Using an eSIM in Reykjavík

What Reykjavík is like on a phone

Reykjavík is a small capital you can cross on foot, and almost everyone who comes uses it as a base before driving out around the island or joining a glacier tour. Visitors are stopover travellers with a few days, ring-road drivers doing the whole circuit, and winter aurora watchers. In town the line is good and nearly every café has wifi. What makes this capital different from others is how short the distance is from the edge of town to country with nothing built on it at all.

When you land

Keflavík Airport (KEF) is about forty-five minutes out by airport coach or hire car, and that is how nearly everyone arrives; the city airport handles mostly domestic flights. Turn the eSIM on while you are still in the terminal so you can confirm the car and the accommodation straight away. The road in crosses wide lava fields with very few buildings, so the line weakens in patches before coming back fully as you approach the city.

Where coverage changes

The centre and the residential districts around it are covered everywhere, on the street and indoors. Step outside the city onto the roads across the lava, though, and long stretches go very weak, because nothing is built along them. The tunnel under the fjord north of town is completely silent. The interior roads up onto the highlands should be treated as unserved from the outset, and strong wind with year-round cold always empties a battery faster than expected.

What a day here costs in data

A day in town is about 500MB to 1GB, since the city is small and wifi is easy to find. A driving day changes the shape of it entirely: navigation runs continuously and people re-check the weather and road conditions repeatedly. Allow roughly 1.5GB to 2.5GB for those days, and download the whole route in advance so you are not depending on fetches in the weak stretches.

Districts travellers ask about

• The old town and Laugavegur — The main shopping street lined with cafés and kitchens; the line is steady, and this is where to finish any tour bookings before a long drive out.
• Hallgrímskirkja and the hill around it — The high point of the centre, with the coloured roofs laid out below from the tower; the top is open and fine, though the thick concrete of the nave weakens it inside.
• The old harbour and Harpa — Where the whale-watching boats leave and the glass concert hall sits on the water; open and easy to use, though on boats heading well out of the bay it fades quickly.
• Laugardalur — The green valley east of the centre with the thermal pool and the park; the line is fine, and it is a quieter place to stay than the middle of town.

Day trips out of the city

• The Golden Circle — A one-day drive past the rift-valley park, the hot springs and the big waterfall; most of the road is usable, with weak patches out in open country. Download the whole route offline before leaving the city.
• The south coast and the glaciers — The south coast road is long, with multi-kilometre gaps, especially around the black-sand plains and the glacier approaches. Always download offline maps before setting out, and understand that an emergency call does not work the way data does — rely on the country's official services and rescue authority for that.
• The Reykjanes peninsula — Volcanic ground near the airport, where conditions change with geological activity; routes can close at short notice and the notices change. Check the status against official announcements before you set off, and do not rely on information you saved earlier.