Ice-Cave & the Northern Lights Winter Photo Tour

This tour will take you to all major sites in south and south east Iceland. We will photograph waterfalls, black sand beaches, lava fields, glacier outlets, ice caves, floating ice bergs as well as ice bergs lying in the black sand and hope for beautiful winter sunrises and sunsets. As well as photographing more known sites, we will also photograph secret spots like a remote black sand beach where we find an old ship wreckage lying in the black sand, old rusted barn nearby and if roads are accessible due to snow; a secret waterfall. We will keep a look out for the northern lights every night and visit an ice cave with a local guide in Vatnajökull National Park. Quite often nature allows you to experience all of the listed above, but sometimes not. Ice caves are at times not accessible, and you may get overcast for all 4 nights and you can even end up with blocked roads due to snowstorms. But that is nature. Winter in Iceland can be a mixture of strong winds, snow and sand blizzards, hail and fog all at the same time, but our experience is that harsh winter weather can also offer the most amazing photographic opportunities.

Duration: Winter, 4 nights

Price: From $3,100

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Highlights

A Hunt for the Northern Lights around the Glacier Lagoon
A Natural Amazing Phenomenom of Ice Caves
Sunset at the Glacier Lagoon and at the Black Sand Beach

Tour Details
Map and Itinerary
Prices and Dates

Included:

- All accommodation costs during the tour (except in Reykjavík).
- Breakfast from the second day until the last day, picnic or light restaurant lunch every day, dinners from day one until the second to last day.
- Professional English speaking driver guide and photographer.
- 4X4 truck (Jeep) and gasoline.

Not included:

- Flights to/from Iceland.
- Transportation to and from airport (although this can be arranged).
- Hotel accommodation in Reykjavík.
- Travel insurance.

Climate and clothing recommendations:

The Gulf Stream is what makes Iceland inhabitable, and without it, the whole country would most likely be covered by ice. The winters are fairly mild and summers are cool. The weather can be unpredictable and very windy and rainy at times. A popular saying in Iceland is “if you don’t like the weather right now, just wait five minutes” as you may occasionally experience the four seasons all in one day: sunshine and mild temperatures to windy, cool temperatures with rain or even snow. The average temperature in January is 0 C (32 F) and the average temperature in July is 12 C (54 F)

In the view of the climate description above, we can only advise visitors to be prepared for everything. No matter what time of year you plan to visit Iceland, always pack some warm and water resistant clothes, hats, gloves and good walking shoes.

Clothes:  
Practical list, independent of the season of the year
1. Warm underwear 
2. Sweater or a warm jacket/coat 
3. Wind- and waterproof overcoat and over trousers 
4. Extra pair of warm socks 
5. Gloves and a cap
6. Hiking shoes (waterproof boots for winter photo tours)
7. Slippers and possibly light trainers
9. Sunglasses (optional!) 
10. Electric converter (Iceland uses 220 volts)
11. Torch or headlight (winter photo tours)

The schedule of the trip may be rearranged for the best weather conditions and light at each location, so be prepared to be flexible. This way we can make this tour as successful as possible.

Day 1:

Lake Þingvallavatn, Spouting Hot Spring Strokkur, Gljúfrabúi Waterfall and Sunset in Vík

Your photographer, driver guide will pick you up at your hotel in Reykjavík around 8AM starting by going to Lake Þingvallavatn. We will stop at a well-hidden waterfall few people get to see. On our route is the hot spring Strokkur, the only spouting one in Iceland. It can be fun to try photographing the bulb before it spouts 20 meter up into the sky. We will head towards the south coast of Iceland and stop by the waterfall in Gljúfrabúi dome that can be a challenging to photograph. It all depends how much daylight we have left, but a sunset at the beach in Vik would be our goal.
Accommodation: Hrífunes guesthouse.

Day 2:

Secret Locations and Eldhraun Lava Field

If we are lucky and weather conditions allow us, we will hope to catch the sunrise this morning. The main theme however of this day is setting the truck in 4x4 drive mode and head to the remote black beach in the Hrífunes area where we find an old rusted ship wreck half buried in the sand and old sea man shelter amongst other things that have drifted to the shore. We have special permission to photograph an old rusted barn in the area as well. Eldhraun lava from Laki eruption 1783, largest lava flow seen to man in historic times, will be on todays list as well. As with other evenings on this tour, we will keep a lookout for the Northern Lights. As there is no light pollution in the Hrífunes area, we are in a perfect spot to see them. Accommodation: Hrífunes guesthouse.

Day 3:

Vatnajökull National Park and Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

We leave our cosy guesthouse in Hrifunes behind and head toward Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier, where we stay for the next two nights. We can get very close to Svínafell Glacier and Fjallsárjökull Glacier outlets, which offer excellent photographic opportunities. During the evening, we will go on a hunt for the Northern Lights around the Glacier Lagoon if the conditions are favorable.
Accommodation: Hali guesthouse.

Day 4:

Ice Cave Visit and Ice Bergs on the Beach

This is our ice cave day. The Ice caves are a natural amazing phenomenom that can change with in days deepening on weather conditions, so we never know what to expect, but we always hope for the amazing Turkish blue color. In the past few years Ice cave visits have become very popular, not only by photographers but by all travelers. There are groups going inside the caves from first daylight until darkness daily. This means its getting harder for photographers to set up their tripods and photograph to their likings. So taking tours to the Ice caves as we used to do is no longer a good option. We therefore need to hire a local glacier guide half the day that has been scouting and looking for other ice cave options with photographers needs in mind and hope for better cave opportunities. This will involve some more hiking to get to these caves.( approx.1-2 km). At the end of the day we will stay until sunset at the Glacier Lagoon and at the black sand beach beneath it.
Accommodation: Hali guesthouse.

Day 5:

South Coast to Reykjavík

We have a long journey to Reykjavík with many places to stop at and visit like Lómagnúpur mountain, lava fields, Cape Dyrhóaley, Skógafoss, and more importantly; all the no name places that are interesting to photograph, since this 450km route towards Reykjavik has the most varied and stunning landscape you can find in Iceland. Estimated arrival time in Reykjavík around 19.00PM.

Price: