Nov 6, 2024
The absolute highlight of our trip to Iceland - My husband and I went on the "demanding" glacier hike and ice cave tour (also called "Only the Brave" on Icelandia's site) near the end of October, and it was definitively the highlight of our 10-day ring road trip. Our guide, Mark, was incredibly knowledgeable, kind, and helpful. He works for search and rescue as well, so I felt very safe with him around. Agust also drove us there and talked with us beforehand, and he was also really nice and helpful! There were only 2 other couples on the tour, and the small group size was a real benefit. We could see many of the shorter trips elsewhere on the glacier at the beginning, and the large group sizes did not look appealing at all. We moved quickly across the glacier, but the hike shouldn't be too strenuous if you are relatively fit/active. Mark was really kind to stop and help us get photographs, and he was frequently taking photographs and expressing how cool it was right alongside us. He pointed out lots of interesting features and explained their significance too. The weather was perfect that day, so we were able to go into the cave, which was a perfect middle point. I'd recommend you bring some snacks or even a small lunch for that point. We had some granola bars in our backpack, but wish we had brought slightly more snacks. The whole hike was amazing, and Mark was a fantastic guide. I can't recommend it enough.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Oct 20, 2024
Phenomenal experience - Fantastic experience on the glacier. Thanks mainly to our Guide Denis, very helpful and friendly he transported us to the glacier and taught us the basic principles for walking the route on and inside the glacier.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Oct 14, 2024
Demanding tour - This is a very demanding tour. The guide was very upfront that he did not think me and my friend were up for this tour, so he directed us to a lesser demanding tour. He was very nice about it. I think he was correcr. We enjoyed the one we went on.
Review provided by Viator
Oct 9, 2024
Phenomenal glacier hike - My husband and I chose this tour hoping for a vigorous hike with gorgeous scenery and a small group and that's exactly what we got. Our guide, Mark, was expert in guiding us safely across the glacier and took time to teach us about the landscape. Not only did he emphasize safety but went out of his way to create opportunities for us to truly experience the glacier up close - we repelled down a short segment of ice, got to peer deep into a moulin and climbed the wall of a crevasse with ice axes. He went above and beyond to give us an amazing day and we are so grateful for the lifelong memories we have as a result. Can't recommend enough. One thing to note - this is a physically-challenging experience and a baseline fitness level is required. The guides appropriately reserve the right to decline a tour member if they don't feel their participation is safe for them and for the group (this happened on the day of our tour). Just make sure to book the right tour for you!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 24, 2024
Heini best guide, great experience - We loved our pro and fun guide, Heini. She's so charming and lively, smiles and jokes a lot. She really cared for our group, we felt safe, excited and noticed.
Her English is incredibly good! Thank you <3
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 18, 2024
Glacial Hike- Anything but Cold - I cannot overstate how incredible this experience was. Our guide Brook Woodman was very informative throughout the entire hike and taught us a good amount of basic glacial hiking techniques and facts about the glaciers in general. While we could not enter the cave due to the climate, which is perfectly understandable. We were able to still see the cave and look into it from a safe distance which honestly was enough for us. The whole experience was greatly enhanced with him as our guide.
What also contributed to this experience was that it was only 8 people plus the guide. Compared to the other tours we saw that had 12-20 people, we were on our own glacial outfall and there was no one else there which was perfect. 10/10 would recommend
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 17, 2024
Extensive hike in a small group - Very nice hike.
On our tour we went way up to the glacier tongue with a great view.
On the classification of the title "demanding hike", since we were also unsure what to expect: The group is kept smaller, so you can go further and longer up the glacier.
I rate this tour as somewhat unsuitable for children, very unsportsmanlike or very old people.
Our group was between 20 and 40 years old, normal sporty and could master the tour without much effort.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 13, 2024
Only The Brave tour - Even though our visit to the ice cave fell through due to safety reasons, Fir made sure to give us an unforgetable experience. Full of passion, she shared some interesting knowledge about glaciers and Iceland in general. She made us feel safe, took her time to teach us the techniques and made us do things I would've never believed we could on a first try. So thank you Fir for making this experience even better than we could've ever imagined!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 6, 2024
Amazing Glacier Hike! - Lucian was a fantastic guide. The trip was not only beautiful, but educational. The only unfortunate thing is that we were unable to enter the cave, but it was not the fault of the tour company.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Oct 5, 2024
5 Star Beginner and 1 Star Advanced Tour - 5 star beginner tour and 1 star advanced tour, as advertised. You don’t have to be above average fit for the tour, nor have to have huge endurance. You walk along the glacier, if it gets very slightly steep, you are immediately secured and carried out / pulled up individually. It bothered me a lot that the tour is advertised as strenuous and only for people with above-average fitness, but is done as an absolute beginner tour. Finally, I paid extra a higher price compared to other tours.
Plus point and that's why I awarded 2 instead of 1 star: you are all alone on the glacier - all other tours are together on another glacier. Besides, if this "hiking" tour was already such a walk, what did the beginner tours do??
Conclusion: the tour is absolutely not what it is advertised as, but a nice walk with beautiful views. If the description were not so excessively exaggerated for fitness level (after all, I expect a climb to the glacier and not a walk at the lower part of the glacier) then I would give the tour more stars.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
