Most reviewedKötlujökull · Mýrdalsjökull · South Iceland
4.6 ★ from 2,352 traveller reviews
Photographs of the Katla ice cave in Kötlujökull, South Iceland. Ice caves are reshaped every winter, so the cave you walk into will not look exactly like these.
The Katla ice cave sits inside Kötlujökull, an outlet glacier tumbling off the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap on Iceland's South Coast. Directly beneath that ice lies the Katla volcano, and the two are inseparable: ash from Katla's past eruptions is frozen into the glacier in dark bands, so the cave walls are streaked black and grey against the blue. It is a different sight from the pure blue crystal caves of the southeast, and it is one of the very few ice caves in Iceland that can normally be visited in any month.
Getting there is half of it. A high-clearance super jeep leaves the tarmac at Vík and crosses Mýrdalssandur, the vast black floodplain laid down by Katla's glacial floods, with the bulk of Hafursey rising off to one side. The drive takes roughly forty minutes each way and is genuinely part of the experience rather than dead time between stops.
At the glacier edge the guide fits crampons and a helmet, and the group walks a short, beginner-friendly stretch of ash and ice to the cave mouth. No previous glacier experience is needed. Groups are capped at fourteen, which matters inside a cave where light and space are limited.
There are two ways to join. Meeting in Vík makes it a compact three-hour trip, ideal if a car is already parked on the South Coast. Joining from Reykjavik turns it into a full day of eleven hours or so, with the Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss waterfalls folded in on the drive down and back.
The Vík meeting point is behind the Ice Cave Bistro in the village; the guide waits with a marked super jeep. Arriving twenty minutes early is expected, since gear has to be issued before the group can leave.
Vík is roughly 180 km from Reykjavik, about two and a half hours in good conditions. Anyone without a car can book the Reykjavik departure instead, which adds hotel pickup, waterfall stops and onboard wi-fi, and runs closer to eleven hours door to door.
The tour is not suitable for children under six. Warm clothing, waterproofs and proper hiking shoes are the traveller's own responsibility — crampons and helmets are provided, footwear is not.
A traveller from the United States booked this with a sister-in-law who has a rare form of MS, and reported that with the guide's help she still made it all the way up to the cave. The same guide pointed out a film location used by two well-known series, offered the group glacier water to taste, and stopped at a beach with whale bones on the way back.
Tara, United States — June 2026A visitor from the United States enjoyed the off-road driving and found walking through the ice tunnel genuinely interesting, but was clear that it is not a long activity and that a good share of the time is spent sitting in the jeep rather than in the cave.
Tonia, United States — June 2026A Canadian traveller singled out the guide's explanation of the geology behind the black plains, and rated the glacier itself a must-do part of any South Coast trip.
Guy, Canada — July 2026Good to know