Contents
Type of car = Type of trip
I’ve done tons of research on how to choose the best car for Iceland. I’ve done tons of research on Icelandic car rental companies, reviewing more than 50 of them. If you are like me, and you want to do your research on your own, then Northbound.is would be a great place to start when choosing the best car rental for Iceland. The car is a really important part of any road trip in Iceland, for us, the car was the most important thing to have in many aspects. What I concluded after a thorough research was the following. Primarily, you have to decide what kind of trip do you want to do:
- Ring road only, no F-roads
- F-roads with no river crossings or only minor ponds
- F-roads with medium river crossings
- F-roads with bigger river crossings
- All F-roads, all rivers, all dirt tracks
Read our guide on how to choose the best car rental insurance for Iceland.
Of course, you can always opt for the big, expensive, super-jeep 4×4 car which will serve you for all of the options above. You will be fine, you’re gonna just end up paying much more. What we primarily aim for in this article, is the best performance to price ratio, as many people aim for as well. If you aim for that too, here’s what I advise to do (for the trip types from above):
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1. Ring road only, no F-roads
Small 2wd car
Basically any car, just read carefully what’s included in the insurance. We took a Hyundai i20 for our first day because it was cheaper than roundtrip from the airport to Reykjavik by bus. The company I can recommend for this kind of trip is Go Car Rental or Lava Car Rental. Mostly because they offer one of the cheapest cars in Iceland while being a reliable car rental company that doesn’t scam its customers. Lately also Lotus Car Rental went with their prices lower, so they are one of the cheapest now as well.
If you want to go for a Campervan option, I can highly recommend Go Campers or Happy Campers. They are one of the biggest and cheapest campervan companies in Iceland. You can be more than sure that your experience with them will be awesome. CampEasy is also a great choice you won’t regret.
Want to rent a Motorhome in Iceland? The best Motorhome company in Iceland is definitely McRent.
Go Campers promo code:
We offer to our readers also a 5% PROMO CODE for Go Campers rental.
2. F-roads with no river crossings or only minor ponds
Small 4wd car
Basically any 4×4 car. If it wasn’t for the Icelandic law, which requires you to have 4×4 on EVERY F-road, I would say even 2wd car would be sufficient for most of the Icelandic F-roads which do not have river crossings, during good weather. They are just really bumpy with many potholes, but in 90% of cases easily passable. Bad weather may change this dramatically of course. We had the best experience with Lotus Car Rental and besides our experience, heard great feedback on Go Car Rental from many travellers as well. But, of course, if you prefer to do your own research go for sites like Northbound.is.
Looking for the best campervan in Iceland? We can highly recommend Happy Campers or Go Campers. They are the most reliable and most friendly campervan companies in Iceland. They also rent 4×4 campervans! Additionally also CampEasy is great.
Want to rent an RV or a Motorhome in Iceland? The best RV rental company in Iceland is definitely McRent.
Lotus car rental promo code:
A PROMO CODE epicicelandd5 will get you a 5% discount with Lotus and us a small commission at no extra cost to you.
3. F-roads with medium river crossings
Medium 4wd car
4×4 car with decent ground clearance, i.e. in my opinion at least 18 centimetres and with air intake which is high enough (at least your hip height). Best performance to the price in this category is for me undoubtedly Dacia Duster 4wd, the option we firstly took after my research. Again, we had the best experience with Lotus Car Rental, but you should do well also with Go Car Rental or your own research which is easiest to start with the Icelandic search engine Northbound.is. If you feel unsure and better want to go for the safest option, take one of the big Toyota cars (Land Cruiser or Hilux). The best Toyota car rental company in Iceland is MyCar.
MyCar promo code:
A RARE PROMO CODE EPICICELAND will get you a 5% discount with MyCar and us a small commission at no extra cost to you.
4. F-roads with bigger river crossings
Big 4wd car
The smallest option for this kind of roads is a Toyota Land Cruiser. Several companies offer Land Cruisers for rent and we had the best experience with MyCar Rental. MyCar offers exclusively Toyota cars and all of them are brand new high-quality models. Toyota Hilux is a great alternative to Land Cruiser as well. If you want to do your own research, Icelandic search engine Northbound.is is great for that.
The only Icelandic car rental company with a river crossing insurance for your Land Cruiser is again Lotus Car Rental. If you aim for even bigger car than Land Cruiser or Hilux, here comes the Land Rover Defender to the scene! The biggest and most renowned Land Rover rental company in Iceland is undoubtedly Isak 4×4 Rental.
Isak 4×4 promo code:
A RARE PROMO CODE epiciceland will get you a 10% discount with Isak 4×4 and us a small commission at no extra cost to you.
5. All F-roads, all rivers, all dirt tracks
Icelandic Superjeep
For bigger cars you need to go for the so-called super-jeep 4×4 car. You need to have really high ground clearance, strong engine, artificially modified air intake, very good tires and other things a car mechanic would describe better than me. Even in this case, crossing big rivers (like Krossá near Thórsmörk) may be dangerous. There are just a few companies which will let you rent a super-jeep, where one with the best performance to price ratio is Isak 4×4 Rental according to my research.
