Is There Bolt Taxi in Reykjavik? Fares, Prices, and Alternatives Explained

Keflavík Airport — Arrival & Transfers

Keflavík International Airport (KEF) is located approximately 50 km from Reykjavík (about 45–50 minutes by car). Most visitors arrange transport in advance or use the bus services available outside the arrivals hall.

Taxis in Iceland: Cost & Companies

Taxis in Iceland are reliable but expensive, and they run on a regulated meter, not a flat app fare. A fixed transfer from Keflavík Airport to Reykjavík is around 22,500 ISK for 1 to 4 people. Trusted companies include:

Taxis can be hailed, but booking in advance is recommended, especially for airport transfers.

Public Transport in Iceland: Honestly, How Good Is It?

Iceland does have public transport, but set your expectations correctly. There is no train anywhere in the country. What exists is a bus network called Strætó, which is genuinely useful inside Reykjavík and the capital area, and far thinner once you leave it. Long distance buses connect some larger towns, mostly in summer, but they will not get you to most waterfalls, the Golden Circle, or the South Coast on a sensible schedule. For that, most visitors rent a car or join a tour.

Car Rental in Iceland — What to Know

Multiple car rental companies operate at Keflavík Airport. Most are located off-site with free shuttle buses. Booking in advance is recommended, especially during busy periods.

Plan nothing else for arrival day. Most rental desks are off-site, reached by a free shuttle. On busy days the full pickup (shuttle, queue, car walk-around, paperwork) can stretch to an hour or more. Some readers report one to two hours in peak summer or when several flights land together. Add that to the passport control queue and the drive into town, and any tour, restaurant booking, or Blue Lagoon slot you set for that same day is at real risk. Land, collect the car, drive to your accommodation, sleep.

Renting an Electric Car in Iceland, Honestly

I drive an EV here as a resident, so I know my car, my routes, and how the battery behaves in local conditions. Renting one is a very different experience. You do not know the car, the roads, or how this particular battery responds to wind and cold. An EV rental can be cheaper to run than petrol, and chargers are common around the capital and along main roads. The part that trips visitors up is not finding a charger, it is paying at one. Different networks, different apps, and weather that quietly eats your range. Here is what to expect so you can decide if it suits your trip.

The main charging networks

There is no single national app that covers every charger. Each network runs its own app or key, and some units also take a contactless card straight on the reader. These are the ones you will actually meet on the road:

• ON (Orka náttúrunnar), the largest network, with fast (DC) and slower (AC) chargers all around the country. Pay through the ON app. A heads up from experience: not every ON charger is fast. Some individual units, especially older ones, are noticeably slower than others on the same network, so give yourself extra time if that is the only one at a stop.
• N1, the big fuel chain, with fast chargers at many stations where you can also use the toilet and grab food. Pay by card or the N1 app.
• eONE (e1), the app behind a lot of Orkan and Olís fast chargers. If you fuel at those stations, this is the key you want.
• Ísorka, fast chargers at Olís stations and other spots. Pay through the Ísorka app or key.
• Instavolt and Charge & Drive, two more networks you will come across, generally fast chargers. Set them up if your route passes them.
• Tesla Superchargers, which in Iceland are open to non-Tesla cars too, through the Tesla app.

A few newer chargers take tap-to-pay contactless with no app at all, but do not count on it. The honest move is simple: get every charging app and key you reasonably can before a long drive. Do not travel with only one. For finding a charger on the move, plain Google Maps now shows nearby charging stations, so you do not always need a specialist app just to locate one. What Google will not reliably tell you is which network runs it, how fast it is, or whether it is working right now, so cross-check a live map like juiceup.is or PlugShare before you set off.

How to start a charge in practice

Each network has its own way of waking the charger up, and it is not always obvious from the unit itself. A physical charging key or RFID card makes life easier, but you often do not need one.

• ON chargers usually let you scan a barcode on the unit itself, straight from the ON app. A key is handy, but the barcode does the same job.
• Ísorka chargers work by number. Each side of the unit has its own ID, so you open the Ísorka app, search that number, and swipe to start. No barcode to scan, just the number on the sticker.
• Other networks vary. Some want their app, some want a key, and a small but growing number accept contactless card tap on the reader. The safest habit is to have the app and, if you can get one, a key or card for every network you plan to use.

Plug types

For fast (DC) charging along routes, CCS2 is the standard. For slower (AC) charging at hotels and in town, it is the Type 2 connector, the same as most of Europe. If you are renting, confirm the car's connector and that a charging cable is included before you drive off.

Why some chargers feel painfully slow

Charging speed is measured in kW (kilowatts). Think of it like a tap: the higher the kW, the faster the electricity flows into the battery. This is the single number worth learning to read, because the same "quick stop" can take 40 minutes at one charger and three hours at another, and the difference is almost always the kW.

There are two broad speeds. AC chargers (roughly 7 to 22 kW) are the slow ones, meant for overnight top ups at a hotel or all day in town. DC fast chargers (50 kW and up, sometimes 150 kW or more) are the ones you want on a road trip. The catch is that they are not labelled "slow" and "fast" on the outside. A charger that looks identical to the next one might be a slow AC unit, so it is worth checking the kW in the app or on the screen before you commit to waiting.

