We booked the trip before travelling as part of my friends 40th birthday weekend away in Iceland - due to the cost this was to be the highlight of the trip.
We stayed in Reykjavik and had hired a car for the weekend, and planned to travel to Gullfoss ourselves to meet for the transport to the tour. it just so happened that this coincided with a serious snow storm, so it took us 2.5 hours to get there and had almost zero visibility for some of the drive. my point is that if you are going when storms are expected, you may be better to opt for transport from Reykjavik with an experienced driver, rather than driving yourself!
When we arrived at Gullfoss Cafe a vehicle awaited us that resembled a cross between a minibus and a monster truck, but due to the conditions on the route up the mountain this sort of transport is exactly what was needed! With the conditions as they were, the journey was a bit treacherous and we had to stop a few times, but got there in the end.
The staff at the snowmobile station were great - very attentive, helpful, and good at putting at ease people who were nervous. the guys that take you out were good at explaining where you were, what you would see and to look out for, as well as the usual safety briefings.
The tour itself was really good - last about an hour with a few stops for photo's & breaks along the way, and they were good at keeping the group together. If we had any complaints, it is that you follow the same route up the mountain then back again, rather than going around on a 'tour' and the area itself is actually quite barren with not a lot to see. Having said that, visibility was very poor on the day we went so on a better day you might see a lot more.
The snowmobiles themselves were very good - modern and easy to use.
A few points for anyone booking:
- If you book to share a snowmobile, you have the opportunity to swap half way so the other person can have a turn
- If you take your own gloves, dont take thick ones. they provide leather mittens to put over your gloves, but if your own gloves are too thick then its not so easy to control the snowmobile.
- Dont wear long coats (knee length) - my wife had a long coat on and you cant wear it under the snow suits they provide.
- I've seen reviews that the drivers are miserable, in my experience they were really good, and there are sections of road that are really difficult, so if they're not talking there is probably a good reason!
- The tour may seem expensive, but when you see the equipment used to put the tours on and the 'monster truck' buses used, you quickly realise that its not that bad.
Our day was spoilt somewhat by the weather, but there was nothing the team could do about that and provided the best experience possible.