Everything Iceland does best leaves from Reykjavik.
Which Northern Lights run actually finds them. Which Golden Circle bus skips the crush. What the Blue Lagoon really costs, and when the ice caves open. Every tour out of Reykjavik, reviewed and ranked.
Aurora, ice, geysers, lagoon — the Reykjavik shortlist.
The aurora and the ice caves in winter, the midnight sun, puffins and whales in summer, the Golden Circle and the Blue Lagoon all year. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to book each.
Northern Lights: pick the night that finds them.
All 75 Northern Lights tours →
The aurora is a lottery, but the right operator stacks the odds: dark-sky spots, a read on the cloud and the solar forecast, and a free re-try if the sky stays shut. These three carry the most travellers — the full list sorts the rest by how you want to chase.
Big bus, wide net, free re-try
The classic: a heated coach drives clear of the city glow, guides work the forecast, and most operators let you ride again free the next clear night if the lights are a no-show.
Minibus, dark spots, real photos
Fewer people, further from town, a guide who can park where the coaches cannot — and who takes the long-exposure shot of you under the curtain that a phone never will.
Pro camera, your shot, sent next day
For the picture you actually came for: a photographer sets the exposure, frames you against the sky, and emails the edited files the following morning.
The most-booked days out of Reykjavik, geysers to the aurora.
Every review →The tours more travellers take than anything else out of Reykjavik — and what makes each one worth its day.
1
Golden Circle Full-Day Tour with Kerid Crater
Reykjavik Golden Circle tour with Kerið, Geysir and Gullfoss. See Strokkur spouts, Þingvellir rift valley, and volcanic crater views by bus.
From · $82
Read our review →
2
Reykjavik Food Walk – Local Foodie Adventure in Iceland
from $146
3
Northern Lights Bus Tour from Reykjavik
from $73
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
The Golden Circle, and the stops the coaches skip.
Thingvellir’s continental rift, the geyser that named them all, Gullfoss falling in two tiers — then Kerid’s red crater, a tomato-farm lunch, a snowmobile on the glacier above. The classic loop, sorted by which version earns the day.
The South Coast is a waterfall, then a glacier, then a black beach.
Seljalandsfoss you walk behind, Skogafoss you feel through your boots, Reynisfjara’s basalt columns and sneaker waves, a glacier tongue at Solheimajokull, and past Vik the Katla ice cave under Myrdalsjokull. Long days over big ground — these are the runs that pace it right.
Iceland’s answer to a cold day is a warm one, outdoors.
The Blue Lagoon’s silica water in a black lava field, Sky Lagoon’s infinity edge over the North Atlantic, the Secret Lagoon steaming in a Golden Circle village. Warm water, cold air, and the aurora sometimes overhead — and every one has to be booked to a timed slot.
- 1Small-Group Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon with Ticket & Kerid Craterfrom $249
- 2Blue Lagoon: Admission Package with Drink, Towel, and Maskfrom $109
- 3Blue Lagoon Admission with Transfersfrom $231
Iceland is expensive. Here is what a day actually costs.
Every tour on the site, sorted by what it actually costs. Iceland is not cheap — but a great day here can still start at the price of dinner.
City tickets and the indoor attractions, the Keflavik airport bus, the Secret Lagoon’s own admission — Reykjavik on a normal budget.
The classic day tours: Golden Circle loops, South Coast runs, whale watching, the Sky Lagoon ritual and the Northern Lights coach.
Ice caves and the glacier lagoon, Silfra drysuits, Blue Lagoon transfer combos, super-jeep days and the helicopter splurge.
The rift, the horse and the lava — Iceland only.
Waterfalls and hot springs you can find elsewhere. Snorkelling between two continents, a horse with a fifth gait and molten rock a few feet away belong to Iceland alone — and most of these run right through the summer, too.
Snorkelling the Silfra fissure
Silfra is the flooded crack where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart, on the Golden Circle at Thingvellir. It is filled with glacial meltwater so clear the visibility runs past 100 metres, filtered through lava for decades before it arrives, and cold enough (about 2°C) that you float in a drysuit. You are drifting above two continents at once, and you are allowed to drink the water mid-dive. It runs year-round.
