Raufarhólshellir

Five thousand years ago, a river of lava ran under your feet here. The outside cooled into a crust, the molten rock inside kept flowing and drained away, and what it left behind is a tunnel big enough to drive a bus through. You walk in through a hole where the roof fell in, and the daylight disappears behind you.

Raufarhólshellir, also sold as The Lava Tunnel, is one of the longest and best-known lava tubes in Iceland, about 30 minutes' drive from Reykjavík in South Iceland. It's around 1,360 metres long, up to 30 metres wide and in places about 10 metres high. It formed around 5,200 years ago in the Leitahraun eruption, east of the Bláfjöll mountains.

Tours that visit Raufarhólshellir

Standard Lava Tunnel Tour

1 hour · From Iceland

From 8.900 ISK

The Lava Tunnel - Meet on Location

1 hour · From Iceland

From 8.900 ISK

The Lava Tunnel from Reykjavík

3 hours · From Reykjavík

4.5(90)

From 15.990 ISK

Lava Tunnel Evening Tour & Northern Lights Excursion from Reykjavík

5 hours · From Reykjavík

From 25.990 ISK

Volcanic Caves and Craters: The Lava Tunnel, Grindavík & Reykjanes Lava Fields Combo Tour

9 hours · From Reykjavík

From 23.990 ISK

Black & Blue - Lava Tunnel + Silfra Snorkeling from Reykjavík

10 hours · From Reykjavík

4.7(185)

From 34.990 ISK

What to see in Raufarhólshellir

The first section is the dramatic one, where parts of the roof have collapsed and light pours down in shafts onto piles of fallen rock. Beyond that, the tunnel runs on into the dark. Look at the walls: you can see the lines where the lava level dropped as it drained, and colourful mineral stains in red, yellow and purple. The standard tour follows a walkway with lighting in the main section and takes about an hour. Longer adventure tours go further in, over rougher ground, with head torches.

In winter, water dripping through the roof freezes near the entrance into ice stalagmites, some of them waist-high. Come in spring and they're melting. Come in summer and they're gone.

Raufarhólshellir tours

You can only go into the cave on a guided tour. Helmets and head torches are provided. The standard tour runs year-round, with transport from Reykjavík as an option, and there are evening tours, longer adventure tours and combos with Silfra snorkelling or a northern lights hunt.

Pro tip: wear proper shoes, even for the easy tour. The floor is uneven lava rock, often wet, and near the entrance in winter it's ice. The temperature inside stays cold all year, just above freezing, so bring a warm layer in July too.

How to get to Raufarhólshellir from Reykjavík

The cave is on Route 39, the Þrengsli road between Route 1 and Þorlákshöfn, about 30 minutes from Reykjavík. That makes it an easy half-day, or a stop on the way to the Golden Circle or the south coast. Book in advance in high season; walk-ins aren't always possible.

Is Raufarhólshellir worth it?

If you've never been inside a lava tube, yes. It's the easiest way to understand how Iceland is built: the lava fields you drive past all over the country are full of tunnels like this one, and most of them are hidden. It's also one of the few things on this side of Reykjavík that works the same in any weather. When the wind is howling and the Golden Circle is a grey blur, the cave doesn't care. Families with kids who can walk an hour on uneven ground will be fine on the standard tour; the adventure tour is for people who don't mind scrambling over boulders in the dark.

Most of the tours below go into Raufarhólshellir, from the one-hour standard tour to combinations with snorkelling, the Reykjanes lava fields and the northern lights.