Vatnojokull: How To See Iceland’s Best Glacier Ice Cave

Deciding to go to Iceland is the easy part. Choosing the time of year to go is much harder. During the summer, you can get nearly 23 hours of daylight, which opens up all kinds of possibility for traveling at different hours of the day. It’s warmer and you get those beautiful green tones against the black volcanic backdrop of the country. The winter is a lot less accommodating. Weather and road conditions can turn at any moment. The sun sets early, road conditions are difficult, it is brutally cold – and absolutely perfect. 

Despite the drawbacks, there are so many good reasons to visit during the winter months.

You avoid the hordes of tourists spewing from buses, there’s a nightly chance of the Northern Lights dancing in the sky, and you get soft, moody lighting all day long.

For me, it was getting the chance to enter a glacier blue ice cave – something that’s long been on my bucket list.

That was one of the main reasons I chose to do a 7 day road trip through Iceland’s South coast in the unforgiving month of February.

The Difference Between Ice Caves And Glacier Ice Caves

Around the world, you’ll find places where water freezes in rock caves, creating mesmerizing formations of frozen walls, icicles, and waterfalls. These caves often look quite similar each year. However, Iceland’s glacier ice caves are unique and transient masterpieces. These caves form gradually over the year as melting glaciers carve tunnels and pathways through the ice.

When winter arrives, the water freezes, leaving behind stunning blue ice caves whose locations and shapes vary each year. The glacier ice cave you explore this winter may vanish entirely by the next.

There’s a special beauty in the ephemeral, and Iceland’s ice caves embody this fleeting wonder.

Best Glacier Ice Cave Tour Company To Go With?

For our glacier adventure, I went with Glacier Travel Adventures, a locally owned and operated guiding outfit that offers small group tours. When in doubt, go smaller.

PRO TIP: Look for the vehicles a tour company uses in order to gauge the size of the group. Also inquire about the route and timing. When many companies offer similar tours, choose one with a different start time.

In Jökulsárlón, nearly everyone was headed to the Sapphire Ice Cave for the winter season. I wanted a smaller group and an alternative route, so Glacier Travel caught my eye. My communications with the owner, Vigfus, made me very excited for the trip.

We ended up doing a shortened version (explained below) of the Extreme Blue Ice Cave Tour. Typically, this tour lasts 4-6 hours and includes a long glacier hike and a visit to a blue ice cave. I recommend this if you want to truly experience the Vatnajökull Glacier and not just see the ice cave. If you’re short on time or prefer to skip the glacier walk, there’s the easier option of just going to the cave.

If you’re looking for a deal for one of these excursions, try looking on Manawa, since they focus specifically on outdoor activities and adventures.

Alternatively, you can also do go by snowmobile to Ice Cave Glacier from Gulfoss.

Hiking The Famous Vatnojokull Glacier

This morning, we were able to sleep in a bit and only had to drive 10 minutes from Guesthouse Ekra. This was one of our favorite accommodations during our week long trip and was a good base for visiting so many other spots nearby.

We met the owner guide, Vigfus, 15 minutes before the 10 am expedition start time and saw a number of other tour companies getting ready to depart as well. Along with the three people in our party, we were joined by a group of six travelers from Russia for a total of 9.

We were informed that part of the glacier hike would be cut short due to the heavy winds higher up on the glacier. Although I was a little disappointed, I appreciate when guides make these types of calls to ensure everyone’s safety.

A fall off an icy slope can be hard to impossible to stop, even with cramp-ons and an ice axe. On the slick, dome shaped Vatnojokull, a fall could prove fatal.

After a 10 minute drive, we pulled over to let some air out of the tires and began the tumble dryer ride off-road towards the glacier. I actually like the feeling of bouncing around in a car, so this part was fun with a gorgeous terrain to match.

We parked close to the glacier and used our micro-spikes to do the last part of the walk to the glacier. We had brought our own pair of these micro-spikes to Iceland and found it to be an absolutely essential item to have when traveling here during the winter. Best $15 we spent for the trip.

We also put on a climbing harness with two safety lines that will allow us to clip onto a line while we walk along some of the angled sections of the glacier.

Spikes On Ice

Before getting onto the serious ice, we switched to proper cramp-ons with much larger spiked teeth to provide a stronger grip on the glacier. Vigfus walked us through the process of strapping on the cramp-ons and we did a test walk up and down an icy slope with the right technique. I felt very secure with these ‘feet claws’.

Growing up locally, Vigfus played around glaciers his whole life, and the experience has allowed him and other guides to annually scout and find areas that are safe and stable to explore. He can spot weaknesses in the ice that would escape untrained eyes.

