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5-hour Glacier Adventure From Skaftafell

Badge of ExcellenceSkaftafell, Iceland

Svinafellsjokull Glacier Small Group Hike from Skaftafell

4 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

The Svínafellsjökull glacier is part of Europe’s largest glacier and the icy landscapes offer a dramatic backdrop for a hiking adventure. This morning or afternoon guided glacier hike in the Skaftafell-Vatnajökull National Park ensures a personalized experience, with a small group of up to eight participants, and full instruction provided.

Glacier hike in the Skaftafell-Vatnajökull National Park
Enjoy a guided hike across the Svínafellsjökull Glacier
Marvel at snow-covered mountains, walls of ice, and natural ice sculptures
Choice of departure times available throughout the day
No experience necessary: full instruction and all equipment included
Small-group tour limited to eight people ensures a personalized experience

What's Included

Guided glacier hike
All necessary glacier gear
Certified glacier guide
Transport to glacier by minibus

Gratuities
Food and drinks
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Extra clothing can be rented: hiking boots 1.500 ISK and rain gear 1.000 ISK per item

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Skaftafellsstofa
785 Skaftafell, Iceland
Our Skaftafell Base Camp, wooden sales lodge, is located by the bus parking and clearly visible from the National Park Service Center.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Your adventure begins at the Mountain Guides Sales Lodge in the Skaftafell-Vatnajökull National Park, where you meet your guide in time for your chosen departure time. After a safety briefing, get suited up with crampons, ice axes, and glacial hiking gear, and travel by bus to the starting point of your hike, a short drive from the lodge.

On arrival, take the time to practice walking along the ice, before following your guide on a thrilling glacier walk. Marvel at the wild glacial landscapes as you climb through deep crevasses and ice tunnels, duck beneath high ice arches, and admire glacier mills, ice walls, and ice sculptures. Listen as your guide explains more about the region’s unique geology and how the glaciers form and change over time, and catch sight of the snow-capped Hrútsfjall and Hvannadalshnukur mountains in the distance.

After a morning or afternoon on the ice, return to the bus for the journey back to the lodge.

Please note: This tour is best suited to participants with their own transport - travelers must provide their own transportation to and from the Mountain Guides Sales Lodge.

Skaftafell National Park

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Falljökull

4 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Age: Minimum 14
Children must be accompanied by an adult

Please bring warm clothing, rain gear, gloves, and hiking boots
Extra clothing can be rented: hiking boots 1.500 ISK and rain gear 1.000 ISK per item
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 8 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

5.0

144 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-6 of 144 reviews

Awesome hike and views!

Natalie_T, Oct 2023

Alex was a great guide and had lots of patience with us 65+ hikers. Great experience, one we won’t forget.

Response from Host, Oct 2023

We're truly grateful for your kind words! It warms our hearts to know that you had a wonderful experience with us. Providing you with exceptional service and creating memorable moments is our joy. We can't wait to have the pleasure of serving you once more in the future! Kind regards, Anete

Interesting, scenic and value for money

Rhiannon_T, Aug 2023

Magnus was a great guide. Very informative and professional. We loved this adventure.....small group also worked best so we could explore more.

Response from Host, Sep 2023

We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with us! We're thrilled you had such an incredible time with the help of our guide Magnus. Hopefully, see you soon again! Iryna

An Incredible Experience!

Lisa_W, Aug 2023

One of the more incredible experiences I've ever had! August was an incredibly knowledgeable and skilled guide, and we got to see some amazing features of the glacier and explore several incredible aspects of it! Cannot recommend this experience or tour guides enough!!

Response from Host, Sep 2023

Thanks for your honest review! We're glad you had such a wonderful experience and enjoyed every aspect of it! See you hopefully soon again!

Glacier Hike June 2023

Abigail_K, Jul 2023

Doing a Glacier hike was one of our Iceland highlights! We had a great time on this longer tour, with our guide Lucien. You could tell from the get go that we were going to go on a more in-depth exploration than some of the larger tour groups that only go to the bottom edge of the glacier. Lucien was a great guide, even though we were almost 100% shrouded in spooky fog the entire time - we could not ever see the full glacier - he guided us to cool formations and took us on an exciting route. We even got to rappel off the edge of a cool hole in the ice and look into the depths! My husband and I have a lot of mountain experience but this was our first time using crampons. They are a lot less clunky than they look, and we felt very secure on the ice. This tour is best for people who are experienced in the mountains, our group included a family that was clearly inexperienced with hiking, and Lucien handled it very well, but had our group been more experienced as a whole, I know we would have gone farther in. We are a relatively fit couple in our 30s and it was not a physically challenging hike, but the technical clambering over ice chunks was very fun!

Response from Host, Aug 2023

We greatly appreciate you sharing your fantastic experience with us! It brings us immense joy to know that you had a delightful time during the tour and that our team contributed to your exploration. We look forward to the opportunity of having you join us for another thrilling adventure in the near future. Wishing you safe and wonderful travels ahead! Eleni

We would highly recommend...

Mariajose_M, Jul 2023

We would highly recommend this tour. Views are beautiful and the whole experience is worth it! Our guide was incredibly nice, patient, funny and handsome. I was really happy and confident to see how he helped my uncle and aunt (75 years old) whenever necessary. We loved every second of it.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

We are truly grateful for your kind review! It warms our hearts to know that you had an amazing time on the tour. Our team works hard to create memorable experiences, and we are overjoyed that we succeeded in making your day special. Thank you for choosing us as your tour operator, and we can't wait to have the opportunity to show you more incredible destinations in the future. Until then, happy travels and take care! Eleni

Wonderdul Glacier Hike!

katew94, Jul 2023

The hike was a bit challenging for me, but I am very happy we did it. The scenery was just breathtaking, and our guide Águst was very knowledgeable and thoughtful, it was a great experience, highly recommend.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with us! We're glad you did it and created all these beautiful memories! We'll forward your kind words to our colleague! Hopefully see you soon again! I hope you have a lovely day! Eleni