With a snowmobile
Ice cave and snowmobile tours: an hour on top, and the cave underneath
One ticket, one ice cap, two completely different ways of being on it. An hour riding across the white top of Langjökull with nothing on the horizon, and then thirty metres down into the tunnel cut through the same ice. Here is what the combination actually involves and who it suits.
Quick answer
The combined tour runs ten hours from Reykjavík at $340, and includes the coach, a snowmobile hour on Langjökull and the ice tunnel underneath it. Because the tunnel is cut rather than natural, this runs all year — unlike the natural caves in the south-east, which close in spring. You need a driving licence to steer a machine yourself; passengers do not.
The combination, at a glance
- Where
- LangjökullIceland's second largest ice cap, in the west
- From Reykjavík
- About 120 kmplus the drive up onto the ice itself
- Total
- 10 hoursdoor to door, coach included
- Price
- $340both activities on one ticket
- Season
- All yearbecause the tunnel is cut, not natural
- Snowmobile time
- About an houron the surface of the ice cap
- Licence needed
- To drive, yespassengers ride behind without one
- Supplied
- Overalls, helmet, gloves, bootsfor the snowmobile section
- The tunnel
- About 600 mthirty metres below the surface
- Reviews
- 154 at 4.6on the combined tour
What an hour on an ice cap is like
Nothing on the horizon, in any direction
You buy an hour in a place with no reference points. The machine is incidental.
Langjökull is a dome of ice about 950 square kilometres across. Driving up onto it from Húsafell, the landscape empties out in stages: birch scrub, then lava, then moraine, then snow, and then nothing at all. On the top there is no feature to look at. It is white in every direction to a horizon that is also white, and on an overcast day the line between ground and sky disappears entirely.
That emptiness is the point. The snowmobile is not really transport — you go out, you loop, you come back to roughly where you started. What you are buying is an hour in a place with no reference points, which is a sensation most people have never had.
The practical shape: overalls, boots, gloves, a balaclava and a helmet are supplied and you put them on over your own clothes. Two people per machine is standard; one drives and one rides, and you can swap. The driver needs a valid licence and the passenger does not, which matters if you are travelling with someone who does not drive.
It is cold in a way the temperature does not describe, because you are making your own wind. This is the one activity on this site where the supplied kit genuinely covers you, and you should still wear a proper base layer underneath it.
And then the tunnel
Thirty metres down into the same ice you just rode across
You ride across the top, then walk down inside. That contrast is the product.
The second half is Into the Glacier: a tunnel bored into Langjökull, about six hundred metres long and thirty metres below the surface. The transition is the interesting part — you have just spent an hour on top of this ice cap, and now you walk down into it.
Inside there are lit chambers, a small chapel, and a section where the cut wall shows the annual layers of snowfall stacked up like pages, with the dark volcanic ash years standing out among them. It is the clearest illustration of how a glacier is actually built that you will see anywhere in Iceland, and it is something no natural cave displays so legibly.
The floor is level and maintained, there are handrails in places, and no crampons are needed. That is what makes this combination work for a wider range of people than a natural cave tour, and it is also why it is open in July.
Every trip, current fare
Every tour, with the two Langjökull days
Two tours on this site go to Langjökull: the tunnel on its own, and the tunnel with the snowmobile hour. Both run all year.
| Tour | Length | Price | Inside the ice? | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skaftafell: Blue Ice Glacier Hike on VatnajökullThe blue ice of Vatnajökull on foot, most reviewed here | 4 h | $100 | No — on top | $25.00 | 4.7 · 1,501 |
| Skaftafell: Blue Ice Maze Glacier Hike on VatnajökullBetween crevasse walls rather than under a roof | 4 h | $133 | Crevasse, no roof | $33.25 | 4.4 · 275 |
| Iceland: Vatnajokull Glacier Hike and Ice Cave TourA walk on the glacier and a cave, cheapest inside | 4 h | $149 | Yes, natural | $37.25 | 4.6 · 21 |
| Jökulsárlón: Vatnajökull Glacier Ice Cave Tour by Super JeepStraight to the cave with the shortest walk | 3 h | $151 | Yes, natural | $50.33 | 3.4 · 6 |
| Skaftafell: Blue Ice Cave & Glacier Hike on VatnajökullA glacier walk and a cave under it, small group | 4 h | $152 | Yes, natural | $38.00 | 4.6 · 849 |
| Jökulsárlón: The Original Ice Cave Tour on VatnajökullThe longest-running cave tour from the lagoon | 3 h | $159 | Yes, natural | $53.00 | 4.6 · 1,131 |
