South Iceland · Day trips from Reykjavik
The shore of waterfalls and black sand between Seljalandsfoss and Vik, a day's loop from Reykjavik. Walk behind a 60-metre waterfall, stand under the basalt columns of Reynisfjara, then crunch onto a glacier in crampons.
Tours
In the centre, the minibus day with more reviews than any other South Coast tour on Viator. Either side, the same loop with a guided glacier hike, and a big-coach day from the BSI terminal for less. Every card opens a full tour page.
Glacier hike
★ 4.812 hoursFree cancellationThe waterfalls and the black beach, plus a guided walk on Solheimajokull with Troll.is. Crampons, harness, ice axe and helmet are provided; boots rent for 1,750 ISK.
Most booked
★ 4.810 hoursFree cancellationThe most-reviewed South Coast day on Viator, in a minibus of 19 at most. All the classic stops, with 75 minutes on Reynisfjara, 45 at the glacier and a short stop in Vik.
Big coach
★ 4.810 hoursFree cancellationReykjavik Excursions runs the classic loop by full-size coach from the BSI terminal, with hotel pickup as an option. It costs less than any minibus, and the coach fills up in summer.
Coach
★ 4.710 hours
4 h at the glacier
★ 4.911 hours
Extra stops
★ 4.910 hours
Hike optional
★ 4.910 to 13 hours
Lowest price
★ 4.610 hours
Kids 3+
★ 4.910 to 11 hours
Private
★ 5.010 hoursCompare
Every tour drives the same road. Three questions sort them: how many people do you want on the bus, do you want to stand on the glacier or look at it, and which extra stops matter to you?
| Tour | Stops | Group | Best for | Trip | From | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small-Group South Coast Day Tour | Classic four + Vik | Max 19 | A first visit, most reviewed | 10 hours | $132 | Book |
| South Coast and Glacier Hike | Classic four + glacier hike | Max 18 | A first glacier walk, ages 8+ | 12 hours | $195 | Book |
| South Coast and Vik by Coach | Classic four | Coach, up to 99 | A low price with a big operator | 10 hours | $108 | Book |
| South Coast Day Tour with BusTravel | Classic four | Coach, up to 65 | Families with toddlers | 10 hours | $134 | Book |
| Glacier Hike, Waterfall and Black Beach | Seljalandsfoss, Reynisfjara, 4 h at the glacier | Max 18 | Glacier time over waterfalls, ages 10+ | 11 hours | $185 | Book |
| South Coast Sagas Small Group | Classic four + Gljufrabui, Vik | Max 19 | More stops in a small group | 10 hours | $163 | Book |
| Wild South Coast, Hike Optional | Classic four + Gljufrabui | Max 19 | Choosing the hike on the day you book | 10 to 13 hours | $149 | Book |
| Gray Line South Coast and Black Beach | Waterfalls, glacier, the beach at Vik | Coach, up to 70 | The tightest budget | 10 hours | $105 | Book |
| Full Day South Shore Small Group | Classic four | Max 19 | Small children, from age 3 | 10 to 11 hours | $183 | Book |
| Private South Coast Day Tour | Classic four + Gljufrabui, Dyrholaey | Private, 1 to 5 | Couples and families who set the pace | 10 hours | $750 | Book |
The classic four: Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, the Solheimajokull glacier and Reynisfjara. Lunch is not included on any day tour; you buy it in Vik or at the beach restaurant. The private jeep is priced per group of up to five. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before on every tour.
Before you book
Every South Coast day tour from Reykjavik runs the same loop. You cross the Hellisheidi heath, drop to the farmland around Hella and Hvolsvollur, and the first waterfall appears on the cliffs to your left. Then it is Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, the Solheimajokull glacier, the black sand at Reynisfjara and usually Vik, before the long drive back. Vik is about 180 km from the capital, so a day tour covers some 375 km.
What changes is who you share the bus with and what you do at the glacier. A coach carries up to 99 people, a minibus 18 or 19. And on a standard tour, the glacier stop is a short walk to a viewpoint near the ice. To stand on it, in crampons, you need a hike tour and a guide. Read the itinerary, not the photo.
Kilometres from Reykjavik to Vik on the Ring Road. Tours drive it there and back in a day, so plan on about five hours on the bus and five at the stops.
Only on a hike tour. Standard tours stop 30 to 45 minutes at a viewpoint near the ice.
Not near the water. Sneaker waves have killed visitors at Reynisfjara; obey the warning lights.
Coach tours take toddlers, one minibus takes 3-year-olds, and glacier hikes start at 8 or 10.
