I booked the tour Ring Road 7 days/6nights, and it was absolutely fantastic! Our guide was Oskar and he did an amazing job. I booked directly with the firm on their website and I recommend doing th... See more
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I arrived for my tour, ready to participate, after being cleared by my doctor to travel. Arctic Adventures refused to let me participate because I did not have their specific medical form, then kept... See more
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We have done 2 tours and can't recommend them enough. Northern lights our guide was brilliant, knew his stuff providing plenty of info and made an extremely cold night where you just have to wait arou... See more
Booked several tours in February 2020. Cancelled in April. Still waiting for full refunds. Parent company now says they won't refund until at least April 2021, but I'm guessing they will just extend... See more
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Company details
Written by the company
Arctic Adventures is an adventure tour operator based in Iceland offering various activity tours around Iceland. Established in 1983, we specialize in hiking, rafting, snorkeling, snowmobiling and much more. We are a local Icelandic tour operator and o...
Contact info
Klettagarður 11, 104, Reykjavík, Iceland
- +3545627000
- info@adventures.is
- adventures.is
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Very good tour
Very good tour, with nice guide! you see some of the most beautiful sceneries in Iceland. We totally recommend this tour.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Disappointing at absolute best
Revising my rating to 1* after AA's response below - it seems nice, right? Until you consider it took 10 months for them to reply & act like this is the first they've heard of my complaints. They have been well aware since July and done nothing to address them.
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Pros:
-Iceland itself is beautiful.
-Reykjavik is a beautiful city - the tour doesn't allow you time here, so make sure you schedule it; it's worth it. & be sure to schedule time at 1+ lagoons.
-Our glacier hike guide, Ola, was amazing. She made sure everyone felt comfortable & was very patient with all of us. She answered questions & provided information readily. She gave us plenty of time to enjoy the experience.
-We got to visit a working horse farm on the last day, which was a very enjoyable experience.
Cons:
- Our trip guide, Thor S, is absolutely not suited to a front-facing customer service role. He was dour & blunt. He rarely spoke while we were on the road, & when we stopped kept to himself with his headphones in. I understand that driving can be taxing, especially on Icelandic roads, but the job is to be a guide, not to be a sour presence over the group.
-AA says the skill level of this tour is "easy," which might be true if you were allotted a reasonable amount of time at locations. I am not an avid hiker, but I looked up each hike on the itinerary before booking & felt that I would be capable of them. However, Thor gave us what I (& others) felt was an unreasonably short time at every location he was able to do so (which was most of them). This completely changed the skill level & enjoyability of the trip.
-Thor gave out information ineloquently & like it was rationed. I would have assumed there was at least a basic script given to guides, but either there isn't or Thor disregarded his. On the rare occasions he shared information, it was basic & lacked detail. I read a broad overview of Iceland before I came, & that is the only reason about 85% of what he said made any sense to me, because he gave no context & no detail. Most of what he said can be paraphrased as, "This [place/site] was important in [year] because [person] [verbed] here. So yeah." If someone dared to ask a question, he would either simply repeat himself or answer in a tone that may not have been intended to be rude but absolutely came across that way. I understand that when you are from a place or an expert in a place, many questions may seem to have obvious answers. However, the very purpose of hiring a guide is to have an expert on hand to answer questions for you. If the answer was obvious to everyone, a guide wouldn't be necessary. Thor seemed to have no concept of this, & absolutely no ability to answer questions in a way that didn't make the asker feel like their question was the stupidest thing he had ever heard.
-Thor rushed us at every stop, refused 99% of the time to allow us more time when requested, & with no explanations, didn't follow the itinerary. Most frustrating was the fact that we often stopped for the day earlier than expected, & most of the hotels were so remote there wasn't anything to do but wander their grounds or stay in your room. On the day we went to the lagoon (which was an extra $80), we had to fight to be allowed to stay for 2.5 hours, in spite of the fact that it was our last stop of the day & we arrived before 4pm. Keep in mind that it’s summer; we're not losing daylight. The horse farm experience, while delightful, was done in lieu of actual items on the itinerary, with again no explanation as to why we were skipping it. We then arrived back in Reykjavik ~2hrs earlier than scheduled, which Thor acted like he did as a favor to us, even though it was obvious that he was just anxious to be rid of us.
-The tour leaves you "on your own" for lunch & dinner, but in reality, this just meant Thor chose where we ate. It was extremely disappointing to rarely be offered the opportunity to choose where to eat – going in, I understood we would be offered opportunities to stop at shops/have restaurant options. Instead, we usually stayed at remote hotels (all with similar menus; several of which were conveniently owned by AA) & Thor never offered us the opportunity to stop elsewhere, even though we often arrived at hotels before 6pm. Lunch was also usually at a remote location with 1 (extremely expensive) choice. I’m unsure if the timing, itinerary, & food options issues are due to operator or guide, but my impression was that Thor had a lot of leeway when it came to these decisions.
Overall, this experience simply isn’t worth the cost. The glacier hike made it clear that AA can hire excellent guides. I realize that hiring is never perfect. However, I'd recommend avoiding AA's multiday tours, as you risk being stuck for days w/ someone who shouldn't be in the role they are. A bad guide for 3hrs is tolerable; 6 days is miserable & leaves you feeling swindled.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
shorter than promised and no snorkeling photo's
1) We expected to have a total experience of 3 hours (like the mentions). But in reality is was only 1,5 hour (half the time).
2) as confirmed in the booking we were promised to receive snorkeling photo's, but apparently the camera was not working and we received no snorkeling photo's of us.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
One day trip to stunning Landmannalaugar
We had a great trip to Landmannalaugar with Arctic Adventures. It was well organized and the guides was super skilled, helpfull and informative. Our guide, Matt, took us on a beautiful hike in the incredibly beautiful surroundings - he seemed to know everything about the area and was also really fun to be around.
If you are in Iceland during summertime make sure to experience the highlands!
The costumer service of Arctic Adventures was also super helpful to us. We booked through Get Your Guide to begin with and that caused us a lot of trouble. Therefor I can highly recommend you to book directly through Arctic Adventures instead.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Half day tour of Golden circle Iceland from Reykjavik The tour was exactly what had been…
The tour was exactly what had been advertised on their website. The tour guide was fun and very helpful. We had a great time. I am handicapped and use a special type of walker and the tour guide did everything to accommodate me including setting up my walker for when I got off the van for the tours. He also broke down the walker and stored it in the van for me when I returned. As a handicap person, I could not have asked for anything more. Some of the touring included walking and they're description of the walk and the level of ease was right on, in my opinion. The only negative thing I have to say is that their seats are a little bit tight when the van was at capacity, especially if you're on the heavy side. Thank you!

