In the past years, Iceland became a very popular country both for tourism and living.
In terms of tourism, people want to visit Iceland for its complex nature and emptiness at the same time. Places like the Blue Lagoon natural spa, the high waterfalls in the South of Iceland or Thingvellir National Park where you can walk in between the tectonic plates: Eurasian and Northern American, became very desired to travel to by tourists all around the world.
When it comes to people moving to Iceland, most of them come from countries in the Europe and they move to earn more per month than they’d do in their own countries.
When you first come to Iceland it looks like a very good place to live in. From higher salaries than many states to low criminal rate and very high social acceptance, there are many reasons to consider moving to Iceland. Even though it seems an ideal place for many people, there are also few things you should know before moving to Iceland, based on my experience moving to Iceland 5 years ago.
Weather
If you first come to Iceland in the summer time, when the sun shines 24/7 and you’re lucky to land on a beautiful day, you migh have a different impression on how the weather really looks like. For sure, weather is the most unpredictable thing you’ll live in Iceland. It can change very quickly due to Iceland’s position in the North Atlantic Ocean. From sunny and clear blue skies, it can go to very gloomy and dark cloudy skies and this can happen anytimes, even in the summer time.
Winters are a whole different story, but it is usual to have very strong winds like 20m/s and temperatures in between -5 to 5 °C, which feel way cooler because of the powerful wind.
No matter where you live, countryside or the capital area of Reykjavik, the streets get very icy and difficult to walk on. Be prepared with shoes spikes, warm jacket and good shoes.
Language
The official language is Icelandic, a North Germanic language spoken only in Iceland. It is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn, but once you do, you can go to the old sagas and be able to understand them as Icelandic is a very old language that did not actually change so much.
Learning Icelandic is a must if you plan on living in Iceland for your whole life as you can get a better paid job, be more accepted by community and have more local friends. Most of the people will speak English to foreigners, but there are some people that don’t like switching languages so much, which can cause social exclusion in some cases or a big disadvantage in getting a job out of the tourism industry.
Rent
In the last 5- 6 years as the tourism developed significantly, the rent issue became a major fact for residents of Reykjavik. Even though many hotels opened over the years, also many AirBnBs did, which made the rent market especially close to the city center of Reykjavik almost impossible to find or at a very high price, over 2500 USD per month for 2 bedroom apartment, most of the time without furtniture. Finding a place to live can be one of the biggest issues as it is a big competition in getting a good place to live in. Basicly, what usually happens it that the apartment is choosing you, not the other way around.
Pricing
Prices in Iceland are the highest in the whole Europe. On top on the pricy rent we can add pricy food, fuel, clothings, basicly everything. Most of the foreigners get pretty low salaries, in tourism is very common to have the salary around 270 000 isk, which is about 2200 USD, which makes the living quite difficult sometimes.
The food prices change constantly because of the currency exchange as most of the produce comes from Europe. You can find very good, organic Icelandic produce as well, but it is twice as expensive as the one coming from UK or Spain. For example, one kg of baking potatoes is around 350isk depending on the store, one l of local milk is 167isk or 1.50 USD. Meat gets very expensive, beef loin for example is 90USD per kilo, or the Icelandic cod 25 USD per kilo.
One restaurant meal, inexpensive for one person is about 5000isk, which would include a main course and an alcohoolic drink — 40USD.
Accesibility
Iceland is very accesible in terms of travelling in between US and Europe and it is usually a good spot to be when you need to travel to the major cities in Europe.
The public transportation is spot on. Most of the time extremely precise and very accesible across the capital area and the surroundings. It is way cheaper than having your own car, 13000isk per month full subscription -100 USD — and it offers good connection in between all the parts of Reykjavik.
Also, if you want to travel outside the city for a hike or one day trip, there are many travel companies offering tours and also drop-off & pick-up buses to the most popular locations.
Health system
One of the biggest disadvantages of living in Iceland is the health sysem. Even though people pay part of the salary to the health fund, you’d still need to pay every time you visit a nurse or a doctor, which is not very common in Europe. Also, it is a difficult process of getting a doctor’s appointment. You need to first make an appointment to your GP which would make an appointment to the specialist you need, but usually they have a full schedule and it is very possible to wait even months to get a specific check. Of course, in case of any emergency you can go to the emercency room where you can get immediate assistance.
To sum everything up, it depends a lot on what your living standards are like and how is your lifestyle. Cooking at home can save you a lot of money, same as using public transportation and sharing an apartment with more people, but this is not for everybody, especially for families moving together. Also, if you live close by to work and grocery stores you might not need to be outside too much in the winter storms. Living in Iceland is not for everybody even though you might think it fits you in the very begining.
Considering half of the year there’s darkness and winter, many people might have their health affected both mental and physical, so it’s better to visit before and check out how both season feel like. Great place for nature lovers and those who can adapt to difficult weather conditions.
