Fjallsárlón: zodiac or kayak with a glacier hike?

For most people the zodiac and glacier hike combination is the right one: Fjallsarlon Zodiac Boat Tour & Glacier Hike is from €170 an adult and takes about five and a half hours. Choose the kayak and glacier hike (from €195) only if you are fit, like paddling, and want to move through the icebergs under your own power.

Fjallsárlón sits at the foot of Öræfajökull, a tongue of Vatnajökull. It is smaller than Jökulsárlón, with fewer buses and a glacier wall that is close enough to look like a wall.

Zodiac, hike, or both in one day

All three tours below are run by Arctic Adventures and combine the lagoon with a guided walk on Falljökull, another outlet glacier of Vatnajökull. You get crampons, helmet, harness and ice axe. You can rent waterproofs and boots.

The two zodiac tours are the same product in a different order. Glacier Hike & Fjallsarlon Zodiac Boat Tour (from €170) starts at the hut in Skaftafell and ends at the lagoon. The Zodiac and Glacier Hike (also from €170) starts at the lagoon. Pick the one whose meeting point suits your drive. If you arrive from the west, the Skaftafell start is the one you reach first. We would not choose on anything else.

Both have a minimum age of 8 and free cancellation up to 48 hours before departure. Our data shows a lot of open dates over the next four months, so you rarely need to plan far ahead outside the busiest summer weeks.

The kayak version

The kayak combination is from €195 and runs five hours forty minutes. You paddle through the icebergs in a drysuit, then hike on Falljökull. The minimum age is 10. Arctic Adventures lists hiking boots with ankle support as mandatory, so trainers will not do.

It is the more physical day and it has fewer open dates than the zodiac, so book earlier. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.

What you get from the kayak is quiet. A zodiac is fast and has an engine. A kayak is slow, you hear the ice creak, and you can stop and look. What you lose is distance. You will not reach the far end of the lagoon the way a boat can.

Fjallsárlón or Jökulsárlón

If you only have time for one lagoon, the better-known Jökulsárlón has the Diamond Beach across the road and bigger crowds. Glacier Hike & Jökulsárlón Zodiac Boat is from €195 and takes seven hours, so it is €25 more and about an hour and a half longer than the Fjallsárlón zodiac combination.

For a plain boat ride at Jökulsárlón without a hike, read the amphibian and zodiac comparison. Both lagoons close their boats in winter, when the water partly freezes. Do not plan any of these between roughly November and March without checking the dates.

What to wear

Layers, a warm hat, waterproof trousers and gloves. Wind comes off the ice and it is colder on the water than on land, even in July. Zodiac tours give you a flotation jacket. Kayakers get a drysuit. Bring your own sunglasses.

None of these tours promise a particular amount of ice or a clear sky. The icebergs change from week to week.

Our honest take

Book the zodiac and hike, from €170. It is the cheaper tour, the age limit is lower, and it fits better into a long day on the Ring Road. The kayak is a good day if you can paddle and want the slower pace, but it costs €25 more and has fewer departures.

Skip Fjallsárlón if you are on a day trip from Reykjavík. That is a long drive for one lagoon, and a coach tour with a boat ride is a better fit. If you are staying in the southeast for a night, this is one of the better ways to spend a morning.