Sólheimajökull

The first thing that hits you at Sólheimajökull isn't the ice. It's the smell. On some days the meltwater river carries a whiff of rotten eggs from the geothermal heat under the glacier, which is why Icelanders once called it Fúlilækur, the foul creek. This is a glacier sitting on top of a volcano.

Sólheimajökull (often searched as Solheimajokull) is an outlet glacier of Mýrdalsjökull, the ice cap covering the Katla volcano on Iceland's South Coast. It's the easiest glacier in the country to reach from Reykjavík, which makes it the most popular place in Iceland for a first glacier hike. The ice is grey, white and deep blue, streaked with black bands of volcanic ash from old eruptions, and split by ridges, crevasses and holes that drop into darkness.

Tours that visit Sólheimajökull

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Glacier Experience / A Glacier Hike on Sólheimajökull Glacier

4 hours · From Parking

4.8(576)

From 12.990 ISK

Blue Ice - Sólheimajökull Glacier Hike & Ice Climbing

5 hours and 30 minutes · From Iceland

4.8(188)

From 25.990 ISK

Glacier Hike Experience on Sólheimajökull Glacier - Meet on location

3 hours · From Iceland

From 15.990 ISK

South Coast & Solheimajokull Glacier Hike From Reykjavik

10 hours · From Reykjavík

From 26.490 ISK

Private Glacier Hike Experience on Sólheimajökull Glacier - Meet on Location

3 hours · From Iceland

From 193.000 ISK

Solheimajokull Glacier Hike Adventure: Meet at the Glacier

3 hours · From Vík

From 13.990 ISK

Can you walk on Sólheimajökull without a guide?

You can walk to it. You shouldn't walk on it. A flat gravel path leads from the car park to a viewpoint near the glacier's snout in about 15 to 20 minutes, and that's free and fine for anyone. Beyond that point the ice is full of hidden crevasses and moulins, it moves, and the edges collapse. Going onto the glacier without a guide and proper equipment is how people get hurt.

On a guided glacier hike you get crampons, a helmet, a harness and an ice axe, a safety briefing, and a guide who checks the route every day because it changes constantly. No experience is needed, just reasonable fitness and boots with ankle support. Most hikes spend a couple of hours on the ice, and there are longer options with ice climbing for anyone who wants to swing an axe into a wall of blue ice.

Watching a glacier shrink

The lagoon at the foot of Sólheimajökull wasn't here twenty years ago. It started as a small pool around 2007 as the ice retreated, and it's now a proper lake, tens of metres deep. Every year the walk from the car park to the ice gets a little longer. Signposts along the path show where the glacier ended in past years, and they're sobering.

Pro tip: bring your own warm, waterproof layers and gloves even in summer. The gear the operators hand out covers the technical side, but not the wind blowing down off an ice cap. And wear proper hiking boots; most operators won't take you on the ice in trainers.

How to get to Sólheimajökull from Reykjavík

Sólheimajökull is about 160 km from Reykjavík, around two hours' drive on Route 1. The turn-off is between Skógafoss and Vík, and a short side road takes you up to the car park. Parking is paid, per car, through the parking app. If you're just visiting the viewpoint, 45 minutes is enough; a guided hike takes around three hours including kitting up.

Glacier hikes here run all year, weather permitting. Summer means longer days and softer, wetter ice at the edges; winter is colder and darker but often clearer, with firmer ice. Nearby is the Sólheimasandur plane wreck, an old US Navy DC-3 on the black sand, and the rest of the South Coast.

Glacier hikes that meet at the car park, and South Coast day tours from Reykjavík that include a hike on Sólheimajökull, are below.