The second great super jeep rental company is a legendary Ice-Rovers with 25+ years on the market and beautiful modified Land Rovers. There’s also one “super jeep” which you may rent from MyCar (and which we took).
Ice-Rovers discount:
Just email ICE ROVERS asking for an exclusive “3% Epic Iceland discount” and you will get it right away!
It’s all about river crossings
At the end of the day, it’s all about river crossings. The size of rivers you want to cross determines what car do you need for those rivers. Apart from river crossings, there’s nothing super dangerous about Icelandic roads in the summer (well OK, sometimes they are steep, narrow and bumpy). Winter season, of course, changes this significantly and factors like how the car handles snow come into the force.
If feeling unsure, NEVER do a bigger river crossing, you may risk your life. It’s also better to wait for someone else do the river crossing first and many other rules we describe in our river crossing article. The same applies, if you don’t have enough experience, or it’s your first time crossing a river – do NOT do bigger river crossings without prior experience.
River crossing in Iceland. Taken from https://www.foodiebaker.com/day-3-iceland-travelogue/
During our first Icelandic trip I wanted to try many interesting F-roads and see the magical surreal landscapes surrounding them, so I haven’t even considered options 1 and 2. I finally opted for option 3, because you are able to see the majority of the most beautiful places in Iceland without crossing big rivers. You cannot avoid the small to medium ones, however. Secondly, a price jump from option 3 to option 4 is a bigger one, you can easily double the price of your rental car because of it being a super-jeep.
Under option 3, i.e. medium 4×4 (or 4wd is sufficient as well), the clear winner in terms of performance to price ratio has been Dacia Duster. I can confirm this after our 12 day ring road trip. We successfully drove all our planned roads without any problems, crossing around 20 rivers, including several medium-sized ones. I can highly recommend Duster under normal weather conditions even in the Highlands with smaller river crossings.
Although we didn’t experience any heavy rain during our drives on F-roads, Duster should still be capable of dealing with most of the situations, except big rivers, which, however, is not an option 3 anymore. You can read this blog further for a list of F-roads which we’ve done and also to see which rivers are considered to be small to medium-sized ones.
Road 60, or Vestfjarðavegur in Westfjords towards Dynjandi waterfall
Car rental company and insurance – 4wd
For me, this was an easy choice. I wanted to do the river crossings. That means, there is always an option that your car can get stuck in water or your engine may be damaged by water. And this may cost thousands of Euros. I definitely wanted to avoid that. And, since there is only one car rental company in Iceland which insures you even for river crossings, I’ve opted for this company – Lotus.
River crossings are part of their platinum insurance package, which costs around 40eur/day, i.e. almost the same as platinum insurance packages from other car rental companies that do NOT insure you in case of river crossings. Although a car rental via Lotus costed a bit more (around 100eur/day for 11 days) compared to some other companies, river crossing insurance was a deal-breaker for me.
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On top of that – not only Lotus insures you in case of river crossings – it also allows you to drive on ANY F-road. What does this mean? Majority of car rental companies do not allow you to drive certain roads (e.g. F249, F210, F980). What does it mean “do not allow”? Firstly, you can get fined for doing that. Secondly, in case you drive them, no insurance applies for your rental, even if you paid for the platinum one.
Read our guide on how to choose the best car rental insurance for Iceland.
Of course, with some roads, this makes sense, like the ones I mentioned above, as they may be often dangerous. However, rental companies often tend to forbid you driving even on F-roads which are not that dangerous, but the rental company has “some risk” that you may damage the car somehow, so they better forbid you to drive the road. Which makes really no sense to me – why am I borrowing a 4×4 car then, which is allowed to drive F-roads, when a rental company doesn’t allow me to drive almost half of them?
That’s why I firstly chose Lotus. They let you drive on any F-road and their insurance applies in case of ALL F-roads, which really is a great feature. Then it’s up to you to judge which routes are doable for you and which are not.
F208 road from Vik towards Landmannalaugar
Our 4wd car rental experience
With Lotus, the entire rental process was really smooth, you’ve got a nice website with all info you need, you’ve got really great reviews (I would say the best among all rental companies in Iceland).
We arrived at the car rental desk, being the only customers at that time (unlike in the case of some other companies). The car was ready immediately. Kudos to Laura at the desk, who explained to us everything we needed, showed us how to operate the rooftop tent, how to use wi-fi router, gave us advice on how to drive the car the best way and other important basics. The car was in a great condition without any damage (unlike in the case of some other companies).
I asked Laura on her opinion about river crossings we were planning to do and she reassured me they all should be doable in case I drive properly, even in Dacia Duster, and that most of them she had done already and are not that hard. She told us the only river she doesn’t recommend us crossing is Krossá river on the road to Thórsmork, which reassured me even more. I was pretty sure I don’t want to cross this one, I was just afraid whether the ones we were planning (like F208, F235, F905, F910, F347) are not too dangerous as well. For example, some famous Icelandic rental companies are banning you from doing F910. Her reply reassured me that they should be fine.
