Blue ice the colour of deep water sits under Breiðamerkurjökull from November, while the ash-streaked Katla cave stays open through August. Every Iceland ice cave day tour here shows its cave, its meeting point and its price, and cancels free 24 hours out.
Updated 2026-07-27
Quick answer
An Iceland ice cave day tour costs $161 to $308 per person and runs 3 to 11 hours, depending on where it starts. The blue caves inside Vatnajökull open roughly November to March and meet at Jökulsárlón or Skaftafell, a five-hour drive from the capital. The Katla cave under Mýrdalsjökull, reached by super jeep from Vík, is the one that runs year-round.
Key takeaways
top pick The Cave Tour with the Longest Track Record
Meet at Jökulsárlón, ride a modified 4x4 onto Breiðamerkurjökull and walk 1 to 5.5 km to whatever blue feature the ice has opened this week. Run by Local Guide of Vatnajökull, the family operator that started ice cave tours here.
Live availability for the $161 cave tour on Breiðamerkurjökull. Departures run through the winter season and fill first at weekends and over the Christmas fortnight.
Four of these meet you at the glacier, three collect you in Reykjavík. That single difference is worth more than any other detail on this page: the cave-side tours cost half as much and give you the same cave.
from $161 Meet at Jökulsárlón, ride a modified 4x4 onto Breiðamerkurjökull and walk 1 to 5.5 km to whatever blue feature the ice has opened this week. Run by Local…
from $164 The most-booked cave tour on this page: jeep transfer from the Jökulsárlón car park, then an hour and a half of guided walking on Vatnajökull with time inside…
from $165.22 From Skaftafell base camp a 4x4 bus runs 20 minutes to the foot of Falljökull, then you spend about two and a half hours on the ice, crossing…
from $180.03 A 4x4 super jeep leaves Vík, drives an hour up a rural track into the highlands below Mýrdalsjökull, and you walk two to eight minutes into a cave…
from $272.32 Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss, Reynisfjara black sand and half an hour inside the Katla cave, with an hour of off-road driving at each end of the cave stop. Twenty pickup…
from $307.65 Pickup in Reykjavík, a run out to Húsafell, then a modified glacier truck up onto Langjökull to the entrance of the world's largest man-made ice tunnel. Overalls, overshoes…
from $728.09 Day one takes the waterfalls and Reynisfjara and ends at a hotel near Jökulsárlón; day two is the lagoon, a super jeep to a blue ice cave and…
Sort this table by where you will actually be that morning. If you are sleeping in Reykjavík and driving nowhere, three of these seven are open to you; if you are driving the Ring Road, the cheaper four are.
| Tour | Cave | Starts | Book | Hours | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original blue ice cave | Breiðamerkurjökull | Jökulsárlón | Check | 3 | $161 | 4.6 (1,129) |
| Vatnajökull cave and walk | Breiðamerkurjökull | Jökulsárlón | Check | 3 | $164 | 4.2 (2,171) |
| Skaftafell blue ice cave | Falljökull | Skaftafell | Check | 4 | $165.22 | 4.6 (848) |
| Katla by super jeep | Kötlujökull, all year | Vík | Check | 3 | $180.03 | 4.4 (1,006) |
| South coast and Katla | Kötlujökull, all year | Reykjavík | Check | 10 | $272.32 | 4.7 (744) |
| Langjökull ice tunnel | Man-made, all year | Reykjavík | Check | 11 | $307.65 | 4.5 (196) |
| Two-day south coast | Breiðamerkurjökull | Reykjavík | Check | 2 days | $728.09 | 4.7 (261) |
Glacier gear is included on all seven. Warmth, footwear and the drive are yours to sort out, and they are what ruin more cave mornings than anything else.
This is the ice in the photographs. Breiðamerkurjökull is an outlet of Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe by volume, covering about 8% of the country, and it ends in the lagoon at Jökulsárlón. Guides drive modified 4x4 trucks off the Ring Road and onto the moraine, then walk you anywhere from 1 to 5.5 km depending on which cave has held up.
