4-Day Northern Lights, Snaefellsnes, and Glacier Lagoon Tour with Ice Caving from Reykjavik

After breakfast on day two of your four-day winter adventure in Iceland, you will get to explore the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. This 56-mile (90 kilometers) long feature is packed with sites along both shores and has something to interest all manner of travelers.

You’ll get to see Arnarstapi, a fishing village that has maintained a traditional way of life even as it has adapted to the tourist industry. Its coastline is particularly stunning, with dramatic rock arches such as Gatklettur.

Another stunning stretch of shore is Djupalonnsandur, a black sand beach. Your guide will allow you to test your strength against the four lifting stones here, which seamen historically used to see if they were fit for work on the dangerous seas.

Kirkjufell mountain can be found on the peninsula’s northern side and will be instantly recognizable for Game of Thrones fans. A standalone peak shaped like a pyramid, church, or arrowhead, based on who you ask, it is magnificent from all angles and boasts an adjacent waterfall that you can sometimes see frozen in winter.

The highlight of the peninsula is undoubtedly its crowning subglacial volcano, Snaefellsjokull. Set in the center of a national park of its name, it has inspired writers such as Jules Verne and Halldor Laxness with its beauty. 

Those who believe in mysticism claim Snaefellsjokull rests on the intersection of two ley lines, explaining its magical and unforgettable ambiance. Thousands even once gathered here on the rumor that it would be an alien landing site!

If you want to add an adventure to today’s journey, you can go on a ‘journey to the center of the earth’ by embarking on a lava-caving trip into Vatnshellir. Large enough to accommodate those who suffer from claustrophobia and filled with magnificent sculptures of ice and rock, it is a perfect place to marvel over the beauty beneath Iceland’s landscapes.

If enough light is left in the day, your guide may take you to various other sites, such as the Londrangar basalt plug or the church of Budir. If it is dark and clear, you’ll set off on another northern lights hunt before heading to your accommodation in Reykjavik.

After breakfast on day three, you’ll leave Reykjavik for the magnificent South Coast. As you travel toward your first destination, you’ll see geothermal villages, an abundance of Icelandic horses, and some stunning mountain ranges. If it is clear, you’ll even get to marvel over the volcano that erupted in 2010, Eyjafjallajokull, and the Westman Islands.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall will be your first sightseeing stop. Tumbling from a cliff that stands 197 feet (60 meters) tall, its scale, beautiful cascade, and the cave behind it make it a unique attraction. If the weather conditions allow, you will get to walk behind the water for some fantastic views and photographs.

Next up is another waterfall, Skogafoss. Slightly taller than Seljalandsfoss and far more powerful, its cascade and the vast blooms of spray that arise from it are mesmerizing. This place is also steeped in folklore regarding a hidden treasure. If the stairs alongside it are not icy, you can ascend them for some great new angles.

You’ll continue along the South Coast to the black sand beach of Reynisfjara, one of the most stunning beaches in the world. Its black sands stretch endlessly in either direction, its powerful waves shatter against the shore, and its windswept cliffs host a set of hexagonal basalt columns. Out to sea, you can see the remains of two ‘trolls’ frozen in the light of the sun, called the Reynisdrangar sea stacks.

You will then get to see the charming village of Vik, the southernmost settlement in the country and one of the very few in the region, which has long been swept with glacier floods and lava from the countless volcanoes.

As you head to your accommodation around Hof, your guide will watch the skies for the possibility of another memorable viewing of the northern lights.

On your final day of this amazing four-day tour, you will enjoy three experiences that so many coming to Iceland in winter crave. Firstly, you’ll explore a crystal blue ice cave, then witness the icebergs of the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach, and finally explore the magnificent Skaftafell Nature Reserve.

The crystal blue ice caves are magical attractions that are only accessible for a few months of the year because of the specific conditions required to create them. Opening under the largest ice cap in Europe, Vatnajokull, they form a stunning network of corridors and chambers of the most intense blue imaginable. Your guide will give you all the equipment needed to explore them safely and allow you to marvel over the colors, textures, and ethereal refraction of the light.

Jokulsarlon is Iceland’s deepest lake, separating the ocean and a glacier tongue. As the glacier tongue breaks apart, it fills the lagoon with icebergs, some of which tower hundreds of feet high. They float in thousands, shimmering blue and white and streaked with ash from centuries-old volcanic eruptions.

After many months, the bergs break apart small enough to pass through the small channel to the ocean, where most immediately wash ashore. Due to how the ice glistens like gems against the black sands, this stretch of coast has the nickname Diamond Beach. Your guide will show you the area and allow you to explore and take photographs.

As if these two sites were not impressive enough, they have even more appeal to animal lovers due to the seals found in the waters and on the icebergs.

With these attractions thoroughly explored, you’ll head back along the South Coast to visit Skaftafell, a nature reserve in the Vatnajokull National Park. Framed by towering peaks and mighty glaciers and filled with rivers, forests, and lava fields, there are few corners of the country as unbelievable and breathtaking.

You’ll then make the drive back to Reykjavik. Though the journey is long, the hours on the road provide many chances to seek out and marvel over the northern lights. You’ll arrive back in the capital in mid to late evening and can retire knowing you have truly made the most of four days in Iceland!