Fellabær campsite next to Egilsstaðir
I studied a lot about how the car may be damaged when crossing a river, so my last question was where the air intake of Duster is located. She replied that it’s somewhere above her hip height (i.e. some 80-100cm) which reassured me even more. I definitely was not planning crossing rivers that big (from what I’d studied, the biggest should be around 50-60cm maximum). So, empowered with my newly gained confidence from Laura’s advice, we started our journey.
Our super jeep car rental experience
Honestly, I’ve done a really exhausting research on super jeep car rental companies, when planning our highlands road trip. I also thought about buying a car or renting a car privately from someone local. Neither of those was possible, nor made sense, though. If you want to buy a car in Iceland, you need an Icelandic ID (kennitala) and a lot of time 🙂 I had none of these. And if you want to rent a car privately from the local, no insurance will ever protect you, and it’s probably also not entirely legal. Not to mention that no Icelander will rent you his super jeep toy :))
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I summarized my findings and experience with Icelandic super jeeps in our article How to rent a super jeep in Iceland. Long story short, I narrowed down the list of affordable super jeeps to just 2 super jeep rental companies – Isak 4×4 and MyCar. And we finally went for MyCar and their modified Land Cruiser with snorkel. It was a very close battle, but MyCar won it by a notch, because their Land Cruiser was slightly bigger and newer compared to the Land Rover Defender of Isak 4×4 and the price was similar.
If we had a bigger budget, however, we would definitely go for the Land Rover Super Defender from Isak 4×4. This is the biggest super jeep you can rent in Iceland. It’s a beast. We offer a 10% discount to our readers for Isak 4×4 with the promo code: epiciceland.
But coming back to our MyCar rental experience – it was great. They offer a free 24/7 airport shuttle to their Keflavik rental office. They also rent exclusively only brand new Toyota cars. Moreover, MyCar has a network of Toyota car repair shops all over the country. In case anything happens, this is a very useful feature. When it comes to insurance, we took only a basic option and bought full insurance (engine, undercarriage, windows, tires, …) from RentalCover. We wrote about our Highlands trip with MyCar extensively.
Our 2wd car rental experience
For our first day in Iceland, we decided to rent a cheap 2wd car due to several reasons. Firstly, we wanted to explore Reykjavik, Keflavik and their surroundings at least for a few hours, for which a 4×4 car would be useless. Secondly, we wanted to prepare for our trip doing shopping etc. for which again a 4×4 would be useless.
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Last but not least by renting a 2wd car we saved around 80Eur compared to 4×4 rental and saved even compared to a return journey from Keflavik to Reykjavik by bus, not to mention the flexibility the car gives you). So I’ve done quick research for a cheap car rental company with good reviews. Yes, you definitely don’t want a company with a bad reputation, trust me – this can cost you money and nerves on your holiday. I narrowed my search to Lotus and Go Car rental. And we finally chose Go Car rental, because they were cheaper.
Go Car rental, one of the best Icelandic car rentals
GoCar has a great office location, right next to the airport hotel Aurora, only 200m walking distance from the departure hall. This means, no taxi or bus needed! The rental process was quick and smooth and the rental included all the useful insurances for a 2wd car – CDW, SCDW, GP & TP (see our car rental insurance guide if you are interested in insurance details).
I didn’t buy any additional insurance on top of the compulsory one (CDW, TPL), because damaging the car on a way from Keflavik to Reykjavik and back was highly improbable. When returning the car the next day, the return process was smooth. There were no customers waiting and nobody bullied us with any examination of the car scratches, so it luckily took maybe 5 minutes altogether.
ask questions or get inspired in our community
Because in my country I drive only automatic cars do you think that Rav4 is comparable to Duster? Planning to do F208 South and Askja.
Hi John, it depends on:
-the model (2018 vs 2019 vs some other) of Rav4
-actual road conditions at the time of your visit
-According to Google, Rav4 2018 has a ground clearance of 6.5inch (16.5cm) and Rav4 2019 has 8.6inch (22cm) which is quite a difference. Dacia Duster is about the same as Rav4 2019.
-Also, the best time to go is usually August, because the water levels are at their lowest.
-The third important thing is the height of the air intake of your car. It should be at least 31inch/80cm for F208 south and Askja roads (not sure where is it on Rav4, but Duster has it at roughly 90cm/35inch).
To sum up – in good conditions you should be fine, in worse conditions you may not be. We wrote more on the topic here:
https://epiciceland.net/icelandic-rivers-how-to-cross/
TLDR: If you go for Lotus with full insurance, you should be fine. To be even more confident, I would maybe go for Subaru Forester (automatic, ground clearance 8.7inch for all models, price about the same)
After contacting Lotus they said that Forester has a low ground clearance and is not suitable for Askja and they said that Duster has higher ground clearance. How is this possible?
Dear John,
it’s good you contacted Lotus, the car rental company should always know the best what type of vehicles they offer at a particular time. There may be several factors influencing this:
-they may have changed/renewed their fleet (sometimes newer models have lower ground clearance)
-there are always several versions of one car (e.g. classical 4×4, modified 4×4 for higher ground clearance, etc.)
So the only one who knows exactly what parameters do the cars have, as of today, is their owner, i.e. the rental company.
As per our experience – I can 100% confirm Dacia Duster we drove was fine in the conditions we experienced.
