Everything To Know About Our Iceland Glacier Tour Experience

Iceland – the land of fire and ice! During our visit we knew we wanted to get up close and personal with a glacier and there truly is no better place to do that than Iceland – the access to the glaciers is unmatched and they have tons of options for all levels and experiences your looking for. Keep reading for things to consider, types of tours, and our experience!

What To Know Before You Book

• Location: There are a few options for glacier booking tours in Iceland and you’ll need to pay attention to which one you book depending on where you’ll be in Iceland – we ended up driving the ring road so planned to visit the glacier along the way and drive ourself instead of a tour including transportation. The following is a non-exhaustive list as there are other options:
  • Sólheimajökull Glacier (South Iceland, 2 hrs from Reykjavik)
  • Vatnajokull Glacier (Southeast Iceland, 4.5-6.5 hrs from Reykjavik)
  • Langjökull Glacier (West Iceland, 2 hrs from Reykjavik)
  • Snæfellsjökull Glacier (Snaefellsness Peninsula, 2-3 hrs from Reykjavik)
• Type: There are many types of guided tours including glacier walking/hiking (what we did), ice climbing, ice caves, snowmobiling, boat/kayak tours, and more. Depending on the type of tour you choose, the type of intensity can differ.
• Time of Year: Depending on the type and location of the tour will depend on it’s availability throughout the year, some tours are only available in winter and some in summer – check for the time you’re visiting!
• Group size: Pay attention to the group size depending on what you’re looking for – private tours are available but are definitely more pricey.

Options For Iceland Glacier Tours

There are SO many options for glacier tours depending on the factors we listed above. Check out some of these options, but also if you know the region you want to go to, look on google for so many more options!

• Sólheimajökull Glacier (South Iceland, 2 hrs from Reykjavik)
  • Sólheimajökull Ice Climbing and Glacier Walk
  • Micro group – Ice climbing at Sólheimajökull
• Vatnajokull Glacier (Southeast Iceland, 4.5-6.5 hrs from Reykjavik)
  • Jökulsárlón: Blue Ice Cave and a Long Glacier Hike
• Langjökull Glacier (West Iceland, 2 hrs from Reykjavik)
  • Into the Glacier Combo: Snowmobiling + Langjökull Ice Cave

Our Experience

Our Iceland Glacier Tour was booked through Arctic Adventures and specifically the Skaftafell Ice Cave Tour & Glacier Hike tour. Here are the tour highlights:

• What you see: Explored Europes largest glacier (Vatnajökull glacier), including hiking on the glacier and a blue ice cave.
• Duration: About 4 months.
• Included: Transport to the glacier from the meet up point, safety gear, guided group tour of the glacier.
• Cost: When we booked (early 2025) the tour was approximately ISK 20,000 per person.
• Tips:
  • Bring decent hiking boots – regular snow boots may not work and they may want you to hire boots with more traction for the glacier.
  • Bring layers and a small bag to put your stuff into.
  • Tour is only available between October – April.
  • You need to meet at the meet-up point – so a rental car is the easiest way to get there. Skaftafell is about 5 hours from Reykjavik.

We chose a morning tour (10am) and showed up to the meeting location slightly before to make sure we had enough time to prep, we stayed a short drive away (one hour I believe) so it wasn’t a rushed morning for us. There was no food on the tour, so eating before/after and snacks/water as needed in our small back pack. We showed up to the meeting location, got kitted out, and then they take the time to help you use put your kit on and show you how to use it. We opted to use the washrooms before we left as there’s no washrooms once you hop on the bus!

A short (but bumpy) five minute drive on the group tour bus and we arrived at the bottom of the glacier – the views just from there are awesome! Once you arrive you hop off, get kitted up, and divide into your tour groups with a guide for a small group. There were a lot of people, but you don’t notice when you’re on the glacier because you’re spread out and it’s such a large area. You head up towards the glacier and this particular tour did include some moderate walking – the steepest part is at the beginning but none of it was too treacherous or difficult and they go at a slow pace. There is a safety brief that includes how to properly walk on the glacier to get traction and safety guidelines.

The route of the tour depends on which group, but we started with the blue ice cave, and in all honesty, this was the least eventful part of the tour – it was very quick and quite underwhelming. You walk through the cave as a group and get to see the cool ice formations, it was definitely blue but it can change colours depending on the sunlight and time of day.

After this, we headed up to see the glacier itself – this was WAY cooler. We lucked out with amazing sunny weather and minimal wind (rare for Iceland during winter!), which made the tour even more enjoyable. You have the opportunity to walk along the glacier with your group, learn about the glacier itself, and take lots of pictures. Each day on the glacier can be unique, but the coolest part for us was walking up into the glacier and seeing the crevices – the large formations that make you feel small when you walk through them. It was SO beautiful.

We spent about 1-1.5 hours exploring the glacier in total before we headed back down to the bus. It was just enough time to fully explore everything and make the most of the adventure! Once the tour ended it was a rinse and repeat – take the bus back, return the kit, and you’re done for the day. Overall it was such a great tour to explore the glacier and we would recommend this one.