Game of Thrones locations in Iceland: which tour?

You don’t need a Game of Thrones tour to see the Game of Thrones locations. Iceland stood in for the far north: the Wall, the lands beyond it and a few stretches of the Vale. Most of those places are stops on ordinary day tours already. A themed tour is worth it if you want the stories told on site, not because it takes you anywhere different.

Where the series filmed

Iceland was mostly used for the snowy scenes north of the Wall, from the second season onwards. The main sites:

• Þingvellir. The Almannagjá gorge was the path to the Eyrie, and the camp scenes nearby. It’s the first stop on every Golden Circle tour. See why Þingvellir matters.
• Mývatn. Grjótagjá, the small lava cave with the hot pool, is where Jon Snow and Ygritte hide away. Dimmuborgir’s lava pillars were the Wildling camp. Both are on standard Mývatn tours from Akureyri.
• Vatnajökull. The outlet glaciers around Skaftafell, Svínafellsjökull in particular, were used for the frozen marches beyond the Wall.
• Kirkjufell on Snæfellsnes. The pointed mountain appears as the “Arrowhead” in the later seasons.
• The South Coast. Reynisfjara near Vík is widely reported as a later-season location, and Skógafoss appears too.
• Þjórsárdalur. The Stöng replica farm and the Gjáin valley, inland from the South Coast.

You won’t find sets or signs at most of them. Iceland’s parks aren’t film-tourism parks, and the view is the same one the crew had.

The themed tours

Mývatn, the one that works best. Mývatn Mystery & Magic - Game of Thrones, from €218, is eight hours from Akureyri with a guide from a company that guided some of the crew during filming. It stops at Goðafoss, Dimmuborgir, Grjótagjá and the Hverir steam vents, and ends at the Mývatn Nature Baths, with the entrance fee included. If you’re a fan and heading north anyway, this is the one we’d book.

If you’re not bothered about the stories, Mývatn, Goðafoss & Grjótagjá Half Day Tour from Akureyri is from €128 for six hours and covers the same main stops, minus the baths. See Mývatn day tour from Akureyri for the other choices.

Southwest, private. Private Luxury Jeep Tour - Game of Thrones Experience is from €1,138 for the car, one to four people, ten hours from Reykjavík. It links Þórufoss in Kjós, Þingvellir, the Stöng farm, Háifoss and Gjáin, which no bus tour strings together. It’s a fair price for four fans and steep for two.

Seeing them on a normal tour

The other sites come free with whatever you’d book anyway.

For the glacier scenes, Skaftafell 3 Hour Glacier Walk, from €131, puts you on Falljökull, a few kilometres along the same ice cap edge from Svínafellsjökull. You’re on the ice rather than looking at it, which is closer to the show than any viewpoint.

For Kirkjufell, a Snæfellsnes day from Reykjavík does it. The Small Group Snæfellsnes Peninsula Tour, from €135, twelve hours, stops at Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss, then Arnarstapi and more of the peninsula. It’s a long day in the car. See Snæfellsnes in a day.

Þingvellir and the South Coast are on the most common day tours in the country. Stand in Almannagjá and you’re where the scene was shot.

Two things to know

Grjótagjá is small, dark and often busy. Bathing isn’t allowed: the water temperature swings with the volcanic activity underneath, and the landowners closed it to swimmers years ago. Look, don’t swim.

Filming in winter means the scenes look nothing like the sites in July. Dimmuborgir and Svínafellsjökull are green and grey in summer. If you want snow, come between roughly November and March and accept short days.

Our honest take

Most fans should skip the themed tour and just go to the places. Book a Golden Circle day, a South Coast day and a glacier walk, and you’ve stood in half the Iceland scenes already.

The exception is Mývatn. The Game of Thrones tour there costs about the same as a regular Mývatn day with the baths, and a company that guided the crew tells a better story than one that read about it. If you’re in Akureyri, book that one.

The private southwest tour is for a group of four serious fans with a car’s worth of budget. For everyone else, it’s a lot of money for waterfalls you could reach on a cheaper day.