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I Hiked Inside of a Glacier in Iceland!

Updated: 5 days ago

I never thought I'd say those words....I didn't even know this was a possibility! In October 2023, my mom, aunt and I took a trip to Iceland and this was one of our many stops along our roadtrip around Ring Road. There are 269 named glaciers in Iceland, so to be able to say that I hiked inside of one is so unique! This was by far one of the coolest things I've experienced and I definitely recommend adding it to your Iceland trip if you are able to!


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Table of Contents:


Booking the Tour:

We did our tour with Glacier Adventure, located in Hofn. This tour and this company were awesome, and I definitely recommend them if you're looking to do a tour in that area! Since this was the company I toured with, I'm going to mostly tailor my thoughts to my experience with them, but that's not to say it wouldn't be a similar experience with another company as well. Glacier Adventure is a family owned company that revolves around Europe's largest glacier, Vatnajokull, and they offer summer and winter glacier and mountain tours. During the summer, you can take a hike on one of Vatnajokull's fastest receding outlet glaciers, Breidamerkurjokull. During the winter (October-April) they offer ice cave tours, which is what we did.

I will preface by saying that Glacier Adventure and I worked in collaboration, so while I didn't necessarily need to book my tour, the booking process was very easy for the other two people who came on the tour with me. It's highly recommended that you book a tour ahead of time, as they can fill up fast. To book, you can go to their website https://glacieradventure.is and hit view tours. Here you can filter it with what you're looking for in regards to difficulty level, time of year you are going, tour type, etc. Once you choose which tour you want to do, you're immediately provided with the itinerary, meeting point information, what's included with the tour, what you need to bring, payment options, and the cancellation policy. After that, you just choose the number of people going on the tour, and the date and time slot, and that's pretty much it! Since Iceland has so many glacier and ice cave tour options available all over the country, if you're looking for a tour outside of the Hofn area, I recommend using sites such as GetYourGuide or Viator to explore all of the different tour options Iceland has to offer.




Arrival and Preparing for the Tour:

We started by arriving at the meeting point (Hali 2, Sudursveit, 781 Hofn i Hornafirdi, Iceland) and getting checked in. I recommend arriving about 30 minutes before your scheduled tour time, as it can take some time to get checked in and get your gear, depending on how many people are doing tours that day. The meeting point is located only about 7.5 miles east of the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, and has guesthouses, free parking, and restaurants on the property.

After checking in, we picked up our gear, got split into groups, and the tour guides fitted our crampons and helmets. Next, we were loaded into the vans for a 15 or so minute on-and off-road ride to the glacier. After a quick walk, we arrived at the opening of the cave and suited up in our crampons. We did the Magical Crystal Ice Cave Tour, and I absolutely loved every minute of it! We got to explore a natural blue ice cave in the Breidarmerkurjökull Glacier. The tour took about 3.5 hours from start to finish and was such a unique experience the entire way!




The Glacier Experience:

Once we were in the cave, it was like I had stepped into another world! Being surrounded by crystal clear, blue ice was something I had obviously never experienced before! Our tour guide was amazing and was extremely knowledgeable about the glacier and glaciers in Iceland and their history. He not only did a great job leading the group through the cave, but also made sure to show everyone how to get the best pictures to show off the true colors of the sapphire ice cave! It's hard to even explain the full experience in words, so I'm going to let some pictures do the talking-








Inside of the Ice Cave:

Once inside the cave, even just walking around became an experience on it's own. There are parts of the cave where you can walk completely normal, however, there are also parts that require squatting, ducking, squat walking, etc. You go by head lamp for a majority of the time inside of the cave too which just adds to the experience. My tip is to go low and slow! There were a few spots where I was thankful I was wearing a helmet because I boinked my head on a piece of ice above. Use your headlight to your advantage, and really watch where you're going, it's easy to take a wrong step and slip if you're not paying attention. There are plenty of opportunities to take pictures and videos once inside the cave, and of course plenty of opportunities to ask questions! After we finished with our time inside of the cave, we hung out at the base of the cave where our tour guide told us about even more of the history behind the giant glacier just feet away from us. After that, we headed back to the van and back to the base camp.





What to Wear

While I can't officially speak for the summer tours, as I did a winter tour, I would imagine that being surrounded by ice, it would be cold year-round. I recommend wearing fleece-lined leggings or pants, or some sort of base layer under your pants. Wear pants that are comfortable for walking and squatting. While wearing waterproof clothing isn't completely necessary, you do have a possibility of getting wet. For your top, I recommend wearing a base layer as well as a waterproof winter jacket. Gloves are definitely recommended as well! As far as shoes, yes, you'll be given crampons; however, wearing sturdy walking/hiking shoes or boots is the best route. I also wore a fleece-lined beanie since it does get so cold in and around the glacier.


What to Bring

All you really need to bring is a jacket, sturdy shoes, warm pants, and gloves, a beanie, and your phone for pictures if you want. Through the company I used for the tour, everything else, including transportation to and from the base camp, headlamp, and crampons were all included.


Getting Photos Inside the Glacier

There is a specific way to take photos once inside the cave in order for the blue to show through, your tour guide will most likely tell you the proper settings to set your phone to. While the best photos were ultimately the ones he took of me, I ended up being able to edit some of the photos I took to highlight the blue hues which really made the colors pop even more.


Cost and Reservations

I definitely recommend booking a reservation, especially during popular seasons! It's very easy to do right on their website; you just choose which tour you want and select a date/time slot. The prices range depending on which tour you choose, but the cost of the tour we did is 21.900 ISK or about $170.00 USD.


You can find Glacier Adventure's information here -



Trip Highlights & Final Thoughts

I had such an amazing experience on my glacier ice cave tour, and had an amazing experience with Glacier Adventures, and even though this tour was gifted to me as part of a collaboration, that does not sway my opinion about the company or my experience. I think my favorite part of the tour was how unbelievable it was to first see the glacier from the outside and then realize moments later that you are inside of it! I loved the deeper we got into the glacier and seeing the pictures and true colors of the inside of the glacier. Overall, I think this was an amazing and unique experience and is definitely a must add to your Iceland itinerary!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience hiking inside of a literal glacier and I hope it inspires you to try something new if you find yourself on a trip to Iceland! If you've done something similar, I would love to hear about your own experience in the comments below!


Thanks for reading, and as always, there's always more to be explored :)

-nicole elizabeth

Comments

hi! nic here

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Welcome to my blog! Follow my journey as I continue to embark on adventures near and far. I look forward to sharing my life with you, and remember, there's always more to be explored!

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