We didn’t drive Forester/Rav4 by Lotus, so about that we may only give you general information which can be googled (which said Forester has similar ground clearance as Duster and Rav4 lower). If Lotus said Forester has lower clearance, then it’s probably like that, for whatever reason. You may ask them further if you are interested – I’m sure they will answer you all your questions.
Por qué el Duster tiene 23.cm de altura libre al suelo exactamente la misma que el Toyota land Cruiser. El Duster es más capaz que el Subaru forester , aunque no lo creas
It’s really a great and helpful piece of information. I am satisfied that
you shared this useful information with us. Please keep us up to date
like this. Thank you for sharing.
Thoughts on the Suzuki Jimney 2019?
Any f-Roads to avoid that car?
Hi Allan,
Suzuki Jimny is good if you don’t plan to go on F-roads with major river crossings. Because Jimny is a “small 4wd car”, it is dangerous to cross big rivers and sometimes even medium rivers (depending on the weather and your driving skills).
Definitely avoid roads like F249, F210, F206, F261, F233 (big river crossings).
Roads like F208 south, F905, F910, F224 all have medium river crossings – sometimes you may have problems with Jimny (depending on the weather and your driving skills).
We wrote more about each F-road here:
https://epiciceland.net/list-f-roads-iceland/
I remember from earlier days that rental companies had an age limit of 70 years. That means that elderly people are excluded from renting. I am an experienced car driver, but I am 77 yearsyoung. Has that situation changed? When I come byboat i can drive my own car.
Hi Fred,
some companies have this limit, some don’t. The only way to find out is to ask the specific car rental company
Hi – I am considering a 4X4 campervan for a summer trip to Iceland. Is this big enough for medium river crossings such as F 208 south? Thanks!
Mitch
Hi Mitch,
80% of the time you should be fine with 4×4 campervan for F208 south in the summer. It’s good to have a snorkel so that the water doesn’t get into the engine like this one from Happy Campers has.
Always check road.is and better also ask some local 1-2 day before about the water levels. If it rains too much (this is these “20%”) the water level may be high. But usually, it’s OK in the summer.
We wrote in detail about how to cross rivers here. This is also very important – not only water level and river conditions.
All the best!
Great article, very useful info. There’s an important characteristic of cars that nobody mentions and that’s the engine size. Most dusters come with 1500cc engines but there’s also some Suzuki vitaras with 2400cc. Is the 1500cc engine powerful enough or would you recommend the more powerful engine? Is it worth it to have more horse power even it the higher fuel consumption?
Hi Guido, thank you, we are glad you find our article useful.
Yes you are right, power of the engine matters too. We didn’t want to complicate this even more in our article, so no mentions of the engine power 🙂 Of course, the more powerful, the better – especially if you are planning tougher F-roads. Duster with its engine is totally OK for ring road and also for easier F-roads – those with small river crossings and not too steep. If you want to know which F-roads have small river crossings and are not too steep, we describe that in our List of All F-roads article.
If you plan doing tougher F-roads, it’s definitely necessary to have also horse power and don’t care that much about fuel consumption.
Hi, I am now planning the routes in Iceland using a 4×4. I had a good look at the videos ahave the distinct impression though that F roads are not considered by Google Maps when calculating routes. Is this possible? Does anyone have experience how to ‘open up’ Google Maps to the F roads? Any other GPS apps to recommend which allow for planning ahead? Many thanks!
Hi Maarten, some of the F-roads are good on Google Maps, some not, we wrote an article about that: https://epiciceland.net/f-roads-google-maps-iceland/
You also asked about more precise maps, here we write what maps we use: https://epiciceland.net/icelandic-road-system/#Free_maps_of_Icelandic_roads
Not the first time I thank you for your great articles. GREAT JOB. we decided to rent Toyota Hilux from Lotus (the insurance on it for us), and the route plan includes F208, F225, F235, F206+F207, F910, F905, F88 and F232 to Maelifell with a possibility to return on F210 or if Holmsa looks to hard for us, going back on F232 again (as far as i know, this will be the worst river crossing in or trip potentially).
I wanted to ask (I didn’t find any article about that on your website) what safety equipment would you take to this kind of highlands trip? Do you think things like shovel, rope, GPS, satellite Phone – are essential? did you used those thing on you highlands trip? any other suggestions?
Thank you again for the best information about Icelandic highlands in the web. I own my on website, and facebook group and might try to make some kind of an Cooperation when i get back from my next trip (:
Hi Yogev, thank you again for your kind words!
Looks like a nice plan for some beautiful roads 🙂 All of these should be definitely doable in Hilux, good choice for a car! (I assume you will be visiting in summer, because after 15th September, some of these roads may already be impassable). Yes, Holmsa crossing is the biggest and possibly also Kaldaklofskvisl later at F210 near Alftavatn. In dry conditions and when crossing the right way, you should be fine also in Hilux.
