An hour on the ice cap
Langjökull is Iceland’s second-largest ice cap and it sits directly behind Gullfoss — the Hvítá that makes the waterfall comes off it. A snowmobile tour meets at Gullfoss, takes you up onto the ice by super-truck, and gives you about an hour riding on a glacier. At $192 it is the add-on that turns a sightseeing day into something else, and it needs one thing from you that catches people out: a driving licence.
Quick answer
The short answer. $192, about four hours in total with roughly an hour on the machine, meeting at Gullfoss so it slots straight into the Golden Circle. Suits, boots, gloves and helmets are supplied. You need a valid driving licence to steer; passengers do not.
How it works
The hour on the machine is the product. The other three are the getting there and the getting dressed.
The base is beside the Gullfoss car park, which is what makes this a practical add-on rather than a separate day: you finish the waterfall, walk across, and you are there.
From there a modified super-truck on enormous tyres takes you up the track towards the ice cap, which takes about half an hour and is entertaining in its own right. At the base camp on the ice you are put into an overall, boots, gloves, a balaclava and a helmet — all supplied — and given a briefing.
Then roughly an hour on the machine, two people to a snowmobile, in a guided line across the ice. Langjökull is about nine hundred and fifty square kilometres, so what you are riding across is genuinely enormous and, in cloud, genuinely featureless.
Then back down the same way. Four hours door to door from Gullfoss.
Before you book
None of them are dealbreakers. All of them surprise somebody.
A valid, physical licence, shown at the base. Without one you ride as a passenger, which is perfectly good but is not what most people picture. If two of you are going and only one has a licence, that is fine — you swap.
The standard price is per person, two sharing a snowmobile. Most operators offer a single supplement if you want one to yourself, and on a first ride that is worth considering.
Langjökull is an ice cap, not seasonal snow. Tours run in July as readily as in January, and the summer version has the advantage of light and the disadvantage of glare.
The suit they give you is genuinely warm. What they do not always supply is eye protection, and glare off an ice cap on a clear day is severe.
High wind on the ice cap stops the tour. Cancellations are refunded in full, but if this is the reason you booked the day, keep a spare morning.
It meets at the third stop on the loop. Here is the loop it slots into.
The route and directions→Book direct
Snowmobiling on the ice cap, snorkelling between the plates, and the loop itself.
★ 4.6 · 319 reviews
★ 4.8 · 27200 reviews
★ 4.8 · 937 reviews
Common questions
$192 for about four hours in total, of which roughly an hour is on the machine. It meets at Gullfoss, so it fits straight into a Golden Circle day.
To drive one, yes — a valid physical licence, checked at the base. To ride as a passenger, no. Two people share a machine by default, so you can swap.
As an add-on to a Golden Circle day, yes — it meets at Gullfoss and it is completely unlike anything else on the route. As a standalone reason to leave Reykjavík, it is a lot of transfer for an hour of riding.
An overall, boots, gloves, a balaclava and a helmet. You bring warm layers to go underneath and, importantly, sunglasses — glare on an ice cap is severe.
Yes. Langjökull is an ice cap rather than seasonal snow, so tours run year-round. Summer gives you light and glare; winter gives you shorter days and often better snow surface.
Iceland’s second-largest ice cap, about 950 square kilometres, sitting behind Gullfoss. The Hvítá river that makes the waterfall is fed by its meltwater, which is a neat thing to realise while standing on it.
Go deeper
The three headline sites and the six worth adding, with what each one costs.
GullfossTwo drops, 32 metres, 141 cubic metres a second, and the woman who saved it.
Kerið270 metres across, 55 deep, and the only stop on the route with a gate fee.
The other twoA rift between two continents, and the geyser that is asleep next to the one that is not.
Route230 km, which roads, which direction, and every car park with its fee.
ItineraryHour by hour from Reykjavík and back, in the order that misses the coaches.
3-Day Golden Circle & South Coast
★ 4.9 · 646 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h