Experiences in Vik
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Vik
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Vik: Tours & Experiences
6 experiences and tours
Vik to Katla Ice Cave Adventure: Explore Iceland's Frozen Wonders
3hFree cancellation
Solheimajokull Glacier Hike Adventure: Meet at the Glacier
3hPickup availableFree cancellation
Private Solheimajokull Glacier Hike Adventure: Meet at the Glacier
3hPrivate groupFree cancellation
Small Group Landmannalaugar Highlands Super Jeep tour from Vík
9hFree cancellation
Solheimajokull Glacier Guided Hiking Small Group Tour
3hFree cancellation
Glacier Hike Experience on Sólheimajökull Glacier - Meet on location
3hPickup availableFree cancellation
Frequently asked questions
Vík is the southernmost village in Iceland, and most visitors only stop for lunch and a look at the beach. Stay a night instead. The Katla ice cave, the Sólheimajökull glacier and the Highlands are all closer to Vík than to Reykjavik, so you get more time on the ice and less time on the road. Browse tours from Vík below.
About Vik
Vík í Mýrdal sits on the Ring Road about 180 km east of Reykjavik, under the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap, which covers the Katla volcano. The village is small: a church on the hill, a few hotels, a wool factory and a petrol station. The landscape around it is what people come for.
Just west of the village, Reynisfjara is the famous black-sand beach, with basalt columns and the Reynisdrangar sea stacks standing offshore. The Dyrhólaey arch and its puffin cliffs are a short drive away, and to the north the glacier tongues of Kötlujökull and Sólheimajökull run down from the ice cap almost to the coast.
What to expect on a Vik experience
Tours from Vík are about getting onto the ice or into the hills that lie just inland:
- The Katla ice cave: a super-jeep ride across black sand to Kötlujökull, then a walk into a cave where the ice is striped with ash from old eruptions.
- Glacier hikes on Sólheimajökull: guided walks with crampons on a glacier tongue that is retreating fast, among ridges, crevasses and ash-streaked ice.
- Highland super-jeep trips: in summer, the rhyolite mountains and hot springs of Landmannalaugar, reached on mountain tracks with river crossings.
Some tours meet at the glacier car park and others pick up in Vík. The meeting point, duration and equipment are shown on each tour page.
Best time to visit
The Katla ice cave and Sólheimajökull glacier hikes run all year. Summer has long days, puffins at Dyrhólaey and the only weeks when the Highland roads to Landmannalaugar are open. Winter has short days, fewer crowds and a chance of the Northern Lights over the sea stacks, but Ring Road conditions can change quickly, so leave some slack in your plans.
Vík is one of the wettest and windiest places in Iceland at any time of year. Waterproofs are not optional.
Getting around
Vík is about two and a half hours' drive from Reykjavik on Route 1, the Ring Road, past Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss. The village itself is walkable, but beaches, glaciers and viewpoints need a car or a tour.
Many visitors drive themselves to Vík and let a tour handle the ice: glacier and ice-cave trips need specialist vehicles, guides and safety gear. Allow extra time in winter, when wind and snow can close stretches of the Ring Road.
