Skaftafell Blue Ice Cave & Glacier Hike Tour | IS-GG-ITG

I cannot say enough good about this experience. Karl, our driver and 2-day guide, was knowledgeable and fun. And despite some precarious winter driving conditions, I felt very safe.

The glacier and ice cave walk was absolutely amazing. I will go back and do this again--but in the summer. We used a local guide, Fannar of SouthEast ehf, for this part of the tour. He was funny, engaging, and knowledgeable. My sister has had two knee replacements and this was a stretch for her but Fannar was helpful and patient and never made her feel like she was holding up the participants or experience. At the end of the trip, my sister commented that this was her favorite part of the whole Iceland experience. We HIGHLY recommend Arctic Adventures and SouthEast ehf.

This was our first time in Iceland and our first tour with Arctic Adventures. It was an awesome experience! The booking on the website was a breeze, and we received a confirmation email with clear instructions very quickly. We drove to the meeting point (which has very clean bathrooms available...super important!), and was greeted by their friendly staff. We rented hiking boots and we highly recommended it, as their boots were waterproof and were very worked in...so it was comfortable!) We were then given the gears (a pair of crampons, an ice-pick, a helmet and a harness). There was a short bus ride (about 20 mins) which gave us a new respect for tour buses - never knew tour buses could go off-roading! The hike up the glacier was not too demanding, and with the crampons, we felt very safe at all times. The view and the beauty of the glacier was simply breathtaking! Words and photos don't do it justice! We then visited the ice-cave which was also an amazing once-in-a-lifeitme kind of experience!

Our guide Barbara was amazing! She was very professional, helpful, friendly and also double-up as a great photographer! We learned from her that the guides at Iceland actually had to search for new ice caves every year, and also had to clear them of any stones/rocks/dirt to have them ready for the tours! Not only that, they also were the ones who carved out the "stairs" on the ice so that we could hike more easily. We are very grateful for your hardwork!! Thank you for showing us the beauty of Iceland's glaciers!

This was the second activity/tour we did with Arctic adventures which again failed to disappoint. Although our initial crystal cave tour was cancelled the day before due to bad weather conditions, this was communicated via email and an opportunity was given to book for something else. The response was super quick and we managed to get on a similar tour but instead of just doing an ice cave, combined it with a glacier hike for the same price. In retrospect, this was actually a better activity than just going to the crystal ice cave. A tour that is suitable for beginners, our guide was super friendly and informative and knew his way around the glacier. The views were breathtaking, the satisfaction when we reached at the top great! Definitely if you are around the area book this in the morning as it lasts for quite some time (4hrs) and when you finish combine it with a drive at Diamond beach for the sunset. At least this is what we did and it was magical. We will never forget this! Just beware of the crows when you enter the cave. Don’t let food inside your bags if you keep this outside because just like me, you risk getting your backpack open by these super clever birds and even losing your things in the sky.

Great experience! Super friendly and knowledgeable guide (Yanna? Not sure on spelling sorry!). She was new but already a pro. Cave was really cool and glacier itself was beautiful. Even the bus ride was exhilarating for the last part.

We did ice caving and glacier hike. The guide was amazing, she was super friendly and knowledgeable. Definitely worth the money, beautiful views. Safety was covered well. Instructions for arriving and being prepared for the tour were well communicated.

After a short bus ride we were split into groups of 6 and 8 people plus one guide. Our guide Alex was great. We walked a few minutes up gravel, put on our crampons there, and from there spent a good amount of time on the ice. We learned how to properly walk with them, up hills, down hills, had an ice axe to use as a 'third leg' when needed (was not needed really), saw how to make steps in the ice (seeing Alex swing his, what I would call Thor's hammer but in the form of a pickaxe, was quite cool), and visited a cave that naturally formed in the ice. We also learned a thing or two about the glacier and there were many opportunities to take pictures. Everything was at a relaxed pace and basically everyone can do this (well, maybe not my grandma...), you do not need to be a sporty person for this experience. We really enjoyed it.

We got super lucky with the weather, rain came pouring down right after we got back onto the bus. Do heed the suggestion to bring waterproof clothing. A backpack with some water and perhaps some candy is also a good idea, if you're bringing that rain layer anyway. The glacier and cave are not colder than the rest of Iceland in our experience (I was wondering if I should layer even more for a glacial hike). Just wear what you would normally wear for a hike in cool and windy weather and have a backpack to make some adjustments like adding/removing gloves or headwear.

Also note that you really need boots with ankle support, not just sturdy hiking shoes. You can always rent them (for a fair price) if you need to, but better not to need it :).

Dude, this tour was awesome. The tour guide was super knowledgeable on everything you need to know (the terrain, the glacier, Iceland history, etc.) I would highly recommend this tour, it was unforgettable and i would do it every year if i could!

We enjoyed a beautiful morning on the glacier. Jan (or is it Yan?) is a great guide and taught us much about glaziers and Iceland. Thank you for the great experience!

We had a great day hiking the glacier and ice caves! First, we got some tools to be able to hike (helmet, ice pick and crampons) and it felt very professionally organized. Our Guide Bori was very nice and told us a lot about the glacier and the ice caves. Also it was nice to be in a small group, so the guide was able to consider everyone. I definitely recommend this tour!

Arctic Adventures provided us with all the materials for the hike, making things very easy. We did our hike with Jay and we had a lot of fun. He knows a lot about the glacier and the surroundings and he explained to us what we were doing and seeing during our hike. He also made sure we were all fine all the time. The views were breathtaking views and we will never forget it. One hundred per cent recommended.

We had Mag (or Mac?) from England as our tour guide. She did a fantastic job during the tour - Very informative and we appreciated how she showed a great passion towards the nature. She is very knowledgeable about the ice caves and glacier and she is a very good story teller too. It snowed quite a bit the morning of the tour so we started later than expected but it was all worthwhile. The professionalism of the tour guide and the later-on cleared-up weather and the stunning sunset were all much much appreciated. I'm glad we went with Arctic Adventure and I highly recommend this tour to anybody who might be interested in this sort of stuffs. Meanwhile, let's do what we can to protect our nature so these beautiful glaciers stay up longer...

We had a great day, we enjoyed the glacier walk with ice cave tour very much. Our guide Jay had good control over the group and gave informative explanation in a funny way about the glacier. We had the luck that the wheather cleared op nice, blue skies and sun lighted the fresh snow on the area. So we had some great views over the lagoon and the land upon the ocean. I would totally recommend to do this tour.

During the glacier tour we got Juste as our guide with a small group of 6 in total. The company made sure we had all the necesarry safety equipment and Juste explained everything we needed to know. She not only showed us all the beautiful spots, but she explained how they were made by nature, I found that really interesting. She said it doesn't matter what type of weather it is, every type of weather brings out a different beauty of the glacier. It is so worth the drive, the money, and the excersice, Vatnajökull is amazing!!

We enjoyed our guided tour onto the glacier from Skaftafell immensely. Much of its success was down to our guide Marcin who was friendly, competent and supportive. Well worth the money and we'd recommend the experience to all. One of the best things we did during our holiday in Iceland. Thank you!

I expected a lot out of my trip to Iceland and I was overwhelmed with how much the country exceeded my expectations. This glacier tour was absolutely my favorite part- unforgettable memories. You have to go on the hike and see it for yourself, the pictures are incredible but honestly they do not do the glacier any justice. It’s spectacular in person. My tour guide Yusti (very unsure on spelling) was from Lithuania and spoke great English, was very patient with the group, and had an extremely positive attitude. I cannot wait to come back! Cheers.

Very happy we chose the Into the Glacier tour. It was the perfect mix of mild/medium hiking and ice caves. Our guide, Jay, was friendly and knowledgeable. He was also was serious about our safety and our surroundings. The landscape of the glacier was incredible and the ice caves were amazing. Glad to have had this experience.

This was an amazing experience and probably the highlight of my whole winter Iceland adventure!!

Our 12:30 tour group consisted of 7 people. The tour starts at the designated time, no earlier. 30 mins are spent in prep: going over the safety paperwork and then prepping all of guests with their proper equipment (helmets, crampons, picket). Then at 1pm, the bus drives for 20 min into the glacier area. BUCKLE UP—Seriously, the ride is bumpy to the point where your butt will no longer make contact to the seat. We had of fun sitting in the back but for older people or ppl with injuries, be aware! The views driving over is great but they’re even better up on the glacier. At 1:20, our glacier guide, Adam, picks us up and demonstrated how to strap on the crampons. At 1:40, we began our trek up the glaciers.