- 1Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on Location★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 5,001 reviews
- 2Fissure Snorkeling Tour with Underwater Photos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,731 reviews
- 3Silfra Fissure Snorkeling between Two Continents★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,712 reviews
Riding the Icelandic horse
Bred pure for a thousand years and never crossed, the Icelandic horse is small, sure-footed and has a fifth gear — the tölt, a running walk so smooth you can carry a full glass at speed. Rides leave from lava fields minutes outside Reykjavik in every season and most weather. Once a horse leaves the island it is never allowed back, to keep the bloodline clean.
- 1Red Lava Horse Riding Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,383 reviews
- 2Icelandic Horse Riding Tour in Lava Fields★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,356 reviews
- 3Icelandic Horseback Riding Tour with Pickup Option from Reykjavik★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,145 reviews
Lava, up close
Iceland sits astride the mid-Atlantic ridge, and the ground keeps rewriting itself — the recent Reykjanes eruptions drew crowds to fresh lava a short drive from town. When nothing is erupting, Reykjavik’s LAVA SHOW pours real molten rock into a room a few feet from your seat, glowing at about 1,100°C. It is the only show of its kind anywhere.
- 1LAVA SHOW – Immersive Experience Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,360 reviews
- 2Lava Show Reykjavik Admission Ticket – Optional Premium Upgrade★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,278 reviews
- 3Golden Circle, Volcano Crater and Blue Lagoon Small-Group Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,932 reviews
Under the glaciers, the winter turns blue.
All ice cave tours →
Golden Circle and Glacier Snowmobiling Day Trip from Reykjavik
Read our review →Book these before you fly to Iceland.
Most of Iceland can be sorted from your hotel the night before. These cannot — they run on timed slots, winter-only windows and daily quotas that do not care when your flight lands.
- 01Small-Group Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon with Ticket & Kerid CraterTimed entry, booked in advance — there are no walk-in tickets, and the peak evening slots go weeks out.
- 02Northern Lights Bus Tour from ReykjavikThe aurora only shows from roughly September to April, and the small-group runs with photographers fill up first.
- 03Katla Ice Cave and Super Jeep TourThe caves re-form every winter and no two seasons match, so guides cap the numbers — the best-rated departures are gone weeks ahead.
- 04Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on LocationDrysuit snorkelling runs to a fixed daily quota with height and medical rules — turn up unbooked and you do not get in.
Icelandic weather changes its mind. These days do not.
A clear morning can turn to horizontal rain by lunch, and the wind closes roads without asking. The best answers shrug it off: a geothermal lagoon is better in a storm, a lava tunnel and an ice cave are underground, and a Reykjavik food walk moves indoors between tastings.
By corridor — where the day heads
Golden Circle126 tours
South Coast76 tours
Snaefellsnes32 tours
Reykjanes & Blue Lagoon6 tours
Jokulsarlon41 tours
Further afield21 tours- All tours →
A first week in Iceland, reviewed end to end.
Reykjavik
Northern Lights
Blue LagoonThe newest reviews out of Reykjavik.
All recent →
Deluxe Whale Watching and Whales of Iceland Exhibition Combo from Reykjavik
Read our review →
Private Day Trip to the Icelandic South Coast from Reykjavik
Read our review →
Private Transfer from Reykjavik to Reykjavik Airport KEF by Sedan
Read our review →
Day Trip to the Golden Circle and Hot spring Geyser by 4WD Jeep from Reykjavik
Read our review →
South Coast and Glacier Snowmobiling Day Trip from Reykjavik
Read our review →
Private Tour Höfn: Jokulsárlón , Diamond Beach, Secret Glacier
Read our review →
Conventional Ride (Free as a Bird) from Hveragerdi
Read our review →
Experience Countryside of Iceland by Horseback Riding
Read our review →
Cold & Hot: Adventure Spa Tour Combo: Silfra & Sky Lagoon Self-Drive
Read our review →
7 Day Iceland with Reykjavik Northern Light | Blue Lagoon | Golden Circle ……
Read our review →
Classic Golden Circle & Kerið Small-Group Tour from Reykjavík
Read our review →
Northern Lights Tour from Reykjavik with Lifetime Guarantee
Read our review →