In this ultimate Iceland road trip packing guide, I am sharing everything that I brought with me for a 9 day road trip around Iceland’s ring road travelling in a camper van during the spring/summer months.
Exactly what clothing you bring with you will depend on the time of year you visit Iceland. I have visited Iceland in January when it is extremely cold and snowing, and also in May when the temperatures are warmer with some sunny days.
Overall the temperature in Iceland is either very cold or at least cool so you will definitely want to be prepared for colder days!
In this guide you will find everything that I packed for my trip, including casual clothing, hiking clothing, boots, accessories, handy items for the campervan and more! If you follow this packing list you should be very well prepared for your trip to Iceland!
Hiking Clothing
You will most likely live in hiking gear during your trip to Iceland, so I recommend bringing plenty of leggings, hiking tops, t-shirts, sports bras and one or two fleeces.
I brought 4 pairs of leggings, 4 t-shirts, 4 hiking tops and 1 fleece. This was plenty for the trip and I wore some of the hiking tops more than once, but you may want more if you plan to wear a different top each day.
In addition, I brought one pair of hiking trousers and one pair of waterproof trousers. I didn’t need to use the hiking trousers, but the waterproof trousers are a must for rainy days and for visiting some of the waterfalls!
Casual Clothing
Depending on your exact itinerary you won’t need too much casual clothing, as the hiking gear tends to be more appropriate around Iceland. But bringing a few some casual clothing items such as jeans and wool sweaters will come in handy for the evening, and on days you spend in towns and cities.
I brought a minimal amount of casual clothes, one pair of jeans, two sweatshirts, two plaid shirts and some comfy joggers to wear in the campervan in the evening. I personally had no need for any more than that and in fact probably could have just brought one sweatshirt since I had a fleece packed as well, and I only wore one of the plaid shirts.
One luxury casual item I brought was a blanket poncho, I rolled this up and took it on the plane as a blanket and then wrapped up in it in the evenings. Mine (pictured below) is from Abercrombie but it is sold out now, this is a similar style poncho.
So, my advice is don’t overdo it bring 5 pairs of jeans, you just won’t need them if you have packed plenty of leggings and hiking pants.
Coats and Jackets
No matter what time of year you are visiting Iceland you will need a couple of coats. One raincoat / waterproof and one or more warmer coats.
I brought one raincoat, one puffer jacket for hiking and one warm longer coat for casual city days. Bright colors like yellow, red and orange look great against Icelands dark landscapes so I recommend bringing at least one brightly colored jackets!
Hats
I brought 3 hats with me, two wool beanies and one fedora and this was the perfect amount of hats for the trip. We were very fortunate that the weather was clear when we were in Iceland, if the forecast looks good I would also recommend bringing one cap for hikes.
Shoes and Boots
Depending on how much you plan to hike and the length of the hikes you take while you are in Iceland will decide how many boots you need to bring with you. Many of Icelands popular spots are actually very accessible and don’t require much walking, but with so many stunning hikes you will definitely want to be prepared to do a good amount of walking!
I brought one pair of hiking boots with me to Iceland, my Danner Mountain 600, these boots are extremely comfortable, have never given me blisters and only required a couple of short hikes to break them in.
They also have really good ankle support which is needed for hikes in Iceland that can be rocky and gravelly. The longest hike we did in Iceland was 6 miles and these boots were perfect for that length of hike. I also love the Adrika Hiking Boots and the Colombia Newton Ridge Boots both of these are very comfortable options that suit short to medium length hikes.
In addition to my hiking boots I brought my Blundstone chelsea boots which are really great durable boots that are perfect for days in the city or shorter walks to some sights. I definitely recommend bringing a pair of casual boots like this so that you can have something different from your hiking boots.
Lastly I brought a pair of trainers which I only used for the flight to Iceland and once or twice around campsites. But I wish I brought a pair of hiking sandals or birkenstocks which would have been great to have at the campsite to quickly throw on when walking to the bathroom.
I watched a YouTube video before the trip that said you do not need sandals and that was totally wrong so make sure to pack a pair!
Socks and Underwear
Having a great pair of hiking boots is essential but you also need to have good socks with you to ensure maximum comfort on your hikes. I recommend merino wool socks, a good pair of merino wool socks is an investment but it definitely worth the extra expense.
I bought several pairs of these socks and loved them, I also bought these slightly more affordable socks from Amazon, they are not as good as the more expensive option but they were good and I used them on the days we had less hiking.
In addition I would recommend buying some comfortable breathable underwear since you will be out walking a lot. This is the first time I have bought underwear for a trip or for hiking, and found these underwear packs on Amazon that were very comfortable!
Toiletries / Beauty
Toiletries and beauty items are personal to each individual, but in summary you should bring the following with you if you are on a campervan roadtrip in Iceland.