Each guide will take you on a different route. Adam was awesome!! He took us on a route that he literally found a few hours before. Unlike commonly trekked routes, there weren’t any prepared grounds for easy maneuvering, Adam used his picket to hack away at the ice for us. This was cool to witness! While most of the goers were young and agile, my poor mom (56 years young) who was dragged along, struggled a bit to keep up. Adam kindly made the group stop, would aid her along slippery downhill or high uphill areas. He took us to see two ice caves. The first was a tight tunnel and then a wide entry way. Another was larger but not as those pictured. The caves were indeed blue and quite the sight to witness! I was not disappointed at all. We hiked the glaciers for a full 2 hours and made multiple photo stops along the way. At 3:30 we headed to the bus and rode back for a close to 4pm end time.

The full duration was 3.5 hours for $116. There were a few competitors near this location and we saw maybe 3 other groups on the same mountain but all at different locations (never crossed paths since we were all so far away) This was totally worth the time and money. I’m so glad we drove all the way from Reykjavik for this. Maybe seeing my mom’s reaction along the way made it worth it.

We had a great hike through the glacier! Linda was a wonderful guide who was great at her job, and also very funny! We had a really good time and would definitely recommend it :)

Thank you so much for this amazing moment.
Because of you we Would like to stay there all our life now. Linda the guide was amazing, professional, full of kindess and funny.
The equipment was perfect and secure.
If you are coming with family you can do it easily, trust me even kids can do it.
The staff at the office was really professional and nice.
Thanks for gave us an amazing time there and with you.

We were originally booked for a different ice cave and it was cancelled due to flooding. I’m really glad it did! This was such an amazing experience with so many ticks off our bucket lists! Our guide Linda was an absolute treat with great knowledge and such friendly company. Going inside the cave was super neat. Drinking fresh glacier water, nothing better. I would recommend this over and over again! Thanks so much Linda!!!

Went on the into the glacier tour and it was ome of the best experiences ive had! Tour guide Thijs was very friendly and funny and made the tour even more enjoyable! Amazing views from the glacier as well! Would love to come back!

Me and my girlfriend booked the "into the glacier" tour. This was the biggest dissapointment of our Iceland trip. Based on the website description and pictures, we expected the following: a small group experience, a 1.5 hours hike on the glacier to reach a spectacular and impressive ice cave, exploring of the ice cave and a hike back. What we got was the following: yes, the ratio of participants to guides is 12:1 as promised, but there were at least 5 groups simultaneously taking the tour, resulting in about 50 people wandering around in the same small area, completely ruining the feel of a unique experience. The "ice caves" were 2 holes (or even just cracks) at the base of the glacier, almost no hiking was needed to reach them. They were very small and not spectacular at all. Do not get fooled by the impressive pictures. The hike that was promised was not to reach the ice caves, but just to reach what the guide called a "secret place". This "secret place" was just a spot somewhat higher on the glacier, and took us about 10 minutes to reach. The fact that there was a clear track leading to this place (even with stairs carved out in the ice) proved that the place was not so secret at all and used multiple times a day as a tourist attraction. The guide was friendly, but came across as a bit bored (which is understandable considering the amount of people they entertain with the same tour every day).
This trip was NOT worth the expensive price tag. Please DO NOT walk into this tourist trap.
Disclaimer: I am an experienced alpinist and trained in glacier, high-altitude climbing and caving techniques. The reason we booked this tour was to give my girlfriend her first glacier experience in a safe and supervised environment. We specifically opted for a tour that was specified to be a small group experience and for which it was specified that participants needed to be able to complete a 3 hours hike. We did not get what we expected and my girlfriend was equally dissapointed as I was. Other (japanese) members of our group that had no prior glacier experience were also dissapointed and even showed the guide a picture of an ice cave advertised on the Arctic Adventures website, asking if we would see that cave. The guide answered that she did not know where that picture was taken.