One more thing that trips people up: some networks run a whole category of slow "neighbourhood chargers" (you will see them called Hverfahleðsla on an ON receipt) dotted around residential areas, gyms and pools. These are AC units built for locals to top up over hours, not road trip chargers, even though they carry the same logo as the fast ones. And even within that category the power varies from unit to unit. Two ON neighbourhood chargers can look identical yet deliver different amounts, one at around 7 kW and another at closer to 5 or 6. The receipt or app usually shows the unit's max power (labelled afl on an ON invoice), so if you have a choice, the higher number will save you time.

Two things make it feel unpredictable, and neither means anything is broken:

• The charging curve. An EV does not charge at a steady rate. It takes power fastest when the battery is fairly low, then the car itself deliberately slows the flow as it fills up, to protect the battery. That is why the last stretch to full drags, and why charging from, say, 20 to 60 percent is quicker than 80 to 100. If you are road tripping, topping up to about 80 percent and moving on is usually faster overall than waiting for a full battery.
• A cold battery. When the battery is cold, the car limits how fast it will accept charge, again to protect itself. So on a cold Icelandic day even a proper fast charger can feel slow, especially in the first few minutes before the battery warms up. Driving for a bit before you plug in helps, because the battery warms as you go.
• The unit itself. Even on the same network, some chargers are genuinely slower than others. An older unit can deliver far less power than a brand new one installed on the same street. From driving here, the slow ones often seem to be the older, first generation units, while the newer ones are quick, so this is not a reason to write ON off. ON runs plenty of excellent fast chargers too. The point is simply that the logo on the outside does not tell you the speed. If you have charged at one ON station and it flew, do not assume the next ON station will do the same. Check the kW on the screen, and if it is crawling, it may simply be that particular unit.

So if a charge is crawling, run through it calmly: check the kW showing on the screen (a low number means it is a slow unit or the car is limiting itself), remember the battery may be cold, and know that a genuinely low battery on a real fast charger should climb quickly. If the kW is high and it is still slow, that charger may simply be underperforming, and it is worth trying another network.

Before you rely on it, set up payment

• Download the relevant network apps and register a card before you leave the capital, while you still have easy wifi and signal. Doing it in a car park in the rain at a dead battery is miserable. Most apps currently require an Icelandic phone number to register. If that is a barrier for you, Plugsurfing or Electroverse are known to accept international numbers and can act as a fallback.
• Do not assume every charger takes tap-to-pay. Some do, some only work through their app or an RFID key.
• Have a backup network. If one app or charger is down, being registered with a second network saves the day.

Paper range vs real road range

This is the one that quietly catches people out, so it is worth saying plainly: the range printed on the car's spec sheet is not the range you get on the road. That paper number is measured in ideal lab conditions. Real Icelandic driving, with wind, hills, heating on, and cold, always comes in lower.

As a rough feel from driving one here: a car rated around 320 km on paper tends to give closer to 285 km in summer, and rarely the full number even on a good day. In winter it depends heavily on temperature. On a mild day the battery holds up fine, but in a real cold snap the same car can give you a fraction of that. Extreme temperatures in either direction, heat or cold, drain the battery faster.

So the calm rule is: treat the dashboard range as optimistic, plan your stops with a comfortable buffer, and charge earlier than you think you need to rather than gambling on the last town having a working fast charger. You are very unlikely to be genuinely stranded near the capital or on the main roads, where chargers are common. The nervous stretches are the long, remote gaps, and those are exactly where planning ahead removes the worry.

Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar) Ferry, Honestly Explained

The Herjólfur ferry is the main way to reach the Westman Islands, and it confuses almost every visitor. The schedule itself is published on herjolfur.is. The schedule is not what people get wrong. What people get wrong is which port the ferry actually leaves from on any given day. Here is what you need to understand before you book.

There are two possible departure ports

Landeyjahöfn is on the south coast, roughly a 1 hour 45 minute drive from Reykjavík. From there, the sailing to Vestmannaeyjar is about 35 minutes. This is the default port when conditions allow.

Þorlákshöfn is closer to Reykjavík (about an hour) but the sailing is much longer, roughly 2 hours 45 minutes. This is the backup port used when Landeyjahöfn cannot be entered safely.

Why the port changes

Landeyjahöfn is a man made harbour and it silts up. Sand, large ocean waves, and weather regularly make it unusable, sometimes for a single sailing, sometimes for days or weeks. When that happens, Herjólfur reroutes to Þorlákshöfn, often at short notice. This is not unusual. It is normal operation, especially in autumn, winter, and early spring.

What this means for your trip

• Always check herjolfur.is the morning of travel for the current departure port and any cancellations. The site posts updates in Icelandic and English.
• Book passenger and vehicle tickets in advance through the same site or app. Vehicles are limited, especially in summer, and are booked as a separate item from passenger seats.
• Build in buffer time. A return same-day trip in winter is risky. If a sailing is cancelled or rerouted, you may not get back when you planned.
• Cancellations due to wind and rough seas are common and not refundable in the usual sense, they are rebooked. Check the current terms on herjolfur.is before booking.
• If you are flying in or out of Keflavík the same day, do not plan a Westman Islands day trip. The risk of disruption is too high.

The other option, flying

Eagle Air (Ernir) operates small aircraft between Reykjavík Domestic Airport and Vestmannaeyjar. Flights are short but also weather dependent and have limited seats. Check eagleair.is for current schedules.