Busing Around the Country

To get around Iceland you only have a few options, car, bus, boat or very small plane. The most common form of transportation is car or bus. There is one main road, the Ring Road that goes around the perimeter of the country. A lot of visitors drive campers around the Ring Road to see as much of Iceland as they can without having to worry about finding a hotel or hostel in a small town.
We are currently driving around Iceland in a big bus, it’s similar to a Peter Pan or Greyhound bus, but without a bathroom. It is a comfortable drive and the routes are always very scenic. No matter what side of the bus you are sitting on, the view out the window is spectacular.

There really is not public transportation around Iceland. There is no rail based public transportation and the bus services are very limited. Most of the bus services are in Reykjavik, due to it being the largest city in Iceland and having two thirds of the population. There are also numerous small airports throughout the country. These airports are for tiny planes, usually with only six seats, and some locals use these planes to get from one town to another. The planes are also used in winter when bad weather makes the roads impassable or in emergency situations when very rural Icelanders need to get to hospitals.
The last option of transportation is by boat. There are a lot of little islands and fjords in Iceland that are easiest to get to by boat. Iceland is populated around the edges of the country, so the ocean is really never that far away. We have taken a boat to go whale watching as well as a boat to an bird inhabited island off the northern coast of Iceland. We also will be taking a ferry to get to our final destination which is in the Western Fjords.

While there is no public transportation in Iceland, there is not that big of a need for it. The Ring Road offers a fairly easy way for most visitors to get around the country with a rented car. Besides Reykjavik, all of the other towns are small enough to walk through and easily get around. A car is a necessity, due to the distance between most of the towns, but I think it is well worth the drive.