Northern Lights & Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon Day Trip from Reykjavik

Yes, it is a long day but in my opinion well worth it. That first sight of the lagoon took my breath away...the beauty of the floating icebergs, the stillness in the air, the colors of the ice. We were lucky with the weather and fortunate to see 4 seals in the lagoon. The waterfalls and other sights along the route are all beautiful as well as the mountains. The first food stop was expensive as things are in Iceland but the food was good with plentiful choices. The second food stop on the way back seemed unnecessary and my friend and I went for a walk instead. Pack some water and snacks to keep you going. Drivers were great and the tour guide was good and I would have given 5 stars if he would have told more stories about folklore, or talked about the wildlife of the island, etc. He did tell us some facts about the areas we traveled through and some history and of course, we were free to ask questions, but on a long drive like this, I think most people are up for some good story telling.

This trip was terrific and the glacial lagoon was incredible and, at least to me, I feel a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to see a glacial lagoon. It was pretty amazing. The tour is LONG. All in all, it was about a 16 hour day and it's a very long time on the bus. There are plenty of well-times breaks but you have to be prepared to sit for a long time. We also were not able to see the Northern Lights and you are not refunded anything if that part of the tour isn't fulfilled. I understand, and I don't hold anything against the tour company for having it set up that way, but still, it's too bad. But, all in all, a very cool, but long, day. I would make sure you really want to see the Glacial Lagoon before you go. But we loved it.

Sights were amazing, as is everything in Iceland. Tour guide was just okay. Not much personality, also did not get northern lights tour as part of this, even though it says that is a part of the package.

The Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon was amazing!! Didn't get to see much northern lights activity and wish we could've had a chance to see ice cave but this was one of the rare tours that left from Reykjavik. Diamond beach was amazing and they also stopped for us at a glacier. Great sights. Only bad thing was the place they stopped for at lunch was a buffet and there weren't other options so pack your lunch or buy at gas stations.

First things first - you should confirm your pick-up with the tour operator this one was Reykjavik Excursions!!!!! Viator did not pass along our pick-up information or that of another girl from another hotel so, even though we were each waiting at 7 AM at our designated hotels, no pick-up vehicles would let us on we weren't on their list. When we finally got to the bus terminal, the tour operator was amazing and gave us no added grief - they put us in a private van and drove us to meet the bus that had obviously already left and everything was fine the rest of the day. My dad and I took this trip in later February and we had a good time! We checked out Skógafoss waterfall, Katla Geopark lava fields, and Svínafellsjökull beautiful glacier area before finally getting to Jökulsárlón. We had a good 1.5 hours at the glacier and it was absolutely beautiful! Plus the little cafe had some wonderful hot chocolate : We stopped at Seljalandsfoss on the way back which was cool but, since it was at night, so we couldn't go behind it unfortunately. We didn't have much luck with the Northern Lights due to clouds - this part of the tour basically involves the guide keeping an eye out for them on the drive home.. if the lights are visible they'll pull over and let people off to take pics. A few insider things that we wish we had known: - This tour is about 16 hours by the time you get back to Reyjavik, not 12 as listed in the description which was fine because you get proper time at each stop - This was a larger bus tour, with about 50 people. They were super efficient though and kept us on track time-wise. - If you're the type of traveler who wants a lot of flexibility to stop when you want, this may not be the best option... we stopped for a lot of bathroom breaks and an hour each for lunch and dinner we brought our own food and snacks so this was time we would have rather been on the road or actually doing things! - There was a store called Iceland Wear I think right where we stopped for dinner in Vik and they had the cheapest souvenirs we saw all day mugs, t-shirts, magnets, etc but it closed at 8 PM. Overall, it was a great day! We plan to rent a car and redo the drive at least as far as Vik as there were a lot of sights we wished we could have stopped at for photos but it was exactly what we had hoped for