preferred it to Blue Lagoon but also heard a younger woman saying she preferred the selfies she & her partner took at Blue over those they took at Sky. Without doing the Sky Lagoon ritual, you’ll have access to the lagoon area, cold plunge, public changing room w/private shower & locker. Sauna & steam area access is reserved for Ritual. We used public bus to/from Sky but I believe the Fly Bus will also take you there. If your luggage is carry-on sized, it should fit in a locker at Sky.

To maximize your time (especially if you’re nature lovers) & money, I’d rent a car from the airport especially if you are not locked into your hotel. If you’re not locked in, look for one that has free parking to save the hassle of looking for parking on arrival which I believe is free overnight on the street.

We rented from Budget Downtown & used my credit card for insurance - 1 week economy rental - no real issues. It did take a little longer to check-in the car than it should’ve because there was already damage to the car in their system labeled as "medium." At check-in it was now considered "large." We had a trainee at check-out that did say to take photos of the car before leaving and showed me where the damage was, BUT instructed to only send the photos if there was more damage than the areas we were shown. Same agent checked us in, so the manager just had me send my photo with timestamp to prove it existed as “large” already. It just took us a while to get to that point, but all was good and I should have followed my gut and sent the photos the day we picked up the car.

We're nature lovers so I wouldn’t have wanted to be on a timetable in Iceland. We did the Snæfellsnes Peninsula loop in a day – clockwise and managed to stop at almost all the spots we marked. The only place we found that required pay-to-park was Seal Beach. There were no parking fees at any of the other spots whereas on the Golden Circle or a drive down to Vik, every tourist hot spot & even those that are a little less known, had a parking fee ranging from $6-$9 at each lot. If you see a white structure with cameras facing each direction at the parking lot entrance, it is paid parking. All but one of our paid parking had kiosks to pay at. If you use the Parka app in a parking lot that has a kiosk, you will be assessed a small fee to use the app to pay. In June, you may be spending more time and money to pay to park while visiting outside the Peninsula.

Just clarifying a few things in post #2.

At Sky Lagoon, every entrance ticket includes the 7 step ritual so you have access to everything they offer. It is up to you whether you want to do it or not, but we love it and they have recently made it much nicer! We have done both that and Blue several times each a they are both good, just different. IMO, you can't go wrong with either as it is a personal preference. Sky does have luggage storage for a fee, but even my 21" rolling Rick Steve's bag, my day pack and a small duffel bag all fit into my locker. The gentleman at the desk when we arrived let me know that all of that would fit and we wouldn't need to pay for storage.

On Snaefellsess, there are other places besides Ytri Tunga (the seal beach) that you must pay to park. At Kirkjufell, Helgafell (cash only, honesty jar), on the harbor at Stykkisholmur, and Arnastapi (depending on where you park).

If you do Snaefelsness, take a look at Hvammsvík Hot Springs. It is on the way to/from and is about 45 minutes north of Reykjavik. In all of our trips, it is our favorite.

If you want a different sort of hot spring experience, take a look at Husafell Canyon baths, which can easily be done in a trip to Snaefellsness.

Regardless of all of this, if you do Snaefellsness whether on your own on on a tour, it is a long day. We have been there a number of times and still have not explored it all, but everything is worthwhile, IMO.