Reykavic car hire--getting to+from ship

Good morning...I am hiring a car from Europcar at the cruise-port in Reykavic. My question to anyone who has driven in and out of the port-How simple is it? Do you have a tricky drive through the city centre to get in and out of the dock, or is there a simple way to get out onto the main roads to the golden circle area,also the blue lagoon area...I ask, as we would like to pop back to our ship at some point during what will be a very long day of driving. Thank you.

I've not done it yet, but I don't believe it's a problem.

The port is outside the city centre, so you don't need to drive though it.

I also understand that the traffic isn't actually bad in Reykjavik anyway.

We have been there and although we didn't hire a car the roads were fairly clear. In fact, there wasn't much traffic at all and I don't remember getting stuck in a traffic jam.

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Unless there is a large accident, "traffic jam"in Rey is 5 cars at a stoplight. Rey has 200K people. It's large for Iceland, but not that large.

It is very quick and easy to drive in and out of the port at Reykjavik. We also rented with Europcar and did the Golden Circle when our ship docked in Reykjavik in Sept 2015. However, the car was not at the cruise port. Instead, a shuttle bus collected us and brought us to a Europcar office nearby, even though our booking stated the car would be at the port - just be aware of this! Driving was very easy and not a problem with little traffic.

Thank you everyone, feeling reassured now!

We used Procar and the car was at the port. Picked up keys from their desk in the Gift Shop. Was three years ago, but assume the same now. Driving very easy, hired GPS and did Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon on the same day

This is wonderful information thank so much.

I do not believe we are interested in Blue Lagoon but do you believe it possible to sort the Golden Circle and Heart of the Glacier? WE are due to be in Reykjavik from 900 to 2100.

I thought about hiring a driver but perhaps all I need pay for is a car.

In 12 hours you can easily do the Golden Circle yourself. I'm not sure what "Heart of the Glacier" is/

In 12 hours you can easily do the Golden Circle yourself. I'm not sure what "Heart of the Glacier" is/

Thank you, I doubt we have 12 hours being we have to get the car back to the hire place, though I s'pose they could be open late.

Hmm I may have answered my own question:

This is a guided bus tour. Admission to the ice cave and lunch buffet are included. 9.5 hours

With a bit more digging I found one can visit in 2or 3 hours by 8 wheel truck or snowmobile. One need only get to Klaki base camp or Húsafell center.

We rented from Europcar last August (doing it again this coming August) and did not have much difficulty getting away from the port (we do have GPS). We drove to the Golden Circle region from the port, and never had to go into town. But even driving in Reykjavik is not a big deal for those used to driving in small cities. Our only issues were with Europcar. Nobody showed up to open their little office until nearly an hour after we had docked (and several of us telephoned their main office in town). Once two of their staff did show, everything went very slow since they could not access their computer and had to do everything by hand. And when we finally were given keys to our car, it would not start due to a dead battery. We had to wait another 20 minutes for them to bring us another car (from their main office). Many of the other rental car companies do not provide cars at the port....but shuttle their customers to their local office sites.

Hank

We rented from Europcar last August (doing it again this coming August) and did not have much difficulty getting away from the port (we do have GPS). We drove to the Golden Circle region from the port, and never had to go into town. But even driving in Reykjavik is not a big deal for those used to driving in small cities. Our only issues were with Europcar. Nobody showed up to open their little office until nearly an hour after we had docked (and several of us telephoned their main office in town). Once two of their staff did show, everything went very slow since they could not access their computer and had to do everything by hand. And when we finally were given keys to our car, it would not start due to a dead battery. We had to wait another 20 minutes for them to bring us another car (from their main office). Many of the other rental car companies do not provide cars at the port....but shuttle their customers to their local office sites.

 

Hank

What rental company are you going to choose this August?

Oops maybe that means you are going to hire from the same company..

Ahhh, the Into the Glacier tour is supposed to be spectacular. It is a manmade ice tunnel/cave, as opposed to the natural ones you can visit (with a tour) during the winter. It is on a terrible road, off of another road that is nearly as bad (road 550) in a beautiful part of the country. You wouldn't want to drive there in anything less than a full size SUV. Even in our Land Cruiser we were shaken up pretty good!

We rented from Europcar last August (doing it again this coming August) and did not have much difficulty getting away from the port (we do have GPS). We drove to the Golden Circle region from the port, and never had to go into town. But even driving in Reykjavik is not a big deal for those used to driving in small cities. Our only issues were with Europcar. Nobody showed up to open their little office until nearly an hour after we had docked (and several of us telephoned their main office in town). Once two of their staff did show, everything went very slow since they could not access their computer and had to do everything by hand. And when we finally were given keys to our car, it would not start due to a dead battery. We had to wait another 20 minutes for them to bring us another car (from their main office). Many of the other rental car companies do not provide cars at the port....but shuttle their customers to their local office sites.

 

Hank

Hank

We rented a car through Iceland Car Rentals on a prior cruise - great experience- pick up and drop off right at the port - but apparently they have been acquired so we went with Europcar on our upcoming cruise. Your comments are leading me to think we should look for another rental car company - maybe it would be better to take a shuttle to rental car main office. We have also booked with Europcar in Akureyri, but there may not be as many options there. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

Hank

We rented a car through Iceland Car Rentals on a prior cruise - great experience- pick up and drop off right at the port - but apparently they have been acquired so we went with Europcar on our upcoming cruise. Your comments are leading me to think we should look for another rental car company - maybe it would be better to take a shuttle to rental car main office. We have also booked with Europcar in Akureyri, but there may not be as many options there. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

We have the same doubts :(. But perhaps it was just a bad day (last August).

Hank

What rental company are you going to choose this August?

Oops maybe that means you are going to hire from the same company..

Yes! We have booked Europcar, as they have an office at the dock....Anyone have a better idea, as we can still cancel if they are still having problems? Maybe it was just a bad day...

Yes! We have booked Europcar, as they have an office at the dock....Anyone have a better idea, as we can still cancel if they are still having problems? Maybe it was just a bad day...

When we booked our car with Europcar, I was also under the impression that they had an office at the dock. However, when we got to Reykjavik, there was nobody from Europcar there. There wasn't any Europcar office there. We had to call them and they sent a shuttle bus to bring us to their office a few kilometres away where we picked up the car. It really wasted a lot of time because they were also late arriving with the shuttle. However, they allowed us to return the car to the port.

We have the same doubts :(. But perhaps it was just a bad day (last August).

 

 

 

Hank

Hank - we were in Reyjkavik on Thursday- rented from Europcar They had an office at pier, two people staffing it, and a key drop for after hours drop off. Everything was great - seems like they have their act together now! Hertz also has office at pier

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This is a picture taken from the ship at Reykjavik last weekend. You can see the Europcar hut. The cars were available at the site on the first day we were in port. Really easy.