Before you start

Kennitala and registered legal domicile
Your existing licence, valid
A medical certificate and eyesight check where required
A photograph to Icelandic specification

Step-by-step

1
Check whether your licence can be exchanged
EEA licences are exchangeable. A defined list of other countries can exchange, in some cases after a driving test. If your country is not on it, the answer is the full Icelandic licence process. Samgöngustofa publishes the current position.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1–2
2
Apply through the district commissioner
Licence applications are handled by sýslumaður offices rather than by the police. Bring your licence, identity document, kennitala, medical certificate where required and a photograph.
In personWho: You
3
Know the studded tyre window
Studded tyres are permitted only between 1 November and 14 April, with adjustments in exceptional conditions. Using them outside that window is an offence, and so is being on summer tyres when conditions require winter ones. Both are enforced.
OnlineWho: You
4
Check road.is and vedur.is before every drive out of town
The Icelandic Road Administration publishes live road conditions and closures, and the Met Office issues colour-coded weather warnings. Roads outside the capital region close for wind, snow and sand storms with limited notice, and driving past a closure sign is both illegal and dangerous.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Understand what your insurance does not cover
Icelandic rental and private vehicle insurance frequently excludes wind damage — including doors torn off by a gust, which happens often enough to be a named exclusion — as well as sand and ash damage and river crossings. Read the exclusions before you assume you are covered.
OnlineWho: You
6
Never drive off marked roads
Off-road driving is a criminal offence in Iceland with heavy fines, because the vegetation and soil take decades to recover. F-roads in the interior require a genuine four-wheel drive and are closed for most of the year.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Existing driving licence
Passport and kennitala
Medical certificate and eyesight test where required
Photograph to Icelandic specification
Proof of legal domicile registration

Things most newcomers don’t know

Wind, not ice, is the hazard that catches drivers here.

Reykjavík winters are milder than Oslo's or Helsinki's because of the Gulf Stream, so people arrive braced for cold and are unprepared for the wind. Gusts routinely reach speeds that tear car doors off their hinges when opened — a specific, common and expensive incident that many insurance policies exclude by name. Open doors on the leeward side, hold them, and take the Met Office's colour warnings as instructions rather than information.

Source: Veðurstofa Íslands / community-reported

The studded tyre season has fixed dates and both ends are enforced.

Studs are permitted from 1 November to 14 April, with adjustment in exceptional conditions. Running them in May is an offence; running summer tyres in December when conditions demand winter ones is also an offence and will affect an insurance claim. Because Reykjavík's winter is mild and often wet rather than frozen, drivers from continental Europe underestimate how much of the year needs proper winter rubber.

Source: Samgöngustofa

Road closures are absolute and driving past one has consequences beyond a fine.

The Icelandic Road Administration closes roads for wind, snow and sand storms and publishes it live on road.is. Every year, drivers ignore closures, get stuck and require ICE-SAR — the volunteer search and rescue organisation — to come out for them in the same conditions. Iceland's rescue service is staffed by volunteers, and calling them out through avoidable stupidity is regarded very differently here than a roadside recovery would be elsewhere.

Source: Vegagerðin / ICE-SAR

You can live in Reykjavík without a car, which people from outside assume you cannot.

The capital region has a single bus network, Strætó, covering Reykjavík, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður and the rest, and the city is compact enough that most journeys are short. Car ownership is high by European standards but it is a choice rather than a necessity for someone living and working in the city. A car-sharing membership plus occasional rental covers the trips out of town at far less than the cost of ownership, insurance and winter tyres.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Opening a car door into the wind and losing it — a named exclusion on many Icelandic policies.
Running studded tyres outside the 1 November to 14 April window.
Driving past a road closure and needing volunteer rescue.
Assuming a foreign licence is exchangeable without checking Samgöngustofa's list.
Driving off marked roads or tracks, which is a criminal offence.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.