Caves of Hella Tour: Uncover Iceland's Ancient Man-made Landmark
4.6
159 Ratings
Hella

Uncover the ancient man-made caves of Hella in Iceland, believed to predate the Viking settlement. Explore the mysteries, hidden secrets, and untold stories of this historic landmark site.

Duration: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Caves of Hella - At this location, called Ægissíða, there are 12 ancient man made caves. In this tour your local guide will take you to four of them.
What's Included
  • Guided tour
Additional Information

Twelve ancient, human-made caves have been uncovered on the land of Ægissíða near Hella on Iceland’s southern coast. Currently, five of these caves are accessible to the public through our guided tours. This historical site represents Iceland’s oldest surviving archaeological remains, with some suggesting the caves predate the Nordic Viking settlement….

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Location
Caves of Hella
You should find the exact location by typing "Caves of Hella" in Google maps. If you dont use that the location should be easy to find, just west of the town of Hella, market with big signs and flags.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(159 Ratings)
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Pedtraveler
Jul 18, 2025
- While driving down the road we decided to make an unplanned stop at the Cave of Hella. We are very glad we did. The staff was friendly and helpful. Our guide Stefan Smari is a true gentleman, scholar and Viking! If you love history, geology and science this is a great stop. We spent about an hour touring the caves and learning about this remarkable piece of Iceland history. Thank you again to Stefan for giving our family a truly unique and magical look into Iceland
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Matthiasg2017
Jul 13, 2025
Super exciting historical insights about Iceland - Visiting these caves is still an insider tip and definitely worth it! Our great guide Stefan Smari Asmundarson, a proven descendant of the first Viking settlers, had an incredible knowledge of these caves and the history of Iceland and explained to us that the cave finds completely upend the previous findings of colonization of Iceland. My subsequent internet research proves him right and I too am now convinced that Iceland was settled much earlier, before it was discovered and settled by the Vikings from about 860 AD.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Brianpa7204pg
Jul 11, 2025
A great chance to look beneath the surface of Iceland’s past! - What an intriguing look into Iceland’s past! Great service and insightful guides made the tour interesting as well as fun! Highly recommend this tour for anyone who wants to learn more about Iceland’s storied past.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Christianhq3166wv
Jul 7, 2025
Caves of Hella - Stefan was our guide, he was a great guy knowledgeable and funny and told a few great stories and historical information, Both my wife and I really enjoyed the trip and its nice to get a feel for some Icelandic history. It made a nice change of pace from some of the other sites Mother Nature provides in Iceland.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Michelle_b
Jul 4, 2025
Excellent Guide - Guide very knowledgeable and Caves were very interesting. So glad we didn’t miss seeing this experience.
Review provided by Viator
587kalim
Jul 2, 2025
So glad we did this! - So happy we stopped here on the way back from Vik to take this tour! Not only were the Caves so cool, the history behind them got us excited to do more research on caves in Iceland! I highly recommend this stop to include in your adventure!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Crimicciacorta
Jun 29, 2025
Recommended - It lasts about an hour and a half. A guide shows the caverns and tells a bit about the rural life of the island, among other things in a very pleasant way. He answers all questions in great detail and it was he - Stefan accompanied our group - who was the real added value of the visit. Maybe the ticket was a bit expensive, but deep down it was worth it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Medicalley
Aug 6, 2025
Worth a visit - Interesting group of caves, with more in the area yet not opened up. Some of the information the guide gave was guesswork as they have had little support from the history department in Reykjavik, but the possible uses for the caves was often easy to see. The carvings on the walls are very evocative. Worth visiting if you are in the area. There is a fun cafe in an old American school bus in the car park!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Navigator828711
Aug 5, 2025
Interesting for history nerds - I went with my daughter (12), who is a Nordic history nerd. She loved seeing the caves and going head to head with our tour guide about the history of Iceland's first and founding settlers. I won't spoil it for you, but it's not who you think it is.
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Sylvain
Jul 7, 2025
Avoid, nothing worth it. Expansive!!! - There is really nothing interesting about small caves that were made by men. Some walls are made out of concrete!! The guy speaks a lot to try to make the visit entertaining but frankly it’s veryexpensive (130€ for 4) and not fun. These are just caves to store stuff, nothing more. Go to the Lava Center instead, it’s twice cheaper and so much more interesting.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Check Availability
From $54
From $54
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
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Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).