Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon Boat Tour | Iceland Travel Guide
I loved the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon boat tour (alongside the Sólheimajökull glacier hike at Vík).
While Iceland is a very pricey place, this qualifies one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ trips so even if you are on a budget, I would advise investing in the Jökulsárlón’s zodiac boat tour (not the amphibian boat tour)!
For a sneak preview of the Jökulsárlón glacier boat ride, check out this cinematic travel video I made!
And if you want to read this later, why not pin this post to read later?
Table of Contents
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Table of Contents
Background: Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
The Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon (Jökulsárlón means “glacier’s river lagoon”) first formed around the 1930s when the Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier started to retreat.
Most of the water from Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier is an outlet of the larger Vatnajökull glacier, which also flows into Jökulsárlón’s little sister, the Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon.
According to our tour guide, chunks of ice break off the glacier every day so the lagoon is never the same.
In the 1950s, it was estimated to be around 4.5 square kilometers in the 1950s but today, it has grown to around 25 square kilometers. The Icelandic government is working on reforestation to help cool the area and slow the melting of the glaciers but only time will tell if these efforts have the desired impact.
Fun facts about the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon:
- No stranger to Hollywood fame, the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon has been featured in numerous movies like Die Another Day, Tomb Raider, Batman Begins and unsurprisingly, HBO’s Game of Thrones;
- The Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is Iceland’s deepest lake at 248 metres!!
- It consists of melted glacial ice and salt water (from where the lagoon opens up into the Atlantic Ocean);
- The mixture of fresh and salt water allows for a proliferation of underwater wildlife such as salmon, herring, krill and trout;
- When on a lagoon boat tour, chances are that you might spot a wild seal or two sunbathing on ice or swimming in the lagoon;
- The icebergs are over 1,000 years old;
- Drone photography is strictly prohibited in this area;
- The chips of glacial ice that flow out of the lagoon sometimes end up being dumped on the beach, hence the formation of Breiðamerkursandur (otherwise known as the Diamond Beach); and
- The lagoon water is BEYOND freezing. You will get hypothermia if exposed to the water in less than a minute, hence why all zodiac boat passengers were asked to wear thick flotation jackets. It’s meant to give you an additional minute or two of warmth as your tour guide hauls you back in – the difference between life and death!
Getting to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
The Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is located in the South Coast of Iceland – a place you can’t miss if you ever decide to visit this northern country.
By Car
If you are driving from Reykjavík, make sure you have your GPS set up and your mobile phone loaded with all the necessary travel apps like Waze and Google Maps. If you aren’t sure of what travel apps you will need, read my post on the top 3 FREE travel apps to download when in Iceland (and a bonus 10 others, including where all the famous Game of Thrones film sets can be found!).
The total journey from Reykjavík should take around 5 hours (370 kilometers) along Ring Road #1. You will first come across Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon (on your left) before you find Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon some 11 kilometers later after crossing a one-vehicle-only bridge.
By Bus
You can take a bus from Skaftafell National Park, which is close by.
There is also a 6 hour Strætó Bus that takes Route 51 from Mjódd bus terminal (Reykjavík) to Jökulsárlón, with the journey starting at 1pm.
You will only be able to return on the 12.55pm bus the next day.
By Hitchhiking
Iceland is a really safe country which is why hitchhiking is an option but with this, you won’t be able to estimate the time required to get to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon.
Not the best idea if you have a tour booked (and it’s strongly recommended that you do, especially for the very popular zodiac boat ride).
South West Day Trips
Finally, you can always join one of the many South West day trips out of Reykjavík (see bottom of the page for more info).
Since you are already making the trip all the way out to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon boat, you should cover everything there is to see and do here.
If you are done with Jökulsárlón’s glacier lagoon boat tour or just looking to kill time, cross the road to the other side and look for Breiðamerkursandur – the famous Diamond Beach (you can either drive or walk across).
Two of Iceland’s most spectacular waterfalls, Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss, are also nearby.
Check out this curated list and make sure you book early to avoid any disappointment:
- ***Zodiac Boat Tour on Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon [July – October; HIGHLY recommend!]
- Jökulsárlón Amphibian Boat Tour [July – October]
- Fireworks Show at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon [August – December]
- Day Tour to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon [July – December]
- 2 Day Guided Tour | South Coast to Jökulsárlón in a Small Group [April – October]
Best Option
My advice is to stay in the nearby area and make the trip down to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, including a visit to the waterfalls (Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss) and the nearby Vatnajökull National Park. Vatnajökull is a UNESCO World Heritage List that covers 8% of Iceland’s land mass and is the largest of its kind in Europe, complete with an underground of volcanoes and rifs.
