A family camping trip around Iceland will be one of the most exciting and rewarding family vacations you will ever take. We recently spent 21 days camping around the Iceland ring road in a camper van, and we loved every single minute of it.
Over the course of our 3-week camping trip in Iceland with kids, we learned a few things along the way, which we hope will improve your family trip. Based on our real-life experiences, here are our top 10 tips for camping in Iceland with kids:

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1. Bring Portable Power Banks
Charging our electronics was a major challenge during our family camping trip in Iceland. Between all four of us, we had two laptops, two iPads, two AirPods, two Bluetooth headphones for kids, four phones, two Kobo e-readers and a portable Wi-Fi dongle.
We knew we could charge our devices in the camper van, but what we hadn’t realized was that we could only charge our devices while the van was running. This was an issue on days where we spent more than one night at a campground or on days where we had very short driving times. On these days, the van didn’t run very long and we didn’t have sufficient time to charge all of our devices!
We managed to get through our family camping trip around Iceland without running out of juice by using several strategies:
Our camper van had several cigarette lighters. We rented a USB charger and a power converter from our van rental company. This helped us charge our laptops and portable devices as we drove around Iceland, but in reality, the power generated by the van was simply not enough for our army of electronics.
We looked for opportunities to top up our devices using electricity at a campground. Not every campground offers electricity, so when we stayed at a campground with it, we took full advantage and made sure every device was topped up. We travel with two multi-USB international travel adapters (the blue device in the picture below) which are great for charging several devices at once.
We brought two fully charged high-capacity power banks from home, each with 20,000mAh. These power banks were a life saver as they allowed us to top up our devices on short driving days when we didn’t have enough time to charge them while driving. Then, we’d make sure they power banks were topped up when we had the chance to plug them in at a campground.
2. Choose the Right Campgrounds
Camping is a very popular way to travel around Iceland, and as such, there are tons of campgrounds all around the country, especially near the Ring Road. But, you may be interested to know that not all the campgrounds in Iceland are equal, especially if you are traveling with kids.
As mentioned above, finding a campground with electricity is really important when camping in Iceland with kids – you gotta keep those devices alive!
But, perhaps even more important, is giving your kids a chance to play, burn off some pent up energy. Finding a campground with a playground is a big win for everyone involved!
Read More
We did a lot of research into our campgrounds to find kid-friendly amenities before our camping trip to Iceland. See which ones made our list of the Top 10 Family-Friendly Campgrounds in Iceland.
3. Pack Quick Drying Clothes
There are surprisingly few laundry facilities along Iceland’s Ring Road. You’ll find the occasional campground which has a single washing machine, and maybe a dryer, but we found the demand for them was high and they were almost always in use.
We recommend you pack lots of easy to wash, quick-drying clothes in case you need to sink wash your clothes. We managed to get through our 3-week family camping trip in Iceland with only using a washer / dryer once. We spent a few hours at Akureyri Backpackers, in Iceland’s second biggest city.
For the rest of the trip, we hand washed our quick drying clothes at the campgrounds with travel-sized packs of laundry powder. Having a travel friendly clothes line is also essential for this strategy.
4. Dress In Layers
Speaking of clothing, it’s really important to have the entire family dress in layers while camping in Iceland. Some days it will be windy, cloudy and cold, while others it will be blue sky and sunshine.
The key message is that if you are prepared to dress in layers, you can become warmer or cool off in a hurry. Making sure everyone is comfortable is a key to success on any family camping trip to Iceland.
If you need more information, check out this guide to dressing in layers.
5. Entertainment for Kids
There’s a lot of driving around the Iceland ring road, and you may be surprised to hear that not all of it is visually interesting. You’ll need good entertainment for your kids to keep them out of your hair.
For our kids, we had a bunch of family-friendly road trip podcasts downloaded, a bunch of their favorite songs downloaded on Spotify, some activity books and the odd movie or show on Netflix.
Their main source of entertainment was reading books on their e-readers, which have turned out the be one of our favourite travel accessories for travelling with kids.
We bought them Kobo e-readers as they can borrow e-books from our local library. In Canada (where we live), Kobo is the only one to offer this functionality, but I understand the Amazon Kindle e-readers offer this for American customers.
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We love a good family road trip! Check out our favorite family-friendly podcasts, perfect for your next family road trip – perhaps in Iceland!
6. Prepare to Sleep Without Darkness
Our family camping trip to Iceland took place in July, so it never got dark throughout our entire trip. Our campervan had some really good blinds, but they were not perfect and it was hard to make it completely dark inside.
