2022 Meradalir Volcano Site Hike | IS-LAVA02

Our guide Thor was informative and provided an exceptional tour

We hiked the ridge then walk down the valley and walked the lava line

The valley decent was moderate and care needed but worth the effort

I booked this trip through Get your Guide who used Troll Expeditions for the trip. It was very organised, easy to book and clear pick up location.

Our tour guide Michael was very friendly and chatted all the way to the volcano about the areas we was travelling through.

The hike was a challenge with the incline and strong winds, would definitely recommend walking boots and wrapping up warm! Michael continued to give us facts on the hike and plenty of stops for photos.

Great trip!
Tour guide was good. Hike was moderate for someone with Asthma. Views and descriptions were very cool!
Even though the volcano was no longer erupting, there was plenty to see and hear about.

My girlfriend and I booked the full day hike of Fagradalsfjall Volcano with Arctic Adventures. Our guide, Hjalti, was prompt to pick us up. On our drive from Reykjavik to the hike, Hjalti provided an excellent background and history of the lava fields and landscape that surrounded us. His English was excellent and he was incredibly knowledgeable. The hike was gorgeous and incredibly memorable, largely thanks to Hjalti. He was incredibly passionate, personable, and improved our hiking experience immensely. The landscape was stunning and unlike anything we had ever seen before. I would highly recommend booking a guided tour with Arctic Adventures even if you are an experienced hiker. My girlfriend and I both hike regularly and had some reservations about going with a guide, but we found the background information and history our guide provided incredibly interesting.

We had a fantastic tour guide for our Fagradalsfjall volcano hike yesterday, very friendly and helpful. We were each given crampons for our shoes but not enough poles were available (I found I didn't need one anyway). We were amazed by the lava field and views at this volcano. Our guide shared great knowledge of the volcano and its history. He also told us great folk tales of the volcanic caves. The hike itself was tiring, I am healthy and in my thirties and found it to be hard in places (in heavy snow) but thoroughly enjoyable. Listen to your guide, we could not have done this without one as we saw people doing forbidden things and making silly errors. Thankfully we had the knowledge of our guide to help us make the right choices. Would highly recommend this tour company.

We decided to go to see the volcano with a group and although at the beginning I was disappointed as the weather was bad and the guide chose to not take us to the popular viewpoint, in the end, it was ok as she took us to another cool spot which we probably wouldn't have tried to get there.

Our tour focused mostly on the lava fields and trying to reach another viewpoint to be able to see a vast dam they created to contain the lava, but again because of the foggy weather and poor visibility we had to return back earlier.

Our main reason for selecting Arctic Adventures for this tour is because they could also pick us up from Blue Lagoon. We already had a car and we were in the area close to the volcano so it didn't make much sense to us to drive back to Reykjavik to get this tour.

My husband and I took a short trip to Iceland during the Thanksgiving holiday. Initially, our plan was to get a rental car to tour around Reykjavík ourselves, go visit the Fagradalsfjall volcano, the Blue Lagoon and hoping to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights if we were lucky. A couple weeks before the trip, we checked the volcano website and saw no eruptions. At the last minute, we changed our plan and booked a 3 day tour to the South Coast with Arctic Adventures, which turned out to be one of the best last-minute traveling decisions that we have ever made. Everything worked out perfect including the weather. We joined the tour straight from the airport. Plenty of time for the connection. If you don’t mind the jet-lag, this is a good way to do it. 3 days feels short, but we did and saw a plenty. With a good tour guide and driver like Biggi, we had an adventure of life time. Biggi is very knowledgeable of the route and knows exactly where to stop to make it most efficient use of our time at every point. At no point we felt being rushed. I would highly recommend the trip and would definitely want to take another longer trip with Arctic Adventures in a warmer season.

The volcano hike was very informative and well worth getting to the end. I myself have some physical issues caused me problems along a portion of the hike. Vjeran was truly amazing it's no lie when I say I wouldn't have made it in one piece without him. Truly a great tour guide but also a kind and generous man. Thank you from the bottom of my heart when I say the prize was worth struggle. And there would not be safer hands then Vjeran to be in and with everything I learnt he is clearly a man working with great love for what he does.

Good trip. professional guiding by Viernan, very informative on the vulcano and "educational" level on guiding and learned quite a lot.
nice mix of information and entertainment. Hiking not very demanding.

