Traveling to Iceland with points and miles in 2024

05.01.2024 - 07:41 / lonelyplanet.com

This series of articles about credit cards, points and miles, and budgeting for travel is brought to you in partnership with The Points Guy.

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The Land of Fire and Ice has long been a popular vacation destination, with impressive waterfalls, volcanoes, glaciers and plenty of dramatic scenery at every turn. You may even recognize some of them from Game of Thrones, which used Iceland as a filming location, highlighting Svínafellsjökull glacier in Vatnajökull National Park and Lake Mývatn, among other scenic spots.

If you’re sticking to a budget, it’s easy to offset the costs of your flights and hotels by paying for them with points and miles, which can also be used to cover car rentals or tour-related costs if you’re planning an epic road trip around Iceland. 

Here’s everything you need to know about traveling to Iceland with points and miles, plus some of our favorite places to visit there.

How to get started with travel points and airline miles

U.S. citizens are allowed to visit for up to 90 days without a visa. If you’ve got the time, Icelandair allows its passengers to book a complimentary stopover in Iceland in either direction if your travels take you between the U.S. and Europe, which you could then use to turn this into a two-in-one trip.

In addition to the points-redemption flights mentioned below, keep in mind that PLAY, a budget-friendly Icelandic carrier, offers affordable flights to Reykjavík (KEF) from Baltimore (BWI), Boston (BOS), New York (SWF, about 90 minutes from Manhattan) and Washington, DC (IAD). 

While PLAY isn’t linked with any major loyalty programs or airline alliances, you can still earn points by paying for your airfare with certain travel credit cards. The Platinum Card® from American Express*, for instance, lets you earn 5X points for booking flights directly with the airline on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year.

It’s also worth checking to see if there are any flight deals in your credit card’s travel portal, whether it’s Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One Travel or American Express Membership Rewards.

The best travel credit cards

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