To help us sleep without darkness, we each brought along a travel sleep mask. If your kids are not used to sleeping with a sleep mask, have them try it for several nights at home prior to your Iceland camping trip. You don’t want any resistance or struggles on your first night in the campervan!
Nearly every campground we stayed at in Iceland was nice and quiet at night. But, just in case, we brought along a supply of kid-sized ear plugs.
Between the cool nights, the sleep masks and the cozy blankets in our campervan, our entire family slept incredibly well.
7. Stock Up at the Reykjavik Costco
We recommend you hit Costco in Reykjavik before beginning your family camping trip in Iceland. Food in Iceland is very expensive and Costco is a great option to load up on kid-friendly food for your family camping trip.
In particular, we recommend you buy lots of long-life milk, granola bars, pasta and sauce, mixed nuts, peanut butter, cereal and anything else non-perishable that your family would enjoy.
See the Reykjavik Costco on Google Maps
Read More
As amazing as Iceland is, it can be shockingly expensive, especially with many mouths to feed. Don’t plan your family camping trip to Iceland without reading my Kid-Approved Meal Ideas for Camping in Iceland and Tips for visiting Iceland on a Budget.
8. Bring Your Own Booster Seats
When we were picking up our camper van near the Reykjavik Airport, we were surprised to discover that they couldn’t provide us with booster seats. Our camper van rental company informed us that it is now illegal for them to provide backless booster seats for children.
So, our kids (ages 8 & 10) had to make do with high-backed car seats (which they had outgrown at home years ago). Due to the extraordinary cost of buying anything in Iceland, if you want your kids to have backless booster seats on your family camping trip in Iceland, we highly recommend bringing your own from home.
9. Rent Portable Wi-Fi
You saw the long list of electronics we brought with us on our family camping trip around the Iceland Ring Road. We were able to provide Wi-Fi for the entire family (10 devices at a time), by renting a portable Wi-Fi unit from Trawire.
This device was amazing and was a real life saver. The portable Wi-Fi had a strong signal over 99% of the time – even when we thought we were so remote that there was no chance we’d have a signal.
Having a strong wi-fi signal on our entire Iceland ring road trip allowed our kids to download eBooks for their e-readers, listen to music on Spotify and even watch the occasional movie on Netflix. And, of course, having wi-fi everywhere we went was essential for us parents who can’t live without our iPhones!
Having Wi-Fi for the entire family is a must for a family camping trip in Iceland. We were very happy with our portable Wi-Fi from Trawire.
And there you have it – the sum of our wisdom from our three weeks camping in Iceland with kids. We hope you find our tips useful, and even more importantly, have an amazing Iceland camping trip of your own!
10. Rent a Family-Friendly Campervan
If you spend some time browsing our Iceland posts, you’ll see that our 3-week family camping trip in Iceland was unforgettable. Having the complete freedom of a family-friendly campervan was a huge reason for the success of our Iceland camping trip.
If you are looking for a kid-friendly campervan in Iceland, we recommend you check out the Go BIG Automatic Campervan from GoCampers.is! With plenty of space, comfy beds, and an easy-to-drive automatic transmission, it gave us total freedom to explore Iceland’s stunning landscapes without the expense or hassles of staying in hotels.

With two levels for sleeping, the Go BIG Automatic Campervan comfortably sleeps up to 4. With all the fresh air and exercise we got on our family camping trip, we had some of the best sleeps of our life in this campervan – I’m not joking!
Restaurant meals in Iceland are incredibly expensive, so with the included fridge and cooking gear, we were able to save a ton of money cooking our own meals. Plus, unlike tent campers, we were grateful to be able to eat indoors on the days the weather wasn’t perfect.
If you’re dreaming of the perfect family-friendly Iceland campervan, book your Go Campers van now!
Get 5% off Your Rental!
If you make your reservation with Go Campers using our link and use the code “familycantravel” at checkout, you’ll get 5% off your rental!
Dan Brewer is an intrepid family travel blogger with a passion for exploring the world's most captivating destinations. With 58 countries under his belt and a sense of wanderlust that knows no bounds, he has made it his life's mission to share his travel experiences and insights with fellow families who love to travel.
When Dan isn't traveling with his wife and kids, he's either out enjoying the Canadian Rockies he calls home or working on one of his three travel sites (Family Can Travel, Travel Banff Canada and Ultimate Sports Road Trip).