Nature and Travel | Iceland Monitor | Thu 17 Mar 2016 | 14.15 GMT | Modified 3 Jun 2016 12.04

Car-park charges brought in at Þingvellir

Photo: Ómar Óskarsson Ómar Óskarsson

From 1 May, it will no longer be free to park at Iceland’s famous Þingvellir national park site, according to South Iceland media.

Sources report that the fee will be charged by means of special equipment installed at three different car-parks within Þingvellir and that a one-off payment will allow a vehicle to be parked for 24 hours.

Golli / Kjartan Þorbjörnsson

The charges will be as follows:

Car: ISK 500 (approx. €3.50)
Jeep: ISK 750 (approx. €5.30)
Coach (under 20 passengers): ISK 1,500 (approx. €10.70)
Coach (20+ passenger): ISK 3,000 (approx. €21.30)

According to national park authorities, the new charges are expected to raise ISK 40-50 million a year – not quite covering the ISK 50 million (approx. €355,000) cost per year of running, servicing and maintaining the car parks.