Skaftafell Adventure Tour - 5-Hour Expedition

Highlights

Inclusions

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 211 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Showing reviews written in English.

• 5Do it!!! One in a lifetime experience.

  All I have to say is wow! This was a highlight of our two week ring road trip! I never in a million years would have thought I would hike a glacier. My husband and I are from miami. Not avid hikers and we have 0 elevation where we are from. We were able to do it! They provide you with crampons which were easing to put on and walk with. We made it all the way to the blue spikes and walls and even got a taste of climbing. Our guide was amazing! So good and what she does. Always made sure we were safe and having a good time. Even though I fell twice it wasn’t bad. Just slipped on the gravel and my crampons tripped me up when they got stuck on my shoe laces but even with that it wasn’t bad so very epic and worth every penny. Do it!

  Michelle_VAugust 2026via Viator

• 5Amazing, once in a lifetime experience

  This Glacier Expeditions tour, once in a lifetime experience. They checked the shoes I am wearing and suggested to wear theirs since mine didn't have ankle support. Picking the correct shoe size is more important which I realized thru the pain after climbing up. Great instructions by our Guide Andre, patiently accommodating everyone in the group. Short ride to the base, 20 minutes walk, then hiking for nearly 5 hours. Wind, weather was very favorable that day to us. Enjoyed to the maximum, felt very good and refreshing. Highly recommend this one.

  Sampath_NJuly 2026via Viator

• 5Kaspar is the G.O.A.T. what a hike

  We have been on glacier tours before, but this one was something special. The glacial terrain was exceptionally variable, leading to many technical options. We had a strong group and our guide Kaspar made the day insanely fun, teaching us how to navigate the glacier safely and went the extra mile to teach us some technical aspects of navigating the tougher spots. Why keep reading, just book it already. Again, stop reading - book the tour! (Check the weather a couple days beforehand and move the date if you can!)

  Z6670PDgarycJuly 2026via Tripadvisor

• 3Wanted to love it, but unfortunately just didn't.

  We really wanted to love this experience, but we just didn't. Thankfully, we got lucky with the weather. But we also got stuck with some people in our group who were not really physically ready for the challenge (which is a risk on these types of tours). Thus, we did not get nearly as high on the glacier as other groups did, and spent a lot of time waiting for members of our group to take breaks and photos. Although I wore Hoka hiking boots with ankle support, they said the crampons would not fit around the rounder heel and toe that shoe maker has. My husbands did not have high enough ankle support. So we both had to wear their boots and we both got blisters. My guess is that we would have enjoyed the tour slightly more in our own shoes. Our guide was nice, knowledgeable, patient and professional. The gear appeared to be good quality, and we felt safe the entire time. But the tour just wasn't what we were expecting. We both felt like the Katla ice cave tour we had done a couple of days earlier (albeit in terrible weather) was much more enjoyable and more worth the money, even though it was more expensive. I would potentially recommend this tour to some people, but not universally and only if they knew exactly what they were getting into. A few other things to note - trekking poles are not recommended by the company. I recorded our hike at just over 4 miles and about 1200' elevation gain. (mind you, other groups went father/higher). Hiking is a mix between loose rock and ice, and I think only about 2 miles (or less) was on the glacier. I will say, it is definitely cooler on the second shelf than where the 3hr hikes go. Much better views and more variation. Hope this info helps!

  Melissa_FJuly 2026via Viator

• 5Beautiful!

  Great experience! The glacier is beautiful. Paula was a great guide and was focused on our safety as well as our enjoyment. You do have to have a moderate fitness level as it was more than 6 miles total, a lot of that uphill.

  Vanessa_RJune 2026via Viator

• 1Very Poor Experience with Troll’s 5 hour Glacier Hike

  Troll lists and markets a 3h beginner friendly hike, and a 5h moderate challenging hike to go deeper into the glaciers and to see more. This review is meant for the adventurous who really want to go an immersive experience, who are aware of your physical abilities, and are comparing tour operators just like me in the same position, then. There is a good chance you will be on a 5 hour grueling walk at a pace where you stop every 10 steps for a couple of minutes of rest, for 5 hours, without getting to see glacier features other than streams of water you can see around Iceland. Emphasis is, the moderate challenge of the hike is not going further, higher, moderate speed, to explore- the challenge was stopping every 10 steps for a few minutes rest, without exaggeration. First the group of guides see you and gear you up at the meeting point (all is good for there). Second, a 15 min bus ride to outside the glacier. Next, a 20min walk to entry point of the glacier, before you are randomly grouped. Do note at this point, you are randomly grouped with others (you should get to stay as a couple or family). There were these two points where the guides/ TROLL could assess the suitability of the participants, and then make an informed decision to group. [Actual Experience] Just barely 10-15 minutes stepping on the glacier (this was after the 20 min walk to the entry point), a participant who clearly did not have the physical ability to be on the hike, could not go on at the “typical” pace. The guide, who was remarkably kind, offered to hold the arm of the one participant, for the entirety of the 5 hour hike from here, and we did 10-15 steps, stop for 2-3 minutes (on average) for the whole tour. Please count, literally, 10-15 steps, and you stop. This was far off the typical glacier walk you are supposed to experience, as you will 1) lag behind the supposed pace by more than 1 hour, 2) you will not see beyond ice on the ground and streams of water. After 3 hours of dragging through the walk, we had to turn back. We saw other groups coming down from levels above, managed to see one group experiencing abseiling down a small ice wall, while we had to turn back. We were so slow that the original bus load of people were long gone, and many other groups who came up later than us, went past us to exit. This review is to account that Troll Exp. does not have any processes in place to attempt to group participants intentionally based on abilities, and will based on “carrying out for safety and wellbeing” to not meet the marketed 5h tour objectives. 1. They could have comms for another guide/ group who was exiting to help bring down the participant while the rest of us go on 2. Made the decision at the 10-15 min mark for regrouping, let the participant join a 3h group, instead of the whole group go through 5h grueling stroll All said, the guide was enthusiastic and really kind to the well-being of the participant. Not blaming the participant too, as it’s the company’s responsibility, and the participant tried her/his best. We did not experience what we signed up and paid for. This may sound being realistic, but this is as real as it gets. You aim to go for a seafood meal, pays a restaurant a full price for it, but due to one patron being allergic to seafood, the restaurant changes it to a non-seafood meal and says they fed you anyway. I am sure the company did many good tours. However, you will be trying your luck due to their lack of process in this area. If you’re going for a 3h/ non physical tour, I think it should be ok. If you want to go for the allegedly more intense/ immersive one? My ending review, roll the die and go for another tour operator. Troll exp. is simply this. June 2026

  KennyH1214June 2026via Tripadvisor

Know before you go

How it compares in Skaftafell

• Its from-price is 17% below the median of the 42 experiences we list in Skaftafell.
• Its length is typical for the group.
• By number of reviews it ranks 7 of 42.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Skaftafell

Skaftafell is a green pocket of Vatnajökull National Park in south-east Iceland, with glacier tongues, the Svartifoss waterfall and walking trails.

Skaftafell is a green oasis in south-east Iceland, set between black sand plains and the white ice of Vatnajökull, Europe's largest ice cap by volume. It forms part of Vatnajökull National Park, and from the visitor centre trails lead through birch scrub and heather to glacier tongues and waterfalls. The Skaftafellsjökull, an outlet glacier, is in view from several paths, and the huge outwash plain of Skeiðarársandur stretches to the coast.

Top-ranked sights in Skaftafell: Svartifoss Waterfall, Skaftafellsjökull.

See all 42 experiences in Skaftafell