Skaftafell
Skaftafell ice cave and blue ice tours: the other meeting point
Almost everything written about Icelandic ice caves points at Jökulsárlón. Skaftafell is an hour closer to Reykjavík, it is inside the national park rather than beside a car park, and it is where the most-reviewed tour on this site actually meets. Here is what leaves from there and how it differs.
Quick answer
Skaftafell is a visitor centre in Vatnajökull National Park, about 330 kilometres from Reykjavík and an hour short of Jökulsárlón. Four tours on this site meet there. Two walk on the blue ice on top of the glacier — including the one with 1,501 ratings, the most in this niche — and two go inside. Prices start at $100, and the blue ice walks run far more of the year than the caves do.
Skaftafell, at a glance
- What it is
- A visitor centre in a national parknot a town, and not a lagoon
- From Reykjavík
- About 330 kmroughly four hours in good conditions
- To Jökulsárlón
- About 60 kmanother hour east
- Glaciers here
- Falljökull, Svínafellsjökulloutlet glaciers of Vatnajökull
- Tours from here
- Four on this sitetwo on the ice, two inside it
- Cheapest
- $100four hours on the blue ice, 1,501 reviews
- Cave and hike together
- $152small group, four hours
- Crevasse walk
- $133between the walls, no ceiling needed
- Season
- Blue ice most of the yearcaves about Nov to Mar
- Facilities
- Visitor centre, cafe, toiletsunlike the lagoon car park
Why Skaftafell is different
A national park, not a viewpoint
You walk to the ice here rather than driving to it. And the surface tours are not seasonal.
Jökulsárlón is a lagoon beside the Ring Road with a car park, a cafe and a great many coaches. Skaftafell is an entrance to Vatnajökull National Park with a visitor centre, marked trails, a campsite and a car park that fills up in a different way. That difference shapes the tours.
The glaciers here are Falljökull and Svínafellsjökull, two outlet tongues coming down off the ice cap into a valley. They are close enough to the visitor centre that you walk to the ice rather than drive an hour across an outwash plain to it, which is why the Skaftafell tours are four hours with a lot of ice in them rather than three hours with a lot of driving.
It also explains why the blue ice walks here run most of the year while the caves do not. A guided walk on the surface of a glacier needs crampons, a rope and a guide who knows where the crevasses are. It does not need a frozen ceiling. So the surface tours run in July; the caves do not.
And there is a third thing on offer here that exists almost nowhere else: the crevasse walk. Rather than going under a roof, you walk between the walls of a crack in the glacier, with blue ice on both sides and open sky above. It is the honest answer for shoulder-season dates, because a crevasse does not need a ceiling to be safe.
Every trip, current fare
Every tour on this site, with the Skaftafell departures marked
Four of the sixteen meet at Skaftafell: the blue ice walk, the small-group cave and hike, the crevasse walk and the four-hour combination.
| 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 four
What leaves from Skaftafell, and who each is for
Two on top of the glacier, two inside it.
- The blue ice walk — $100
Four hours on the surface of Vatnajökull with crampons, harness and axe supplied. 1,501 ratings at 4.7, the most on this site, and also the cheapest thing here. It does not go into a cave, and the listing does not pretend otherwise.
- The cave and hike together — $152
Small group only, four hours, and it does both halves: a walk on the glacier and then a cave underneath it. 849 ratings. This is the Skaftafell answer for people who want the photograph and the walk in one booking.
- The crevasse walk — $133
Between the walls of a crack rather than under a ceiling. Blue ice on both sides, sky above, and no dependence on a frozen roof. The one to book when the caves are closed but you still want to be in the ice rather than on it.
- The four-hour combination — $149
A walk across the glacier and into a cave under it, at the lowest price on this site for anything that actually goes inside. A newer listing, so the review count is still small.
An hour further east is the lagoon, where most of the famous crystal caves are. Many people do Skaftafell one day and the lagoon the next.
Jökulsárlón in full→Getting there and staying nearby
The practical part, which is most of the planning
Four hours from Reykjavik, on the Ring Road. Check road.is before you set off in winter.
Skaftafell sits directly on the Ring Road, Route 1, about 330 kilometres east of Reykjavík. In summer that is four hours of driving. In winter it is four hours if the road is clear and considerably more if it is not, and the road does close — road.is publishes the status in real time and is the single most useful website in Iceland between November and March.
The obvious places to sleep are Hof, a few minutes east, and Kirkjubæjarklaustur, about seventy kilometres west, which is the last real cluster of rooms before the sands. Both turn a four-hour drive into a fifteen-minute one on the morning of the tour, and both fill up early in the aurora months.
The visitor centre has a cafe, toilets and a shop, which sounds trivial and is not: the lagoon car park an hour east has far less, and a winter morning spent waiting for a tour group to assemble is very different in the two places.
If you are not driving at all, the tours that include transport on this site go to Langjökull in the west rather than to Skaftafell, with one exception: the three-day south coast trip, which takes in this whole stretch with the driving done for you.
Common questions
Skaftafell ice caves, answered
Is there an ice cave at Skaftafell?
Yes. Two tours on this site go into caves in the glaciers above Skaftafell, and two more walk on the blue ice on top of them. The caves are seasonal, roughly November to March; the surface walks run far more of the year.
How far is Skaftafell from Reykjavík?
About 330 kilometres, roughly four hours in good conditions and longer in winter. It is an hour west of the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon.
Is Skaftafell better than Jökulsárlón for ice caves?
Not better, closer. Skaftafell is an hour nearer Reykjavík, has a proper visitor centre, and offers surface walks that run most of the year. The lagoon has more of the famous crystal caves. Many people do both on consecutive days.
Can you hike Skaftafell on your own?
You can walk the marked trails in the national park on your own, including the path towards Svartifoss and the viewpoints over the glacier tongues. Going onto the ice or into a cave is a guided activity and needs crampons, a rope and someone who knows the crevasse field.
What is the best Skaftafell glacier tour?
The four-hour blue ice walk at $100 carries 1,501 ratings, the most in this niche. If you want a cave as well as the walk, the small-group tour at $152 does both.
Is there anywhere to stay at Skaftafell?
Hof is a few minutes east and Kirkjubæjarklaustur about seventy kilometres west. Both book up early in the winter months.
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.
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.
