Glacier Hike in Skaftafell (Glacier Wonders)

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Top Attractions:

Vatnajökull Glacier National Park

Overview

This adventure tour will take you to Vatnajokull, Europe's largest glacier. An expert glacier guide will accompany you while you discover among the crevasses and glacier sculptures of Falljökull glacial tongue in Skaftafell nature reserve. Surrounded by majestic scenery, you'll be able to experience the power of the living glacier. It's a fairly easy to moderate walk with real ice crampons attached to your hiking boots.

Tour Snapshot

Duration

4 hours

Level

Easy

Availability

All year

Starting point

Skaftafell Nature Reserve

End point

Skaftafell Nature Reserve

Languages

English

Trip style

One-day tours

Minimum age

8 years

What to expect

On tour

Guided Glacier Tour
Certified Glacier Guide
Safety Equipment
Special Glacier Hiking Equipment
(Ice Axe, Harness, and Helmet)

Transportation

Meet on location
Meet us at Skaftafell booking center
Pick & up drop-off in Reykjavik

Accommodation & Meals

Accommodation
Meals

4 hours

Overview

Iceland is the type of place that makes you feel small and fragile – even powerless when immersed in all this surreal nature and truly spectacular scenery. So let's take it up close and personal, feeling and understanding the strongest shaping force on earth - glaciers.

Before starting our hike, we need to gear you up. It's vital to have the correct footwear for glacier hiking. If you don't have proper boots, don't worry - we'll have you covered with boots to rent. Your safety is our number one priority wherever we go. We provide ice crampons and teach you to attach them correctly to the boots. Crampons make it easy to walk on the ice so that there's no worry of slipping. Other security items include helmets and ice axes.

Starting point

Vatnajökull Glacier National Park

End point

Vatnajökull Glacier National Park

Glacier Falljokull

This glacier tongue is an outlet of the immense Glacier Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier, which ice is 1,000 years old.

Glaciers are made from fallen snow instead of frozen water, as some may think. But how does the snow turn into ice then? Simply by compression due to the weight of the snow as it keeps accumulating. It's just like taking a handful of fluffy snow and squeezing it into a hard snowball and doing so for hundreds of years. The ice eventually gets so compressed that most of the air is forced out of it. This effect is what causes glacial ice to appear blue.

A glacier is a river of ice. It flows. That's because the highly compressed layers of ice are very flexible. At locations where a glacier flows rapidly, giant cracks called crevasses are formed. This is why it's so dangerous to walk on a glacier - the crevasses sometimes get covered by snow. Your guide may show you the ice ax spots that may look like solid ice and snow but are steep drops just covered in a light dusting of snow.

Departure information

Departure from our Skaftafell booking center (Wooden house with Arctic Adventures Logo) located next to the Vatnajokull/Skaftafell Visitor Center

Practical information

Please bring warm outdoor clothing, waterproof pants, and a jacket. We also recommend that you wear good hiking boots. You can rent sturdy hiking boots and waterproof pants and jackets from us. Simply add these items when booking your tour.
Please keep in mind that you must wear hiking boots in order to attach the crampons.
Shoe Size: Please note that if your shoe size is smaller than 35 EU, our guides will not be able to fit crampons into your shoes for glacier activities.

Arctic Adventures

Arctic Adventures is a top Icelandic tour operator known for its small-group experiences. Since 1983, they’ve specialized in guiding travelers through Iceland’s wild terrains, from glaciers to volcanoes. Their tours are all about adventure and sustainability, led by expert guides who make sure every trip is safe, fun, and memorable. Arctic Adventures combines deep local knowledge with a strong commitment to nature, making them a trusted choice for anyone looking to explore Iceland up close and responsibly.

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Packing list

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

What to bring (Required)

Hiking boots
Rent with us, +29 USD per person
Water & Windproof Jacket and Pants
Warm outdoor clothing
Headwear
Gloves

We're here to answer your questions

Iceland is known for unforeseeable weather. It is likely that you can see all 4 seasons in one day.

Dressing for that kind of weather can always be demanding, so we suggest dressing in layers. 3 or 4 upper layers are highly recommended, for example, a light t-shirt (preferably wool) next to the skin, then a fleece or heavy wool garment topped off with a waterproof windbreaker.

Jeans are not recommended for our trips as they are not suitable for the weather conditions, they become very heavy, cold and uncomfortable to wear when they get wet.

Lightweight hiking pants, track pants or long cotton pants are convenient and wear wind/waterproof pants over them. There is high UV and sunlight reflecting off on the glacier so we highly recommend using sunglasses and sunscreen even if it is cloudy.

You will need sturdy hiking boots that fit crampons for the glacier hiking tours. If you do not own a pair then we rent out suitable hiking boots as well as a waterproof raincoat and trousers.

It is good to bring your own backpack on our full day or half day tours. It’s the best carry-on for a small lunch, extra clothes and other necessary items.

The scenery on the tour is full of stunning, scenic views that are photographable so you should definitely bring your camera along.

This is surely a personal choice, we do not deny pregnant women on our glacier trips but we highly recommend you to take a closer look at our trip description and difficulty ratings, they will hopefully give you a better idea. We also recommend you to contact your physician, as pregnant women’s health can be quite different. If you have any further questions or concerns then feel free to contact us.

Lunch is not provided on any of our trips, therefore we recommend you to bring your own lunch especially for the longer trips, snacks and a bottle of water (you can refill it on the trip).

Crampons make you enable to walk on the glacier ice without slipping. They are metal spikes that we attach to the soles of your hiking shoes.

Yes, we have specially trained and certified glacier guide on every glacier tour that we offer. And for our 3rd party tours we only partner with operators that meet our quality and safety standards.

Yes, we provide you with all the necessary glacier gear for our glacier hiking tours. Ice axe, crampons, harness, and helmets are provided. This will help you to complete the tour safely. The minimum shoe size to attach crampons is EU 35.

Iceland is known to have a lot of snow and when the snow stays long enough in one place than it turns to ice. Over long periods of time, the ice layers up becoming huge blocks called glaciers. It forms to create ginormous glaciers that sweep across huge masses of land. Iceland is home of the largest glacier in Europe that is called Vatnajökull. The Glacier Guides can tell you more about and everything you need to know about the Glaciers.

Rain is common in Iceland but we never let the rain be in our way to go forward with our tours.
That’s why we highly recommend appropriate clothing so you can be warm and dry on the tours.
Nature is out of our control and therefore we need to adapt to the weather. Your safety is our first priority so if your safety is compromised by going on the tour then we will cancel it and you will get full reimbursement.

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.

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