Iceland

By plane

Iceland is easily reached via air and the main international airport is Keflavík IATA: KEF; ICAO: BIKF, located in the southwest of the country about 40 km from Reykjavík. The airport itself is quite barren; if you have a lengthy layover you should bring books or other forms of entertainment.

As of January 2010, be prepared to go through a security screening immediately upon arrival in Iceland if you arrive from outside the EEA or Switzerland. This screening takes place before you go through passport control, but there usually are not further screenings if you do not clear customs. Also be keenly aware that, even if in transit between the UK not in the Schengen Area and North America, the airport staff routinely sends all arriving passengers through passport control, so ensure that your visas, if needed, are in order.

Iceland is not in the EU. This means passengers arriving from outside Iceland whose final destination is Iceland or who have to recheck baggage will have to go through customs controls at the port of entry usually at Keflavík, regardless of place of origin. However, a duty-free store is present in the arrivals baggage claim area, and one can purchase duty-free products when in transit to the European mainland.

An airport transfer bus service called the FlyBus (http://www.flybus.is/) runs between the airport and Reykjavík bus terminal 1950 ISK one way, 45 minutes; 3,500 ISK return, as of August 2011. For 2500 ISK one way 4,500 ISK return; as of August 2011 you can purchase a Flybus+ (http://www.re.is/DayTours...) trip which includes drop-off and pick-up, if requested the day before at a select list of hotels in the Greater Reykjavík Area (http://www.re.is/Flybus/P...). Even if you're not staying at one of these hotels they might be within walking distance of where you want to go, so depending on your destination using the Flybus as a personal taxi service may be economical.

Another great option is to take the bus which stops at the Blue Lagoon either to or from the airport, then continues every half hour or so to Reykjavík. Netbus, (http://www.netbus.is/ is the cheapest option)

Be warned, a metered taxi from the airport to Reykjavík costs about 9500 ISK.

The following airlines fly to Keflavík:

Nonstop flights on Icelandair (http://www.icelandair.net) are available at the best value from the U.S. and Canada, with gateways in New York City JFK, Seattle, Boston, Halifax, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Toronto,Denver May, 2012, Anchorage from May 2013 and Orlando (Sanford. Destinations beyond Iceland include most major European cities i.e. Amsterdam, Bergen, Berlin, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Helsinki, London, Oslo, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris, and Stockholm, with newly added cities Dusseldorf and Stavanger, with Icelandair's hub-and-spoke network connecting via Keflavík in Iceland. Please note that some destinations are seasonal. You can also have a stopover in Iceland en route to Europe at no additional airfare.

Delta Airlines

(http://www.delta.com/) operates a seasonal, nonstop service between New York JFK and Iceland.

Another option is Iceland Express (http://www.icelandexpress.com) which flies from Copenhagen and London Gatwick to Keflavik with additional service during the summer month to Warsaw (Frederic Chopin, Frankfurt-Hahn, Berlin Schönefeld, Friedrichshafen, Alicante, Gothenburg and Stockholm Arlanda. New connections were added in 2007 from Copenhagen directly to Akureyri and Egilsstadir. Direct flights now also include to and from New York City, Chicago, Boston and Winnipeg.

The popular European low-cost carrier EasyJet (http://www.easyjet.com) began a service from London Luton airport on the 27th March 2012.

WOW Air

(http://www.wowair.com/en), a brand new Icelandic low-cost airline is also due to begin operating flights from KEF to several european destinations : Alicante, Lyon, Basel, Zurich, Paris, Stuttgart, Cologne, Berlin, London, Krakow, Warsaw and Copenhagen.

Germanwings

(http://www.germanwings.com), has seasonal flights from Cologne.

SAS

offers direct flights from Oslo, with connections to Stockholm and the rest of Scandinavia.

Niki

(http://www.flyniki.com) and Air Berlin (http://www.airberlin.com) also have seasonal flights to a few destinations in Europe.

Scheduled service to Greenland and Faroe Islands, is provided by Air Iceland (http://www.airiceland.is) and Atlantic Airways (https://www.atlantic.fo).

Due to lack of competition especially in low season or heavy demand in high season, and the lack of any real low-cost airlines operating to Iceland, getting to Iceland is generally considered expensive. Flexible travelers might consider watching out for offers. The best way to do that is to subscribe to Icelandair and Iceland Express´ newsletters. Both airlines tend to send out emails with offers once in a couple of months or so, where you can book somewhat affordable seats. These seats are usually bookable within 12 or 24 hours shortly after the email has been sent out. Besides, Iceland Express almost always has some selected flights on offer in its Icebreaker Heiti potturinn section (http://icelandexpress.com...). Besides, it is good to shop around as the other airlines flying to Iceland also have offers occasionally.