Iceland has become one of the hottest travel destinations, and for good reason. The country is home to some of the most spectacular natural scenes in the world, including hot springs, geysers, and waterfalls.
Increased competition to the island has ultimately driven airfare prices down, and one of our favorite budget airlines, Icelandair, allows you to stop over in Iceland for up to 7 days on your departure or return flight from Europe.
Taking advantage of a Reykjavik stopover allows you to visit two cities for the price of one. This is easily one of our favorite travel hacks. Let us show you how to easily book an Icelandair Stopover.
How to Book an Icelandair Stopover
We recommend booking Icelandair’s Economy Light fare fare as it includes advanced seat assignment and two carry-on items for free (carry-on up to 21 lbs). The best way to begin this process is to start with a roundtrip fare to your European destination of choice. Once you’ve found a cheap roundtrip flight on Icelandair, then you can begin searching for an Icelandair stopover, by using the multi-city search function in Google Flights.
Step #1: Find a cheap roundtrip flight without a stopover
Let’s take the recent Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal from Washington, D.C. to Copenhagen, Denmark for $319 roundtrip. To find the departure and return dates at the best price, look at the calendar options and select the green sale dates or regularly priced dates that work for you). This works best when the departure and return dates you select are exactly 7 days apart, typically Wednesday to Wednesday is cheapest on Icelandair Europe flights.
Thrifty Tip: Not familiar with Google Flights? See our full guide on how to use Google Flights to find cheap flights.
When using Google Flights in this instance, remember to use the filter options to select only Icelandair. We typically exclude other airlines to focus on finding only the Icelandair stopovers.
Step #2: Build in an Iceland stopover
Once you’ve found dates that work for you to depart from and return to the US, input those dates in the multi-city function on Google Flights. I recommend opening a new tab for this step. Input your departure and European destination cities. From here you decide whether you’d like to do your Icelandair stopover on the way to your destination or on the way back.
Next, input the dates that worked from your initial Google Flights search for the 1st date and 2nd date above. The 3rd date will take a bit of trial and error on your part. We always test 7 days in between each. For this example, Wednesday the 9th to Wednesday the 16th to Wednesday the 23rd. You can then play with dates from there. It should also be noted that your total trip must be less than 14 days and the Iceland stopover must be 7 days or less.
Oftentimes, you’ll find a multi-city route with an Icelandair stopover that is close to the price you found for the regular roundtrip ticket. From our example above, the Washington, D.C. to Copenhagen deal we found was $319. The multi-city route including three days in Iceland is $334, just $15 more.
Once you’ve found your perfect flight to Europe with an Icelandair stopover on Google Flights, it will direct you to book via Icelandair. However, you can always try searching directly on Icelandair’s website as well.
Alternatively, you can book through Icelandair.com
The Icelandair website makes it easy to add a stopover but not necessarily find a cheap flight. They even have a separate feature to work it into your flight search. It isn’t as easy to compare prices on Icelandair’s website as it is on Google Flights, but if your dates are not flexible, using the website can work well.
Take note of the fare you select, as the ticket tier will dictate the baggage you are allotted. Select your desired dates and fare type then checkout as usual.
Things to Remember about Your Icelandair Stopover
- You can stopover in Iceland on any roundtrip flight between the US and Europe.
- Stopover in Iceland either on your way to Europe or on your way back.
- Your maximum total trip length is 14 days – 7 days or less in Iceland is allowed.
- You must have a roundtrip ticket to book a stopover; this won’t work on a one-way ticket.
- Iceland stopovers are also available through WOW air, but we find Icelandair to be the best option.
Bottom Line
If visiting Iceland is on your bucket list, hit two birds with one stone and book a cheap Icelandair stopover on your European vacation. Adding an Iceland stopover for up to 7 days at little to no extra cost is a no-brainer and fairly simple on Icelandair.