If you are visiting Iceland then forget about the Northern Lights for a moment because we’re about to introduce you to something just as magical… a wondrous world of natural ice sculptures and formations.

Each year ice caves begin to take shape in Autumn and continue to last throughout the winter (November to March). If you’re feeling adventurous and interested in exploring deep inside a glacier you’re in good luck! We managed to find ourselves one of the best ice cave tour guides in Iceland to let us visit the unique caves found in the Vatnajökull glacier.

 

You may be asking can you visit the ice caves by yourself, but you need to know that ice caves must be treated with the utmost respect. These type of trips are always temperature dependent as not all ice caves are safe to enter. Iceguide.is take away all the worry as they constantly check conditions of the ice caves formed in the Vatnajökull glacier to see which are safe to enter. The other massive benefit of using a tour guide is that you get to view some of the most incredible ice caves that nobody else has discovered. For your own safety and to experience ice caves at their very best we strongly recommend you book with a reputable guide.

The Ice Cave Tour

As we previously mentioned, IceGuide (Óskar) was our chosen ice cave tour guide and we couldn’t have had a better time. Absolutely incredible. We could have stayed there for hours and hours. This really was one of those wake-up moments, it’s not every day you get the chance to explore inside a cave formed by a glacier. Any adventurous people who are looking for a ‘once in a life time experience’ in Iceland, this is for you.

The ice cave tour began at Jökulsárlón, a spectacular glacier lagoon that by itself is worth the drive from Reykjavík. So while you wait for the tour to depart you can take in the breath taking views to excite your anticipation of what’s to come. We were even lucky enough to have seals swim up to us as the edge of the glacier lagoon to say hello! There’s a cafe open all year round with serves some great soup and hot chocolates with a shot of rum to warm you up 😉

We booked ourselves in for the 15:00 slot to allow us time to visit Höfn further up the coast afterwards and to get some photos of Jökulsárlón incorporating the sunset.

After being greeted by Óskar we set off on an exciting off-road adventure across rocky routes and steep hills in a fully kitted out 4×4. With adrenaline pumping and smiles across everyone’s faces, we soon reached the edge of the Vatnajökull glacier.

Time to put on our safety gear before entering the glacier and ice caves. All safety equipment is provided to make exploring the ice caves as safe as possible, which includes crampons, helmet and harness if required.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves at this point as the ice caves say it all…

 

Rest assured you are in safe hands and we completely trust IceGuide who not only kept us safe the whole time, but made sure everybody enjoyed themselves in this breath taking experience.

It’s safe to say, the ice cave tour was one of our favourite activities in Iceland with a very relaxed atmosphere where there’s no rush on time spent here. If we get the chance to come back, we will be doing this again. without a doubt.

For more information visit the IceGuide website – www.iceguide.is

Visit their Facebook page for more stunning ice cave tour photos!

**PLEASE NOTE – we received a complimentary Ice Cave Tour courtesy of Óskar at IceGuide, but rest assure all opinions are honest and our own**