Black & Blue tour: combo or book separately?
The Black & Blue combo pairs Silfra snorkelling with the Raufarhólshellir lava tunnel. It saves €21 to €59 on booking the two apart, if you want both on one day.
The short version
- Black & Blue is Arctic Adventures' combo of the Raufarhólshellir lava tunnel and Silfra snorkelling, on one day.
- Self-drive, it is €164 against €185 for the two tours booked apart. With Reykjavík pickup, €244 against €303.
- The pickup version is ten hours, because it goes back to Reykjavík between the cave and Silfra.
- Minimum age is 12 for the combo, set by Silfra. The lava tunnel alone takes children from three.
- Silfra needs you to swim, speak English and fit a dry suit: 45 to 120 kg, 150 to 200 cm.
Book the combo if you already want both, and book it self-drive if you have a car. It is the same two tours you would book anyway, with the same company, for less money. What it does not do is make the day shorter or the two places closer together. The cave is south-east of Reykjavík and Silfra is north-east, so a lot of the day is driving.
What Black & Blue actually is
Two separate Arctic Adventures tours sold as one booking. The “black” is Raufarhólshellir, one of the longest lava tubes in Iceland, about 30 to 40 minutes from Reykjavík on the road towards Þorlákshöfn. You get a helmet and head torch and walk through the tube on a lit path with a guide for about an hour. The lava is around 5,000 years old and the colours on the walls are better than the photos suggest.
The “blue” is Silfra, the fissure in Þingvellir National Park where you float between the North American and Eurasian plates in a dry suit. The water is glacial melt, filtered through lava, a couple of degrees above freezing all year. You are in it for roughly half an hour. Your face and hands will be very cold. The visibility is why people do it.
The money
Here is the arithmetic, at today’s adult prices.
With a car. The self-drive Black & Blue - Lava Tunnel + Silfra Snorkeling is from €164, starting at the lava tunnel at 09:30, five hours in all. Booked apart, The Lava Tunnel - Meet on Location is from €65 and Into the Blue - Silfra Snorkeling is from €120. That is €185, so the combo saves €21 each.
Without a car. The Black & Blue from Reykjavík is from €244 with pickup at 08:00. Booked apart, The Lava Tunnel from Reykjavík is from €117 and Into the Blue from Reykjavík is from €186. That is €303, so the combo saves €59 each, and one pickup instead of two.
Both versions include the Þingvellir admission, the snorkelling gear, the caving helmet and underwater photos from your guide.
Why the pickup day is ten hours
The pickup tour does the lava tunnel first, comes back briefly into Reykjavík, and then goes out again to Þingvellir. That is the honest reason it is a ten-hour day for two activities that add up to about two hours of doing things. You will spend a lot of it on a minibus. Bring lunch; it is not included.
The self-drive version is tighter. You meet at the cave at 09:30, then drive yourself to Silfra, roughly an hour. Five hours covers it, and you can carry on round the Golden Circle afterwards.
Who it is not for
Silfra has rules, and they apply to the combo too. You need to be able to swim and be comfortable in water. You need to understand English, because the safety briefing is in English. The dry suits come in standard sizes, so you need to be between 45 and 120 kg and between 150 and 200 cm tall. Some medical conditions need a doctor’s letter, and the tour is not for anyone pregnant. Glasses do not fit under the mask, so bring contact lenses if you need them.
The minimum age is 12. The lava tunnel on its own takes children from three, which matters if you are a family with one child under 12. In that case the combo is out, and the tunnel is the part you can all do together.
If Silfra is the part you care about, it is worth knowing it is cheaper elsewhere. Our Silfra guide compares the snorkelling operators, and our lava caves guide covers the other tubes near Reykjavík.
Weather and the winter version
Both halves run all year. Silfra is the same temperature in January as in July; it is the air that changes, and standing on the platform wet in a February wind is the hardest part of the day. The lava tunnel does not care about the weather at all. If the combo is cancelled for conditions, you get a refund or a new date.
Our honest take
If you want both, book the combo. The saving is real, it is the same operator doing both halves, and one booking is simpler than two.
With a car, take the self-drive version and add the rest of the Golden Circle in the afternoon. That is a better day than ten hours on a minibus.
Without a car, the €59 saving is worth having, but ask yourself whether you want the cave at all. If you only really want Silfra, book Silfra on its own and keep the afternoon.