Good question about the equipment – I will add a section about it to our website. We always bring a rope with us, in case we got stuck. We also bring jerry cans for longer trips (probably not needed for roads you mention). This year we also rented a Satellite Location Device because we visited really remote parts of central highlands (will write a blog about it in upcoming months). For the roads you mention I probably wouldn’t rent it, because it’s not that badly remote, but this is up to everyone’s decision. Satellite device ensures you can call for help at ANY place. Other than that we used GPS just in our phones. So far we didn’t need to use location device nor rope (thankfully). Shovel is good if you aim for snowy areas and/or go earlier in a season. If a road is marked green on http://www.road.is there should be no significant snow. There may be a lot of snow on track which are not on http://www.road.is though (not your case).
All the best and enjoy your trip safely!
Hello,
I love your webpages, it’s honestly the best one out there for Iceland.
I just had a one question that crossed my mind the other day. Do you think there is a best time to book a car or does the price vary according to the time of the year or of the booking? I mean something like flight tickets?
Thank you so much for your work!
Best luck and regards!
A.
Thank you very much for your kind words! We will do our best to improve the website even more.
That’s a good question. Prices vary according to demand. So for example during Covid, they dropped sharply after March 2020. And for example during summer 2022 they kept rising very strongly because more and more people were booking.
The strategy I suggest is to book as soon as possible, at least for approximate dates – you can always cancel for free or reschedule later. If prices drop, the best rental companies (all companies we recommend) will give you a new price. They will typically also let you reschedule a few days for the same price, if they have the availability.
would the Duster be any good last week of February?
Sure, we used Duster in February, see our winter article https://epiciceland.net/how-is-iceland-in-winter/ and it was great. I would say best price/value car also for winter.
Hi Igor,
First of all, THANK YOU very much for all these articles and videos, I’m studying them for our upcoming trip in August.
We are about to rent a Suzuki Vitara from Lotus (with premium insurance). We are planning to do the ring road and some easy (f)-roads like f575, 570, 586, 832, 901, 939 (if you have more suggestions please do).
Is it a good enough car for those kind of roads (not sure about ground clearance)?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Lorenzo and thank you!
Vitara should be fine for all the roads you mention. F575 and F586 will be a bit rough but definitely doable.
Some other roads you may try are listed in our Easiest F-roads in Iceland article 🙂
Hope you will have a great holiday!
Thanks for the reply!
Do you think Jimny would be a better choice (even if listed as a small 4×4)?
Unfortunately bigger vehicles are out of our budget 😓.
Well, this depends on your preferences. Vitara is bigger/more stable with more room inside. Jimny has the higher ground clearance and, I think, also a more powerful engine, but it is less stable and it’s smaller. There’s no definitive answer to this 🙂
I was just looking at Google street view for the road going to the east side of Dettifoss and there were regular cars in the lot. I’m trying to decide between a Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Tuscon for the Ring Road and Westfjords for early/mid September. No doubt there will be other roads going to sites I want to visit….and what you’ve said here has me wondering if the extra $2000 for the Tuscon is necessary. Thoughts?
Hi Lesley, this really depends on where you want to go (all places). If Dettifoss from the east is the only “more difficult” road you plan, then I would probably go just with Corolla. On the other hand if you plan more roads like this or any easy F-roads, we always advise – the bigger the car the better. Iceland is one of the very few countries where a big car is worth every penny, because there are some many amazing places where you simply need such a car to reach them. Dettifoss probably not one of them.
hi! we are a family of 5 with 5 big luggages and 4 carry ons. what kind of vehicle can we use?
There are many options, depends on where you want to drive.
If it’s just ring road / golden circle / south coast, then you can hire a van from Lotus: https://www.lotuscarrental.is/our-rental-cars/mercedes-benz-vito (5% discount code: epicicelandd5) or from MyCar: https://mycar.is/our-cars/toyota-proace-verso (5% discount code: EPICICELAND).
If you want to go also to the highlands, then rent Tyota Hilux with hard top: https://www.lotuscarrental.is/our-rental-cars/toyota-hilux-4×4-double-cap-w-hardtop-(automatic) (5% discount code: epicicelandd5)
Hi Igor,
I´m going to travel to Iceland on September. I´ve seen in Lotus that the Dacia Duster is gasoline instead of diesel. Did you rent the Duster with gasoline or diesel? I ask you because i’ve searched how much consume the gasoline version but there is only info for the 4×2, not the 4×4 version.
i’ve rented a vitara and intend to head to askja. do you think it’ll be okay on a dry day?
Hi Han, yes you can try it, better via F905/F910 because F88 has an unpredictable river crossing. Please take special care and when unsure, walk by foot or turn back.
Hi, first off thank you so much for this website and blog. It is incredible. I plan on driving F208 to landmannalaugar from the south. I chose lotus car rental and had to choose an automatic and went with the Suzuki Vitara 4×4. Should this be okay for the F208?
Hi Sam and thank you! Yes, you should be able to pass it fine if:
Have a safe and enjoyable trip!
Hi Igor, I noticed you didn´t mention Cozy Campers on your list of recommended campervan companies. We had the greatest experience with them. They had brand new models with were easy to figure out. The staff was the most accommodating too!
Hi Tara, thank you for sharing your experience! We picked the 2-3 campervan companies that we honestly believe are the best in Iceland and we cover them in this article. Of course, there may be also other good companies.
Hi Igor, i’ve a question for U!
