Upvote:5
I've hitchhiked for on week in Iceland. If you are on the ring road or in the main gravel roads (for example the F208 to Landmannalaugar), you shouldn't have to wait too much. There is one time where I waited for 2 hours, but other than that it was often 30 minutes max.
The bus system is pretty extensive and can bring you near where you want almost every time, but it can be a little expensive (in Iceland, all is expensive). I would consider a mix between bus (to get out from Reykjavik) and hitchhiking (quite easy, cheap, and you can meet tons of nice people).
The north-west (the fjords) can be pretty rough when hitchhiking given that there is'nt much cars passing by.
Sometimes it's nice to wait for a ride
Upvote:7
Car rental is the easiest when short on time but rental cars in Iceland are extremely expensive due to the short tourist season. One thing that is popular though is to rent a camper van which offset lodging costs.
Buses are available and go around the island and some do cross in the middle. They are relatively affordable and the routes are quite simple since most follow the ring road. There is a more frequent tourist service that goes in a loop from Reykjavik to some of the major sites and waterfalls inland. Jokulsarlon though is 5 hours away and so you should be that on different circuit. Buses do stop there too but be mindful of the schedule since it is far away from much else.
Hitchhiking is possible but is not common from what I have seen. I drove around Iceland in a span of 3 weeks (totaling 3,400km including much zigzags to cover nearly every road on the island) and only did see hitchhikers twice. I picked a pair up between Dyrholaey and Vik and they seemed to have gotten around that far like that. While crime is not an issue, Iceland is rather sparse and so not having your own transport or using scheduled buses can troublesome.