Katla Ice Cave (Under the Volcano) Tour

Top Attractions:

Katla volcano in South Iceland

Are you ready to step away from the beaten path and do something totally different? On the Katla Ice Cave tour, you will first be taken by Super Jeep across the challenging icy terrain, where you’ll be rewarded with unforgettable views of Mýrdalsjökull Glacier.

Then you will enter Katla’s Glacier, Kötlujökull, through a truly magical ‘gateway’ as blue and black ice walls stand like sentinels on either side of you. Once inside this ice dome, you will feel like you are in a magical Hollywood scene. The striking ice structures around you will make it difficult to believe that you are actually standing on one of the most active volcanoes in Iceland.

This tour is available with a transfer from either Reykjavík or from our meeting location at Vík in South Iceland.

Tour Snapshot

Duration

3 hours

Level

Easy

Availability

All year

Group

Small (14)

Starting point

Vík í Mýrdal

End point

Vík í Mýrdal

Languages

English

Trip style

One-day tours

Minimum age

6 years

On Tour

Appreciate a scenic super jeep ride
Enjoy the view over Myrdalsjokull
Explore a Natural ice cave
Discover untamed landscapes
See Seljalandsfoss Waterfall (From Reykjavik only)
See Skogafoss Waterfall (From Reykjavik only)

Transportation

Pick-Up from Reykjavik
Pick-Up from Vik
Meet on location

Accommodation & Meals

Meals
We recommend you bring your own snacks
Accommodation

Route Map

Use our interactive map to investigate the details of your adventure.

3 hours

Route Overview

Kötlujökull, the outlet glacier that is home to this unbelievably stunning ice cave, is part of the majestic and very famous Mýrdalsjökull Glacier. The name, Kötlujökull, reminds us that the capricious volcano, Katla, has its home beneath this ice cap. The twin elements of Mýrdalsjökull’s ice and Katla's infernal fire have combined to create a spectacular wonder of nature.

On this fascinating tour, we will take you to one of the biggest and best ice caves in Iceland, Katla. Many people call this ‘Katla´s Ice Cave Dome.’ Stepping in through the glorious, but natural entrance, you will understand why.

Kötlujökull Glacier

The Katla Ice Cave tour kicks off with a thrilling Super Jeep ride to Kötlujökull Glacier, where you will admire breathtaking views across Mýrdalsjökull Glacier and beyond.

Arriving at the foot of the glacier, your guide will assist you with your crampons and helmet before leading you on the short walk to the ice cave's opening. You should be prepared to climb a few steps on ladders to the cave entrance. As the natural ice cave constantly changes, conditions can differ on each tour. However, the climb is not challenging at all, and anyone in an average physical condition should be able to climb these steps. It might look adventurous, but it is not demanding at all!

The sights that will greet you when we stop at the base of the Kötlujökull Glacier are indescribable. Your first impression will be of stripe upon stripe of differently colored ice forming stunning layers in the glacial ice. This is a gorgeous and unearthly place.

Inside Katla Ice Cave

Once inside the ice cave, you will be surrounded by natural ice sculptures and volcanic ash that has been frozen in time, at least until the ice melts and the structure changes over the coming months. Together with your guide and the group, you will explore this icy wonder, admiring the so-called ‘dragon glass’ and mysterious glistening tunnels.

Visiting the Katla Ice Cave is a mesmerizing and also educational experience. Your guide will share the fascinating history of the ice cave with you and some interesting facts about the glacier and the surrounding area.

The drive back to Vík will give you a whole new vantage point on some incredible vistas. In winter, the sun will sink behind the mountains, offering an astonishing sunset. On this tour, you should keep your camera to hand at all times to make sure you are always ready to capture your surroundings!

Pick-Up / Meet On Location Information

If you select the pickup from Reykjavík option, our tour guide will pick you up at your chosen meeting location at the time specified in the booking.
Please note that transfers may include groups of over 14 people. Once you arrive in Vik, guests will be split into smaller groups to enhance the experience. We appreciate your understanding!
If you choose to meet the tour in Vík, our tour guide will connect with you at The Ice Cave Bistro/Restaurant in Vík. By the entrance at the back of the building, you will find our guide holding an “Arctic Adventures” sign or standing by a Super Jeep marked with an Arctic Adventures sign in the window. The tour will start from Vík (approximately 2.5 hours from Reykjavík), where you will join everyone in a Super Jeep for the exciting day ahead.

Practical Information

Warm clothing is absolutely essential! We cannot stress enough how important it is to bring warm and waterproof clothing, warm headwear, gloves, and sturdy shoes, as there is no opportunity to rent any clothing items for this tour.

During the tour, there will be a stop at the gas station where you can buy snacks and drinks.

Please Note

Due to limited daylight periods, we cannot stop at Skógafoss in the wintertime (from mid-November until mid-February). Only from mid-February until mid-November do we stop at both of the waterfalls on this tour.
The meet-on-location tour (from Vík) does not include any other stops but the ice cave.
The actual view of an ice cave may look different from pictures since ice caves are a natural phenomenon and are constantly changing. How they look may vary depending on the season, time of the day, lighting, and other factors. They're still always remarkable!

Get ready for your trip, here are some items, you should not forget.

