Hiking & trekking in Iceland

Late June to September. The highland roads to Landmannalaugar are closed by snow the rest of the year, and the opening date shifts with the weather each summer. In season, day tours from Reykjavík (/experience/16823/) run about fourteen hours with a three- to five-hour guided hike and a soak in the hot river. If you have your own 4x4, the meet-on-location hike (/experience/254326/) skips the bus.

Moderate to hard. It is 55 kilometres over four days from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk, with river crossings, snow patches in July and weather that can turn to sleet in August. You do not need technical skills, but you need to carry a pack and walk five to eight hours a day. Guided treks (/experience/738812/) handle logistics and camping gear; the luggage transfer (/experience/1036525/) lets self-guided walkers carry a day pack only.

Yes, when it is safe. The Reykjanes eruption sites at Fagradalsfjall and around Grindavík have drawn hikers since 2021, and guided tours (/experience/629086/, /experience/620679/) follow the routes the Civil Protection authority has open. If there is an active eruption, access changes daily and tours adapt or pause. The lava is usually cooled and crusted; you see fresh black rock and steam, not flowing lava. Wear boots; the ground is rough.

Waterproof jacket and trousers, not a poncho; the wind will shred it. Hiking boots with ankle support, wool or synthetic layers, hat, gloves, sunglasses and a packed lunch with two litres of water. In the highlands add a warm mid-layer even in July. Guides carry first aid and route knowledge, not your rain gear. Cotton jeans and trainers are the most common reason people have a miserable day.

Landmannalaugar if it is your first highland trip: rhyolite colours, the hot river and the classic Bláhnúkur loop. Kerlingarfjöll (/experience/727838/) is quieter, with steaming geothermal valleys at Hveradalir and fewer buses, and suits people who have already done Landmannalaugar. Both are long days from Reykjavík, eleven to fourteen hours, with three to five hours of actual walking. Both need clear weather to be worth the drive; check the forecast.

Not for marked lowland trails, and Icelanders hike without guides all the time. You do want one on glaciers, always, and it is sensible in the highlands if you are new to river crossings and whiteout weather. For Landmannalaugar and Laugavegur a guide also solves transport, which is the hard part. If you go alone, register your plan at safetravel.is and check vedur.is for the forecast.

From €25 to €479 a person, with a typical price of €170. That is the median of 109 per-person day-tour fares we currently sell. Multi-day packages and private charters are priced differently and sit outside those figures.

History Talks Back A Viking Walk with Melkorka with Prinsessur ehf, at €25 a person. Read what it actually is before booking on price alone — the cheapest line is sometimes an admission ticket rather than a guided trip, and a large coach costs less per seat than a small-group minibus because it gives you less time at each stop.

1 of the 205 are priced on request rather than published, which almost always means a private charter where the cost depends on group size and pickup point. Ask us and we will get a quote from the operator.

205 of them, from 57 operators: Your Friend in Reykjavik, BusTravel Iceland, Prinsessur ehf, CityWalk Reykjavik, Midgard Adventure, Melrakki Adventures and 51 more. Every one is a company we hold a contract with — we do not list everything in Iceland, on purpose.

Day tours run from 1 hour to 14 hours, most commonly about 5 hours. Pickup and drop-off are usually inside that figure, so a three-hour tour from Reykjavík can mean closer to four door to door.

Yes — 31 of the 205 run over two days or more. Those include accommodation and usually breakfast; check the individual itinerary.

108 of 205 (53%) offer pickup. The rest ask you to meet on location. Pickup is the single most common cause of a missed tour in Iceland: it runs to a window rather than a time, and the bus will not wait long.

48 of the 205 are private, the other 157 are shared departures. Private costs more in total but is priced per vehicle, so for four or more people it often works out close per head — and you set the pace.

Across the next 360 days of live availability we hold departures in October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September. That is a rolling window rather than the whole year, so a month missing from that list is not necessarily a month with nothing running.

62 of 205 run only part of the year; the other 143 run all year round. In Iceland that is usually about daylight or ice rather than demand.

Cutoffs run from 1 to 23 hours before departure, and 78 of them accept bookings inside 24 hours — so booking the night before is often possible. Popular winter tours sell out days ahead regardless of the cutoff.

143 of 205 (70%) allow free cancellation at least 24 hours before departure. The exact window is on each tour page and comes from the operator's own policy, not ours. If the operator cancels for weather you are refunded in full.

Operators rate them: 89 moderate, 77 easy, 19 very easy, 18 challenging, 2 demanding. Iceland's ratings assume weather — an easy walk in still air is a different proposition in 15 m/s of wind.

149 of the 205 set one, ranging from 4 to 20 years. The rest have no stated minimum, which usually means infants are allowed but not that the tour suits them.

115 of 205 are marked family-friendly by the operator. That is their judgement rather than ours, and it usually means the walking is short and the vehicle has a toilet.

Operators have flagged accessibility on some: 10 for wheelchair users, 6 for prams and strollers, 1 for limited mobility. Ring us before booking rather than relying on the flag alone — Icelandic sites vary enormously and a flag does not describe the terrain at the stop.

Varies by operator. Across these: admission fees on 28, parking fees on 19, wi-fi on board on 18, national park entrance fee on 12, food and drink on 6. Anything not listed as included is not included — Icelandic operators are literal about this.

163 of 205 are guided in person, with guiding offered in Chinese, Czech, Danish, English, French, German and 9 more. English is standard on every shared departure in Iceland; other languages usually mean a private guide.

They start from Capital Region (Reykjavík), South Coast (Hella, Hvolsvöllur, Vík), Vatnajökull (Skaftafell, Höfn), Akureyri & the North, Highlands (Landmannalaugar), Borgarfjörður (Húsafell) and 4 more. Where a tour starts matters more in Iceland than how long it lasts: the same tour from Reykjavík and from Vík are different days entirely.

The operator cancels and refunds you in full — Icelandic operators cancel readily, and that is a good sign rather than a bad one. What they will not do is refund you for a tour that ran and simply had poor visibility. Wind cancels more tours here than rain or cold.