LANGJÖKULL

Langjökull sits north-east of the city of Reykjavík. It can be accessed from the city by two main routes.

One option is to take route 1 north from the city centre towards Borgarnes. You can then join route 50 towards Kleppjárnsreykir. From there, take route 518 east. This way, you’ll find the Langjökull glacier ice cave and, a little further on, the Langjökull Klaki base camp.

Alternatively, take route 36 through Þingvellir National Park, before joining route 37 northeast. You’ll join the unpaved road F35 to reach the base of the glacier.

If that sounds complicated, why not let a guide take you there instead? With a guided group tour you won’t have to worry about driving—you’ll simply enjoy the view.

You can walk on Langjökull glacier with a local guide. They’ll provide you with the gear you need, show you how to use it, and ensure that you navigate the ice safely.

We do not recommend that you take a Langjökull glacier walk without a guide. Glaciers are ever-changing and potentially treacherous environments, which you should treat with the utmost respect! If you have never walked or navigated across a glacier before, go with a guide.

You can drive to Langjökull, but it’s not always the easiest way to get there. For example, you will need to drive on unpaved roads. These are quite common in the Icelandic highlands, and you’ll need a vehicle that can handle them. Not all of them can.

Instead, a more convenient way to visit Langjökull is with a guided tour. They’ll provide transport from Reykjavík, so you don’t have to worry about the road.

You can visit the Langjökull base camps by yourself, no problem. However, we wouldn’t recommend you visit the glacier itself without a guide.

That’s because glaciers are complex, challenging, and potentially treacherous landscapes. If you don’t have any experience walking or navigating on glaciers, you definitely shouldn’t visit by yourself.

Instead, organise a guide in Reykjavík. It’ll make getting to Langjökull a lot easier too.

A Langjökull tour is perfectly safe if you’re led by a local guide. They’ll provide all of the gear you need—such as an icepick, a harness, and crampons—and show you how to use them correctly. They’ll also lead you through the safest areas of the ice cap.

That said, if you’re going alone, we can’t guarantee your safety. Glaciers are complex and hazardous environments for the inexperienced.

Glaciers are challenging environments. You’ll be walking on ice at potentially quite a high altitude. That means it’s likely to be cold, even in summer. So, when hiking, it’s best to be prepared for all conditions.

We recommend dressing in layers, so that you can add or take one off if you get too warm or cold. Bring along a hat, gloves, and a waterproof jacket too. And, while your tour will provide the crampons, you need to wear sturdy boots that are adequate for the outdoors.

Langjökull is not typically included in the Golden Circle.

The Golden Circle is Iceland’s best-known visitor itinerary, taking in three of the country’s most spectacular sights: Þingvellir National Park, Gullfoss waterfall, and Geysir. However, many Golden Circle packages add extra destinations, including the Blue Lagoon and Langjökull.

For example, you can add a monster truck tour of Langjökull, or a glacier hike, to your Golden Circle experience.

Like many other Icelandic place names, Langjökull can seem a little difficult to pronounce. But the truth is that Icelanders will understand you even if you don’t get it exactly right. You can pronounce it how it’s written in English: lang-jo-kull.

But if you want to get it right, Langjökull can be broken down into three parts:

• “Lang” is pronounced a little more like the English “lung”
• “Jö” is a soft “j” sound, more like a “y”, followed by a long vowel similar to that in the French word “coeur”
• “Kull” is pronounced like the English, but watch out for that double L. In Icelandic, it’s more like a “tl” sound, with a very soft T.

We do not recommend that you hike on Langjökull glacier—or indeed any glacier—without a guide. Glaciers are volatile environments that come with multiple hazards. It takes real experience and local knowledge to navigate these places safely.

Much of the ice of Langjökull is thousands of years old. When snow accumulates, it gets compacted into the ice of the glacier, which then flows downhill due to gravity. The very oldest ice will be that at the deepest points of the glacier, which was fresh snow many thousands of years ago.

The Langjökull glacier is an incredible destination at any time of year. In summer, you can enjoy higher temperatures and more stable conditions. But in winter you’ll see the glacier at its snow-covered best. Ultimately, the choice is yours!

Langjökull is the second-largest glacier in Iceland, after Vatnajökull. The glacier is 64 kilometres (40 miles) long and 24 kilometres (15 miles) wide and it covers an area of roughly 1,025 square km (395 square miles).

So, it’s pretty big. In fact, in Icelandic, Langjökull means “long glacier”, thanks to its impressive length.

The quickest route to Langjökull from Reykjavík takes you to the west side of the glacier. You can expect the drive to take about two hours. This is the closest major glacier to Reykjavík.

The Langjökull Ice Cave is the largest ice cave in Iceland. It’s a breathtaking sight, deep beneath the surface of the glacier. And it’s also an impressive feat of engineering, as the whole thing is man-made.

If you want to explore the magical blue world beneath the ice—in any season—the Langjökull glacier ice cave is one of the best places to do it.

There are two volcano systems beneath the Langjökull glacier. East of Langjökull you’ll find Hveravellir, which has hot springs you can visit. To the northwest, there’s Arnarvatnsheiði.

While this is not a particularly volcanically active area of the country, you’re never too far from a volcano in Iceland.