Also bear in mind that the weather is unpredictable so you might appreciate the additional day to see all the things you can’t do because of the fog / rain!
If you’re looking for accommodations, try the Magma Hotel at 880 Kirkjubaejarklaustur.
This place was a dream and the best place we stayed in our one week in Iceland (and we were staying in different places every night prior to Kirkjubaejarklaustur!).
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon v Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon
Both the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon offer boat tours and if you have the time, go on both! If you aren’t, I would recommend Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon for the following reasons:
| Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon | Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon | |
| Advantages |
|
|
| Disadvantages | VERY commercial: The moment you enter, you will see the entire area filled with tour buses and cars. After the relative isolation of the Icelandic countryside, it can be a shock to be surrounded by so many people | Smaller icebergs |
That being said, my first glimpse of Fjallsjökull was from the carpark pretty spectacular:
The glacier is right up close and I could feel the chill in the air even though it was a sunny summer day! Fjallsjökull felt more posh and tranquil, devoid of the commercial chaos that was Jökulsárlón.
If you do intend to drop by Fjallsjökull, know that there is dining bistro and visitor information center. Daily 90 minute boat tours (with 45 minutes on the lagoon) are available in the summer and on Mondays only in the winter, and you can book your glacier lagoon tour here for ISK 6,900 (USD 57 / £ 47) per adult.
When to visit Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
Boat tours only run between May through October, and not during winter time.
The best months for photographs are in July and August, although September and October are arguably better as it is at the end of the tourist season so the prices will be lower. As you edge into the winter months, you might even catch a glimpse of the northern lights!
If you are looking for more travel tips when visiting Iceland (I have over 120+!), visit this post.
Jökulsárlón Amphibian Boat Tour v Zodiac Boat Tour
There are two primary boat tours available at Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon.
The amphibian boat tour looks like this:
The amphibian boat ride is a relaxing tour with guided commentary, where you are brought around the lagoons to spot the glaciers that are floating around. In keeping with its calm nature, passengers only need to wear a safety vest.
As you have likely guessed, I’m a BIG advocate of the zodiac boat tour, which is what I went on. This is for the more adventurous souls. You get fitted with a warm flotation suit and lifejacket, and might even go right up to the glacier’s edge if the weather permits!
What to Wear
Because we opted for the zodiac boat tour, and it was blazing hot (weird to say that but it did happen), I only went on the trip with a thermal layer, jacket and gloves. The lack of layers is due to the very warm flotation jacket and life vest, which you can zip all the way up to your neck.
I also brought a hat but the zodiac boat was going at speed and I didn’t want to lose it! So no to the hat in retrospect.
What to Bring
Here is a list of things we brought (you can bring your bag along and stuff it between your legs):
- Gloves
- Jacket
- Camera phone
- Sunshades
Phones / cameras are permitted but are to be used with caution. If you drop it into the glacier lagoon, there is no turning back.
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon Zodiac Boat Tour
If you have booked a place for the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon Zodiac Boat Tour, make sure you arrive at least 30 minutes before the departure time.
Jökulsárlón has lots of food trucks, a small cafe and a hut where you can purchase boat tour tickets (if you have yet to do so).
The meeting point for the Jökulsárlón zodiac boat tour is a white van between the convenience store and toilet.
We opted for a nice lobster lunch at one of the food trucks by the car park.
Once done, we went over to the meeting point for a quick briefing.
Thereafter, it was time to suit up nice and tight inside the van!
The journey from the meeting point took around 5 minutes.
It was a nice short walk, and we encountered some interesting things along the way!
Now you catch a glimpse of where the boats await!
Even though we were a fairly large group, they separated us into two boats so that the tour itself felt nice and intimate.
Once we were all seated, we set off at speed!
Our guide tried to bring us as close to the glaciers as possible but the lagoon is filled with jutting icebergs.
What might be a tiny piece of ice above water is likely to be a massive iceberg underneath. But even with the wide open lagoon spaces, there were plenty of unique glacier pieces to look at.
I am just going to let the photos do the talking.
The grey layer coating the iceberg is volcanic ash from ancient explosions.
The shapes of the icebergs are constantly evolving so you will never see the same thing even in the same day!
Some of these icebergs are incredibly blue because they are older, denser and have absorbed every other colour in the spectrum save for blue.