What you get is a cave, a tunnel or a canyon of compressed ice with no air bubbles left in it, which is why it reads blue rather than white. Tours run roughly November to March here, and the shape changes every winter, so the cathedral you saw on Instagram in February may be a low crawl or a collapsed roof by the time you arrive. Operators say this in their own listings, and the honest ones publish daily cave conditions.
Both Jökulsárlón departures cost about the same: $161 for the three-hour original tour, $164 for the most-booked one. Neither includes a lift from Reykjavík, and the differences between them are set out in the guide to the two crystal cave tours at the lagoon.
Katla sits under Mýrdalsjökull, which caps an active volcano, and each eruption has left a layer of ash in the ice. Where Breiðamerkurjökull is pure blue, Katla is striped: grey and black bands folded through blue ice, closer to marble than glass.
It is the cave that solves the summer problem. Tours run year-round, and in July or August it is the only natural ice cave in Iceland you can walk into. From Vík a super jeep leaves the seafront, climbs a rural track for about an hour into the highlands, and drops you two to eight minutes' walk from the entrance; you are back in Vík three hours after leaving. That trip costs $180.03. The Reykjavík version is a ten-hour day at $272.32 that folds in Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss and the black sand at Reynisfjara, with 30 minutes inside the cave itself.
The cave is smaller than the Vatnajökull ones. One traveller's review of the south coast day puts it plainly: you walk in, turn around and walk out. It is still ice you can stand inside in August. Full detail on the three-hour trip from Vík and on the ten-hour version with the waterfalls.
From Skaftafell base camp a 4x4 bus runs 20 minutes to the foot of Falljökull, and then you are on the ice for about two and a half hours. This is the tour for people who want the walking as much as the cave: ridges, meltwater channels and moulins, the vertical shafts where summer water drills down through the glacier.
Groups cap at twelve per guide, the minimum age is 8, and boots with ankle support are not a suggestion. Crampons, helmet, harness and a walking ice axe come with the ticket. Four hours, $165.22, and it runs in the same November to March window as the caves above the lagoon. The walk across Falljökull is covered step by step in its own guide.
Into the Glacier is not a natural cave at all. It is a man-made ice tunnel bored into Langjökull, Iceland's second largest ice cap, about 500 metres of corridor and chambers lit from behind the walls. Because engineers cut it and maintain it, weather in the ice above matters far less: it runs year-round, takes children of any age who can be carried, and gives you the one blue-ice experience in the country that a warm winter cannot cancel.
The day from Reykjavík is long. Pickup in the city, a run out to Húsafell, warm overalls and a modified glacier truck up onto the ice cap, then the tunnel, and back: eleven hours for $307.65, with the transfer and the gear in the price, and the full day inside the ice tunnel is broken down separately. Fair reviews mention the stops on the way, a hot spring and a horse farm, filling out a day that is really about twenty minutes of driving on a glacier and an hour underneath it.
Average daytime temperature on the south coast, month by month, with the window each cave actually operates in. Inside the ice it stays close to 0°C (32°F) whatever the bar says.
December and January give the darkest skies, the most reliable cave ice and the northern lights window on top; late March and April are warmer to stand around in, but the caves start dripping and some close early. One traveller in early May found the cave melting the day before the operator shut for the season.
Four starting points, spread over 400 km of road. The cluster in the southeast is what most people mean by an ice cave in Iceland; Vík and Húsafell are the two you can reach without committing a whole day to driving.
A natural cave is last summer's plumbing. Meltwater cuts the tunnel, winter drains it, and the guides go looking for it in November.
