Is it worth it?
Short answer
Worth it
Worth it for almost anyone reasonably mobile, because it is the one thing here you genuinely cannot do unguided — but meet at the glacier rather than buying the eleven-hour coach version if you possibly can.
Crampons, helmet, harness and axe are in the price everywhere. Boots usually are not. The wide spread in this category is transport: the cheapest tours meet you at the glacier car park, the dearest collect you in Reykjavík and drive you back.
Across our own contracted catalogue, glacier hiking day tours run to a median of €128 a person, with the cheapest we hold at €66, from 11 operators. Private and per-vehicle products are excluded, because mixing them into a per-person figure makes it meaningless.
Standing at the edge of Sólheimajökull is free and takes twenty minutes from the car park. It is not the same thing, but it is honest to say it exists.
What we actually hold, with live prices and departures. Nothing here is a placeholder listing — if it is on this page, it can be booked.
BusTravel Iceland
18% below the €142 typical
Anyone with a single free day who wants waterfalls, a…
10 h · from Reykjavík
Dramatic vistas and diverse wonders await on Iceland's South Coast
BusTravel Iceland
about the usual price
from age 8 · pickup at extra cost
14 h · from Reykjavík
Glaciers, waterfalls & black sand beaches with aurora hunt at night
Nordur Travel Services ehf
13% below the €142 typical
pickup included
10 h · from Reykjavík
Explore Iceland's stunning South Coast. See waterfalls like Skógafoss & Seljalandsfoss, black sand beach, and glaciers. Small group adventure from Reykjavik.
Nordur Travel Services ehf
40% below the €205 typical
pickup included · works in rain
10 h · from Reykjavík
Explore Iceland’s stunning South Coast on a small group tour from Reykjavik, led entirely in Spanish. Visit waterfalls, black sand beaches, and glaciers in a fun and personal adventure.
SPS Travel
28% above the €142 typical
pickup included
10 h · from Reykjavík
Deutschsprachige Kleingruppentour zu den bekanntesten Sehenswürdigkeiten an der Südküste
Kalman Tours
about the usual price
pickup included
10 h 30 · from Reykjavík
Explore Iceland’s South Coast in a small group, including the iconic Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls and Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach.
Worth it for almost anyone reasonably mobile, because it is the one thing here you genuinely cannot do unguided — but meet at the glacier rather than buying the eleven-hour coach version if you possibly can.
Walking on a glacier without a guide is genuinely dangerous — crevasses are covered by snow and moulins drop straight through the ice. Walking on one with a licensed guide, roped into a group pace, is about as risky as a hillwalk. Nobody should attempt it alone, which is the whole argument for the tour.
A twenty-minute approach walk, crampons fitted at the ice edge, then about an hour on a gentle gradient behind a guide. No ropes between people, no climbing. Cold hands and one stumble are standard.
Sólheimajökull if you are coming from Reykjavík — it is on the South Coast road and two and a half hours out. Skaftafell if you are already in the southeast: cleaner, more broken ice, fewer people, and usually cheaper for the walk itself.
One checkout, any number of operators
Rankings are not for sale
206 operators vetted, and not all of them accepted
If it falls short, we fix it
Worth it, with conditions.
Worth it, with conditions.
Worth it.
Worth it.
Worth it, with conditions.
Worth it.
Worth it, with conditions.
Worth it, with conditions.
Last updated · prices and departures checked 24 Oct 2026
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