We were lucky to spot some seals swimming in the lagoon and this baby seal sunbathing on the iceberg, uncaring of how close we got!
By far the most spectacular portion of the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon Boat Tour was coming way up close to this wall of ice. If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you might recognise it as The Wall!
According to the guide, the wall is constantly calving (collapsing). The landscape of the lagoon has already completely changed from when he first started running boat tours at Jökulsárlón and the pace of the melting glaciers keeps increasing.
In fact just an hour before we had arrived, another massive chunk of glacier had just calved to join the lagoon.
The sound of calving glaciers: It is not unlike thunder or a gunshot being fired. Unfortunately, these calvings are unpredictable although we did constantly hear those “gunshots” being fired!
We couldn’t get any closer because of the inherent dangers of the glacier lagoon, but the views were still spectacular. This closeup of the wall is a view you will get only if you go on one of the boat tours.
A second highlight was when our guide managed to snagged a stray piece of glacier. It glistened in his hand like a glittering crown.
These pieces are over 1,000 years old. We were all encouraged to break off a small portion to eat and it was definitely one of the freshest ice I’ve ever tasted!
We waited for quite awhile to see a wall calve but only saw a small section breaking off.
We were advised to constantly keep an eye on the wall as we left because a piece might just calve when we turned our backs (it didn’t, despite the constant booms and gunshot sounds)!
All in all, the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon Boat Tour was an absolute joy to go on. My only regret is that the 45 minutes went by way too fast. 🙁
Coastline of Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
Even without going on the boat tours, the massive Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon still offers some breathtaking photography opportunities.
Look, you can spot some tiny glacier ice pieces along the shoreline!
SAFETY TIP
Don’t get too close to the massive icebergs when on shore. It is extremely hazardous to climb onto any icebergs even if they seem securely in place and the water is deep and absolutely freezing.
In fact, I recall reading about the 77 year old “Iceberg grandma” who was asked to pose on a throne-like iceberg, only for the iceberg to float away into the sea with her in it!!!
Thankfully she was saved but wow, that little trip out into the open sea could have easily gone south!
Conclusion
The sad truth is that the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon suffers from climate warming. There are estimates floating around that the Jökulsárlón Glacier will disappear within the next century unless something can be done to halt the warming process. But for now, the lagoon exists and it is certainly one of the most spectacular sights that Mother Nature has to offer!
Interested in going on this tour?
Fun Facts
If you’re coming in the winter, come to Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon for some Northern Lights hunting. Read this great guide on Northern Lights Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon for inspiration and check out this 7 Day Northern Lights Self Drive Tour by Guide to Iceland!
Other Nearby Iceland Attractions
There is so much to see in Iceland, even if you focus on just the South West as I did.
If you’re travelling along the Ring Road/Golden Circle any time soon, you may find some of these other travel posts helpful.
- Top 120+ Travel Tips to Iceland
- Glacier Hiking at the Sólheimajökull Glacier
- Iceland’s Diamond Beach (Breiðamerkursandur)
- Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
- Gullfoss Waterfall
- Kerid Crater
- Skógafoss Waterfall
- The Best 8 Black Sand Beaches in Iceland
- Things to do in Reykjavik, Iceland
- Top 13 Travel Apps You Need When Visiting Iceland
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8 Comments
Sage Scott
From the time my family moved overseas when I was in Kindergarten, I’ve wanted to visit Iceland. What’s insane is that it’s STILL on my bucket list and I STILL haven’t visited. Thanks for taking me with you on this boat tour with your amazing write up and gorgeous photos!
Iuliya
You’re welcome and I hope you get to visit Iceland SOON! No more waiting 🙂
Kelly
I would do this tour for sure. I love glaciers! Especially the calving sounds so cool. It a shame that the glaciers are changing so drastically due to climate change. It was the same in Alaska.
Iuliya
Exactly! It’s so sad that this is happening everywhere 🙁 Hope you get a chance to go on the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon Boat Tour soon!
Renata
So many pictures – and one more impressive than another! I love to read that it’s also possitble getting there by public bus – since I’m definitely putting this on my bucket list – so beautiful!
Iuliya
It’s gorgeous! 🙂 Every glacier was so different I could’ve spent forever there.
Cate Michelle
What an amazing experience! Thanks for your opinions on duck tours vs. zodiac tours! I would also choose zodiac! Such an incredible place to see and I’m definitely bookmarking for later!
Iuliya
I’m sure you will have an amazing time!!