Spring is the best-value time to explore Iceland Special Offers
Exploring Europe’s largest glacier is nothing short of extraordinary. On this tour, you’ll step onto Vatnajökull’s shimmering ice and venture into a natural blue ice cave, guided by an expert glacier guide. Towering walls of crystal-blue ice, deep crevasses, and sculpted formations create a landscape that feels otherworldly. The hike across the glacier adds to the magic—every step revealing vast, breathtaking views across this frozen giant. It’s an adventure that combines raw beauty and pure wonder, the kind you’ll carry with you forever.
Availability
Oct - April
Duration
~4 hours
Departs From
Skaftafell
Level
Easy
Suitable for most people in fair condition.
Your journey begins at the Arctic Adventures Booking Center in Skaftafell, Vatnajökull National Park. From there, we set off on a scenic 20-minute drive in our 4x4 bus to Falljökull, one of Vatnajökull’s most impressive outlet glaciers. On arrival, you’ll gear up with crampons, helmets, harnesses, and ice axes. Before stepping onto the glacier, your guide will give a safety briefing and demonstrate simple crampon techniques to help you feel confident on the ice.
As we make our way up the glacier, you’ll witness a beautiful, ever-changing landscape shaped by meltwater, glacier movement, and seasonal shifts. Along the way, your guide will point out striking features such as deep crevasses, bright blue ice formations, and explain how the glacier moves and transforms throughout the seasons. We then hike across the glacier to the ice cave, a natural wonder that changes from year to year and sometimes even from week to week. The specific cave we visit depends on the conditions that day, but each one has its own unique beauty. You’ll have time to step inside, explore, and take photos while your guide shares how these caves form and evolve throughout the winter.
The hike covers approximately 3 km (1.9 mi), with an elevation gain of 200–250 m (656–820 ft). Please note that the hike begins with a steep section as we make our way onto the glacier. The glacier hike and ice cave visit take 1.5 to 2 hours in total.
This tour is an excellent choice for anyone looking to combine a stunning glacier walk with a visit to a mesmerizing natural ice cave, all led by an experienced guide. For those seeking a longer and more challenging glacier adventure, our Glacier Explorer tour takes you higher up onto the ice for an extended experience.
This tour is highly dependent on conditions (including temperature, safety, and accessibility). Ice caves are ever-changing natural phenomena accessible only during winter, when temperatures drop below zero. The water from the rivers running beneath the glacier freezes, leaving us with these caves to explore. Each year, new caves are formed in different locations. We will visit one naturally formed ice cave during this tour, and the cave we visit is chosen based on conditions and safety each time. The ice caves must be treated with the utmost respect. We cannot guarantee that the actual view during your visit will match the photographs. The appearance of the ice cave may vary depending on the season, time of day, lighting, and other factors.
Please note that you will need to arrange your own transportation to the tour meeting point in Skaftafell, about a 4.5–5-hour drive east of Reykjavík. During winter, bus service to the area is very limited, so we highly recommend renting a car and staying nearby either the night before or the night after your tour.
Winter road conditions can affect travel times, so please allow extra time for your journey. For the latest road and weather updates, we recommend checking road.is, vedur.is, and safetravel.is.
Please also keep in mind that, due to limited daylight in winter, the last tour departure of the day may take place partly in the dark during the darkest months.
Meeting point: Arctic Adventures Booking Center in Skaftafell, Vatnajökull National Park (wooden house with the Arctic Adventures logo).
Skaftafell is located 327 km (203 mi) from Reykjavík. The nearest towns are Kirkjubæjarklaustur, 69 km (43 mi) to the west, and Höfn, 130 km (81 mi) to the east.
Shoe Size: For safety reasons, crampons are not available for shoe sizes below 35 EU, as they cannot be securely attached to smaller footwear.
Yes, the parking fee depends on your car category.
Category A - Passenger car, 5 seats or less: ISK 750
Category B - Passenger car, 6-9 seats: ISK 1,000
Motorcycles: ISK 300
You can always check the newest fees here.
Skaftafell is located about 330 kilometers from Reykjavík. See map for directions.
What is the difference between the Into the Glacier tour and Crystal Ice cave tour?
