Iceland by campervan: driving, tolls and rules

Driving a campervan in Iceland: speed limits, tolls, low-emission zones, required equipment and key road rules. What to know before you go.

Published 18 September 2026Last checked 19 September 2026

Currency
Icelandic króna
ISK, not the euro. 139.40 kr to €1 on 18 September 2026
Language
Icelandic
English is spoken almost everywhere
Driving
Right
90 km/h paved, 80 gravel, 50 in town
Power
230V, type F
Same two-pin plug as most of the continent
Tap water
Safe to drink
Cold is excellent. Hot smells of sulphur
Emergency
112
Backup 599 0112. Road service 1777

Driving

Off-road driving is a criminal offence in Iceland and it is the thing tourists get prosecuted for. Lög um náttúruvernd, the Nature Conservation Act, says plainly that driving a motor vehicle off roads is forbidden. It makes a breach punishable by a fine or up to two years' imprisonment, and where serious damage to nature results, by a fine of at least 350,000 krónur, index-linked monthly, or up to four years. The court may also order the vehicle itself forfeited to the state. A photograph is not worth this.

A black four wheel drive on a gravel track across bare volcanic ground below smooth brown hills — An F road. Four wheel drive, no tarmac, rivers with no bridge, open in July

Off-road driving, the offence that carries real weight

Lög um náttúruvernd, the Nature Conservation Act: "Bannað er að aka vélknúnum ökutækjum utan vega." It is forbidden to drive motor vehicles off roads. The exceptions are narrow: frozen ground or solid snow cover outside urban areas, farm work, rescue, police and similar, and permit work.
Driving round a snowdrift is off-road driving. Vegagerðin names exactly that as the biggest risk to highland vegetation in spring, and it is the most common way a well-meaning driver commits the offence.

What breaching the off-road driving ban carries

Off-road drivingfine or up to 2 years
With serious damage to naturefine from ISK 350,000, or up to 4 years
The vehicle usedmay be forfeited by court order

Speed limits under umferðarlög, the traffic act

Where	Limit	Note
In a built-up area	50 km/h	Lower where signed
Outside a built-up area, gravel	80 km/h	The change from tarmac to gravel is where control is lost
Outside a built-up area, paved	90 km/h	The ring road standard
Separated carriageways	up to 110 km/h	Only where signed, and there is very little of it
Marked car parks	15 km/h	Set by the same article

Average opening of the mountain roads, 2021 to 2025

Road	Where it goes	Average opening	Range in those years
35	Gullfoss to Hveravellir, Kjölur	1 June	30 May to 14 June
F208	Sigalda to Landmannalaugar	2 June	23 May to 23 June
F225	Landmannaleið, Dómadalur	16 June	9 June to 24 June
F206	Lakagígar	20 June	12 June to 1 July
F752	Skagafjörður route	4 July	21 June to 13 July

F roads, and what they really ask of a vehicle

Snow cover decides the date, not the calendar. Vegagerðin says so outright, and adds that a road through a conservation area may stay shut until the whole area can take visitors, even when the road itself is clear.
Four wheel drive is the entry ticket, not the qualification. ICE-SAR puts it as: some F roads suit a small 4x4, others need a large one, and some need a modified vehicle. Two wheel drive is not an option on any of them.

The road conditions habit

umferdin.is is the road site, run by Vegagerðin, with conditions, wind and closures. vedur.is is the weather site. Between them they run your day.
1777 is the traffic service line, staffed 24 hours.

The two tolls, both on Route 1

Toll	Under 3.5 t	3.5 to 7.5 t	How it works
Vaðlaheiðargöng, near Akureyri	ISK 2,216	ISK 3,087	Price list from 2 March 2026. Pay at veggjald.is or tunnel.is within 24 hours either side of the trip, or an invoice goes to the keeper. Foreign plates can be registered. One direction per payment. 7.5 km, 4.2 m height limit, 70 km/h with cameras
Hornafjörður, near Höfn	ISK 1,500	ISK 2,100	Collection started 1 September 2026, run by Spölur. Cameras read the plate and bill the owner monthly. Single trips payable on spolur.is within 24 hours. Over 7.5 t is ISK 4,500

Fuel

Diesel was reported at 288.60 krónur a litre on 14 September 2026 and petrol at 253.58, so diesel is the dearer fuel here, the opposite of most of Europe.
Distances between stations are long in the Westfjords, the north east and anywhere inland. Fill at half a tank, not at a quarter.

The rules that carry a fine

Headlights on at all times, day and night, all year. ICE-SAR warns that an automatic setting may not satisfy it.
0.20 per mille is the point at which umferðarlög treats a driver as unable to drive safely. One drink is too many.