Mýrdalsjökull

From the Ring Road near Vík it just looks like a smooth white lid on the mountains. Pleasant. Harmless. Underneath it sits Katla, one of the most powerful volcanoes in Iceland, and when it erupts the ice melts from below and floods pour out across the black sand plains to the sea.

Mýrdalsjökull is the fourth-largest glacier in Iceland, an ice cap of roughly 520 square kilometres rising to about 1,500 metres, north of the village of Vík on the South Coast. It's shrinking like every glacier in Iceland; older sources give a noticeably bigger figure. You can see it from much of the coast between Skógafoss and Vík, and its outlet glaciers are where most visitors get onto, or into, the ice.

Tours that visit Mýrdalsjökull

Katla Ice Cave & Super Jeep from Vík

3 hours · From Vik

4.4(315)

From 29.990 ISK

Katla Ice Cave & South Coast Tour from Reykjavík

12 hours · From Reykjavík

4.5(343)

From 35.990 ISK

Hot Springs & Glaciers — PRIVATE TOUR

2 hours and 30 minutes · From Reykjavík

4.9(103)

From 679.600 ISK

Highland Explorer — PRIVATE TOUR

3 hours and 30 minutes · From Reykjavík

4.9(103)

From 959.000 ISK

Glacier Lagoon & Diamond Beach — PRIVATE TOUR

5 hours · From Reykjavík

4.9(103)

From 1.340.000 ISK

popular

Glacier Experience / A Glacier Hike on Sólheimajökull Glacier

4 hours · From Parking

4.8(576)

From 12.990 ISK

Katla, the volcano under Mýrdalsjökull

Katla has erupted many times since Iceland was settled, historically every 40 to 80 years or so. The last eruption that broke through the ice was in 1918, and it sent a massive glacial flood, a jökulhlaup, over Mýrdalssandur, pushing the coastline out to sea. The huge black sand plain you drive across east of Vík was built by floods like that one.

A century later, Katla is one of the most closely monitored volcanoes in the country, with seismometers and water sensors watching for signs of unrest. You'll notice evacuation signs in the area. That's not a reason to stay away, just a reason to take local warnings seriously if there's ever a change in status. Check safetravel.is before you head out.

How to visit Mýrdalsjökull

You can't drive onto the ice cap yourself, and you shouldn't walk onto any of its glaciers without a guide. Crevasses are hidden under snow and the surface changes constantly. The good news is that its outlet glaciers are some of the most accessible ice in Iceland.

Sólheimajökull, on the south-west side, is the classic glacier hike: a short drive off Route 1, with guided walks and ice climbing all year. On the south-east side, Kötlujökull holds the Katla ice cave, reached by super jeep from Vík, and it's one of the few natural ice caves in Iceland you can visit in summer as well as winter.

Pro tip: if you want the black ash layers you see in photos, the ice caves and glacier tongues of Mýrdalsjökull are the place. The ash from centuries of Katla eruptions is frozen into the ice in stripes, and on a guided hike you can read them like tree rings.

How far is Mýrdalsjökull from Reykjavík?

The main access points, Sólheimajökull and Vík, are about 160 to 190 km from Reykjavík, two to two and a half hours' drive along the South Coast. Most people combine the glacier with Skógafoss, Reynisfjara and Vík in the same day. The ice is visible year-round, and guided glacier activities run in every season, weather permitting. The best views of the whole ice cap are from the top of Dyrhólaey or the hill above Vík on a clear day.

Tours that take you onto or into Mýrdalsjökull, from Sólheimajökull glacier hikes to the Katla ice cave from Vík, are below.