Kayaking Tours in Iceland

When fire meets ice, water is formed. Cited as the Land of Fire and Ice, Iceland harbors a rich diversity of water bodies, many of which can be explored aboard a kayak. If you’ve never tried kayaking, kayaking tours in Iceland are a good starting point. For those who already enjoy drifting to the speed of a current, day expeditions into fjords or glacier lagoons will be just as challenging as they are stunning.

Our kayaking tours are diverse and take you across glacier lagoons, glacier-fed wild rivers, quiet moss-covered fjords, and out onto the Atlantic Ocean. They run from short, relaxed day trips open to complete beginners to multi-day expeditions built for experienced paddlers.

More than 11% of Iceland is covered in glaciers, and they are one of the most popular attractions in the country. Each one is humbling in its scale and quiet. If you want to experience Iceland's ice in a less conventional way, a glacier lagoon kayak tour is hard to beat. You paddle out among the icebergs and take in the cold, the stillness, and the sheer size of the glacier and the ice it has calved.

We run glacier lagoon tours on four different lagoons, most of them in the southeast. Jökulsárlón is the largest and best known, filled with big icebergs calved from Breiðamerkurjökull, an outlet of Vatnajökull, Europe's largest ice cap. Nearby Fjallsárlón is smaller and quieter, and you can often reach out and touch loose pieces of drifting ice.

The off-the-beaten-path Heinabergslón lagoon, our Glacier Kayak Adventure, rounds out the paddle with a short walk on the glacier, and farther west on the south coast you can paddle the ash-streaked lagoon at Sólheimajökull. Certified guides give full safety training at the start of every tour and stay close, guiding you attentively across the water.

Iceland's west and northwest coasts are cut by dramatic fjords, and they make some of the finest sea kayaking in the country. On calm, sheltered water, you paddle beneath steep green slopes and snow-topped peaks, with the open Atlantic never far away. There is a fjord tour for every level, from a short family outing to a remote multi-day expedition.

On the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, our sea kayaking tour under Kirkjufell sets out from the fjord at Grundarfjörður, beneath the pyramid-shaped peak that is among the most photographed mountains in Iceland. Up in the Westfjords, the gentle calm-water tour from Ísafjörður, the self-styled sea kayaking capital of Iceland, is an easy first taste of the sport and works well for families.

For something far bigger, our multi-day kayaking expeditions head into Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, a roadless, uninhabited corner of the Westfjords reached by boat. Trips run from three to six days, some centered on a farmhouse base with hiking and wildlife watching, others full kayaking journeys along the coast. Wildlife is a large part of the draw: seals and seabirds throughout, and good chances of arctic foxes, white-tailed eagles, and whales.

Along the south coast of Iceland runs the Hraunsá River, which threads through narrow channels, rich wildlife habitats, and tiny skerries. Our kayaking tour to the Atlantic starts on the peaceful Löngudæl Lake in the backcountry and finishes at Stokkseyri harbor. Along the way you learn about the nature and wildlife of the area, and at the end you get a free pass to the Stokkseyri swimming pool.

Your guide stays a step ahead the whole way, helping wherever you need it so you can enjoy the drift down to the sea. Instructions and a safety briefing come before you get in the kayak. It makes a good first tour precisely because it builds up gradually: you find your rhythm on the flat lake, settle into it along the river, and reach the ocean already feeling confident. This trip runs as our Kayak Power Challenge.

If you want more than a single paddle, a few of our tours build in something extra: a walk on the glacier itself, or the low golden light of the midnight sun.

The Glacier Hike and Jökulsárlón Kayaking day combines an hour and a half among the icebergs of Jökulsárlón with a guided hike on Falljökull, an outlet of Vatnajökull, so you see the ice from the water and from the ground in a single day. 

In summer, the midnight sun kayaking tour under Kirkjufell trades the middle of the day for late evening, when the sun sits low and the fjord turns still and gold. The Glacier Kayak Adventure, at the Heinabergslón lagoon, adds a short glacier walk to the paddle. All keep to small groups, are guided throughout, and need no previous paddling experience.

The simplest way to choose is by what you most want to paddle. For ice and icebergs, pick a glacier lagoon tour on the south coast or in the southeast. For open water and coastline, choose a sea kayaking tour in a fjord. And if you want a real expedition rather than an afternoon out, one of the multi-day Westfjords trips is the place to look.

Most of our tours are relaxed day tours that need no preparation and no gear of your own, since drysuits, life vests, and everything else are provided on location. Alongside them, we run multi-day sea kayaking trips in the Westfjords, from three to six days, sleeping in restored farmhouses and remote campsites. The day tours are rated easy or moderate and suit most people in fair health; the three-day trips stay at a moderate pace, while the four- and six-day expeditions are built for experienced paddlers.

The season runs through the summer, broadly May to September, with the Sólheimajökull lagoon open into October and the Ísafjörður fjord tour running from April. Wildlife is possible on every tour: seals rest on the ice on the glacier lagoons, seals and seabirds are common on the sea and river trips, and the Westfjords trips go deepest into wild country, with arctic foxes around the Hornstrandir farmhouses, puffins and eider ducks on Vigur and Æðey islands, and a real chance of white-tailed eagles, harbor porpoises, and whales offshore.

The tours are spread around the country, along the south coast and southeast for the glacier lagoons and the river-to-sea trip, and on Snæfellsnes and in the Westfjords for the sea kayaking. The glacier lagoon tours sit naturally alongside a visit to the Jökulsárlón and Diamond Beach area.