| Jökulsárlón Ice Cave Tour - Inside Vatnajökull glacierThe shortest cave tour on this page | 2.5 h | $163 | Yes, natural | $65.20 | 4.7 · 65 |
| From Jökulsárlón: Crystal Blue Ice Cave Super Jeep TourThe crystal cave, reached by super jeep | 3 h | $164 | Yes, natural | $54.67 | 4.5 · 605 |
| Jökulsárlón: Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier Ice Cave TourThe glacier that calves into the lagoon | 3.5 h | $171 | Yes, natural | $48.86 | New |
| From Húsafell: Into the Glacier Ice Cave AdventureSix hundred metres cut into Langjökull, open all year | 4 h | $176 | Yes, cut | $44.00 | 4.7 · 857 |
| From Jokulsarlon: Crystal Blue Ice Cave Discovery TourA crystal cave tour with a low group cap | 3 h | $178 | Yes, natural | $59.33 | 5.0 · 1 |
| From Jökulsárlón: Vatnajökull Glacier Blue Ice Cave TourA small-group run to whichever cave is holding | 3 h | $184 | Yes, natural | $61.33 | 4.6 · 962 |
| From Jökulsárlón: Ice Cave and Glacier Exploration TourFive and a half hours, and more than one cave | 5.5 h | $259 | Yes, often two | $47.09 | 4.7 · 225 |
| From Reykjavik: Into the Glacier Ice Cave TourThe Langjökull tunnel with the coach from Reykjavík | 11 h | $305 | Yes, cut | $27.73 | 4.6 · 202 |
| Reykjavík: Langjökull Glacier Snowmobile Tour with Ice CaveA snowmobile across the ice cap, then the cave | 10 h | $340 | Yes, cut | $34.00 | 4.6 · 154 |
| From Reykjavik: 3-Day South Coast Winter Tour with Ice CaveThree days, with beds, meals and the aurora | 3 days | $906 | Yes, natural | $37.75 | 4.8 · 208 |
Before you book
Six things worth knowing
None of these is in the listing, and all six matter on the day.
- The driver needs a valid licence
Bring it. Passengers do not need one, and swapping halfway is normal, but the person at the controls has to be able to produce a licence.
- Two per machine is standard
A single rider on their own machine is usually a paid upgrade. If you are a solo traveller you will typically be paired with someone.
- Everything for the snowmobile is supplied
Overalls, boots, gloves, balaclava and helmet, worn over your own clothes. This is the one activity here where you do not need your own kit.
- You are making your own wind
Thermally this is colder than the temperature suggests. A proper base layer under the supplied overalls makes the difference between an hour you enjoy and one you endure.
- It runs all year
Because the tunnel is cut rather than natural. In July, when the south-east caves are all closed, this combination is still operating.
- Ten hours is a full day
Roughly two hours of coach each way, the drive up onto the ice, an hour of snowmobiling and the tunnel. Do not plan anything else for that evening.
If what you want is the deep blue of a natural cave rather than a cut tunnel, that is a different part of the country and a different season.
The crystal cave in full→Common questions
Ice cave and snowmobile tours, answered
Can you do an ice cave and a snowmobile on the same day?
Yes. The ten-hour tour from Reykjavík at $340 includes an hour of snowmobiling on Langjökull and the ice tunnel cut into the same ice cap, with the coach both ways.
Do you need a driving licence for the snowmobile?
To drive, yes. Passengers ride behind without one, and couples usually swap halfway. Bring the licence if there is any chance you will want to steer.
Does the snowmobile tour run in summer?
Yes. Langjökull holds snow all year and the tunnel is cut rather than natural, so this combination operates when the south-east caves are closed.
What should I wear for snowmobiling on a glacier?
Overalls, boots, gloves, balaclava and helmet are supplied. Wear a proper thermal base layer underneath: you are making your own wind for an hour and it is colder than the thermometer suggests.
Is the snowmobile part difficult?
No. The machines are automatic, the terrain is flat, and the guides ride in a line at a controlled pace. If you can ride a bicycle you can do this.
Is it worth the extra over the tunnel alone?
If you have never been on an ice cap, yes. The hour on top is a completely different sensation from the tunnel underneath, and doing them in the same day is what makes the combination memorable.
Go deeper
More on walking into an Icelandic glacier
What an Iceland ice cave tour costs
Sixteen tours priced per person and per hour, from $100 to $906.
Blue iceThe blue ice cave in Iceland
Why the ice is blue, where the caves are, and what a tour actually shows you.
VerdictThe best Iceland ice cave tour
Sixteen tours ranked for one decision, with a straight answer at the end.
Crystal caveThe crystal ice cave
The cave behind most of the photographs, and why it is never the same one twice.
SkaftafellIce caves and blue ice at Skaftafell
The other meeting point, an hour closer to Reykjavik than the lagoon.
VatnajokullIce cave tours on Vatnajokull
Europe's largest ice cap, its outlet glaciers, and which caves sit in which.
