Glacier hike or ice cave: which to book

If you are in Iceland between October and April and can get to Skaftafell, don’t choose. Book the tour that does both. The rest of the year, or if you are based in Reykjavík, a glacier hike is the better buy: it costs less, runs every day, and puts you on more ice for longer.

The two sound similar. They are not. A glacier hike is a walk on the surface of an outlet glacier with crampons and an axe. An ice cave is a short walk inside the glacier, through a tunnel melted out by water. One is about space and the other is about colour.

The glacier hike

Arctic Adventures’ Sólheimajökull glacier walk is from €95, four hours, minimum age eight. You walk about six kilometres over uneven ground, some of it on the ice, past crevasses, ridges and ash layers. It runs every day of the year. Sólheimajökull is about two and a half hours from Reykjavík, just off the Ring Road, so it fits into a South Coast drive.

What you won’t get on most hikes is much bright blue. Summer ice is grey and white on the surface, with blue only where it has freshly broken. If blue is the point, read on.

Without a car, the Glaciers & Waterfalls day from Reykjavík is from €182. It adds Skógafoss and Reynisfjara around the same hike and takes thirteen and a half hours door to door.

The ice cave

The famous blue caves are under Vatnajökull, near Jökulsárlón and Skaftafell. They are natural caves that form and change every year, and they are only safe to enter in the cold months. Our calendars show them running from now until 30 April, then nothing until autumn.

Blue Iceland’s Blue Ice Cave Adventure is from €160 and leaves Jökulsárlón at 09:30 and 14:00. You ride about an hour in a super jeep, spend about an hour in the caves and drive back. Minimum age eight. The walking is short. The ice really is that blue, especially on a grey day.

The catch is the distance. Jökulsárlón is about five hours from Reykjavík, which means a night in the southeast. Our crystal and Katla ice caves guide goes into the caves in more detail.

Both in one tour

Arctic Adventures’ Skaftafell Blue Ice Cave & Glacier Hike is from €158, four hours from Skaftafell. A 4x4 bus takes you to the ice, you hike the outlet glacier with crampons, and the visit ends in a natural ice cave. Minimum age eight, and the crampons need a shoe size of 35 EU or bigger, which rules out some children who meet the age.

It costs a little less than the cave-only tour from Jökulsárlón. You walk more and spend less time in the jeep. For most people it is the better tour.

Summer: Katla

Between May and September the Vatnajökull caves are closed. The one cave that stays open is in Kötlujökull, under the Katla volcano, near Vík. Arctic Adventures’ Katla Ice Cave & Super Jeep from Vík is from €219, three hours, minimum age six. From Reykjavík, BusTravel Iceland’s South Coast & Katla Ice Cave is from €262 for an eleven-hour day.

Be clear about what Katla is. The ice is black and blue, banded with volcanic ash, and the cave changes with the meltwater. Some days it is impressive. Some days it is a short dark tunnel. The operator says plainly that the cave you see may not match the photographs.

Our honest take

October to April, with a night near Skaftafell or Jökulsárlón: book the combo, 17345, at €158. It is the one tour that answers this question by not making you answer it.

October to April, based in Reykjavík with one day: the glacier hike. A Katla day costs €80 more than the Glaciers & Waterfalls day and gives you a darker cave and less ice under your feet.

May to September: the glacier hike, every time. Do Katla only if a child in your group has their heart set on going inside a glacier, and tell them in advance that it will be dark and gritty rather than blue.