Iceland has exactly one road toll: the Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel near Akureyri. There are no booths anywhere in the country. What catches visitors instead is everything around the toll — a new per-kilometre road fee added in 2026, speed cameras that mail fines to your rental company, and parking charges at popular waterfalls. Here is what each one costs and how to pay without extra fees.
Iceland has a single tolled piece of road: the Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel in the north, just east of Akureyri. That is the whole list. No toll booths, no vignette stickers, no motorway charges anywhere else in the country.
It used to be two. The Hvalfjörður tunnel north of Reykjavík charged a toll for twenty years, and older guides still mention it. That ended in September 2018. The tunnel is free now, though it kept its speed cameras — more on those below.
What you will actually spend money on is everything around the toll: a per-kilometre road fee introduced in January 2026, camera fines if you speed, and parking at popular nature sites. None of these are tolls in the classic sense. All of them end up on the card you left with your rental company.
| What | Cost | How to pay |
|---|---|---|
| Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel, single pass | 2,216 ISK (about $16) | veggjald.is, the Veggjald app, or a kiosk at the tunnel — within 24 hours |
| Per-kilometre road fee (new 2026) | 6.95 ISK/km; rentals bill ~1,400 ISK/day or 8–9 ISK/km | Collected by the rental company |
| Speed camera fine | ~30,000–150,000+ ISK | Charged to your card by the rental company, plus ~5,000 ISK handling |
| Nature-site parking | 750–1,000 ISK per visit | Parka app, checkit.is, or on-site machines |
| Reykjavík street parking | Varies by zone; P1 costs most | EasyPark app or meters |
Prices are in Icelandic krónur. At current rates, 1,000 ISK is roughly $7.
The tunnel is 7.5 km long and carries Route 1 under the Vaðlaheiði ridge, between Akureyri and the Lake Mývatn area. Drive the full Ring Road and you will meet it once in each direction.
There are no barriers and no booths. Cameras read your plate as you pass. You then have a window to pay: up to 24 hours before the trip, or within 24 hours after it.
Three ways to do it:
A single trip for a normal car costs 2,216 ISK as of 2026. A return trip is double. If you are based near Akureyri and crossing repeatedly, a 10-trip pass costs 15,985 ISK.
The free alternative is Víkurskarð, the old Route 1 over the mountain pass. It adds about 16 km and 15 minutes, and the views are good. In summer it is an easy way to skip the toll. In winter it is a mountain pass that closes in bad weather, and the tunnel becomes the only reliable route — check north Iceland road conditions before counting on it.
From 1 January 2026, Iceland moved its road funding out of fuel taxes and into a per-kilometre charge, the kílómetragjald. Every passenger car pays 6.95 ISK per kilometre driven, with higher rates for heavier vehicles.
You never pay the state directly. Every rental company collects it for its fleet, in one of two ways:
Ask which model applies when you book. On a full Ring Road trip of about 2,000 km, the per-km model works out around 14,000–18,000 ISK; a one-week rental on the flat model comes to about 10,000 ISK. Neither is avoidable, so budget for it alongside fuel in your Ring Road cost planning.
Speed limits are 90 km/h on paved rural roads, 80 on gravel, 50 in towns, and usually 70 in tunnels. Enforcement is by camera, and the cameras are not hidden: fixed grey boxes stand along Route 1, around Reykjavík, and inside every major tunnel.
The Hvalfjörður tunnel goes further. Since 2024 it has average-speed control — two camera points time your entire passage, so braking for a box and speeding up afterwards does not work.
Fines scale with the overspeed. Minor offences start around 30,000 ISK; serious speeding runs past 150,000 ISK. Most tickets carry a discount of about 25% for prompt payment.
With a rental car the sequence is fixed: the camera flags the plate, the police bill the registered owner, the rental company pays or forwards the fine, then charges your card — plus a handling fee of around 5,000 ISK. This can land weeks or months after you fly home, and contesting it from abroad is not practical. The dull, correct advice: set cruise control at the limit and leave it there. More in our guide to driving in Iceland for Americans.
Parking charges are the fees visitors most often confuse with tolls. They are set by landowners and parks, not the road system, but the plate-camera mechanics are the same.
Typical prices: Seljalandsfoss charges 1,000 ISK flat. Skógafoss charges 1,000 ISK, which covers eight hours. Þingvellir charges 1,000 ISK, valid at every lot in the national park for the day. Most other paid sites — Geysir, Jökulsárlón — fall in the same 750–1,000 ISK range.
Payment is by app or QR code. Parka covers most nature sites; some, including Þingvellir, also take card at machines or through checkit.is in your browser. No attendant stops you at a gate — cameras log the plate, and an unpaid fee follows the same path as a speeding ticket: rental company, your card, handling fee on top.
Reykjavík has paid street zones (P1–P4) in the centre. Pay at meters or with the EasyPark app; rates drop as you move away from the core, and evening and Sunday rules vary by zone, so read the sign where you park.
One: the Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel near Akureyri, 2,216 ISK per pass, paid online at veggjald.is. Every other road — the full Ring Road and the Hvalfjörður tunnel included — is toll-free.
The fine goes to the rental company, which charges your card and adds a handling fee of about 5,000 ISK. Expect it weeks after your trip. Prompt payment usually earns a discount of about 25%.
The bill is sent to the rental company with a surcharge, and the company adds its own fee before charging you. Pay at veggjald.is within 24 hours of passing and it stays 2,216 ISK.
Yes. The rental company collects it — either a flat daily amount around 1,400 ISK, or your actual kilometres billed at return. It shows as a separate line on the rental bill, not in the headline rate.
In summer, yes. The Víkurskarð pass road is free and adds about 15 minutes. In winter it closes in bad weather, and when it does, the tunnel is the only route east of Akureyri.