Reply from Arctic Adventures
We had a mixed experience
We had a mixed experience on the combined snowmobiling and Into the Glacier Tour. First the good: our two guides were fantastic. They were professional, knowledgeable, kind, and funny. They were the best part of the tour. We were lucky that no one else signed up for our time slot, so we had a private tour which was great. They also accommodated that I wanted to go slower on the snowmobile and my husband and son wanted to get some speed! Our one complaint, for me was major: I am a larger person and I specifically emailed the company prior to the trip to make sure that they would have larger jumpsuits available (as advertised on their website). They assured me that it would be no problem. When I got there they didn’t have any. It was really embarrassing for me, as I ended up wearing one two sizes too small and couldn’t zip it up at all. It was chilly on the snowmobile even in July. If we had come in winter, I wouldn’t have been able to participate. I then followed up with the person I had emailed after the visit to express my disappointment, and never received a reply. For $1000, I expect better. So, for this reason— even though we loved our guides—- I wouldn’t recommend using this company.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Exceptional experiences!
We did a three-day tour with Pascal of the golden circle and the south, including Katla ice cave as well as a one da tour called black and blue which included a lava cave and snorkeling in the Silfra. I could not recommend this company and our tour guide pascal enough. Everything was perfect and magical! The views took our breath away!!!!! Exceptional experiences!

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Not the best day to review
Not the best day to review. The pick up was an hour or more late and it rained all day. Not a problem for snorkeling but made it difficult to get in/out of a dry suit and stay dry. The guides however never lost their patience or sense of humor even when under the time pressure of the next group arriving and made it a great experience.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Unbelievable hike with a fantastic company
We took the 6 day trek on the Laugavegur trail with Arctic Adventures and it was amazing from start to finish. The trail itself was stunning, but was elevated to another level by our guide Hjalti who was so knowledgeable about the area and the history. We all learned so much and had a fantastic time. The meals were delicious (e.g. BBQ salmon, pasta bolognese, lamb soup) and we all ate until we were completely full each day. Everything ran like clockwork and I am already planning my next trip with them to do more trails in East Iceland. If you are considering doing this trip, just book it - you won't regret it!

Reply from Arctic Adventures
The absolute BEST Icelandic experience
I went on the snorkelling tour and it was absolutely the coolest experience I’ve ever had! We had a lovely driver named Storm who picked us each up from our hotels/hostels to drive us to the National Park. He was very chatty and friendly, had lots of information about Iceland and Reykjavik, and also introduced us to some Icelandic music. The actual snorkeling part was so well organised and the guides were fantastic, my group had Matt looking after us and he was amazing. Absolute highlight is photos being included in the ticket fare. Photos aren’t always important but it really was for this instance. Highly highly highly recommend!