We enjoyed a wonderful trip to the volcano with Vjeran.
He was very knowledgeable and entertaining as well as remembering everyone’s names on the trip. He promised to make the trip a memorable experience and he certainly did that. Despite not being able to see bubbling red lava we did see recent lava flow that was still smouldering.

We were picked up & transported to the volcano. Our group was small; just 8 plus the guide which was nice. The guide didn’t talk much; didn’t offer much information. He also went up & down, very quickly. He checked everyone was coming a long from time to time & safe, but that’s about it. The trail is obvious. There is no need to have a guide, just drive yourself. Just be careful on the lava fields - we saw a lot of people making poor, dangerous choices. There is no lava flowing, but there is still lava underneath & the ground may not be stable. Views were maxing! Took 2 hours 15 minutes from van, up, soak in the view & down & back to the van. Guide offered to stop by a hot pot, which was fine. Round trip it was 5.5 hours (not 8) and we were not able to have lunch in the town during the tour, as was described.
The hike is roughly 2.3 miles up (from the 2nd, overflow parking lot) and I’d rate it as moderate. View is incredible but again, no reason to pay a tour company (at least this one!).

Had a great trip with the guide Vjeran. Super knowledgeable, not only in volcanos and hiking, he's an Alpinist and part of the search and rescue team in Iceland, so you're in very good hands.
The hike was really nice, not too hard, but had quite a climb for those who might struggle, but Vjeran made sure we took it at a good pace.
Though we didn't see lava flowing that day (it's a matter of luck, basically), we did get to explore the area and see the huge lava fields that were (and are being) created since the erruption.
Highly recommended, great experience.

We took the “Volcano Adventure from Reykjavik” day tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and helpful on the drive over, however, the hike itself was entirely self-led. The site was not completely ready for visitors (there was a tractor actively digging pathways as we were walking) and the trail is on private property so there aren’t any park rangers to help if you get stuck.

On our particular day visiting there was no magma visible, but our guide told us that we could either walk down around the lava field or hike up the mountain ridge to get a view of the volcanic crater. The winds that day were very high, and although we were told that it would be quite windy on the ridge, we were not adequately prepared for how dangerous the wind would be. The wind speed on the hike was so high that many people had to crouch in place to avoid being blown over, and the majority of the hikers we spoke with had to give up and turn back, which we also did after feeling that we could not safely complete the hike despite being in good physical shape. Of our own group, only 2 of the 16 people completed the hike.

While we enjoyed being able to see the lava field up close, it was definitely unfortunate to feel like we were not in a safe situation for the hike. We understand that the Icelandic weather is unpredictable and out of anyone's control, however, the description of the tour did not appropriately explain how challenging the hike might be. We appreciate that interest in the volcano is new and developing, and that there is not much infrastructure in place to support tourism there right now, but wanted to provide this honest feedback so that other travelers can enjoy the sight with realistic expectations.

Our family of 6 adults loved the volcano tour! Our guide, Vjeran, made our trip to the volcano memorable! He was engaging, energetic, and personable. He made sure that we had the best experience possible. He was very knowledgeable about the volcanic activity and gave a great history of eruption and it's current state. We took a vigorous hike to the highest vantage point to view the crater and it was amazing! We had time to have a quick picnic overlooking the volcano before a hike down to the base. We came to Iceland in part to see the active volcano and we were not disappointed! We would have liked to see active lava spewing out but it was in a quieter state on the day of our hike. Overall, this excursion was excellent and I would highly recommend it especially with Vjeran as the guide!

We did the active volcano hike to Geldingadalir with Vjeron and the entire experience was amazing. He was one of the nicest and most informative guides I have ever had. Also made you always feel like you were in safe hands. 10 stars for him and the tour! We learned so much and had fun!

We luckily went on a day with perfect visibility and while the vulcano was erupting. This made for an unforgettable experience.
Our guide Vjeran was great: not only very knowledgeable but also a pleasure to talk to.

It was an interesting experience to see lava. Sadly that the weather was bad and we couldn't see what is happening around. Thanks for our super guide Vjeran we had lots of interesting facts, share of experience, fun, jokes, lots of fun and he made our trip really cool 🤘 Thank you, Vjeran!!! You are a great photographer as well 🤍

Very enjoyable day trip, especially if you like geology! Our driver Vjeran was excellent and very helpful and knowledgeable.
Although the volcano was in cloud, my son and I still had a great day.

Incredible vulcano experience with amazing guide. We seen the black lava field, and the vulcano throwing out lava. Once in a lifetime must.