- Travel mirror (this is helpful so you don’t have to fight for mirror space in communal bathrooms at campsites)
- Shampoo, conditioner and body wash (use mini toiletry reusable bottles rather than buying wasteful travel size products)
- Dry shampoo (in case you camp somewhere without hot showers)
- SPF 50 for your face
- Quick dry towels
- A bag to carry everything with you to the showers at campsites
- Blister plasters and blister prevention HikingGoo
At campsites when you park your camper or car you will have access to showers and an outlet so you can blow dry and style you hair. Before the trip I bought this travel hairdryer which adjusts the voltage and it was excellent!
For The Campervan / Or Car
We booked our campervan with Kuku Campers and it came well equipped, but there are some extras that you can bring with you to make your campervan experience even more enjoyable.
You can read more about how to prepare for your first time road tripping around Iceland in a campervan in our article Ultimate Iceland Campervan First Timers Guide.
Electronics
- Several External Batteries
- Power Inverter (you can also usually rent this from the campervan company)
- Magnetic Phone Holder
- Spare Cigarette Charger
- Headtorch (only if you are travelling in winter)
Organization
- Reusable food storage bags
- Clips / pegs to seal food packaging and to clip the curtains to darken the campervan
- Large water bottle (or two)
- Packing cubes to keep all your clothing organized in the van
Sleep
- Mini travel memory foam pillow (this is my number one recommendation and absolutely saved my neck during the trip). I bought this pillow from Amazon which rolls up. I highly recommend it for comfort, plus it can double as a pillow you use on the plane. If you are feeling boujis like I was then bring along a silk travel pillow case.
- Eye mask (especially if traveling during summer!)
- Good earplugs
Camera Equipment
Iceland is absolutely beautiful and you will want to get lots of amazing pictures while you are there.
For this trip I brought my Nikon D850, with my Sigma 35mm lens and my Sigma 24-70mm lens. The 24-70 lens is such a perfect travel lens and I ended up using this exclusively during the trip and never got the other lens out. I also have clear filters on my lenses to protect them, just make sure to check the size you need for your lenses before buying.
In addition, we brought our drone, iPhones and small waterproof cases for the phones when we went to hot springs.
This is a great small camera backpack, it’s quite light and not as sturdy as some others but for this trip since I was not bringing too much equipment it worked great.
To keep my electronics organized I used this pouch which is great for travel at the airport for your passport and everything you want easily accessible, but it also works well for bring extra batteries, memory cards, external hard drives and other camera accessories.
Full Packing Checklist
This is the exact list of clothing that I brought with me with a few notes where I could have added extras!
- 4 leggings
- 1 Waterproof pants
- 1 hiking pants
- 1 jeans
- 5 hiking and thermal tops
- 1 long sleeve top
- 3 t-shirts
- 1 fleece
- 1 blanket poncho
- 1 checked shirt
- 2 wool sweatshirts
- 2 swimsuits
- 1 gloves
- 2 wool hats
- 8 hiking socks
- 4 normal socks
- 3 sports bras (could have brought more)
- 1 bra
- 15 pairs of underwear
- 1 hiking boots
- 1 regular boots
- 1 trainers
- 1 sandals / Birkenstocks – I didn’t bring these but wish I had!
- 1 puffer coat
- 1 regular warm coat
- 1 long pajamas / joggers
- 1 pair of sunglasses
- External Batteries
- Power Inverter
- Magnetic Phone Holder
- Spare Cigarette Charger
- Reusable food storage bags
- Clips / pegs
- Large water bottle (or two)
- Packing cubes
- Mini travel memory foam pillow
- Eye mask
- Earplugs
- Travel mirror
- Shampoo, conditioner and body wash
- Dry shampoo
- SPF 50 for your face
- Blister plasters and blister prevention HikingGoo
- Quick dry towel
- A bag to carry everything with you to the showers at campsites
Visiting At Other Times Of Year
In this guide I have shared everything I brought with me for a trip in May. This packing list would be good for a trip during the spring / summer months, but if you are visiting in colder winter temperatures you will need to add thermal pants, thermal tops, scarves, gloves and very insulated jackets.
When I visited in January, it was extremely cold and I actually wore ski clothing for most of the trip. I definitely recommend bringing a ski jacket and potentially ski pants to make sure you keep really warm!
Read More Guides
- Ultimate First Timers Iceland Campervan Guide
- How To See The Northern Lights In Iceland
- 10 Things You Can’t Miss In Reykjavik Iceland
- Iceland: A 3 Day Itinerary In The Land Of Fire And Ice
- Iceland Road Trip: 5 Epic Hidden Gems To Seek Out
- Why You Should Rent A Car In Iceland
We Are Travel Girls Founder Becky van Dijk of BeckyvanDijk.com
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