First of all congratulations for this blog, it’s really amazing. I am a guide for iceland from italy and I have been leading small groups for a couple of years but I am oriented towards absolutely non-tourist spots.
In September I will be 2 weeks in Iceland. I was going to do this journey by car, I will have 2 Suzuki vitaras (I’ve always felt good on F roads, even the F985 I did without problems)
I was wondering if you think this route would be feasible. I am attaching the screen of the lap I would like to do.
Here the image of the track https://imgur.com/LAda3Pc
Hi Federico and thanks!
I believe you are referring to (F)208 North and F225. If these roads are still open (green or dashed green on http://www.umferdin.is) it should be fine with your cars. Just bear in mind they may close if winter arrives soon.
The only potential problem is river crossing on F225 if it rains too much during several days before your trip. It’s best you check this with the Fjallabak park rangers or examine/wade the river yourself, or watch someone else cross in front of you.
Hi Igor!
First of all what an amazing resource you have here, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your efforts.
I was wondering how you suspect a toyota Hilux camper (such as this
https://www.hertz.is/media/sites/3/2020/01/Camper-Hilux_front-scaled.jpg. )
Would compare to the normal one in performance? In other words, what size rivers do you think it could safely cross?
Thanks again 🙂
Hi Jono, thank you very much!
Well, standard Hilux is capable of medium to larger rivers. The camper Hilux has a bit of a drag and is less stable, so I would primarily aim for medium-sized rivers at maximum (like F208 south, F905/F910 to Askja etc).
We’ve seen Hilux campers also on F26 and F210 (and similar roads, which we consider somewhere in between medium/large river crossings) but this is really a matter of current weather/river levels/and driving skills/experience. Some of them were struggling even on dry days, some of them were fine, so it’s hard to give a general answer since this depends on many factors.
Thanks for all the really helpful info. I wondered if I could ask your advice? I am planning a trip in late Oct and would prefer a self drive rather than tours. I was planning on doing the Golden circle and also a trip to Vik stopping at sites along the way. Do you think this is viable at this time of year and would we need a 4×4? Many thanks in advance for your help.
roads to/around Golden Circle and Vik are well-paved and easy to drive (at least compared to other Icelandic roads). So most of the time, you will be totally fine driving a 2wd car on these roads. The only exception is when a weather alert occurs, but if this is the case, no driving is usually recommended and even tours tend to cancel their excursions.
Hello Igor. Fist of all, your site is amazing.
We are planning a trip to Iceland in summer 2024. I have read that Iceland had gotten very busy. We would like to find some less busy spots in the Highlands.
We have some experience with 4×4 driving in Montenegro and USA. We dont have any experience with river crossings.
What F roads or spots would you recommend for us and what car? Would the Dacia Duster be good enough or should we go bigger for the Landcruiser or even the Landcruiser with snorkle? Of course I am doubt because of the big difference in price.
Hi Lisette and thank you!
There are many amazing spots in the Highlands away from the tourists, some are more difficult to visit and you need a huge car and ideally also river crossing experience and then there are easier spots as well. We write about many of them extensively. I suggest you read our flagship articles where you may find all necessary info:
Then you should choose the car based on where you plan to go. We give recommendations for each place in the articles linked above – though – always check the road conditions, safety instructions and weather forecast first and ideally also ask a ranger or someone local before going! Highlands require good preparation and research.
Our approach was to firstly make a trip around easier F-roads with Dacia Duster and once we were familiar a bit with Highlands, during the next trip we took a bigger car for the more difficult roads.
Hi Epic Iceland-Team,
I am no stranger to Icelandic roads: I have travelled the ring road and a bit more in a normal 2×2 car in 2018 and then had a Suzuki Jimny in 2021 to drive F35, F206-F207 to Lake, F208 north and south as well as F235 to Langisjor and also F232-F210-F261.
I am thinking about going to Iceland again next summer (I mean, I need to keep my every 3 years-streak running, right?) and thought about going to Askja and maybe also finally driving Sprengisandur. In 2021, I was perfectly fine with the Jimny for all I did. Sometimes, I needed to walk through the water to check the depth, but it was easily possible that way.
I know that you cannot give a definite too saying “a Jimny is enough”, it all depends on weather, the season, the time is day and much more.
But I wanted to ask you a general question. Of course, a Hilux or a Landcruiser would be more optimal (but also way out of my budget). Comparing a Jimny to e.g. a Vitara: Both have a wading depth of 40cm, the Jimny looks more like a highland vehicle and has Low Range drive, the vitara looks bigger, but probably does not have Low Range (I am not sure). The Ford Kuga looks similar to the Vitara, but has a wading depth of 45cm which theoretically beats the Jimny.
Would you say that a Kuga/Vitara are better for crossing rivers or would you prefer a Jimny?
It seems like the wading depth is usually a heavy argument, but then possibly not having Low Range and maybe having less ground clearance is in contrast to that.
Best wishes
Christian
Hi Christian,
you basically described all the pluses and minuses of the cars you mention so it’s hard to add something 🙂
Yes, you can do Askja and Sprengisandur also in Jimny, BUT only under good/not flooded river conditions and when driving cautiously (which you already described you are able to do).
