This post might contain affiliate links. That means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, if you buy through my site. I appreciate your support of my site.

My nervousness to try SUP was nothing compared to how nervous I was for this full day tour.

Tour Pick-Up

I got picked up for my ice & fire tour and I was informed that I was the only one on the tour during the morning. So far throughout my week with my other day tours and activities I had really small groups, but a private tour, hadn’t had that yet. Initially I wasn’t sure if I should be apprehensive or excited that I was the only one. My guide, Arnaud, turned out to be a wonderful guide and a very interesting person as well so I fully enjoyed having a private guide!

Reykjadalur Hike & Hot Springs

We began from a “secret” starting point so we did a shorter hike, about 20 minutes one way, than the regular route. Without fellow hikers it was just us, the scenery and the hot springs.

And sheep! When I travel I find myself taking pictures of things people back home love (tons of tractor pictures). My mom is a fan of sheep, so I actually went chasing after a sheep to get a close up. The sheep wasn’t up for a selfie and had much better skills on the mountainside then I did, so this is as close as I got.

We arrived at the reykjadalur hot springs and encountered a few other people. It wasn’t so crowded to ruin the experience soaking in the naturally warm water though. The midges on the other hand, drove me crazy, but only when outside of the water.

On our short hike back we took a scenic route to a beautiful waterfall and did a slightly harder climb up the hill. Arnaud even carried some of my stuff = best guide ever!

Lunch

One of the things I dislike the most about guided tours is the food stops. They are always quick and at more touristy places. Because I was the only one on my tour (how did I ever think that would be a bad thing?) we got to eat at a sit down restaurant. I ordered chicken that was cooked outside using geothermal energy from the earth….yum.

After lunch we picked up three more people for the afternoon portion of the tour. We visited two waterfalls, Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss. More about those will come later because I actually visited them on another tour as well. I was bummed I didn’t get to climb the stairs at Skógafoss. I was thinking I might never get to do it again and then two days later I had the opportunity!

Glacier Hike

And then it was time for the glacier walk, the scary part! First we had to get fitted in crampons and harnessed up. We wore harnesses so we could be pulled out of a a crevice if we fell in…GULP.  Then we were on our way to the glacier with our ice picks in hand. For our walk the ice picks were more for show than anything, but they did work as a walking stick when going uphill. 

I totally respect the company for having a thorough safety briefing and especially helping to get our crampons on correctly. Part of me felt more secure with all the safety precautions, but part of me felt more terrified hearing the reasons behind the extra steps.

Arnaud said that some people get used to the crampons in 5 minutes and other people start getting used to them 5 minutes before the hike is over. I joked that I would be the latter. It was a joke because actually I would never get used to them!

Before I stepped foot on the ice, I asked myself what was I doing? I really questioned my judgement in signing up for this activity. Like seriously what was I thinking? I was taken out of group ice skating lessons as a child and given a private instructor because I needed so much help. After two falls on the ice as an adult I walk like an old lady and am terrified to walk down the block. So then I go and sign up for a glacier ice hike. Did I think it would be on snow or something?

As instructed I set off with “high, wide, and flat steps”. See Arnaud, I remembered! Here I am in Buenos Aires now on super uneven and torn up streets and I am saying the same thing to myself!

The first half of the walk I was mostly doing all right because we were going uphill for the majority of the time. The occasional downhill freaked me out, but then I would gain confidence again as we headed back uphill. When we finally made it to the plateau all I could think about was all the downhill in front of me. Most people dread the uphill. My problem wasn’t the stamina of going uphill it was the fear of falling, so the downhill was actually more of a mountain to me.

At the top we got to drink the fresh glacier water and put some sort of substance that looked like mud on our faces. Sorry to say I forgot what minerals were in each, but apparently they are both really good for you. Later as I scraped the “stuff” off my face I was pleasantly surprised when it was smoother as promised.

Then the dreaded downhill part came. With Arnaud’s help through the trickier parts I made it down.

Was I nervous the whole time? Yes.

Would I do it again? Never say never, but um…….

Was I glad I did it? Absolutely! There is nothing as powerful as conquering a fear and nothing as invigorating as doing something unfamiliar.

Should you do it? Totally! It’s not too physically demanding for the average active person, it is the scariness of ice that got me. If that doesn’t intimidate you than why not, try ice climbing while you’re at it! If it does scare you, do it anyway. It is only a couple of hours and the company takes good care of you.

Visiting Information

Where

Pick-ups in Reykjavík

Company

Icelandic Mountain Guides. They offer a variety of day and multi-day tours focused on hikes and glacier walks/climbs. 

Review

I fully recommend the company or at least Arnaud! For one thing they didn’t cancel last minute even though I was the only person on the morning tour. Even if you don’t luck out and have a private tour with Arnaud, the company keeps groups small and provides equipment to stay safe. 

Recommendations

I was glad I wore water shoes at the hot springs because the ground is really rocky and uneven. For the glacier walk, I wore hiking shoes, but hiking boots are recommended. Basically you need swimwear to warm winter wear all in one day. Make sure to bring a large towel for the hot springs and gloves for the glacier walk. The towel is needed to dry off and also helpful for the self-conscious to cover themselves while changing. Snacks are helpful to have on hand too, in case your guide isn’t as flexible with food stops as mine was. 

FYI

You can combine tours in different ways. The people on the afternoon part of the tour, did horseback riding in the morning.

Toilets & Food

Apparently there are toilets at the car park coming the normal way on the Reykjadalur Hike, but nothing from where we started and only some walls available for changing near the hot springs. The lunch stop and both the waterfall places have toilets. Also toilets available before and after the glacier hike.

You may not have the nice lunch like I did, but a lunch stop is made. There is not a scheduled dinner stop, but we made an extra food/toilet stop on the way back to Reykjavík at a gas station.

More About Iceland

• Incredible Iceland
• One Day in Reykjavik
• How to Get from Keflavík Airport to Reykjavík, Iceland
• National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik
• Day Tours from Reykjavík
• SUP
• Kayaking in Iceland
• Jökulsárlón & South Island
• Books about Iceland & Finland

---

Pin It!