Water pools on the surface, finds a crack and carves a vertical shaft, the moulin, then a tunnel along the glacier bed
Temperatures drop, melting stops, and the tunnel drains and refreezes into a walkable void
Scouts check outlets for a stable roof and an accessible entrance. A cave that passes gets a route; one that does not is left alone
Melt returns, the roof thins and the same cave is shut. Next winter the ice has moved several tens of metres and the cave is somewhere else
This is why no operator can promise you a specific cave, and why the ice you stand inside was liquid water eighteen months ago.
I took part in a tour at the end of April. We were given all the necessary safety equipment. Divided into small groups of 10. Then, transported to the glacier in a gigantic off-road truck. The hike itself was just spectacular, with a near constant view over the glacier lagoon. […] He brought us around to all the different features on the glacier, then gave us our own individual time inside the blue cave!
You got to see waterfalls, Vik, black sand beach and the ice cave. The scenery to and around the ice cave was also beautiful! The ice cave isn't long, you walk in & turn around and walk out. Still definitely worth doing in my opinion. A great experience!
We did go the day before they closed for the season so the ice caves were melting but we still ended up being able to see what was left which was absolutely beautiful. […] Our tour guide was amazing and super informative about the glacier, ice caves and surrounding mountains.
Quotes come from the GetYourGuide listings for the tours on this page, reproduced as written. Shortened quotes are marked with an ellipsis.
Meet the guide at the glacier and a cave costs $161 to $180. Be collected in Reykjavík and the same cave costs $272 to $308, because you are paying for ten hours of driving.
Operators write it into their own listings: the feature may be a cave, a tunnel or a canyon. Book the guide and the glacier, not the photograph on the listing.
Everything here sits between 4.2 and 4.7. The gap comes from how big the cave was that week, so a tour with 2,171 reviews at 4.2 tells you more than a new listing at 5.0.
Wind and unstable ice cancel departures with little notice. If the cave is your last morning in Iceland, a cancellation means a refund and no cave.
Crampons need a stiff sole and an ankle. Rentals exist at Jökulsárlón; the Skaftafell hike lists sturdy boots as mandatory and means it.
From May to September the Vatnajökull caves are shut. Every cave tour on this page are what remain, and both are worth the trip on their own terms.
Every cave on this page is entered with a licensed operator. Guides from the Association of Icelandic Mountain Guides assess each site daily, checking roof thickness and the ice above the entrance before any group walks in. Going without a guide is prohibited inside Vatnajökull National Park and reckless everywhere else: the entrances move, the roofs thin without warning, and there is no signage on a glacier.
The practical version of that rule is what to wear. Operators supply crampons, a helmet and a headlamp. You bring thermal base layers, a fleece, a waterproof jacket and trousers, gloves, a hat and hiking boots with ankle support.
On 25 August 2024 part of an ice cave gave way at Breiðamerkurjökull during a summer tour of 23 people. One American visitor was killed and his wife was seriously injured. Guides had warned for years that selling Vatnajökull cave tours outside the cold months was pushing the ice too far.
Vatnajökull National Park suspended ice cave tours inside its boundary and a government task force examined why those warnings went unheeded. Stricter terms took effect that November: operators must run a daily assessment group led by an experienced guide, and any site the group judges unsafe is closed for the day, for everyone.
The practical result for you is the calendar on this page. The Vatnajökull caves are a winter product again, and no operator sells them in August.
Those terms apply inside Vatnajökull National Park. Katla, Langjökull and Sólheimajökull sit outside it, where cave tours are covered by operator practice and mountain-guide standards rather than park regulation.
That is not an argument against them. The Katla operators run small groups, keep their own cave and hold licences, and the Langjökull tunnel is an engineered structure inspected as one. It is an argument for reading who runs the tour: check the operator name on the listing, the group size and whether the company publishes conditions. A cancellation for weather is a good sign, not a bad one.
Three clips filmed inside the caves on this page: a Reykjavík guide's rundown of the whole season, the crystal cave above Jökulsárlón, and a visitor's own footage from Katla.
Wake Up Reykjavik walks through which caves open when, and what the tours from the city actually involve.
