Power Plugs & Adapters in Iceland: What You Need

What Plug Does Iceland Use?

Type C and Type F, the standard European round-pin plugs, running at 230 volts and 50 hertz.

Type C is the two round pin plug used across mainland Europe. Type F, also called Schuko, is the same two pins with earthing clips on the sides.

A Type C plug fits a Type F socket. Icelandic sockets accept both without difficulty.

If you have travelled anywhere in continental Europe with the same devices, your existing adapter works here.

Do You Need an Adapter?

Depends entirely on where you are coming from, and there are three answers.

Visitors from mainland Europe need nothing. Your plugs fit and your voltage matches.

Visitors from the UK and Ireland need a plug adapter. The rectangular three-pin plug does not fit a round-pin socket, and there is no way around it.

Visitors from the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and most of Asia need a plug adapter, and possibly a voltage converter depending on the device.

An adapter changes the shape of the plug. A converter changes the voltage. They are different things and most travellers only need the first.

The Label That Decides It

One line on your charger tells you whether you need a converter.

Look for the input rating printed on the plug or the power brick. It usually reads something like INPUT: 100-240V, 50/60Hz.

If it says 100-240V, the device is dual voltage and works anywhere in the world. You need only a plug adapter.

Almost every phone charger, laptop charger, tablet charger, camera charger and electric toothbrush made in the last fifteen years is dual voltage.

If it says 110-120V only, it is single voltage and needs a converter or it will be damaged.

The devices that catch people out are hair dryers, hair straighteners, curling tongs and travel kettles, which are frequently single voltage and high wattage.

Almost all modern chargers are dual voltage. The ones that are not are usually heating appliances.

What to Actually Pack

Four things, and the second is the one that saves arguments.

One plug adapter per person if you are coming from outside continental Europe.

A multi-socket extension lead or a multi-port USB charger. Icelandic hotel rooms often have fewer accessible sockets than a family has devices, and one adapter feeding a four-way lead solves it.

A power bank. Cold drains phone batteries quickly, and the phone is your camera, map and torch on a winter day, as our guide to Icelandic travel apps explains.

Leave the hair dryer at home. Almost all accommodation provides one, and the sulphur smell in Icelandic hot water will defeat it anyway.

Our guide to what to pack for Iceland covers the rest of the list.

If You Forget

Straightforward and mildly expensive.

Adapters are sold at Keflavík Airport in both the arrivals and departures areas, and Keflavík Airport lists the shops.

Electronics shops and supermarkets in Reykjavík stock them, as do most petrol stations.

Many hotels and guesthouses will lend one at reception. Ask before buying.

Prices are Icelandic, which means an adapter costs several times what it would at home. Buying before you travel is the cheaper route.

Charging while driving is the practical approach on a day with three and a half hours of road in it.

Charging in a Hire Car or Campervan

Worth planning if you are driving.

Most hire cars have a 12V socket, a USB port or both. Check when collecting the vehicle rather than assuming.

A 12V to USB adapter is worth packing if your car is older, and rental companies do not reliably provide one.

Campervans generally have a leisure battery and sockets, which run down when the engine is off. Campsites with electrical hook-up solve that.

Charging while driving is the practical approach on a Golden Circle day, since the loop involves about three and a half hours behind the wheel.

Our guide to what the Golden Circle covers sets out the driving distances.

Iceland's Electricity, Briefly

Context, because it is genuinely unusual.

Iceland generates its electricity almost entirely from renewable sources, with hydropower producing 14,195 GWh a year against 5,916 from geothermal according to the National Energy Authority.

That is an unusual position for any country, and it is a consequence of geology rather than policy.

Buildings are heated with geothermal water pumped straight from the ground rather than by electricity, which is why Icelandic hot taps smell of sulphur. Our guide to Icelandic tap water covers that properly.

Electricity is comparatively cheap here by European standards, which is why the country attracts aluminium smelting and data centres.

The supply is stable. Power cuts are rare outside major storms, and the Icelandic Met Office publishes the warnings that precede them.

None of that changes what you plug in, and all of it explains why the sockets are the least remarkable thing about Icelandic energy.

The Short Version

Iceland uses Type C and F plugs at 230V, 50Hz, the same as mainland Europe.

Coming from mainland Europe, bring nothing.

Coming from the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia or Asia, bring a plug adapter.

Check your charger says 100-240V. If it does, an adapter is all you need.

Bring a multi-way lead or multi-port charger, and leave the hair dryer at home.

Spend the Day Outside Instead

Charging is a five-minute problem and the landscape an hour from Reykjavík is what the trip is for. Our small-group Golden Circle tour with Kerið and Friðheimar keeps groups under twenty and covers five stops in about nine hours, with charging on board. Tell us your dates and we will find you a departure.