Vatnajökull Ice Cave Tour
Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland 2024
In our never-ending quest to do epic shit, we proudly present to you: Vatnajökull Ice Cave
What is Vatnajökull: Vatnajökull is not only Europe's largest glacier, but it is also home of the highest mountain range in Iceland. The glacier is the central feature of the Vatnajökull National Park, found in southwest Iceland. This park is a beautiful and popular area for activities like glacier hiking, boat tours in the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, and incredible ice caving tours.
TOUR DEETS
There are a handful of companies to choose from when booking your Vatnajökull Ice Cave adventure, and honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. They all provide the same thing: transportation to the and from the cave, a professional guide, microspikes, and approximately 20-30 minutes inside the ice cave.
Unfortunately, we quickly learned that a majority of the tours are provided September to April, so we were even more limited on choices as we were visiting at the beginning of August. We occasionally discuss making a return trip to Iceland for the northern lights, and re-doing this experience with a different tour company is often a topic of conversation. Not knocking on the tour we selected, it was great and we really enjoyed our guide, we just want to visit the winter ice cave (which we learned is different from the one visited in the summer).
Our determining factor when we booked: we wanted the earliest time provided. Being the first tour is not necessarily important, they do a good job pacing and spreading out within the ice cave to allow everyone an opportunity for photos; however, it was essential to our itinerary (check out my Iceland: 8-Day Itinerary for more inspo!).
DARCY WANDERS' ROUTE
We found our tour via Get Your Guide and booked through the app. Our guide was very knowledgeable and shared a ton of information about the glacier, how ice caves are created, how trained individuals find and maintain the ice caves (which he aspires to become), and was a very impressive driver 🫣🤣 He also had zero issues with holding up the group behind us to ensure everyone in our group got photos; even offering to take individual and group photos in multiple locations throughout the cave.
For more details, FAQs, or to book your tour visit GetYourGuide
GETTING THERE
The meeting point for our tour was the cafe by Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. The Get Your Guide app provides directions to the meeting point, but we just used Google Maps with our destination set as Jökulsárlón Main Parking. There is a small parking fee and zero pay kiosks, but there are massive parking payment signs with a QR code to make your parking payment. We had already downloaded the Parka App and set up our account, so with a couple quick clicks, we were on our way.
Popularity: The Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is an extremely popular area for a number of attractions and parking does reach capacity. Make sure to plan your visit accordingly!
TO WANDER, OR NOT TO WANDER
If once-in-a-lifetime experiences rank highly on your bucket list, then exploring the blue ice caves of Vatnajökull Glacier is a must-do. Ensure you plan this epic wander during the winter months (November-March) to guarantee access to some of the most breathtakingly crystal-blue ice caves found in Iceland.
Comentarios