Glacier Adventure: Ice Climbing Vatnajökull

Embark on a thrilling glacier hike and ice climb in Skaftafell. Scale ice walls, explore crevasses, and experience Vatnajökull’s raw beauty with expert guides.

Duration: 6 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Skaftafell - We begin your glacier adventure at the Skaftafell Booking Center, where our expert guides await to introduce you to this icy wonderland.
    After a briefing on the tour and safety rules, ensuring you’re informed and prepared,and gearing up, we embark on a 20-minute drive to Falljökull glacier.
    Brace yourself for a scenic hike,…
What's Included
  • Small Group Guarantee
  • Glacier Gear (Crampons, Ice Pick, Helmet & Ice Climbing boots)
  • Guided Glacier Hike
What's Not Included
  • Food and Drinks
  • Warm, waterproof clothes (waterproof jacket & pants available to rent for a fee)
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Sturdy hiking boots are required (available to rent for a fee)
Additional Information

This activity offers a thrilling combination of glacier exploration and ice climbing on Europe’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull. Participants have the opportunity to scale towering ice walls and descend into crevasses, experiencing the raw power and beauty of the glacier up close. Led by experienced guides, adventurers receive personalized instruction and…

Location
Arctic Adventures (Skaftafell Base Camp)
The tour departs from the Arctic Adventures Booking Hut, located on the parking lot of Skaftafell National Park. Skaftafell National Park is located just off of the main ring road, on road #998. Skaftafell is approximately 4.5-5 hours east of Reykjavik and 1.5 hours west of Höfn.
Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings
4.4
(12 Ratings)
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1 star
Mattcockerill
Apr 21, 2025
Fantastic day ice climbing with Pavel - We had an incredible time learning to ice climb on Vatnajokull with Pavel. He was great fun and also a great teacher, making sure the whole group enjoyed their day. He was extremely knowledgeable about the glacier and also gave us plenty of recommendations for the rest of our Iceland trip. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elena_c
Mar 17, 2025
Amazing ice climbing adventure! - We did the ice climbing with our guide Pawl who was incredible—-honestly one of my favorite outdoor experiences! 5 climbs, one small and very safe free climb, beautiful glacier, small intimate group. Pawl was incredibly knowledgeable about the glacier, things to do around the area and in Iceland and was very very safety conscious. Highly recommend, will def do this again! For reference, I’m moderately fit and my 66 year old dad is fit and was still able to participate and have fun!
Review provided by Viator
Nadia
Feb 7, 2025
Beautiful and good trip - Really good and nice experience to walk on the glacier and see the beautiful ice caves. Our guide Darragh was very pleasant and skilled, and he told a lot about the Glacier. Can highly recommend this trip
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Meckioi
Nov 20, 2024
What a great experience! - We booked the Glacier hike paired with Ice Cave Tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. While one of us is a regular hiker in the early twenties, the other dislikes climbing and is approach ng the sixties, so very different experiences. The Arctic Adventures team was professional, courteous and really enjoyed what they were doing, making the outing a lot of fun. To start of with everyone’s hiking boots were inspected and I was ordered to rent a pair. Admittedly I was a little miffed as I had acquired my first pair of hiking boots ever for this tour. In hindsight of course the Arctic Adventures team were right as hiking a glacier is literally walking on ice, giving the term an entirely new meaning. I was glad of the additional support the shoes offered, especially as I am prone to sprain my ankles, a feat easily accomplished on a glacier. We received the necessary equipment, though I would context all of us would have been better of with walking sticks than ice picks, which none of us would have been able to use in a sensible way, so at best they constituted a danger to ourselves. After a short drive we arrived at the bottom of the glacier for what looked like a daunting climb. Even for the unexperienced it was easily manageable and the guides were helpful, looking out for the weakest. Even if you do not consider yourself a mountaineer or climber or super fit, it is doable. It was a wonderful experience and I can only recommend it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mpalma66
Sep 20, 2024