The Into the Glacier tour departs from the Glacier Guides booking hut in Skaftafell National Park and is up to 4 hours in duration. After gearing up for our glacier adventure, we jump on a bus for a short drive to Falljökull glacier (approx. 15-20 minutes). This tour is perfect for those looking to try hiking on a glacier, exploring the crevasses and fascinating ice formations as well as experience what it’s like to be inside a glacier ice cave. This tour is rated easy (2 / 5) and no prior glacier experience is needed to participate on the tour. Participants need to be in good walking condition and be able to walk for 1.5 – 2 hours at a low pace with short breaks.
Your guide will take the time to explain to you the scenery that you are seeing and tell you all there is to know about glaciers.
The into the Glacier tour is a combination tour of glacier hiking and ice cave exploring.
The Crystal Ice Cave tour departs from Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and is up to 3 hours in duration. A large off-road jeep will take you to an ice cave located in Breiðármerkurjökull Glacier, an outlet glacier from Vatnajökull. This tour offers you the chance to venture inside one of Vatnajökul’s beautiful crystal ice caves and take photos of its picturesque crystal surroundings. You will then jump back on the super jeep which will return you safely back to Jökulsárlón.
This tour is rated easy and no prior glacier experience is needed to participate on the tour. You will not need to walk as much on this tour as it only includes a short walk to, in and around the glacier for up to approx. 20-30 minutes.
This tour doesn’t include much hiking, it includes exploring the ice cave and offers you the opportunity to take photographs from inside the cave. The ice cave is very beautiful, which makes it very popular with many other operators and tourists, for this reason very reason it is therefore likely that you will be sharing the location with other groups.
If you are looking for a tour that combines a visit to an ice cave with glacier hiking then Into the Glacier is the tour for you.
If you are looking for a tour that will take you directly to an ice cave for some great photo opportunities inside an ice cave then the Crystal Ice Cave tour is the tour for you.
This is a great question. We ask all participants to be ready from the start of the pickup time indicated. This is because you may well be the first pick up of the day. Please be at your assigned location at the start time that you chose when booking the tour.
Here you should wait for your guide.
Have your email and phone number listed with us so we can contact you if we run into any trouble finding you.
View our pick-up locations in Reykjavík.
Before and during activities on the multi-day tours consumption of alcohol is prohibited. If we suspect that a participant is intoxicated, we will prohibit them from joining the activity.
After the activities of the day are finished, you are welcome to have a drink and relax.
Yes, we do. Langjökull Ice Cave is a magical experience, the tour has no minimum age and is a wonderful option for the whole family. Whale Watching with our partner company Elding has been a favourite with families traveling with young children, these guys have a great success rate in seeing whales (upwards of 98% in the summertime).
Another option would be the Landmannalaugar Safari on this tour you get to explore parts of the Icelandic highlands and bathe in natural hot springs. Most of our super jeep tours are also suitable for children over the age of 6 years old. If you would like a nice and relaxing experience we would also recommend the Golden Circle & Secret Lagoon tour.
Your safety is our number one priority! Keeping this in mind, Arctic Adventures reserves the right to adjust the itinerary and/or take different routes depending on conditions. Please read more information in our cancellation policy.
Yes, there is a specially trained and certified guide on each of our tours. The only exception to this is for our self-drive tours.
All of our tours are guided in English.
No, our guides are not able to provide information on these matters, but our team will be happy to assist you. We kindly ask that you reach out to our customer care team regarding any questions or concerns.
When glacier hiking you will be provided with an ice axe, crampons, harness and helmet. This will help you to complete the tour safely. The minimum shoe size to attach crampons is EU 35.
The standard in Iceland is 230V and 50Hz and we use F-type power sockets and plugs, so you might have to bring an adaptor if you are visiting from UK, USA, Canada or other countries using a different voltage, Hz or plugs.
Our tours are split into four different categories that help participants to understand what to expect from the tour. The categories are Easy, Moderate, Challenging and Demanding. Each tour is rated making it easier to find tours that suit you.
For further information about the difficulty ratings and descriptions.
We’ve partnered with the Kolviður Fund in a new carbon offsetting program, which passengers can select to participate in at the time of booking.
The Kolviður Fund is the oldest, most respected carbon offsetting program in Iceland. With your support, one tree will be planted in special Kolviður forests in Iceland to carbon offset your tour with us.
Kolviður forests are strategically planted to absorb the maximum amount of CO2 and the forests are protected for a minimum of 60 years. During their lifetime the trees absorb carbon and store it in their root system, trunk, and branches. Trees also prevent soil erosion and maintain storage of carbon in the soil.