We did the "Into the Glacier" Ice cave and glacier walking tour organized by Arctic Adventures-Glacier Guides and unfortunately, it did not at all meet the expectations we had based on the website. We were hesitant to book it at first, because it is quite a significant amount of money and we were worried that the ice cave will not be formed this early in season. Therefore we called the company the day before and they ensured us that the cave is already accessible, so we went ahead and made a booking. We were looking forward to see the beautiful blue cave that is displayed on their website, or another cave, but at least similar. We carefully read the instructions and packed our tripod accordingly, in order to take wonderful pictures as shown on your site, since it is dark in the cave. You can imagine our disappointment, when we saw the actual 'cave'. It was too small to even set up a tripod in it - so we carried it around the whole time for no reason (with the risk of breaking our expensive photography gear in case of slipping on ice). Our tripod was totally useless. We were rushed through this small space, spending literally 5 minutes inside the tiny cave, waiting each others turns at the end of the cave, because the cave was actually so small, that people had to enter the end of the cave one by one. Also, we couldn't stay too long, because other group was already waiting for us to leave the cave. I feel we were mislead by the pictures showed on website and information that we will have enough time to explore the cave. It is like you rent a Mercedes, and when you show up, you are given a Fiat. We do understand that the formation of ice cave takes time and you don't guarantee the exact same ice cave as on the pictures, but it should be at least somehow close to it. You mention on the website, that the cave "might" look different then what is pictured, but what we saw today was very narrow, dirty cave, incomparable to what is presented. Wrote an email to the company afterwards and they said they haven't updated the cave pictures yet, since the ice cave season just started. I doubt they will post the pictures of the tiny cave they showed us, since nobody would by such tour. And it is not OK to show pictures of nice big blue glacier cave on the website, while the real cave is nothing like it. That is false advertisement. Also I highly doubt that better cave will form in the next few months, since it is just getting colder, so no major melting will happen. We were provided refund of 15%, which is quite laughable, since I do not think the tour was worth half the amount we paid.
We are really disappointed. We didn't experience what was promised and we didn't get the value for our money. If we knew in advance how the ice cave looks, we would never book the tour. We ended up wasting our money and the valuable limited time we have here in Iceland.
Also, the tour was really prolonged. We went through the same area of glacier multiple times. First we hiked higher up, but not so high to be even close to the nice formations, then we hiked back down to the "cave" where we spent 5 min inside, then we hiked back up the glacier for some minutes and then back down to a really crammed and dirty ice tunnel, which afterwards the guide looked at the watch and said we still had more than 20 minutes, so we will go up and down the same hill that we walked before. It seemed that we were just trying to kill the time going over the same place over and over again, so that the tour lasts at least 4 hours, even though there is not enough to see. We actually liked our guide, but the overall tour was a big disappointment.

We were pretty thrilled with the knowledge of our guide Vjeran and how well he interacted with the group. We ended up getting a nice sunny day capped with a rainbow at the end from the mist off of the glacier. Couldn't have asked for a better experience.

We did the ice cave tour today, the guides were nice, helpful and entertaining no complains there. But the caves we saw were not impressive. I was expecting to see ice caves like they advertised in their pictures, but the ones we were saw were tiny , narrow and you couldn't even stand up straight through out most of the tour (I'm 5'1). If you are 5'9 or taller, it would've been very tough to navigate through the caves we went to. There weren't much blue to these caves either. The guides did mention, every year the caves change and etc. But had I had known that these were the caves they were showing us, I probably wouldn't have done the tour given the price that you pay. What was nice about the tour was hiking on the glacier and seeing some great views on the glaciers on the mountain. We did get some time to take pictures. So overall is was just okay to me, I guess I had higher expectations.

We scheduled this trip and had some challenges due to our inexperience with the island, locations and navigation. Arctic adventures was INCREDIBLY supportive of us to ensure we were able to take part and enjoy this event. Even though it's not 'high' season for ice cave tours, they did a great job finding a great ice cave, giving tons of information and helping us safely navigate. Just the right length of tour. Great photo opportunities also. I can't say enough about how kind Andrea from the office was in helping us and how much fun and supportive our tour guides were.

