Iceland is small. The choices are not.
Which Golden Circle bus stops long enough to matter. When the ice caves open and when they melt. Whether the whales are better out of Husavik or off the Reykjavik harbour wall.
Where you sleep decides your week
Reykjavik1,002 tours
Akureyri142 tours
Vik87 tours
Skaftafell & Jokulsarlon80 tours
Snaefellsnes57 tours
Husavik8 tours
Isafjordur19 tours- Every region we cover →
The days people fly to Iceland for.
Geysir and Gullfoss in one loop, a green sky over a frozen lake, black sand under Reynisdrangar, a blue cave that only exists in winter. Six days most itineraries are built around, and how to book each one well.
Iceland’s most popular tours.
Every review →The departures that carry more travellers than anything else on the island, and what each one actually gives you for the day.
1
Golden Circle Full-Day Tour with Kerid Crater
Reykjavik Golden Circle bus tour to Geysir, Gullfoss, Þingvellir, and Kerið crater, with Strokkur geyser and a guided day in Iceland.
From · $82
Read our review →
2
Reykjavik Food Walk – Local Foodie Adventure in Iceland
from $146
3
Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoa
from $74
4
South Coast Waterfalls, Black Sand & Glacier Tour
from $126
5
Whale Watching and Marine Life Cruise
from $87
6
Sky Lagoon Entrance Pass With 7-Step Spa Ritual
from $111
7
Golden Circle, Kerid, & Secret Lagoon Tour
from $132
8
Iceland South Coast Full Day Small-Group Tour from Reykjavik
from $139
Nobody can promise you the lights. These give you the best odds.
Aurora hunting is a weather job. Buses chase the clear patch, boats get you away from the city glow, and the good operators run you again free if the sky stays shut. Leave two evenings spare and you will almost certainly see them.
The Golden Circle: three stops, a dozen ways to do it.
All Golden Circle tours →
Thingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss. Everyone drives the same triangle, so the tour decides your day: how long you get at the falls, whether Kerid crater is bolted on, and whether you finish in hot water or back on Laugavegur.
The triangle, on a coach, done by dinner
Rift valley walk at Thingvellir, Strokkur going off every few minutes, then Gullfoss with enough time to walk down to the lower viewpoint.
Golden Circle, then hot water
Same three stops, finished in the Secret Lagoon at Fludir or the Sky Lagoon back in town. The best-value way to see the loop and still get the bath.
Add an hour on Langjokull
A super jeep up onto the ice cap between Geysir and Gullfoss, an hour riding the glacier, then back down for the falls. Book a driving licence holder in each pair.
The blue rooms under Vatnajokull close every spring.
Natural ice caves melt shut in April and refreeze somewhere new each autumn, so no two winters run the same caves. Katla out of Vik works in a bigger cave with a shorter drive; the crystal caves at Jokulsarlon are the ones in the photographs. A glacier hike on Solheimajokull or Falljokull runs all year if you miss the season.
Three things you can only do here.
Waterfalls and whales exist elsewhere. Swimming between two continents, riding a horse with a fifth gear and a puffin colony you can walk up to belong to this island.
The Silfra Fissure
At Thingvellir the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart, and the gap fills with meltwater filtered for decades through lava rock. Visibility runs past a hundred metres and the water sits at 2°C all year, which is why everyone floats in a drysuit. Groups are small, the medical form has to be signed in advance, and dry gloves are worth the upgrade.
- 1Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on Location★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 5,001 reviews
- 2Silfra Snorkeling Between Continents Photos Included- Self Drive★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,427 reviews
- 3Fissure Snorkeling Tour with Underwater Photos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,731 reviews
The Icelandic Horse
Bred in isolation for a thousand years, the Icelandic horse has a gait no other breed keeps: the tolt, smooth enough to carry a full glass. Once a horse leaves the island it can never come back, which is why the bloodline stayed clean. Most rides out of Reykjavik cross lava fields at Raudholar and take beginners without blinking.
- 1Red Lava Horse Riding Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,383 reviews
- 2Icelandic Horse Riding Tour & Pickup Option from Reykjavik★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,662 reviews
- 3Icelandic Horseback Riding Tour with Pickup Option from Reykjavik★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,145 reviews
The Puffin Cliffs
Iceland hosts more Atlantic puffins than the rest of the world put together, and they come ashore only to breed. Mid-May to early August is the window: boats out of the old harbour reach the Akurey and Lundey colonies in twenty minutes, and the Westman Islands hold the biggest colony of all.
- 1Original Big Whale Safari & Puffins by Speedboat★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,221 reviews
- 2Puffin Watching Boat Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,052 reviews
- 3Big Whales and Puffin Island Speedboat Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 979 reviews
Book these before you fly to Iceland.
Most of the island can wait until you land. These four cannot — they run on timed entry, a season that closes, a medical form or a sky that only clears when it feels like it.
- 01Small-Group Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon with Ticket & Kerid CraterEntry is by timed slot. Afternoon slots in summer go weeks ahead and there is no walk-up window.
- 02Katla Ice Cave and Super Jeep TourNatural ice caves run roughly November to March. Nothing gets you inside one in July.
- 03Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on LocationDrysuit groups are small and a health form has to be signed before the day. Height and weight limits are real.
- 04Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot CocoaCancelled cloudy nights all pile onto the next clear one. Book early in your stay so a rebook still fits.
Reykjavik is a base camp with restaurants.
Two thirds of everything bookable in Iceland leaves from the capital, and the pickup points are all within a walk of the old harbour. The south coast is a long but real day trip. Snaefellsnes is doable. Jokulsarlon is a very early start and worth it once.
- 1Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoafrom $74
- 2Golden Circle, Kerid, & Secret Lagoon Tourfrom $132
- 3Iceland South Coast Full Day Small-Group Tour from Reykjavikfrom $139
Iceland is expensive. Here is where the money goes.
Every tour on the site sorted by what it costs per person. The middle band is where most of the island lives, and it is where the classic full days sit.
Museum entry, lagoon admission, harbour whale trips, lava tunnels and the walking tours of the old town.
The full days: Golden Circle loops, south coast runs, glacier hikes, Silfra, horses and the aurora buses.
Ice caves with a super jeep, snowmobiles on Langjokull, helicopter hours and private drivers for the day.
The sea around Iceland is busier than the road.
All boat trips →
Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on Location
Read our review →
Puffin Cruise with Expert Tour Guide from Reykjavik
Read our review →
A closed road is not a lost day in Iceland.
Wind shuts the south coast road more often than snow does, and the forecast can turn in an hour. The answers are all under a roof or under the ground: a lava tunnel that never notices the weather, a bath heated from below, a room where they pour molten rock in front of you.
Anticlockwise from Keflavik, one week.
South CoastThe newest Iceland reviews.
All recent →
Volcano Movie – Experience the Latest Eruptions in Iceland
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Vestmannaeyjar: Puffin, Island, and Volcano Boat Tour
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Vatnajökull: Short Glacier Encounter Walk with 4×4 Transfer
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Vatnajökull National Park: Glacier Kayaking Tour
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