We personally prefer Jimny to Vitara/Kuga due to it’s agility and low range gearbox. The downside is less stability (and less space for luggage). But when driven well, Jimny should serve you slightly better in the Highlands.
Hi, Igor,
thank you and the Epic Iceland- team in advance for all the advice you wrote about on your website
Next year we want to go to Iceland for the first time with 4 people and we can’t decide what car to choose. We want to combine lightweight comfort with the ability to get over worse terrain. I have found a modified 2020 Volkswagen Crafter that can sleep overnight and has a stove and fridge included.
I’d like to ask you what kind of rivers you think a car like that would cross. And how the car would handle the highlands and F-roads in general.
Thank you very much and have a nice day.
Jan Sokol
Hi Jan and thank you!
Huge vans like Crafter are generally less agile in the Highlands. If it’s a 4×4 version, it should be capable of driving the Easy F-roads and can be classified as a “small to medium” sized SUV in terms of our classification. Likewise, you should aim for small to medium sized rivers only. Even the medium ones may be impassable in more rainy/watery conditions or when not driven well through.
Crafter by Happy Campers is slightly better (higher ground clearance + snorkel) so I would classify this one as medium-sized 4wd car. You can rent with Happy Campers using our 7% discount code: EPIC7 valid only until 31.12.2023
You can also take a look at Hilux Camper and Wrangler Camper by Go Campers. These are even more powerful and can be classified as medium to large 4wd cars allowing you to see even harder F-roads. You can rent with Go Campers using our 5% discount code: EPICICELAND
Have a great trip!
Hi Igor,
Thank you for all information provided! Keep up the good work!
We will visit Iceland in 2024 for at least 3 months…looking forward very much!
Question I have is about our camper based on the Mercedes Sprinter 4×4. Its suspension sets the chassis 9 cm higher, so we should keep our feet dry. My worries are the tyres, mercedes allows maximum tire size 245/75R16 BF Goodrich TA. The ground play is limited by the axles. The engine bay is protected by a plate.
That brings me to the river crossings, is it possible that there are large boulders under water that can be hit? Or are the crossings maintained in any way?
Is it wise to check the river on foot before to cross it? Or do you wait for another car to pass?
Hi Florence and thanks a lot! 3 months in Iceland, lucky you!
There can definitely be large boulders under water that can be hit. The river crossings are only sometimes maintained and only on the most famous routes, like near Landmannalaugar or similar.
Before embarking on any F-road / into highlands, it’s essential to:
Have a great trip!
Hi Igor,
We have a VW California 4motion (without alterations) with 193mm ground clearance. We’re considering a trip to Iceland, probably in Summer. Do you think we can do the same river crossings as with the Duster 4×4?
Thanks for your great website!
Peter
Hi Peter and thank you!
VW California is slightly less agile and with slightly lower ground clearance than Duster, so you should be a bit more careful than with Duster. Small river crossings and easy F-roads should be OK, but I would be cautious with anything harder and only do that in good/dry conditions or with someone else nearby to help in any case. For example F208 South is an example of such already almost medium sized river crossings, so this one should be driven only in good conditions and not after extensive rain + it’s best you consult someone local and/or ranger a day before or on a day you’re going to gain an up to date insight on the conditions. It also depends on your driving/crossing skills, if they are very good, you should be fine with the same roads as Duster, if not, then I would be cautious.
Hi Igor:
Golden Circle Car Rental tells me that their platinum insurance covers vehicles on F roads except F249. And there are a few things that are not covered by any insurance: Damage to the undercarriage, rims &tires, water damage and wind damage to the doors.
Do you know if Lotus Car Rental’s platinum insurance covers damage to the undercarriage, rims & tires, water and wind damage to the doors?
Hi Dan,
yes, all of these are covered by Lotus Platinum insurance package, they describe it on their insurance page.
This is exactly what makes Lotus a no-brainer and game changer.
Hey Igor!
Your blog has helped me plan a lot of our itinerary for our upcoming trip at the end of March to Iceland, so thank you for all the information you have provided.
I’m interested in booking the Isak 4×4 rental, but nervous about the insurance. How is that insurance for F roads and river crossings?
Hi Cassandra and thank you!
First of all – are you planning to do the F-roads in March? F-roads are closed at that time so this is not possible.
I’ll assume you’re planning another trip for summer then. Yes, Isak does not insure for water/river damage. On the other hand, Isak has really great cars with snorkel so the chances you will damage the car during river crossings are really low. You have to make the choice yourself if you go for it or not, though.
The alternative is to choose some big car by Lotus (5% discount code: epicicelandd5) or by Blue car (here’s a 5% discount link). These are the only two companies in Iceland offering also river crossing insurance. They might be more expensive, though, so the choice is up to you.
Hello Igor, I am planning a trip to Iceland in June 24. I have rented a Dacia Duster from Go car. I am particularly interested in the roads 63 and 60 in the western peninsula. Is my car Ok with that, under normal weather conditions? I would also like to follow your trail on 612 and 614, see the plane wreck and the sunken boat.
Another road I would like to take is 643 from Holmavik to Djupavik. Particularly since I have booked a hotel for a night there and if the road is blocked or in very bad state I will have no alternative.