Xtream Glacier - Although my climbing activity was cancelled due to bad weather, the company offered me its hiking-only tour and refunded the difference in tour price.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Afeyler
Sep 6, 2024
Absolutely amazing experience - I had the best time on this tour! The glacier is absolutely gorgeous and had some very cool features like small caves and waterfalls to look at. Jergus, our guide, was genuine and friendly, prioritized safety and made sure everyone was cared for and had fun! He was very patient and encouraging for those on the tour who needed a little extra help, and if anyone so much as slipped a little, he was instantly at their side, helping them and making sure they were ok. We were taught how to safely climb ice, and encouraged to push a little harder to make sure we accomplished the goal of the climb! It was a truly wonderful experience - I highly recommend it!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Alnus
Aug 18, 2024
Unique, exhilarating experience we will always treasure! - Our family of 6 (4 teens aged 15-19) had a fantastic day with Maya, hiking and ice climbing on the glacier. The experience was unique and memorable, the views beautiful and awe-inspiring, and Maya was a perfect guide--safe, patient, humorous, and highly educational on both the climbing and the glacier. After getting geared up at the Arctic Adventures hut at the park headquarters, you take a short bus ride to near the glacier outlet. You walk about 20 minutes to the glacier start. After another 10-15 minutes on dirt and rock covered ice, you then stop to put crampons on and learn basic ice hiking techniques. As we hiked, Maya pointed out glacier formations and characteristics and taught us about glacier ecology, history, and more. Eventually we stopped to climb. Each of us rappelled into a beautiful crevasse while Maya expertly belayed us. We then climbed up with climbing axes as she coached and encouraged us. It was exhilarating and challenging, but not overwhelming. We later had a second smaller climb without a rappel. We then hiked higher towards the base of the ice fall portion before working our way back down. Total time from check in at the hut to return was just over 7 hours. Bring snacks or lunch--you can eat during the break while you watch others in your group rappel and climb. Layers of clothing, water, hat, thin to medium gloves are fine for summer. If you are comfortable hiking 5 miles on moderate terrain when not on ice, then you will be fine on this hike. We were never exhausted and Maya kept a steady but comfortable pace. No climbing experience is required, but if you have ever done indoor rock climbing, you'll handle the ice climbing portion well with your guide's pointers. After a 2 week trip in Iceland with several other adventures, this was rated the highlight by our family!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Robertmg8882qp
Jul 25, 2024
Thank you Indra for the glacier ride - Thank you for this day on the glacier..in the rain. With the weather, we're not really in the mood. Thanks especially to Indra (king of the gods) for his French his Spanish and English. Very pedagogue in his explanations and taking care of everyone. I recommend. An SVT teacher.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cab4434uo
Jul 21, 2024
two thumbs up! - Ice climbing was the best experience I had in Iceland. Steve was a phenomenal guide. I can't say enough good things about him!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Wander56498613454
Oct 18, 2024
Discriminating company that kick you out the day before. - We signed up and paid for the tour a month in advance. We also received the voucher in advance. All good before we travel. 12noon the day before the tour, they sent a confirmation email that everything was good to go as scheduled for 10:30am. At 1pm, another email was sent that said they needed to bump us to a different time due to an operation issue. We showed up at 10am. They said we were moved to the 2pm tour. We called the office. The rep lied to us and said the 10:30am was cancelled. However, we were at the meeting location and the tour guides present said the tour was still on. The rep then lied again said it was last minute overbooked. You already confirmed with me a month ago, how can your bump me out because of last minute overbooking? 3rd time I asked for a reason, the rep threaten to hang up the phone. I think they discriminating us because we are the smallest group of 4. They had a bus group and the other group is 6. So they kicked us out the day before to accommodate bigger group for more money. Very unethical and unreliable company.  I would give 0 stars if I could. Try stay away from this company if you are smaller group.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $241
up to 6 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).