On a particularly beautiful day back in March, I decided (as I sat by the window of our home office trying to concentrate on work without much success) that I needed to go out and do something. It was rather cold outside but the sky was blue and the sun shining and the thought of spending yet another day in front of the computer, after a few very hectic work weeks, just felt cruel and unfair somehow. You know, like one of those dogs on Facebook who are planted in front of a treat and told to wait and then the owner leaves the room and doesn’t seem to have any intention of ever coming back. I am the dog in this scenario, in case that wasn’t obvious, and the great outdoors the treat.

So I made the spontaneous decision to go do something. I made a quick calculation in my head and figured out that if I’d leave within the next hour or two, I could make it to Húsafell for the afternoon departure of the Into the Glacier tour. Two short phonecalls later, I was digging up my longjohns and swimsuit (which is not needed on the tour but more on that later) and out the door I went, leaving the husband in charge of work for the day.

Now, I have to be really honest about something here and tell you that I had never been that excited about the Into the Glacier tour. Ever since it first was offered, it felt gimmicky and Disneyland-esque to me and I just wasn’t feeling it. They also had some issues with the construction at the beginning which, at the time, just felt like a reinforcement of my preconceived notions about it.

I did recognize though that I was judging something that I didn’t know much about based on some idea about what traveling in Iceland should be like. Which, to be fair is not a great way to go about things. One thing I always try to do when I catch myself prejudging something like that is to give it a fair chance to prove me wrong. Which is why I decided after a while that I should do the tour despite my reservations but my attempts always failed due to unfavorable weather conditions or scheduling conflicts. On that pretty day in March, though, the stars finally aligned.

So what is the Into the Glacier tour?

Basically, in 2010 a bunch of people in the area of west Iceland decided it would be cool to dig a tunnel into Langjökull glacier (Iceland’s second largest) and give visitors a chance to learn about the glaciers by getting inside of one. It was a pretty crazy idea for many reasons but with the help of scientists and engineers, they somehow made it happen.

On the tour, you are transported by a huge vehicle from Húsafell in winter and Klaki Base Camp in summer to the opening of the tunnel on the glacier. You will then go through the tunnel, which is kind of circular, with a guide who will tell you about its construction and give you some interesting facts about glaciers and how they behave. If you’re lucky, your guide may even sing to give you a better idea about how sound travels inside. This walk through the tunnel takes about an hour an then it’s time to drive back down from the glacier in the monstrous vehicle. The whole tour can take up to 4 hours depending on the conditions but when we did it was closer to 3-3.5 hours.

So did the Into the Glacier tour prove me wrong?

I’ll be the first to admit that they kinda did.

I think the mistake I made was to compare Into the Glacier to the natural ice caves you can find in Iceland (and just other natural experiences in general). In comparison, this man-made ice tunnel obviously feels more artificial with its LED lighting and even walls but I don’t think the Into the Glacier people ever intended it to be anything like a natural ice cave. In fact, they’re very proud of the process of building it and talk a lot about the engineering feat that it was. They talk about the struggles when dealing with a moving glacier and the mistakes and happy accidents they encountered on the way. The fact that it’s not natural is partly the appeal of it.

If you’re going to approach the Into the Glacier tour as an alternative to natural ice caves you are probably going to get disappointed. Having visited a number or natural ice caves myself I can tell you that this is a very different experience. If you approach it for what it is, an opportunity to learn about glaciers from inside of one and seeing someone’s kind-of-out-there idea being realized I see no reason why you would not enjoy this tour.

One of the tour’s strongest selling points is that it’s accessible to almost anyone who can walk on their own. It’s slow-paced enough that even those with mobility issues should be able to join it but not so slow that it’s boring to everyone else. So you get the adventure of going on a glacier without the hassle of having to climb up and down things in the snow/ice or do long treks.

They also welcome kids of all ages and offer good discounts for kids (kids under 12 go for free and teenagers 12-15 years old pay 50%). This makes Into to the Glacier a very family friendly activity which is not the case with all adventure tours in Iceland. When I did this tour we had a little boy of 5 or so with us and the guide offered him a sled that his parents could drag him around the tunnel which I’m sure many kids would love.

I think it’s also part of the fun to ride up to the glacier in this huge vehicle and the folks on my tour seem to really enjoy it.

When I posted photos and stories from this trip on Instagram, I got a lot of response from people who said this had been one of their favorite experiences in Iceland. I wouldn’t go so far but I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The guides were good, I enjoyed the educational part of it and just the idea of being inside a glacier is kind of cool.

Practical points

The Into the Glacier Tour is offered all year. In the winter, the meeting point for it is in Húsafell but in the summer the meeting point is in Klaki Base Camp. The road to get there is really bad and it’s not recommended you drive there without a 4×4. If you don’t have a 4×4, you can take a shuttle from Húsafell to Klaki for an additional fee before every departure.

Although the ride up to the glacier from Klaki is a bit bumpy it’s not that bad. Sometimes pregnant women and those with back problems are advised against bumpy super jeep tours but at least the day I did this tour I don’t think that would have been an issue.

It’s slippery inside the tunnel but you will get crampons to help with that. They’re available in various sizes, including kids sizes. The 5-year-old on our tour refused to sit on his sled and using the crampons so his parents were forced to hold him most of the way until he could finally be convinced to wear the crampons. So if your kids can be quirky that way, it may be a good idea to explain this to them in advance so they don’t make an issue out of it once they get to the tunnel.

There are bathroom facilities at Klaki Base Camp and Húsafell and there’s a portapotty at the entry of the tunnel. I would recommend you use the bathroom in Húsafell before the tour but if you need, you at least know it’s there. In the winter, they make a photo and a bathroom stop at Klaki before they finish the drive up the glacier.

Finally, I was told by our driver that departure at 15:30 in winter is usually the best departure because the groups tend to be smaller and he also said that the weather was ofter better then than in the morning. So you may want to consider that if you plan to book.

Making a day out of it

The starting point of this tour is about 2 hours away from Reykjavík in an area called Borgarfjörður. Instead of just driving directly to the meeting point, it’s ideal to make a day out of it and visit Hraunfossar waterfall on the way there and maybe Krauma Nature Pools by Deildartunguhver on the way back. That’s what I did (remember the swimsuit) and it was so nice to warm up in the hot pools after being on the glacier. Krauma is fairly new but I found it really nice and will surely be back. I also ate at the Krauma restaurant and was pretty satisfied with the whole experience. Good burger from beef raised in the area and nice service. I don’t ask for much more.

If you don’t plan to rent a car, you can do the Into the Glacier Tour with a transfer from Reykjavík. It’s an 11-hour long tour and includes a stop at Hraunfossar waterfall. We can also offer private tours to include all the same stops I did on my adventure. Just be in touch via e-mail and we’ll hook you up.