We went on the Tour with our Tour Guide Kish! That was just great! We had a great time and would do it again.

Great adventure. We did the Glacier Ice Cave Tour and Glacier walk. Booked in advance and team was ready for us when we arrived. We drove from Vik as we had rented a car and stayed a couple days in that city.

Really pay attention to the weather. Bad storm on morning we were to drive to Glacier. Call the hotline for road conditions as they often shut them down if storm is too bad. We called and they said we were safe. Being from Michigan I wasn't concerned, but I will tell you that storm was very bad for about 30 miles of our drive, then weather in Iceland cleared up completely and was a perfect day. Took us about 3 -3.5 hrs from Vik in bad weather to get there.

Tour guide very professional and taught us a lot. Ice cave was awesome as was walking and sliding down the glacier. Before you head out make sure you visit Diamond beach across the street.

If you're visiting the area around Skaftafell, you absolutely have to go on a tour like this. It's worth every penny and is an unique experience!

Tony was our tour guide on a Thursday morning to visit Vatnajokull. Tony was friendly, focused on our safety, conversational, and extremely knowledgeable about Iceland, the life cycles of glaciers, local wildlife, history, and language. I felt like I was getting a guided tour from a mountain-climbing historian and glaciologist. The caves and glacier themselves were gorgeous, and Tony's explanations of the ice structures were very engaging for me. I would absolutely recommend him and Arctic Adventures generally to anyone visiting Iceland.

We showed up for our ice caving tour and glacier walk only to pull into the parking lot and find an email sent an hour before saying that the trip had been cancelled due to high winds. While I totally understand this sometimes needs to be done for safety reasons, my husband and I were very disappointed as this was one of the main things we were looking forward to on our trip. We started chatting with the guides and they said we could still do the glacier walk part of the tour and be refunded the difference since we would miss the ice caves. After talking to one guide and getting some advice and directions from him, we decided to just hike up to the glacier ourselves (which was great because we found a couple ice caves.. which several tours were going into so unsure why ours was cancelled?) and have our almost £300 refunded. Sounded like a win win - until it wasn't.

So while any normal company would just automatically refund you if they cancel their service, I had to email them to request the refund. They then sent a link that I had to go to and fill out requesting the refund. The link stated that they would let you know within a few business days that they had received the request and were processing it. A week later - nothing. I emailed again and they said that they had processed the refund and it would show up on my account within 10 business days. So I waited 10 business days. Nothing. I emailed again. They told me to wait 1 - 2 more days. Still nothing!! I emailed back and they basically said sorry deal with your card company, it's not our problem. Absolutely SHOCKING customer service and I'm not even convinced that they actually refunded us - especially after reading other reviews on here. I've made the claim against the charge through my card company but I will never use this company again and will be sure to spread the word to those going to Iceland to avoid.

Our original tour leaving from the glacial lagoon was cancelled due to flooding. I called the customer support number and they rebooked us on a tour leaving from Skaftafel. Mike was our guide. He was incredibly informative, super personable and very funny, he was also helpful with taking photos for some of the other people. The hike was fairly easy once we were used to the crampons. I knew what to expect from photos, but even the professional ones can’t truly capture the beauty of the cave or the glacier. The entire glacier was spectacular and all the tidbits of additional information made it a perfect excursion! Thank you Arctic Adventures for rebooking us last minute and being the highlight of our trip!

We arrived at the meeting point on time, and was greeting with enthusiastic staff members. They measure our feet for the crampons and checked that our footwear had adequate ankle protection. We then embarked upon the bumpy ride towards the foot of the glacier where we were assigned Oliver as our guide of the morning. Oliver was charming and friendly throughout the whole walk, he kept the group engaged with his energy and passion! We even had a guest appearance from his raven friends. Before approaching the ice cave, arctic adventure staff communicated well to inform each crew of the cave condition. We felt very safe in their hands. The ice cave was out of this world, it was such an amazing experience! Walking on the glacier was quite an experience too, we were taught how to put on the crampons and how to walk appropriately on the glacier. Oliver made sure each and everyone of us was safe, and encouraged us to go at our pace and he's always there to give us a hand if it was needed. All in all, had an amazing time, with a brilliant guide.