Here, we also got our first glimpse of glacier formations in the form of an opaque ice bridge. It looks perfectly solid to me, but Vigfus told us to avoid walking under the bridge because it could collapse at any moment.

Through The Ice Tunnel

As I had hoped, all the large tour groups headed straight to the Sapphire ice cave, while we opted to ascend the line for our glacier walk. Clipping both safety lines onto the main line, we moved at an even pace up from one segment to the next, unclipping and re-clipping one safety line at a time. This is a technique to ensure that we were always connected to the main line. Always.

At the end of the line, we turned into a bright snowy pathway that formed an open tunnel topping out under an ice bridge. There was a group ahead of us, so we took our time here to allow everyone to make their photographs. Without being rushed, everyone had an opportunity to get a clear shot in front of the bridge before making the climb up.

The snow and wind was blowing hard directly at us and I was glad my camera was weather-proof because it was completely covered in snow within seconds of taking each series of shots. You can check out what’s in my gear bag here.

The spot was one of those rare places that’s just as beautiful, if not more so, in person compared with the photographs. With the winter elements putting on a spectacular display, I was having an incredible time making images.

Across The Top Of The Glacier

The snow was a little soft and the incline steep, but the crampons made it pretty easy to climb up. At the top, we exited under the bridge and clipped back onto another line to cross the top of the glacier. I stayed in the back to get a shot of the line and one of those ‘feet in front of landscape’ shots.

Suddenly, someone’s rain cover slipped off the backpack and blew away onto the ice. For a split second, time slowed down. Vigfus turned his head and began to take a step towards the downward slope of the glacier to go after the rain cover. My eyes widened as my inside voice screamed out for him not to do it. As if my thoughts were heard, Vigfus stopped and we watched as the rain cover slid away without resistance and disappeared over the edge of the glacier.

It was a visceral reminder that one misstep and we, too, could have easily gone off the glacier’s smooth and frictionless surface.

Approaching The Sapphire Ice Cave

We finished the line and got off the face of the glacier safely. Vigfus told me that he’s disappointed the weather couldn’t have cooperated because the hike was usually a lot longer and he takes his group further away from the other tours, where it’s just you and nature out there. Completely silent.

I believed him.

We switched back to the micro-spikes and headed to the main attraction. Honestly, it was more crowded than I expected, but not too bad. I was told that the place is usually empty by the time the group returns from the longer hike. I waited a minute for everyone to move into the cave to get a clear shot of the exterior. No big deal.

Inside The Sapphire Ice Cave

We had some time to check out the exterior of the cave while waiting for more people to leave. The ice here wasn’t as blue as photos I’ve seen, but here was a beautiful geometry in texture and design.

It was a lot darker in the cave, but there was still enough light coming in from one end to bring out the incredible blue in the ice. It was nearly transparent and unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

To continue on, we had to crawl under or climb over a little ice bridge. I opted to climb over and got one of my favorite photographs from the trip.

The cave was smaller than I expected, but it was everything I hoped it would be and something to behold at least once in your life.

On All Fours

The next part of the cave required getting down on all fours and crawling under a cramped space lined with lava gravel and sand and a wall of ice above. It was completely dark except for the light from our headlamps. For a few seconds, my mind wandered and I imagined the whole thing collapsing and crushing everyone.

At the other end of the cave, we found ourselves in a tight crawl space with just a few inches of clearance and waited for our turn to enter into a nook at the end. Vigfus broke out a melodic Icelandic folk song and tried to get us to hopelessly sing along. It broke the tension of the waiting in the slightly claustrophobic space.

Once through, we were in a small conical shaped room with a small opening at the top to let in some light. It was a moody kind of beautiful. A few minutes later, we reversed the crawl back out to what now felt like a much bigger cave than when we first entered.

One Of A Kind Experience Into The Ephemeral

A few things about the glacier walk and ice cave trip. This was a proper adventure. While all safety measures were taken and the right gear was provided, you should be somewhat physically fit if you want to do anything more than the easy cave-only tour.

What really stayed with me is knowing that when I left the cave, this would be the last thing I’d ever see this place, as it was, again. Even if I were to return at some point and go back to this same spot, it would be different or not exist at all. It could be frozen over or taken on a new shape. I found this thought to be very poetic and not something I thought about with the other places I’ve visited.

Glaciers are the one of the more visible reminder that we are experiencing rapid climate change. Scientists are now finding that the exposed ice on the surface is between 800-1000 years old. That’s water that’s been frozen for a millennia starting to melt on our watch.

Is walking on glacier and visiting an ice cave on your list? You can also find a bunch of deals on other glacier adventures here.

Looking for more travel inspirations? Scroll through some of the 450+ experiences on my bucket list. Maybe you’ll find your next adventure on there.

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Updated on October 25, 2024