Everything here runs on weather. Book the right day.
Whether the Katla ice cave is open this month. What a glacier walk costs before the super jeep gets added. Which aurora bus refunds you when the cloud wins. Reviews of every tour you can book in Iceland.
A loop inland, the coast road east, the dark-sky bus, a boat out of the old harbour, and a swim between two continents.
01The inland loopGolden Circle Full-Day Tour with Kerid Crater
02The dark-sky runNorthern Lights Bus Tour from Reykjavik
03The coast roadSouth Coast Waterfalls, Black Sand & Glacier Tour
04The harbour boatWhale Watching and Marine Life Cruise
05Between two platesSnorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on Location
Walk on it, go inside it, or ride across it. Three prices, three days.
Eleven per cent of Iceland is under ice, and almost none of it is safe to walk onto alone. What you are paying for is a guide, crampons and a vehicle that can reach the edge. Here is what each version of the day actually costs.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · Katla Ice Cave and Super Jeep Tour
Walk on itCrampons, a rope team and an hour of blue ice underfoot.
Go inside itA tunnel cut by meltwater, found again every autumn.
Ride across itAn hour on the Langjokull ice cap, suit and helmet included.
Watch it break upIcebergs calving into the lagoon, then washing back onto black sand.
Every glacier and ice day →
From September the sky becomes the attraction.
Aurora hunting is a weather bet, not a sight you queue for. The buses drive out past the capital glow and keep driving until the cloud breaks; the small-group jeeps go further and carry fewer people. Read the rebooking policy before the price.
Iceland from a deck: whales in the bay, puffins on the stack, a rift you can swim.
Every day on the water →
Minke and humpback feed in Faxafloi from April, the puffins hold the cliffs until early August, and at Thingvellir you can put a dry suit on and drift between the North American and Eurasian plates. Three very different reasons to get wet.
Whales out of the old harbour
Boats leave the Reykjavik docks all day in summer. Minke are the reliable sighting, humpback the one people talk about afterwards. Take the earliest slot: the bay flattens out overnight and roughens through the afternoon.
Puffins, and the window that closes
Roughly ten million of them nest in Iceland and almost all of them leave by the second week of August. The short boat to the islands off Reykjavik costs a fraction of a whale trip and lands you a few metres from the burrows.
Dry-suit snorkelling at Silfra
Glacial meltwater filtered through lava for decades, so clear the bottom reads as air. The dry suit keeps you out of the two-degree water; operators cap group size and most set a minimum height and a medical declaration.
The days out more people take than anything else in Iceland.
Everything with a bus or a boat attached →Winter or summer, the same handful of trips carry most of the island. Here is what each one costs and why it keeps its slot.
1
Golden Circle Full-Day Tour with Kerid Crater
Spend 7 to 8.5 hours touring Iceland’s Golden Circle from Reykjavik by air-conditioned bus. Visit Þingvellir, Gullfoss, Geysir, and Kerið, with guides such as Barbara, Andrea, or Gary sharing Icelandic stories, geology, and folklore. Choose an early departure if you want Kerið and less crowded stops.
From · $82
Read our review →
2
Reykjavik Food Walk – Local Foodie Adventure in Iceland
from $146
3
Northern Lights Bus Tour from Reykjavik
from $73
4
South Coast Waterfalls, Black Sand & Glacier Tour
from $126
5
Whale Watching and Marine Life Cruise
from $87
6
Sky Lagoon Entrance Pass With 7-Step Spa Ritual
from $111
7
Golden Circle, Kerid, & Secret Lagoon Tour
from $132
8
Iceland South Coast Full Day Small-Group Tour from Reykjavik
from $139
The lagoons are not a spa day. They are how Icelanders end one.
Three run on timed entry and sell the good slots weeks ahead: the Blue Lagoon out on the Reykjanes lava field, the Sky Lagoon with its infinity edge over the Atlantic, and the Secret Lagoon in a farm field up the Golden Circle. Every town of any size has a public pool that costs about a coffee.
Every lagoon and bath →
Past Vik the ice comes down to meet the ring road.
Jokulsarlon is five hours from the capital, which is why the honest version is an overnight rather than a day trip. Icebergs calve off Breidamerkurjokull, drift the lagoon, then wash back up on the black sand across the road. The ice caves under Vatnajokull are found fresh each winter and closed again when the melt arrives.