Video: YouTubeArctic Adventures films the blue ice above Jökulsárlón, including the truck ride onto the moraine.
Video: YouTubeA travelling couple shoots the Katla cave on a wind-hammered day, with no operator behind the camera.
Video: YouTubeVideos load only after you click, and play through youtube-nocookie.com.
For blue ice, the Breiðamerkurjökull caves reached from Jökulsárlón, at $161 for three hours. For a summer trip, the Katla cave from Vík at $180.03, because it is the only natural cave open in July and August. For anyone who cannot risk a cancellation, the man-made Langjökull ice tunnel at $307.65. There is no single best cave: the right one is set by the month you travel and where you sleep the night before. The full Katla vs crystal cave comparison settles the choice cave by cave.
No. Entering an ice cave without a guide is prohibited inside Vatnajökull National Park and unsafe everywhere else. Caves are assessed daily by certified glacier guides from the Association of Icelandic Mountain Guides, who check the roof and the ice above the entrance before a group goes in, and close the site when it fails. Entrances also move from season to season, so a location from an old blog post may not exist.
Yes, if you book the right one for the month. Compressed glacier ice with no bubbles in it reads deep blue in a way no photograph handles well, and standing under it takes ten minutes to sink in. Set your expectations by size: the Katla cave is short, you walk in and back out, while the Vatnajökull caves come with a glacier hike of 1 to 5.5 km. Reviewers who were disappointed almost always expected a cathedral.
Two. The Katla cave under Mýrdalsjökull runs year-round from Vík, and the man-made Langjökull ice tunnel is open every month. The natural blue caves inside Vatnajökull operate roughly November to March and are closed through the summer, a line the park drew firmly after the fatal collapse at Breiðamerkurjökull in August 2024. Month-by-month detail is in the guide to ice caves in Iceland in summer.
From $161 per person if you meet the guide at the glacier, and $272 to $308 if a bus collects you in Reykjavík. The Skaftafell blue ice cave and glacier hike is $165.22 for four hours, Katla from Vík is $180.03, and the two-day south coast trip with a night near Jökulsárlón is $728.09 including the hotel and breakfast. Glacier gear is in every price.
Yes, three ways. The south coast and Katla day runs 10 hours for $272.32 and takes in Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss and Reynisfjara. The Langjökull ice tunnel day runs 11 hours for $307.65. A Vatnajökull cave as a day trip from the city is harder, because Jökulsárlón is 380 km and about five hours' drive each way, which is why the blue ice cave usually comes as a two-day trip with a night by the glacier at $728.09. Every realistic option is compared in the ice cave day trip from Reykjavík breakdown.
Eight on the Katla cave from Vík, the Reykjavík south coast day and the Skaftafell glacier hike. Ten on the original Jökulsárlón cave tour, which walks up to 5.5 km on the ice. The Langjökull ice tunnel is the exception: children of any age can join if a parent can carry them for up to an hour.
The air sits close to 0°C (32°F) year-round, so dress for a cold, wet walk rather than a cave: thermal base layers, a fleece, a waterproof jacket and trousers, gloves and a hat. Hiking boots with ankle support are the one item operators refuse to bend on, because crampons will not hold on trainers. Jökulsárlón rents boots at the meeting point. Crampons, helmet and headlamp come with the tour.
High wind, heavy rain or an unstable roof will cancel a departure, and the operator either reschedules you or refunds the booking. You can also cancel yourself up to 24 hours before departure for a full refund on all seven tours here. Book the cave for the start of your trip so a cancelled morning still leaves you a second chance.
Less time than the tour length suggests. Around 30 minutes in the Katla cave on the south coast day, roughly 40 to 90 minutes on the Vatnajökull tours where the glacier walk is part of the experience, and about an hour on the two-day trip. The rest is driving, gearing up and the hike in. The step-by-step of the whole day is in what to expect on your first ice cave tour.