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Purchases and Tax

If you are planning on exporting anything from the country of a value of 4,000krona+ make sure you keep the receipt. You can claim 22% tax back, which can mean a sneaky beer before boarding the plan or a small deposit towards a 66 North jacket!

Food

Prices truly vary and it is worth doing a good shop around on your initial tours. You can get reasonable priced takeaways, or you can find that restaurants will charge ridiculous prices. There are, however, some excellent Icelandic restaurants where you can get a three-course meal for only 5,000 krona (about £20 – 25) and this will keep you full for the night.

A good choice would be to sample their local soup, made fresh daily, it is a traditional dish that will warm every inch of your cockles and if served in a large bread bun will keep you going until dinner. Iceland is also renowned for its cod, haddock and lobster – though these can sometimes prove a little expensive. But why not try one of the more unique dishes like Mountain lamb, Horse steak, Whale meat.

Try to visit the Flea Market which is open daily on the harbour of Reykavik. Here you will find the local foods purchased by local people from drief fish to blood and liver pudding, sheep heads, smoked lamb and ram testicles.

Water – this is an important point. All cold water is completely safe from all taps across the city and they are fed directly from underwater springs; full of minerals the bottled water in the shops is exactly the same. HOWEVER, let the water run a bit if it shares the same tap as the hot water. The hot water comes from geothermal springs and is laced with Sulphur that also emanates a shocking smell of rancid eggs, so just be prepared!