Prices
Iceland ice cave tour price: all 16 compared, from $100
The price gap on this page is not about better ice. It is about where the tour starts, how far it has to drive you, and whether it takes you on top of the glacier or underneath it. Here is every tour by price and by price per hour, what the money actually buys, and the three costs that appear after you have booked.
Quick answer
A tour that takes you inside a natural ice cave starts at $149, and most of the Jökulsárlón departures sit between $149 and $184. Walking on the blue ice on top of the glacier, without going inside, starts at $100 — and that is also the most-reviewed tour on this page. Leaving from Reykjavík with the transport included starts at $305. Every one of the sixteen cancels free.
Iceland ice cave prices, at a glance
- Cheapest overall
- $100four hours on the blue ice at Skaftafell, no cave
- Cheapest tour inside a cave
- $149a glacier walk and a cave under it, four hours
- Typical crystal cave tour
- $159–$184three hours from the Jökulsárlón car park
- Longest time under the ice
- $259five and a half hours, often more than one cave
- Open all year
- $176the tunnel cut into Langjökull at Húsafell
- From Reykjavík
- $305eleven hours, coach both ways included
- Dearest here
- $906three days, with beds and meals
- Reviews behind them
- 7,062across the fourteen tours that carry a rating
- Gear included
- On all sixteencrampons, helmet and harness where the tour needs them
- Cancellation
- Free on all sixteenbooked through GetYourGuide
Why the prices differ
You are not paying for better ice — you are paying for the drive
Distance, vehicle and time. The ice itself is not what changes.
The first thing to understand about this page is that the ice at the expensive end is not better than the ice at the cheap end. In several cases it is literally the same glacier. What the money buys is distance, vehicle and time.
Distance. Almost every natural ice cave tour in Iceland meets at Jökulsárlón or at Skaftafell, both on the south-east coast, four to five hours from Reykjavík. If you are already there, a three-hour tour costs around $159. If you are in the capital without a car, the same kind of day becomes an eleven-hour coach trip and the price roughly doubles. You are buying the coach, not the cave.
Vehicle. The route from the Ring Road to the glacier snout crosses an outwash plain of black sand and braided meltwater channels. Hire cars are not permitted on it and would not survive it. Every cave tour therefore includes a modified super jeep, and that vehicle, its tyres and its driver are a real cost inside a $159 ticket.
Time. A three-hour tour gives you twenty to forty minutes under the ice. The five-and-a-half-hour tour at $259 reverses the ratio and, when conditions allow, visits more than one cave. That is the honest reason the longer tours cost more.
And then there is the top of the page. The three-day trip at $906 is not a cave tour with a markup: it is three days of accommodation, meals, a driver and the whole south coast, with the cave as one morning inside it.
Every trip, current fare
Every tour, cheapest first
Sixteen tours with the column most pages leave out: cost per hour. It is the quickest way to see that the eleven-hour coach day is not expensive at all once you divide it, and that the shortest tour is not the cheapest one.
| 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 |
The cheapest thing on this page is a walk on top of the glacier, not a cave. If you want to be inside the ice, start at $149.
Natural cave or cut tunnel→Before you book
Seven things that change the price, in order
All seven are on the listing, and each one moves the number.
- Whether it goes inside a cave at all
Several tours here are blue ice walks on the surface of the glacier. They are excellent and they are cheaper, and they are not the same product. Check for the word cave in the title, and then check it again in the description.
- Where it meets
Jökulsárlón and Skaftafell are the two meeting points for the natural caves. Húsafell is the meeting point for the cut tunnel and is in a different part of the country entirely. Reykjavík departures include the drive both ways.
- How long it lasts
Two and a half hours to three days. The three-hour standard buys you twenty to forty minutes under the ice; the five-and-a-half-hour tour buys a good deal more.
- Whether transport is included
On three tours here it is: the two that leave Reykjavík and the three-day trip. On the rest you are expected to arrive at the meeting point under your own power.
- Group size
Four tours on this page are capped as small group. In a cave that is not a comfort question — it decides whether you are queuing at the entrance or walking through it.
- The season your dates fall in
The natural caves run about November to March. Outside that, the only thing you can walk into is the cut tunnel. This is the single biggest factor and it is not a price at all.
- The review count behind the rating
One tour here carries 1,501 ratings. Four carry none, because they are new. Neither fact is a verdict, but they are very different kinds of evidence.
The three costs that appear later
What is not in the ticket price
The drive east costs more than the tour. That is the honest shape of this niche.
Getting to the meeting point. This is the big one and almost nobody budgets for it. Jökulsárlón is about 380 kilometres from Reykjavík. A hire car with winter tyres, fuel and a night in Höfn or Hof will cost more than the cave tour itself. The eleven-hour coach tours on this page exist precisely because of that arithmetic, and once you do it they stop looking expensive.
Boots. Crampons are supplied on every tour here. Waterproof boots above the ankle usually are not, and guides do turn people away for arriving in trainers. If you did not bring any, renting a pair in Reykjavík before you drive east is far easier than finding them on the south coast.
The day you lose to weather. Tours get cancelled. The refund is automatic and it does not give you back the night you booked in Höfn or the day you had budgeted for the lagoon. Leaving a spare day in a winter itinerary is not caution, it is arithmetic.
Common questions
Iceland ice cave tour prices, answered
How much does an ice cave tour in Iceland cost?
From $149 for a tour that goes inside a natural cave, and most of the Jökulsárlón departures sit between $149 and $184. Walking on the blue ice without going inside starts at $100.
Why are the tours from Reykjavík so much more expensive?
Because you are buying about ten hours of coach as well as the ice. The lagoon is 380 kilometres from the capital. Divided by the hours, the Reykjavík departures are among the better value on this page.
What is the cheapest ice cave tour in Iceland?
The four-hour glacier walk and ice cave at $149 is the cheapest tour here that actually puts you inside the ice. The cheapest thing on the page overall is the blue ice walk at $100, which stays on the surface.
Is the expensive tour better ice?
No. In several cases it is the same glacier and sometimes the same cave. The price reflects distance, the vehicle and the hours, not the quality of what you are looking at.
Are crampons included in the price?
Yes, on every tour on this page, along with a helmet and a harness where the route needs one. Boots are the exception: most operators expect you to bring waterproof boots above the ankle.
Can I cancel?
Yes. All sixteen tours on this page are free to cancel, which is why booking early and watching the forecast costs you nothing.
Go deeper
More on walking into an Icelandic glacier
The 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.
KatlaThe Katla ice cave
A different glacier, a different kind of cave, and a season that runs all year.
