Iceland South Coast Full Day Tour: Waterfalls, Glacier and Eyjafjallajokull

Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss

Seljalandsfoss is the waterfall with a path behind the curtain of water, which is the reason to bring a waterproof layer rather than an umbrella. Skogafoss is the wider, heavier one further east, with a staircase up the side to a viewing platform.

Both sit at the foot of the same escarpment, the old coastline, and both are fed by ice from Eyjafjallajokull above. That connection is the volcano content of the first half of the day.

Solheimajokull and Reynisfjara

Solheimajokull is a glacier tongue flowing off Myrdalsjokull, the ice cap covering Katla, and the tour stops for the view rather than a walk on the ice. The Met Office has warned that the terminus is unstable, with rockfall and shifting ice a risk to visitors, which is a good reason not to wander on it unguided.

Reynisfjara is the black sand beach with the basalt column cliff and the sea stacks offshore. The columns are cooled lava, and the waves there are dangerous in a way that catches people out every year: they arrive without warning and pull hard.

Vik and the Drive Back

There is a short photo stop at Vik, the village under Myrdalsjokull, before the run back to Reykjavik. If the town interests you more than a photo, the ice cave tours and the Lava Show both start there, and the Lava Show is a 55 minute indoor option at $55.

The drive is the honest cost of this day. Ten hours, four stops and a photo halt means several hours on the road, which is why the small-group minibus matters more than it would on a shorter trip.

Why You Cannot Walk Up It

The summit crater sits under a glacier. No operator on these platforms sells a walking route to it, and the ways onto the mountain are mechanical: a snowmobile ride on the ice cap at $250 for 3 hours, or a super jeep up the slopes at $404 for 5 hours.

What this day gives you is the whole shape of the volcano from below, which is how most people see it and what the 2010 photographs actually showed. The Eyjafjallajokull page compares the ways up.

The 2010 Eruption in Context

The eruption sent an ash cloud over Europe and closed airspace across the continent. That is the reason the name is famous and, indirectly, the reason this coast now has a tourism industry at this scale.

Nothing is erupting in Iceland at the moment. The current activity is on Reykjanes, where the Met Office reports uplift at Svartsengi and expects the next intrusion into the Sundhnukur crater row. If you want ground that erupted this decade rather than in 2010, the Reykjanes tours are the other direction out of the city.

Included and Not

Inside the price: the guide, all fees and taxes, on-board WiFi, air conditioning and pickup from designated bus stops or the cruise terminal. Outside it: lunch, which you buy at one of the stops.

The small-group guarantee is the difference between this and the $134 coach versions of the same route. Same price, different vehicle, which is unusual enough to be worth checking on the day you book.

Cruise Passengers

The listing collects from the cruise terminal, but it asks for the ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time at the moment of booking. Give it those, or the pickup will not be arranged.

Children must be accompanied by an adult, and the listing rates the day as suitable for all fitness levels, which is accurate: the walking is short at every stop except the Skogafoss staircase, which is optional.

What Each Version Adds

The plain day is the cheapest and the longest on the road. Adding the Katla ice cave turns it into an 11 hour day with a super jeep transfer at Vik. Going up onto Eyjafjallajokull instead means starting from the coast rather than the capital, because both mountain listings meet at the Bru base camp on road 249.

Which One to Take

If this is your only day on the south coast and you have no car, the $134 minibus is the efficient answer: four stops, all fees paid, back in Reykjavik the same evening.

If the ice under Katla is what you came for and you are not staying in Vik, the $257 day is the only listing that reaches the cave without a car, at the cost of an extra hour and a lot of coach time. If you are staying in Vik already, the local departures start at $181 for 3 hours and waste none of your day.

If the volcano itself is the point, neither south coast day gets you onto it. Both Eyjafjallajokull listings meet at the Bru base camp about 7 km along road 249 past Seljalandsfoss, which means you need a car to reach the start of the tour that takes you up the mountain.