Snæfellsjökull: snowcat, summit hike or ATV?

Book the snowcat if you want to stand on the ice without earning it, and the summit hike if you want the glacier itself. Snæfellsjökull is the 1,446-metre ice-capped volcano at the end of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, and there are four ways to spend a few hours on or around it. Two of them go onto the glacier. Two of them only look at it.

Where it all starts

Almost everything meets in Arnarstapi, the small harbour village on the south side of the mountain. From Reykjavík that is about two and a half hours by car, and none of these tours collects you from the city. If you are doing Snæfellsnes as a day trip by coach, you will not have time for any of them. They make sense when you are sleeping on the peninsula or driving it yourself. Our Snæfellsnes day trip guide covers the coach option.

The mountain is a national park, and it is the volcano Jules Verne sent his explorers into in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The glacier on top is shrinking. By late summer, crevasses open and the ice near the summit gets harder to cross, which is why the calendars below look the way they do.

The snowcat: easy, short season

Glacier Paradise’s Snæfellsjökull Glacier Snow-cat Tour is from €132 and takes about three hours from Arnarstapi, leaving at 10:00. A bus takes you up a rough mountain track to the edge of the ice, then a snowcat tracks slowly uphill towards the top. You get some time standing on the glacier, but most of the three hours is spent sitting down.

Its calendar shows dates from 20 March to early July and nothing after. That is the season when the snow cover is deep enough to drive on. Whether you reach the summit depends on the ice and the crevasses on the day. Children are welcome, with separate fares for teenagers and the under-sixes. Free cancellation up to 48 hours before.

This is the one for mixed groups, older parents and anyone who wants the view from the top without five hours of climbing.

The summit hike: the real thing

North Ice’s Snæfellsjökull glacier hike is from €412. It is a proper mountain day: four to six hours, an approach walk of up to an hour, then three to four hours on crampons, harness and rope from the edge of the ice to the summit. Gear is included. Boots and poles can be hired from them. The minimum age is 14, and the tour starts at 10:00 from Arnarstapi.

It runs from April to September on the calendar, with dates on most days in summer. The cancellation terms are stricter than most: cancelling within six days of departure costs 20% of the price. That matters, because Snæfellsjökull is often in its own cloud when the rest of the peninsula is clear.

There is also a Summer Solstice Snæfellsjökull Glacier Summit from €365, starting at 18:00 so you climb into the late June light. It has two dates on the whole calendar. Roughly 1,000 metres of ascent, and a photographer comes with you.

ATV and buggy: around it, not on it

Summit Adventure Guides’ ATV Tour - Snæfellsjökull Glacier & Lava Fields is from €145 per adult sharing a quad, two hours on gravel tracks and lava fields at the foot of the mountain. It starts on the north side of the mountain, not in Arnarstapi. Departures are at 09:30, 10:30, 13:30 and 14:30, from May to October. Riders must be 17 to drive; children from 12 can ride as passengers. Free cancellation up to four hours before, which is unusually kind.

Glacier Paradise also runs buggy tours around Snæfellsjökull from €197, about two and a half hours from Arnarstapi at 13:30 or 16:30. Unlike everything else here, the buggies show dates in every month of the year. Drivers need a licence, passengers must be at least eight, and there is a 140 kg weight limit.

Neither goes onto the ice. You look up at the glacier the whole time, and on a cloudy day you may not see it at all. Our buggy or ATV guide explains the difference between the two machines.

When the weather wins

Snæfellsjökull makes its own weather. The peninsula can be bright while the summit sits in cloud, and the glacier tours cancel for wind and poor visibility. Operators cancel when it is unsafe, and you get a refund or a new date. Put the glacier on the first full day you are in the area, so a cancelled morning can move to the next one.

Our honest take

For most people, the snowcat in April or May. It is the only easy way onto the glacier, it costs a third of the hike, and the season is good for snow and long days.

If you are fit, have done some hiking and are in the area between June and August, the summit hike is the better day by a long way. Book it with a spare day behind it, because of that 20% cancellation fee.

Skip the ATV and buggy if the glacier is the point. Take them if you are on Snæfellsnes in October or winter and want something to do outdoors. They are good rides, but they are rides, not glacier tours.