Last but not least, I would like to take from Djupavik north 643 unti the end. Do you think I might get into trouble with this car?
Your blog and the youtube films are a great help and give an idea of what is to be expected there! Thank you!
Hi Andreas, in typical late-June conditions (95% of the time) you should be all well with Duster on all these roads – 63, 60, 612, 614 and 643!
On some rare occasions, there may be snow in Westfjords even late June. In that case, you should be careful. Always check weather and road conditions.
As per road 643, at the end it turns into F649, and that one may be too much for Duster – especially the last river crossings, so be careful on that one and don’t push it.
Alright, thank you very much!
Hello Igor,
i am planning a trip to iceland and am thinking about renting a campervan from campeasy. I was thinking about the 4×4 easy viking model but i am not sure which f-roads this one is allowed on or would be possible/impossible to do.
i would be grateful for your advise!
Many thanks!
Hi Damy,
Easy Viking is mostly suitable for easy to moderate F-roads. The classification of the roads isn’t that straightforward as this really depends on weather and current road conditions, but there are some general tendencies like for example roads F249, F210, F980 or F233 are definitely off limits for this vehicle or any campers generally. I suggest you take a look at our List of All F-roads.
We also wrote an article on the easiest F-roads – these should be suitable for your car most of the time.
Thirdly, CampEasy itself has a list of F-roads they forbid to drive under any circumstances.
Just would like to tell you all of your articles have been super informative to the point and really good! heading to Iceland in July for my 60th birthday I’ve done tons of four wheeling and the high mountains of Colorado Utah Etc. since it’s a rental car I’m not going to take my chances on the real heavy duty roads but thinking of rent renting a Toyota RAV4 or similar just for the better engine. also possibly the Toyota Highlander. what’s your opinion on these to do the easy to moderate f roads? thank you and keep writing great articles
Hi Dave and thank you!
From the options you mention we prefer Duster because of the higher ground clearance. But the differences among these cars are not huge, and they are all good for easy F-roads. A level higher are then cars like Hilux, Land Cruiser, Defender or Wrangler
Thanks for the fascinating article! Is it better to take a Suzuki Jimny or Dacia Dastar? (in terms of better ability to pass obstacles)
Thank you Yakov!
Well it depends, Jimny is more agile but less stable. Duster is the opposite. They are quite similar. We prefer Duster due to stability and bigger indoor and luggage space.
Hi there. looking to drive the F347 on a Fire Edge. Do you think it is ok? Will be staying at the Kerlangifjor Mountain Resort. I could hike to the colorful area or I could drive past the hotel. Is a Ford Edge ok? this will be in July. thanks
Hi! Thanks for this useful guide!
I’m planning to go for the fourth time in Iceland, but with my own car from Italy. I have some experience but not woth Icelandic river fords. I ve a Land Rover Freelander 2 (2013) that I read from google it would be ok for small-medium sized river-crossing. What do you think about?
Obviously I’ll do only f-roads that I’ll be sure to cross with no problem.
Thanks fornthe answer!
Hi Carlo, yes you should be OK for small to medium sized rivers. Just plan carefully for these easier roads. For example F249 or F210 East are off the table, too big rivers for this car.
Hi Igor!
Thank you for the information provided!!
I’m planning to go to Iceland for my fourth time next summer and I’d like to go with my car, a Land Rover Freelander 2 (2013). I’d like to have a long trip along highlands and westfjords.
From Google I read my car has a ground clearance of 21 cm. Anyway I’m thinking to put a all terrain tyres and also a snorkel on it. What do you think about it? would it be a good car to attempt medium river size or bigger (if conditions permit) ?
Thanks
This was a very informative article. Thank you. I have been told to also look at Blue Car rental, I noticed you did not mention them. Is there a reason you did not choose them?
We are doing the ring road August 2025
Hi Yolanda! Blue is good too, we also offer our readers a discount code on their cars. We did not mention them in this article because we prefer a slightly more personal touch of smaller companies. But Blue is definitely good and also one of the biggest in Iceland. No mistake going with them!
Hi Igor,
Thanks for your article! Very informative! I may need your help for the following question:
Would like to know if this car Subaru Forester 4×4 (automatic) 2023-2024 from Lotus Rental I rent is suitable for F Road specifically from the following two routes:
1.F225: Selfoss – Rauoaskai Crater (1H25M) – Hekla (16 Mins) – Landmannalaugar (1H40Mins) – Sigöldugljúfur (F208) (55Mins) – Hella (1Hour25Mins)
2.F232: Vik – Hólmsárfoss F232 (1H15Mins) – Bláfjallafoss (16Mins) – Mælifell (30Mins) – Vik
Could you advise whether Subaru Forester 4×4 (automatic) is suitable to go through waters and rivers on these two routes in Aug 2025? These are the only two routes F Roads we are planning to visit.
And if going through waters and rivers, what setting and car modes should I set to go through them safely, could you give any recommendations? Thanks
Hi Richard and thank you!
Forester is a medium-sized 4wd, comparable to Dacia Duster, so it’s OK for easy to medium F-roads but not for any slightly more difficult conditions.
For your last question – we write in detail about How to Cross Rivers in Iceland.