Free stopover in
Dramatic mountains and black sand beaches at the edge of the Arctic.
Your trip must route through KEF (Reykjavik) with a 24–504 hour layover. Eligible classes: Economy, Saga Premium.
Book directly on Icelandair.com and add a stopover during booking. Stays of 8-21 nights must be booked via the Icelandair service center.
The airline confirms your hotel and any included tours via email, usually within a few business days.
Make your own way to the hotel (most cities have cheap metro/airport taxis). Take any included tours, then continue your journey.
Geothermal spa 20 minutes from the airport — book ahead.
Geysers, waterfalls, and tectonic plates in a single day loop.
Iconic basalt-column church with a view over the city.
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How much is all the free stuff actually worth?
Will the airline actually respond to my email?
PSA thread warning that Icelandair has been restricting stopovers to a minimum of 3 days on certain US routings. Users shared workarounds including booking the stopover on the return leg.
Step-by-step guide. Icelandair Saga Premium fares can be found under $900 and the cheapest stopover fares are easier to find when the stopover is placed on the return connection.
Review titled 'Icelandair Stopover' praising how the airline website lets you plan the whole experience including airport transfers, accommodations, car rental, and activities without extra flight cost.
Guide on what to do during a stopover in Iceland. Highlights that the stopover program allows visiting two destinations for the price of one, with trips from a couple of hours up to a week.
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Icelandair offers discounted stopover packages in Reykjavik rather than a fully free stay. Most travelers pay a reduced rate for the hotel and tours, and still cover meals, transfers, and any transit-visa fee. Check the all-in price before you book.
Passengers flying Icelandair on a ticket issued by the airline, with a qualifying layover in KEF between 24 and 504 hours. Eligible booking classes: Economy, Saga Premium. Eligible fare families: Economy Light, Economy Standard, Economy Flex, Saga Premium, Saga Premium Flex. No fare class is excluded outright; the cap on stopover length scales with fare flexibility.
Your connection in KEF should fall between 24 and 504 hours. Two things travelers get caught by: flight-search sites usually show the shortest connection by default, and that's often too short to qualify. You may need to deliberately pick a longer-layover flight. And the layover shown isn't all usable: clearing immigration and any baggage steps eats into it, so give yourself comfortable margin above the 24-hour minimum.
Stopover programs are run by the airline, so the safest route is a ticket booked directly with Icelandair on an eligible fare. Award and miles tickets, and bookings made through online travel agencies or other third-party sites, often follow different rules: sometimes they don't qualify, sometimes the stopover has to be arranged another way. Before booking like that, confirm directly with Icelandair that your specific ticket type is eligible.
To leave the airport for your stopover you must meet Iceland's transit or entry rules, and this matters before you even fly: if your passport requires a transit visa and you don't have one, the airline can deny boarding. The good news: many nationalities get visa-free transit, visa-on-arrival, or a quick e-visa, and some stopover programs include the transit visa. Select your nationality on this page to see the exact requirement for Iceland, and arrange any visa well before departure.
Airlines do sometimes adjust schedules after you book. A change can shorten or lengthen your layover. If it drops the connection below the 24-hour minimum, or past the maximum, it can affect your eligibility. If you get a schedule-change notice, re-check your layover against the program's window and contact Icelandair to rebook or re-confirm the stopover. It's worth re-checking your itinerary a few days before departure.
On a single Icelandair ticket, your checked bags are normally tagged straight through to your final destination, so you head into Reykjavik with just your carry-on, and your luggage continues on the onward flight. You'd only collect and re-check bags if part of your trip is on a separate ticket. If you'd like a checked bag with you for the overnight stay, ask Icelandair when you arrange the stopover.
Most stopover programs allow only one stopover per round-trip — on either the outbound or the return leg, not both. A few carriers are more flexible. Confirm with Icelandair whether your specific itinerary can include a stopover on each leg before planning two stops.
Icelandair offers discounted hotel packages in Reykjavik rather than a complimentary room; you pick from their partner options at a reduced rate. Confirm the all-in price when you book.
Book directly on Icelandair.com and add a stopover during booking. Stays of 8-21 nights must be booked via the Icelandair service center.
Up to 7 days. You can extend your layover without paying additional airfare, as long as it fits within the program's rules.
Choose your passport to see if you can leave the airport.
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