- 1Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon Full-Day Guided Tripfrom $203
- 2Vatnajökull Ice Cave Guided Tourfrom $164
- 3Ice Cave Tour and Glacier Hikefrom $165
Six bases, and how far each one really gets you in a day.
Almost everything sold in Iceland leaves from Reykjavik, but the drive home is the part nobody prices in. The capital, the inland loop, the coast road, the glacier country in the south-east, the whale bays up north and the peninsula that folds the whole island into one morning.
What one day out in Iceland actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The cheap end is thinner here than anywhere else in Europe, so it is worth knowing exactly what sits in it.
Museum entries, the Lava Show, a city walk, the airport coach and a handful of pool and bath tickets.
The full-day standards: the Golden Circle loop, the south coast run, whale boats, aurora buses and lagoon entry.
Anything with ice or a super jeep attached: cave trips, snowmobiles, Silfra with photos, and the long haul to the glacier lagoon.
Three things you cannot book anywhere else on earth.
Glaciers, volcanoes and hot water exist elsewhere. A rift between two continents you can swim, a cave found fresh under a glacier every winter, and molten rock poured across a room in front of you do not.
The Silfra Fissure
At Thingvellir the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart about two centimetres a year, and the gap fills with meltwater that has spent decades filtering through porous lava. Visibility runs past a hundred metres, which is why divers describe it as flying rather than swimming. The water sits near two degrees all year, so it is a dry suit, a briefing and a medical form before anyone gets in.
- 1Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on Location★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 5,001 reviews
- 2Silfra Drysuit Snorkeling with Free Photos – Meet on Location★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,299 reviews
- 3Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates Pick Up from Reykjavik★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,187 reviews
The Ice Caves
Meltwater cuts tunnels through the underside of Vatnajokull every summer, and every autumn the guides walk out to find which ones survived and which are unsafe. That is why the natural caves are a winter product and why the cave you visit this year may not exist next. A handful of man-made tunnels stay open through summer, and they are a different thing entirely.
- 1Katla Ice Cave and Super Jeep Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 2,110 reviews
- 2Vatnajökull Ice Cave Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 2,046 reviews
- 3Ice Cave Tour and Glacier Hike★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,746 reviews
The Lava Show
Someone worked out how to remelt basalt to eleven hundred degrees and pour it down a chute a few metres from a seated audience. The heat arrives before the glow does. It is the only place on the planet that does it, it takes under an hour, and it is the one Icelandic booking that works in any weather.
- 1LAVA SHOW – Immersive Experience Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,360 reviews
- 2Lava Show Reykjavik Admission Ticket – Optional Premium Upgrade★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,278 reviews
- 3Lava Show Vik Admission Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,177 reviews
Four Icelandic bookings that will not wait for you.
Plenty here can be arranged the night before from a guesthouse kitchen. These four run on seasons, dry-suit slots and entry times that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Katla Ice Cave and Super Jeep TourThe natural caves are a winter product, roughly November to March. They are located fresh each autumn and closed the moment the melt makes them unsafe.
- 02Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on LocationDry-suit places are capped per guide, and most operators set a minimum height plus a signed medical declaration. Summer slots go first.
- 03Small-Group Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon with Ticket & Kerid CraterEntry is by timed slot and the late-afternoon ones go weeks ahead. Turning up without a booking is not an option here.
- 04Northern Lights Bus Tour from ReykjavikThe season runs about September to April. Under the midnight sun there is simply nothing to see, whatever the tour is called.
Storm days close roads here, and the forecast is the itinerary.
Wind cancels more Icelandic tours than snow does, and in December the light lasts about four hours. Both have the same answer: something under a roof or in hot water, close to town, that runs whatever the road is doing. Check the road map each morning; operators cancel and rebook rather than drive it.
The Icelandic horse has a gear no other breed has.
The tolt is a four-beat run so level that riders carry a full glass through it. The breed has been closed to imports since the tenth century, which is why a horse that leaves the island can never come back. Most farms run short rides for people who have never sat on one.
By region — the capital, the ring road and the far corners
By kind of day — ice, water, road or dark sky
Route 1 is 828 miles and most people give it a week they do not have.
Reviews we finished this week.
Further back through the reviews →
Volcano Movie – Experience the Latest Eruptions in Iceland
Read our review →
Vatnajökull: Short Glacier Encounter Walk with 4×4 Transfer
Read our review →
Half-Day Vatnajökull National Park Glacier Hike
Read our review →