Embark on a long hiking adventure on Falljökull, an outlet of Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest glacier. This tour is an opportunity to explore deep into the ice and witness magnificent features. The higher elevation provides panoramic views over Skaftafell National Park, known for its spectacular scenery featured in major movies and TV shows such as such as James Bond, Interstellar, Batman, and Game of Thrones. This extended experience allows you approximately 3 hours on the ice itself for a truly immersive and unforgettable exploration.

Join our advanced guided hike on Falljökull ("The Falling Glacier") in Skaftafell National Park, Southeast Iceland. This 5-hour tour is designed for guests with a good fitness level who want a longer, more detailed, and demanding adventure on the ice.

Why choose this 5-hour tour? This option is for the adventurous traveler with more time, as it includes extra time on the ice, grants access to wilder terrain, and provides a deeper insight into the glacier’s unique features compared to shorter tours.

The tour begins at our comfortable meeting point in Hof, located very close to the glacier. Our indoor facility is cozy and offers free parking, which allows you to avoid the parking fees charged at the Skaftafell Visitor Centre. Please arrive 20 minutes before departure to meet your highly qualified English glacier guide. All essential safety gear is provided, including a helmet, crampons, harness, and ice axe.

The total tour time includes a guaranteed 3 hours of hiking on the glacier, a 10-minute shuttle ride each way on the “Tröll Bus,” and approximately 20 minutes for the walk on a gravel path to the glacier’s edge, which covers the safety briefing time. Your guide will demonstrate how to safely use the equipment and walk on the ice.

As you hike your guide will explain the geology of Falljökull. You will encounter dramatic ice formations like deep cracks (crevasses) and vertical shafts (moulins). In winter, you may even look into small ice tunnels. From the highest point, you will get to observe, panoramic views of the Skaftafell National Park. Your guide will provide a factual and educational overview of how glaciers are formed, discuss safety, and explain the current impacts of global warming. After returning to the meeting point, enjoy a complimentary hot drink (coffee/hot chocolate) and a candy bar.

Explore the unique ice formations of Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier, on a guided walk. This tour offers a direct experience with a constantly changing landscape. You will see deep crevasses, vertical shafts known as moulins, and potentially an ice cave. Your guide will also point out rare features like glacier mice, a type of moss found on the ice. This hike provides an opportunity to witness the immense scale of the glacier and its uniquely carved landscapes up close.

Join a guided glacier hike on Falljökull, an outlet glacier of Vatnajökull National Park. The tour begins at our comfortable meeting point in Hof, located very close to the glacier. Our indoor facility is cozy and offers free parking, which allows you to avoid the parking fees charged at the Skaftafell Visitor Centre. Please arrive 20 minutes before departure to meet your highly qualified English glacier guide. All essential safety gear is provided, including a helmet, crampons, harness, and ice axe.

After a short ride on the "Tröll Bus," you will walk a short distance to the edge of the glacier. Your guide will demonstrate how to use the equipment and how to safely walk on the ice. During the walk, you'll observe how the receding ice has shaped the surrounding landscape, noting visible marks on the bedrock and a lagoon formed by meltwater.

The tour guarantees 1 hour and 30 minutes on the ice, with an additional 10-minute shuttle ride each way. The remaining time is allocated for a safety briefing and a 20-minute walk on a gravel path to the glacier tongue. Your guide will provide information about the glacier's geology and its impact on the Icelandic environment. This tour is designed to be an educational experience, offering a factual look at a natural phenomenon.

This hike is suitable for most individuals with a reasonable fitness level. Participants should wear warm, layered clothing and sturdy footwear.After returning to the meeting point, enjoy a complimentary hot drink (coffee/hot chocolate) and a candy bar.

Come and join us on this once-in-a lifetime-experience, a chance to explore Iceland’s largest glacier.

As glaciers continue melting at an alarming rate – roughly more than 1.2 trillion tons per year around the world, we would like to invite you to this unforgettable tour, where you will experience a rare phenomena of how half of our world used to look like, just 12 thousands years ago. 

Like all other glaciers in the world, Vatnajökull glacier continues to melt, which will eventually lose half of its current ice by the year 2100 (which currently covers 9% of Iceland). It is estimated that by 2200, most of the glacier ice in Iceland will be forever lost. 

Individual glacier outlets have already seen 15-50% of ice loss since the year 2000.

Contact us on info@troll.is if you wish to book a Private Tour

Your tour will start at Höf, where you will meet your highly qualified glacier guide, 20 minutes before departure. 

Once you arrive to the spot, your guide will provide you with all the necessary gear – crampons, a helmet, an ice axe, and footwear / rainwear (if needed).

Once geared up, you will start your journey towards the glacier. 

Due to large amounts of melted ice, it will take roughly 20 minutes (by walk) to reach the glacier. On the way, you will be able to see how the ice has deformed the bedrock, the moss line of the surrounding mountains will indicate where ice used to be just a few years ago, and a lagoon, where you’ll see the last remains of the melted ice.

Once you reach the glacier, your guide will teach you how to walk on ice, and after a quick safety talk, you’ll start your hike on the icy Falljökull glacier – one of the most magical yet mysterious outlets of the Vatnajökull Glacier. Falljökull outlet is different from other outlets due to the dramatically carved glacier landscapes, which you’ll be able to see while on the 3 hour hike. During the tour, your guide will take you to the most magnificent parts of the glacier –  such attractions include crevasses, moulins, glacier mice (a type of moss), massive ice falls, and sometimes ice caves.

Difficulty:

The hike is not technically hard, yet sometimes steep and rocky. Some physical strength is required and hiking experience is recommended.

Extra info:

The temperature on the glacier is just a few degrees colder than at the Skaftafell Terminal, however much more windy due to a higher elevation.

Please note that to reach the glacier embark point, a 15-minute shuttle bus ride is shared with other tour participants. This short transfer allows us to minimize our environmental impact and ensures efficient access to the stunning glacier landscapes.

Feel free to contact Tröll customer service for any questions on info@troll.is or call +354 519 5544

Wish you an unforgettable hike!

Come on this comprehensive ice climbing and glacier hiking tour, perfect for those seeking that extra bit of thrill. The only thing you need to bring is patience and endurance to climb to the top of a glacial ice wall on Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier. Your glacier guide will introduce you to the basics of ice climbing and much more!

We will take you on a private tour to an outlet glacier part of the largest glacier in Europe, Vatnajökull Glacier, where you will be able to experience the breathtaking views to the ice-covered highest peaks of Iceland rising more than 2,000 metres (6,500 ft) over your helmet. These glaciers and their spectacular landscape has been scenery for dozens of movies like James Bond, Interstellar and Game of Thrones.

Your highly qualified glacier guide will provide you with all the equipment you need: hiking boots, crampons, ice axes, harnesses, and helmets. Then you will enter the troll bus and drive for about 10 minutes to the glacier parking. From there, it’s only a 15-minute walk to the edge of the ice where your guide will show you how to put on the crampons.

Since the glacier is impermanent and ever-changing your guide often has to scout out each time a new crevasse or moulin for your climbing session, avoiding the potential crowds on the glacier as well. Your guide will install a massive ice screw and attach a safety rope before you climb up the ice wall or rappel into a crevasse and climb up again. This will be an adventure of a lifetime.

You will also spend some time hiking on the glacier to see the ice formations in the area, such as crevasses, deep cracks in the surface of the glacier, and so-called moulins, often vertical shafts in the ice which are formed by melting water finding it’s way into fissures and cracks. In the wintertime, it is often possible to peek into small ice tunnels and capture the beautiful blue heart of the ice.

You will stay about 3 hours on the glacier itself.