What To Bring (Required)

Warm outdoor clothing
Waterproof jacket
Rent with us, +29 USD per person
Sturdy shoes
Warm Headwear
Gloves
Scarf

Reccommended

Camera

We're here to answer your questions

The pickup time is stated on your voucher and therefore we recommend you to review your voucher carefully. We ask all participants to be ready from the start of the pickup time indicated as you may well be the first pick up of the day. Please be at your assigned location at the right pick up time that you chose when booking the tour.

Wait for your guide at your assigned pick up location.

Have your email and phone number listed with us so we can contact you if we run into any trouble finding you.

View our pick-up locations in Reykjavík.

Alcohol is prohibited on all of our tours before and during activities. If we find the participant to be intoxicated, we will prohibit them from taking part in the activity.

After the activities of the day are finished then you are more than welcome to have a drink and relax.

Yes, we do have a tour into Langjökull Ice Cave that has no minimum age and it is a fantastic option for the whole family. As a Whale Watching with our partner company Special Tours, enjoyable tour for a family traveling with young children, these guys have an enormous success rate in seeing whales (upwards of 98% in the summertime).

If you want to explore parts of Icelandic Highlands than we have our magnificent Landmannalaugar Safari tour that also offers you to bathe in natural hot springs. Almost all of our jeep tours are suitable for children over the age of 6 years old. Then we also have a relaxing experience that we highly recommend, our Golden Circle & Secret Lagoon tour.

We reserve the rights to adjust the itinerary and/or take different routes depending on conditions. Your safety is our number one priority.

Please read more information in our terms and conditions in regards to this matter.

Yes, we have specially trained and certified guide on all of our tours, expect on our self-drive tours.

All of our tours are English guided.

No, for all your questions and concerns you would need to contact our customer service.

In Iceland, the standard is 230V and 50Hz and we use F-type power sockets and plugs. If you are visiting from the UK, USA, Canada or other countries using a different voltage, Hz or plugs, therefore, we highly recommend you to bring an adaptor.

We have four different categories that help participants to get a better understanding of what to expect from the tour. The categories are Easy, Moderate, Challenging and Demanding. All of our tours are rated to make it easier for you to find a tour that suits you.

For further information about the difficulty ratings and descriptions.

You can book almost all of our trips here on our website. You will find a booking window on each tour page and the best and safest way is to book and pay is directly through our website.

1. You can pay directly through our website. That is the easiest, safest and fastest way to reserve and pay for your adventure. If you choose this way then you will receive a voucher as a confirmation via email. Which you will need to bring with you on your trip.

2. You can pay via phone, our phone number is +354 562 7000. Please be noted, however you pay, you will always get a voucher. It is important to have your voucher ready for your tour so please remember to print it out or make sure that you can show it through your electronic device.

You will receive a confirmation email after you have made the booking. If you think that you have made a booking and haven’t received an email confirmation then you may please contact us via email with an inquiry through our contact form, and we will figure it out together.

All charges are made in the tour operators currency: For tours in Iceland it's Icelandic krona, ISK, but for tours in Canada/Greenland it's either USD or CAD.

On Adventures.com you can view an estimate of prices in EUR and other currencies. This is only to help you understand the approximate price.

Your credit card will always be charged in the operators currency.

Keep in mind that your card issuer may charge you a foreign transaction fee.

We do not require minimum participants on most of our tours but there is a minimum of 2 people for a few of our trips. If you are traveling solo and interested in a tour that requires more than 2 participants than we can take down your information and contact you if more people book the tour.

We can arrange private departures as per customer request. Almost all of the tours that we offer can be arranged as a private tour. If you prefer to have a private tour arranged than you may feel free to contact us through email info@adventures.com

Unfortunately, we don’t have any waiting list for our tours. Availability is found on our website in the availability sheet where all updates will automatically be made to the sheet listed in each tour description. We have a variety of different adventure tours around Iceland so there is a big chance that you find a similar version of the tour that you were originally looking for.

If your tour that you have booked is canceled on our behalf than you will receive a 100% refund. The refund process is different depending on the way you booked the tour.

If you booked the tour through our website then we will start the refund process as soon as we know if you will not be rescheduling and you will receive a separate email with a confirmation about that your refund has been processed.

If you booked the tour via booking agent than you will need to contact them directly to receive the refund. We will confirm with them about your canceled tour and then the refund process will start on their end. Extreme Iceland only receives the payment when the tour has finished, that means that your payment still remains with the booking agent and therefore, the refund can only be processed directly from their end.

The minimum age requirement is decided by our operational managers and is dependent on each activity and its difficulty ratings and can, therefore, vary between tours We put great value towards safety for our customers and the minimum age policy falls under this. Therefore we can not accommodate a person that has not reached the age limit on the tour.
We ask you to try to understand that this is based on safety procedures and we can therefore unfortunately not make any exceptions on this rule.

We can unfortunately not accommodate you and your group if the number of your group extends the number of available seats left on the tour. Our website shows the correct number of available seats left. It is impossible to squeeze additional participants onto sold out departures as we have really strict policy measures as to how many participants are assigned to each guide on our tour departures. Therefore we hope that you understand as this is of course done with our customer's safety in mind.

Still not convinced?

Customer Care

For Iceland, Scandinavia & Baltic tour

Open daily from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM GMT

Address

Köllunarklettsvegur 2

104 Reykjavík

+354 562 7000

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