In summer, easily: Route 1 is paved to Vik. Winter wind and ice are another matter.
Your day
Ten hours on most tours, twelve or more with a glacier hike. The order of the stops changes, the shape does not.
At a numbered tour bus stop (coaches are banned from the old centre), the BSI terminal or your hotel, from about 8:00.
30-minute windowSeljalandsfoss, where you can walk behind the water in summer, then Skogafoss 30 km east. Wear a rain jacket.
30 to 45 minutes eachA walk to the Solheimajokull viewpoint, or one and a half to four hours on the ice if you booked a hike.
30 minutes to 4 hoursBasalt columns and sea stacks at Reynisfjara, lunch in Vik, then about two and a half hours back to town.
1 to 1.5 hoursPlan your trip
Season, prices, ages and what to wear: one tab each.
Where it happens
Pickups: numbered tour bus stops in central Reykjavik, the BSI Bus Terminal (Vatnsmyrarvegur 10) or your hotel
The South Coast starts about 125 km east of Reykjavik, where the Eyjafjoll mountains rise straight out of the farmland and the waterfalls pour off their old sea cliffs. Route 1 runs along the foot of them all the way to Vik. Every tour here includes the ride, and in summer the road is easy to drive yourself.
Around your trip
Timing, what guests wish they had known, staying safe, and the fine print.
South Iceland
Pick your group size, then pick your date.
Check availabilityGuest reviews
★★★★★Absolutely awesome tour and my favorite part of visiting Iceland. [...] We packed so much into one day but I never felt rushed in any location.
★★★★★Everything about this day trip was incredible. The driver/guide was knowledgeable, friendly and very efficient. Enough time allocated at each stop. The glacier hike was fantastic and a must.
★★★★★Wonderful experience, got to see so many different sites. Everything was well-structured and efficient. Our guide Gudjon was engaging and very knowledgeable.
★★★★★It was a wonderful trip. We got to walk behind the waterfall. See a lot of puffins on the rock and walk on the black beach.
★★★★★Walking on the glacier was really fun. I was scared of it a little bit at first but Frederico our guide educate us so well. He gave us tips on how to control the crampons.
★★★★★Beautiful, amazing scenery everywhere, especially 200 foot high, 80 foot wide waterfall, and black sand beach with cave and mountains right there.
★★★★★It is a long but wonderful day. Our tour guide, Maria, did an excellent job of keeping us engaged during the drive by sharing Icelandic history with us.
★★★★★Gunnar Ra was a great guide and driver. Very welcoming and informative. He managed to arrange the tour so that we just beat the larger crowds at each stop.
★★★★★Sergei was amazing. Very knowledgeable, walked with us to show us the best photo locations, and very accommodating. I highly recommend.
One more day
The glacier lagoon is about 370 km from Reykjavik, too far to do well in a day. With one night in the south, it fits.
Day one is the South Coast loop. You sleep in the south, then drive on to Vatnajokull for a guided blue ice cave, the icebergs of Jokulsarlon and the ice chunks on Diamond Beach, and back to Reykjavik that night.
Small groupIce caveHotel and breakfast
The guide
Most first-time visitors to Iceland do two day trips from Reykjavik: the Golden Circle and this one. The South Coast is the wilder of the two, and the tours look identical in the listings. They are not.
The road east climbs over the Hellisheidi heath, past the greenhouse town of Hveragerdi, then runs flat through farmland for an hour. Near Hvolsvollur the mountains close in from the north, and from there on the sights come every 20 or 30 km: Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, the turn-off to Solheimajokull, the headland of Dyrholaey, Reynisfjara, Vik. Tours shuffle the order to dodge each other's crowds. Some add Gljufrabui, the fall tucked in a gorge a few hundred metres from Seljalandsfoss. None of them goes further east than Vik in a day, and none includes lunch.
Group size is the real price lever. A coach of 70 to 99 people needs longer at every stop just to unload and reload. A minibus of 19 is quicker, and on most minibus tours the guide is also the driver, which suits people who like to ask questions.
Seljalandsfoss drops 60 metres from an overhanging cliff, and a muddy path loops right behind it. You will get wet. Skogafoss is just as high and 25 metres wide, a straight curtain of water you can walk up to on flat gravel, with a staircase on the right to a platform at the top. Gljufrabui is the odd one: to see it, you wade into a slot in the rock. In winter the path behind Seljalandsfoss usually closes, because the spray freezes and ice falls from above.
