Best travel cards for Iceland

If you're planning a trip to Iceland and weighing your payment options, travel money cards are an excellent choice. Not only are they secure and reliable, they can also make it easier to stay on budget during your holiday. They’re among the safest and most convenient ways to spend while travelling outside the UK and you can even use some of them at home for free.

In this guide, we’ll help you find the best travel card for Iceland. We’ll compare their features so you can choose the one that best suits your spending habits and needs. We’ll also provide some general travel tips for Iceland.

We’ll also show you a cost-effective way to manage your spending in Iceland. For international purchases, whether online or in person, you can rely on the Wise international debit card. You can even withdraw cash like a local for low fees* at the mid-market exchange rate.

Learn more about the Wise debit card

What is a travel card?¹

A travel card is a prepaid payment card that you load with foreign currencies, which you can then use for both spending and ATM withdrawals while abroad. These cards are specifically designed for travel, meaning their fees related to foreigns spending are typically lower than those of regular debit or credit cards.

People use travel cards for various reasons, but one of their main advantages is safety from pickpockets or different types of fraud. Since you only load a fixed amount of money onto the card, your total account balance remains protected. Additionally, travel cards can help you stay on budget, as you can only spend what you’ve loaded onto the card.

It's important not to confuse travel cards with travel credit cards. While travel credit cards don’t typically hold foreign currency, they often offer different rewards and perks when you spend.

Best travel cards - a quick comparison

Let’s compare a few of the best travel cards for Iceland and point out their differences:

Travelex Travel Money Card²

Travelex’s contactless travel card could be the perfect choice for you, since it supports 22 major currencies, including Icelandic krona. Once you load your card with the currency, you’ll enjoy free top-ups, ATM withdrawals and foreign transactions. In addition to using it to spend at stores and businesses worldwide, you can also use it within the UK.

When it comes to limits, you can withdraw up to £500 daily from ATMs and spend up to £3,000. In case you run out of funds, you can easily top up your card in-store, online or through the Travelex Money app. The minimum load amount is £50.

You can order the Travelex Travel Money Card either for home delivery or pick it up at any Travelex store. All you need is to be at least 18 years old and have a government-issued photo ID.

Caxton Red card⁴

Caxton’s Red card is a good choice for frequent travellers. Even though it doesn’t support Icelandic krona, it comes with no currency exchange markups. This means you can simply load your pounds onto the card and exchange them when needed.

Whether this card is right for you depends mostly on how much you travel. Although you'll be paying a £8 monthly fee, you get an exchange rate with no markup. Essentially, if you're a frequent traveller, the cost of the card and the favorable exchange rate will balance each other out.

You also don’t need to worry about leftover Icelandic krona after your trip. Caxton will buy back any unused currency at the same rate you bought it. Additionally, each time you use this card to spend in the UK, you get reward points.

The Caxton Red card comes with no ATM fees.⁸ You can load between £50 and £12,000 at once and withdraw up to £300 twice a day. Shop transactions are limited to 20 per day.⁹

Revolut Icelandic Krona Card⁵

Revolut offers a unique type of travel card that lets you hold 36 currencies for your travels, including Icelandic króna. The Standard plan card is free and allows you to set a spending limit in the app to help you stay within your travel budget. You can order the card via the app and choose to add it to your mobile wallet or have it delivered to your address.

If you choose Revolut’s Standard plan, you get 5 free ATM withdrawals or a £200 ATM limit per month, whichever comes first. You can exchange up to £1,000 a month without any additional fees, after which a 1% markup will be added.⁶

If you're looking for more premium features, consider one of Revolut’s paid plans.

Travel tips for Iceland

Here are some useful tips to remember before you head to Iceland.

Iceland is gradually becoming cashless, making travel money cards and cards in general a great option for your trip. You can tap to pay for most things, so you won’t need to worry about carrying cash.¹⁰ A good strategy would be to preload some Icelandic krona onto your travel card before leaving the UK and withdraw some in Iceland in case you need it.

However, since Iceland is a small country, there are only around 200 ATMs on the entire island. Make sure you look for them at main town squares and shopping malls. Unfortunately, you’ll probably need to pay ATM fees, since most of them charge from 1.10% of the transaction to 300 ISK.¹¹

Even if your travel card is contactless, make sure you have your PIN handy. While contactless payments are widely accepted in Iceland, there is still a limit. Once you spend 7,500 ISK, you'll need to enter your PIN. However, you can avoid this by connecting your card to your mobile wallet.¹²

Travelling abroad? Choose the Wise Card

That’s a wrap on our guide to the best travel card for Iceland. We hope our recommendations have helped you find the ideal card for your trip.

And if you want another option for spending abroad without worrying about exchange rates and hidden fees, the Wise international debit card could be a great solution.

You can use your Wise card for international payments in 150+ countries, including Iceland. It automatically converts your pounds to the currency you need in your destination at the mid-market exchange rate with only a small, transparent currency conversion fee. Open a Wise account online, hold and exchange 40+ currencies and order the Wise card for a one-time fee of £7.

You also get two free ATM withdrawals to the value of 200 GBP each month. After that, there is a charge of 0.5 GBP per withdrawal. There’s also a 1.75% fee on any amount you withdraw above 200 GBP.

Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.

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Sources used:

Sources last checked on date: 06-Dec-2024