Unfortunately we couldn't see the crater because of the weather but it was still a trip worth taking. We saw the lava field, we did some hiking and on the way back we also made a stop at Krýsuvík. Vjeran was a great guide and gave us a lot of information about the eruption and the area in general. Hvala, druže!

What a once in a lifetime opportunity - to see a volcano erupting and in such a breath taking location. Our guide (who's name I am not 100% sure of, Hvafi?) picked us up at our location within time slot given. The group was small and the bus was clean, comfortable and COVID safe. We stopped to pick up a small group from the Blue Lagoon and on the way our guide told us all about the eruption and the lava fields - very interesting. We had perfect weather so could see the plumes of smoke even from Reykjavik. As we approached we stopped in Grindavik which had bathroom facilities (which you had to pay for - 200 ISK - but also food and drink. We recommend you take advantage of the facilities here because even though the site does have toilets, they were exceptionally dirty from all the visitors not practicing good hygiene or trash disposal.

At the site, our guide gave us plenty of time to walk the trial and gave us advise on how to stay safe and how to get the perfect photo. He then joined us on the walk. Though he set a good pace, being a fit and active Viking!, he made it clear we could take our time and he frequently stopped to check we were all OK. We never felt left behind. As we approached the summit the volcano came into view and we were lucky enough to see it especially active, throwing lava over the mountain side and roaring above the wind! A moment we will never forget.

Whilst the climb up was moderately difficult, a rope had been placed at the most difficult part of the slope and generally the rest was hard work but achievable by most people with relative low fitness levels as long as you take your time. Any weariness is completely forgotten at the summit as the volcano is truly something to witness whilst we have this unique opportunity.

On the way down, a gentleman not of our group had fallen and injured his arm on the mountain side. Our guide had rushed to his aid and called the paramedics to check him over. Whilst the man was not severely injured our guide was the perfect gentleman and I am sure his fast response provided the casualty with the comfort of his experience. The experience highlighted the risk of under taking these trips and we strongly advise that you stick to the path and use the rope provided.

Overall a really great trip and a life changing experience . Thank you to our guide for taking us on this adventure. We recommend this to anyone but would ask that you stick to your limits (and the path) and take your time!

We took the day tour today.. The path is 4km in one way takes around 1h and 15 min to climb.. Vjeran was our guide and he took very good care of us.. He wss very informative and also took very good shots of me and my wife… How many times u are going to see an active volcano in ur life? So go for it 5/5 Thank u from sunny North Macedonia :))

Great trip from Reykjavik to the volcano. Although the volcano was not erupting the day we were there, it was very scenic to see all the lava fields and the smoking vents. It was quite a hike with lots of elevation gain. However, our guide was very knowledgeable and made the car trip and hike very interesting.

We went on the active volcano hike. While the weather stopped us from viewing the crater and any hot magma, we explored the hardened lava field. Our guide, Vjeran, was informative, safety conscious and fun. We started off at a delicious bakery. We spent three hours hiking around the volcano area and visited the nearby geothermal springs and scenic overlooks.

A great trip, even on a cloudy day that prevented us from seeing the hot magma in the crater. We viewed a recent lava flow up close, and then a nice but not unduly hard hike up the ridge gave spectacular view of the flows from above. Vjeran, the guide, was a good leader - he was helpful, made it fun despite the weather, and gave clear and correct explanations of how the volcano works. With the extra time resulting from the cloudy conditions, he took us to visit a beautiful hot spring/mud pot site and a site where we saw a stunning lake.view and nice volcanic ash deposits.

Suggestions - dress for cool and wet weather and bring lunch and hiking poles for the ridge. You won’t be alone - many people are doing the hike - but this is definitely worth doing!

Well organised trip with a guide who provided lots of information, and was very good with two older people who couldn't do the hike. The whole trip was just under 8 hours, including two toilet stops and one stop for coffee. Pickups all went well.

Only risk with this type of tour is that the volcano may be quiet when one visits, and today was one of those days. No molten lava, no fiery crater. But lots of great views, steam and older black and grey lava filling the valleys.

There was no way I was gonna come to Iceland and not see the erupting volcano - it's a once in a lifetime opportunity! Joined a tour with this company and really enjoyed the experience. The guide (I believe his name was Nick) was friendly and funny, and the volcano eruption was an incredible thing to see! I highly recommend this tour to anyone in Iceland right now :)