Reynisfjara is the black sand beach on every poster: basalt columns stacked like organ pipes, a cave, and the Reynisdrangar sea stacks offshore, said to be trolls caught by the sunrise. It is also the most dangerous beach in Iceland. Waves come in long sets, and every so often one runs much further up the sand than the rest. People have died here, most recently a 9-year-old girl in August 2025. A warning light by the path shows green, yellow or red; on red, the columns and the cave are closed. Our safety guide explains the zones.
Solheimajokull is a tongue of the Myrdalsjokull ice cap, streaked black with ash from Katla. It is retreating fast: pupils from the school in Hvolsvollur measured it 408 metres further back in 2021 than in 2010, and a lagoon now fills the gap. Hike tours walk you across the moraine, fit crampons and lead you up the ice for one and a half to four hours. Ages start at 8 or 10, because the smallest crampons only fit so small a boot.
In summer, a rental car does this route without fuss. Route 1 is paved all the way, there are no mountain roads, and you can stay at Skogafoss until the light is gold. Budget for parking at almost every stop, 750 to 1,000 ISK a time, and for the kilometre fee that every car in Iceland pays since January 2026. In winter the picture changes: ice, darkness by mid-afternoon, and gusts under the Eyjafjoll mountains that close the road. That is where a tour earns its money. Our self-drive guide does the sums.
Guides
In-depth guides to the questions people ask most before booking. See all guides.
Prices & costsWhat each tour costs and what the extra money buys.
Reynisfjara safetySneaker waves, the warning lights and where to stand.
Glacier hikeWhich tours go on the ice, how hard it is, what to wear.
Self-drive or tourThe real cost of a car day, and what a tour adds.
The waterfallsBehind the falls, Gljufrabui, the stairs and Kvernufoss.
Winter toursDaylight, ice, closures and what to wear.From the blog
Fees, safety rules, roads and what is new. All posts.
FAQ
Straight answers to what people ask most about South Coast tours from Reykjavik.
On Viator in 2026, a coach day costs $105 to $134 per person and a small-group minibus day $132 to $183. Add a guided glacier hike and you pay $185 to $195. A private jeep for up to five people is $750 per group. Lunch is never included. The full breakdown is in the price guide.
About 10 hours, or 11 to 13 with a glacier hike. Vik is roughly 180 km from Reykjavik, so the round trip is about 375 km and around half the day is spent on the bus. Expect pickup near 8:00 and a return between 18:00 and 20:00.
Only if you book a glacier hike. Standard tours stop at Solheimajokull for 30 to 45 minutes and you walk to a viewpoint near the ice. Hike tours put you on it with crampons, a harness and an ice axe, from age 8 or 10. See the glacier hike guide.
Yes, near the water. Sneaker waves run far up the sand without warning, and Grapevine counts six deaths at Reynisfjara, the latest a 9-year-old girl in August 2025. Obey the green, yellow and red warning lights and never turn your back on the sea. Read the beach safety guide.
In summer the drive is easy: Route 1 is paved all the way to Vik. You pay parking at each stop, about 750 to 1,000 ISK a time, plus the 2026 kilometre fee and fuel. A tour earns its price in winter, on a glacier, or when nobody wants to drive 375 km. Compare both in self-drive or tour.
Usually not. Spray freezes on the path and the cliff, ice falls when it thaws, and the path behind the fall is closed while it is icy. The view from the front is still worth the stop. More in the waterfalls guide.
No. The glacier lagoon is about 370 km from Reykjavik, too far for a day tour that also stops at the waterfalls. The 2-day trip adds Jokulsarlon, Diamond Beach and an ice cave, with a night in the south.
Yes, if you accept a short day. On 21 December the sun is up in Vik from about 11:00 to 15:30, so the stops are packed into the light and the drive is in the dark. Iced waterfalls and snow make up for it. See the South Coast in winter.
None of the tours here does. The DC-3 wreck on Solheimasandur is a 7 to 8 km return walk over black sand, or a shuttle at 3,400 ISK per adult, and it does not fit a 10-hour day from Reykjavik.
No tour here includes lunch. Most stop in Vik, where there is a Kronan supermarket and several cafes, or at the Black Beach Restaurant at Reynisfjara. Bring snacks and water for the bus.
Every tour on this site cancels for a full refund up to 24 hours before the start. If the operator cancels for storms or road closures, you get a refund or a new date.
Ready to book
Pickup in Reykjavik and free cancellation up to 24 hours before, on every tour.
More: the coach day from BSI · a private jeep for up to five · two days with Jokulsarlon
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