Hiring warm clothes in Iceland is cheaper than buying them, for three items
What is worth renting in Reykjavík — a parka, waterproof trousers, boots — what is not, and what the two rental operators actually charge per day.
Plenty of people arrive in Iceland in October with a city coat and a pair of trainers. Buying the right kit at home costs a few hundred euros for clothes you may never wear again; buying it here costs more. Renting it for a week is the third option, and for some items it is clearly the right one.
We list two Reykjavík rental operators — IcelandCover Outdoor Clothing Rental and Iceland Camping Equipment — with roughly thirty items between them, priced per 24 hours. Everything below is per person, per day, and gets cheaper per day the longer you keep it.
Worth renting
A proper parka. The single biggest gap between a normal wardrobe and an Icelandic one. Iceland Camping Equipment’s waterproof and warm parka is €25 a day; IcelandCover’s men’s and women’s winter coat are €31, with a children’s version at the same price. A week of that is around €180 — less than one good shell jacket, and you fly home without it.
Waterproof trousers. Almost nobody packs these and almost everybody needs them. Rain here arrives horizontally, and jeans on a glacier or at Skógafoss are the difference between a good day and a cold one. Warm and waterproof trousers are €20 a day, or take the jacket and trousers together at €35.
Boots, if you are doing anything on ice. Glacier and ice-cave operators will not fit crampons to trainers, and several will turn you away at the meeting point. Hiking boots are €35 a day from IcelandCover, hiking shoes €26 from Iceland Camping Equipment. Rent for the two days you need them rather than for the whole trip.
Not worth renting
Crampons. Every glacier hike and ice cave tour includes them; it is the operator’s kit, fitted by the guide, and it is in the price. The city crampons at €7 are a different thing — spikes that strap over ordinary shoes for icy Reykjavík pavements in January — and those are genuinely useful, but they are the sort of thing you buy for €15 in any hardware shop and keep.
Hats and gloves. A beanie and a pair of waterproof gloves cost €5 and €7 a day. Over five days that is €60 for two items you can buy new for less, in a shop on Laugavegur, and keep. Rent the expensive things; buy the cheap ones.
Anything you already own. Fleeces, base layers, wool. Pack them. They weigh nothing.
The package deals
Both operators bundle. IcelandCover’s full winter gear rental is €153 for the lot; Iceland Camping Equipment’s clothing package is €85. Do the arithmetic against the three items above before you take a bundle — if all you actually need is a coat and waterproof trousers, the bundle is padding you pay for.
How it works in practice
Collection is in Reykjavík, not at Keflavík, so plan a slot on your first afternoon in town. Sizes run out in high season and at the start of the winter break, so book ahead rather than walking in on 27 December. Return is by hand at the same place, which means your last day needs a gap in it — an awkward constraint if you are heading straight to the airport from a tour.
That last point is the real cost of renting. You are tying two afternoons of your trip to a shop counter. For a three-night city break it can outweigh the saving.
What the tours already give you
Read the inclusion list before you rent anything. Glacier hikes include crampons, helmet, harness and ice axe. Snowmobile tours include a thermal overall, gloves, balaclava and helmet — you turn up in ordinary winter clothes. Ice cave tours include crampons and a helmet. Horse riding includes a helmet and usually a rain suit.
What no tour gives you is a warm waterproof layer of your own, and that is exactly the thing this page says to rent.
Our honest take
If you are here for four days in summer, rent nothing. Bring a rain shell and a fleece and stop worrying.
If you are here in winter, or doing anything on a glacier, rent three things: a parka, waterproof trousers and boots. That is about €80–€90 a day for all three at list price, or roughly €250 over a week — against several hundred to buy the same standard of kit, plus a suitcase to carry it home in.
The tradeoff is honest and worth stating: rented gear is well used. It is clean and it works, but you are not getting a new coat. If you plan to walk in cold, wet places again after this trip, buy it at home instead and the rental never pays.
Everything both operators list is on our gear rental page, and what each tour includes is on its own listing — see glacier tours and ice cave tours for the two categories where kit matters most.
