From Reykjavík
Ice cave tours from Reykjavík: what the coach actually saves you
Searching for an ice cave tour from Reykjavík turns up prices that look absurd next to the three-hour tours at the lagoon. They are not absurd. They are the price of not driving three hundred and eighty kilometres of winter road twice in one day, and once you do the arithmetic they are among the better value on this site.
Quick answer
There is no ice cave near Reykjavík. The natural caves are on the south-east coast, about 380 kilometres away; the cut tunnel at Langjökull is about 120 kilometres inland and reached by a track no hire car should attempt. Tours that leave the capital therefore run ten to eleven hours, cost from $305, and include the coach both ways. Divided by the hours, that is cheaper per hour than several of the three-hour tours.
Leaving from Reykjavík, at a glance
- Nearest ice you can walk into
- Langjökullabout 120 km, and it is a cut tunnel
- Nearest natural cave
- Katla, above Víkabout 180 km, open all year
- The crystal caves
- About 380 kmfour and a half to five hours each way
- Tunnel day from the capital
- $305eleven hours, coach included
- With a snowmobile
- $340ten hours, both activities on one ticket
- Three days on the south coast
- $906beds, meals and the aurora included
- Cost per hour
- Lower than mostonce you divide the coach days by their length
- Winter driving
- road.isthe road status page, updated continuously
- Daylight in December
- About 5 usable hourswhich is why departures cluster at midday
- Cancellation
- Freeon all three
Why there is no ice cave near the capital
Geology, not bad luck
Every tour from the capital is a long transfer with ice in the middle. Pick the transfer.
Reykjavík sits on a peninsula in the south-west, in the part of Iceland with the least ice. The big ice caps are elsewhere: Langjökull inland to the north-east, Mýrdalsjökull above the south coast, and Vatnajökull, by far the largest, in the south-east. Caves form in the outlet glaciers of those caps, and none of those outlets is anywhere near the city.
So every ice cave tour from Reykjavík is, structurally, a long transfer with an hour of ice in the middle. The question is not whether that is worth it — for most visitors it plainly is — but which transfer you buy.
The tunnel day. Eleven hours to Langjökull and back, with the coach, the glacier truck up onto the ice cap, and six hundred metres of tunnel at the end of it. It runs all year, which no natural cave tour from the capital can claim.
The snowmobile day. Ten hours, the same ice cap, an hour of snowmobiling across the top of it and the cave underneath. Two activities most people book separately.
The three-day trip. Not a day tour at all: three days down the south coast with accommodation, meals, a natural ice cave, the glacier lagoon and the aurora. For a week-long winter visit with no car, it solves the whole east-coast problem in one booking.
Every trip, current fare
Every tour, with the Reykjavík departures at the bottom
The cost-per-hour column is the point of this table. The eleven-hour day is not the expensive option it looks like next to a three-hour tour at the lagoon.
| 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 |
If you would rather drive
Six things about doing it yourself in winter
It is entirely possible. It is also the thing people most often underestimate.
- Check road.is before you leave, every morning
The Icelandic road administration publishes closures and conditions in real time. In January the Ring Road east of Vík closes with very little notice, and no booking overrides it.
- Count the daylight, not the kilometres
In December there are about five usable hours of light. A 380-kilometre drive each way plus a three-hour tour does not fit inside them, and the last stretch in the dark in winter weather is not a pleasant way to end a good day.
- Sleep on the south coast
Höfn, Hof and Kirkjubæjarklaustur turn the whole problem into a fifteen-minute morning drive. This single decision is what separates an easy trip from a hard one.
- Take the insurance that covers sand and ash
It is a specific Icelandic add-on and it exists because the south coast wind does specific Icelandic things to paintwork. Ask for it by name.
- Do not attempt the glacier track
The route from the Ring Road to the cave entrances crosses an outwash plain closed to hire cars. The super jeep is not a luxury; it is the only permitted vehicle.
- Leave a spare day in the itinerary
Tours are cancelled for weather and refunded automatically. The refund does not give you back the only day you had.
If you are driving east anyway, the three-hour tours from the lagoon cost less than half the coach day — and the ice is the same.
Jökulsárlón in full→Common questions
Ice cave tours from Reykjavík, answered
Is there an ice cave near Reykjavík?
No. The nearest ice you can walk into is the cut tunnel at Langjökull, about 120 kilometres inland. The nearest natural cave is Katla above Vík, about 180 kilometres. The famous crystal caves are about 380 kilometres away.
How long is an ice cave tour from Reykjavík?
Ten to eleven hours for the Langjökull days. The tours that reach the crystal caves on the south-east coast are either multi-day or start from the south coast rather than the capital.
Why are Reykjavík departures more expensive?
Because the coach is most of the product. Divided by the hours, they are cheaper per hour than several of the three-hour tours at the lagoon.
Can I drive to the ice caves myself?
You can drive to the meeting point. You cannot drive to the cave: the route crosses an outwash plain closed to hire cars, and the super jeep is part of every tour for that reason.
Is it worth doing an ice cave as a day trip from Reykjavík?
For the Langjökull tunnel, yes, and it runs all year. For the natural crystal caves, almost never as a single day — sleep on the south coast, or take the three-day trip that includes the beds.
What is the best ice cave tour from Reykjavík?
The eleven-hour Langjökull day at $305 if you want the ice alone, or the ten-hour snowmobile and cave combination at $340 if you want two things in the day.
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.