Reply from Arctic Adventures
7 days around Iceland
This guided tour around Iceland was very well organised, with a friendly, helpful and knowledgeable guide.
The minibus was comfortable with Wifi and the hotels in the evening of good standard.
We saw all the major touristic sites, and also some less well known, and it was very interesting to have some extra little anecdotes or facts.
I would recommend using Arctic Adventures.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
We did the skidoo tour on the…
We did the skidoo tour on the Langjokull with a pick up and drop off in Reykjavik. Brilliantly organised. Well explained. A superb experience. Only comment would be the group goes at one speed (fast) so be prepared for that as it is more about speed than soaking up the experience. The stop at the glacial lake allows you to take it all in. All in all an unforgettable experience.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Amazed by Arctic Adventures
I choose Arctic Adventures for the second time because the first was absolutely amazing and I knew that I would go without fail. Anna was our tour guide of the day, and she was absolutely adorable, a lot of chatting, always on point, and she was so prepared and the tour was organised very well. So there’s nothing to improve, they’re just perfect.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
GREAT GREAT ADVENTURE: SNORKLING IN SILFRA,
SNORKLING IN SILFRA: Where the tectonic plates collide is a crack that we snorkeled in with the competent and incredibly skilled guide Kris. The experience was unparalleled - fantastic. Kris was very attentive to safety and the movement of the participants in the cold water. If you are looking for an adventure out of the ordinary - then take this trip!

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Awesome Adventures!
We were just in Iceland for 7 days and did a tour through Arctic Adventures everyday.
This company does an amazing job from start to finish. We loved every day of our trip and because of Arctic Adventures it was easy for us to get in everything we wanted to see.
Every guide was great to work with and super knowledgeable.
I highly recommend you use them for all of your tours and bookings for Iceland!

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Iceland is the best!
Sindre is the best guide in the world “per capita”. Really loved the puffins. The top two best things about the trip was hiking a glacier and riding the Icelandic horses. Thanks for a great trip.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Very bad customer service, complete disorganisation and a lack of respect for their customers
This company is a disaster. Very bad customer service, complete disorganization and a lack of respect for their customers. I recommend avoiding booking with them and saving yourselves troubles and money. What was supposed to be a dream holiday (and in which we invested lots of money) ended up being a huge stress.
Me and my partner have booked a 5-Day - Snaefellsnes, South Coast, and Northern Lights, tour from Artic Adventures and we ended up not doing a lot of things that we were supposed to do:
1st - on the second day of the tour, due to bad weather, we only did 1/3 of the programmed plan and we also missed the krauma geothermal baths for which we had already paid as an extra! We were dropped in Reykjavik at 12 pm and the company did not care to suggest any other program and did not even bother contacting us with apologies and to discuss about refund. I have sent them an email about this to which I never got a reply.
2nd - for us, the highlight of these 5 days would be the scheduled glacier hiking and visit to an ice cave. But surprise surprise, we ended up not doing either! At the start of the tour our guide told us that since it was April, they had changed the program internally (without contacting us) to their summer program and the glacier hike was not part of it anymore. When I asked if it was due to safety reasons, the answer was that it was not, but it was only because they decided to change their program – This shows the lack of respect to the customers who booked one thing and ended up not getting it! Also, we were told to rest at ease that even if we would not do the glacier hike, we would be able to see it and have a nice experience in the Ice cave visit.
3rd - we had been told that the ice cave visit would be done on the 5th and last day of the tour. However, on the 4th day of the tour when we were arriving to the hotel, our guide told us that the ice cave was cancelled, without providing any explanation besides that there was something wrong at the office and that we could either get refund or rebook for another day. After this, I have immediately called artic adventures, and the person that picked up said she wasn't aware of anything, and she would try to get more information. I have never heard back from her. Also, we have tried to search alternatives with other companies to ensure we could visit the ice cave, and requested to be dropped off in Vik, which was denied to us because they said the tour wouldn’t stop there (And on the 5th day of tour, we ended up stopping there after all for a long time).
Since we have not heard anything back, we called again to request an explanation on the cancelled trip and to see if there were any alternatives. The person that answered said that she was aware of the situation, that she had got many calls from other clients about the same issue, but that nothing was cancelled, and the trip would go as planned and that the guide was misinformed. And that in case something was cancelled, we would get an email.
To our surprise, on the next day, when we got on the bus to start the tour, the guide told us again that the ice cave visit was canceled, and we would go somewhere else instead. I demanded to know what was happening and the guide’s answer was that someone in the office made a mistake, booked our trip wrongly, so now they could not get any buses for us to go to the ice cave.
While if a trip had been cancelled due to bad weather, as happened on the 2nd day of the tour we would understand, however, we cannot accept that a professional tour company makes such a big mistake letting the clients be highly penalized. We did not get what we paid for and we felt we were mistreated and played with.
In the final day of our tour, I sent an email asking for clarifications and refund and compensation. The only reply I got was that they would investigate and come back to me asap. After 15 days, 2 emails and a phone call, I did not get any reply yet. Moreover, I was told on the phone that this could take several weeks as my complaint was not the only complaint they have.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Terrific tour guide & breathtaking country
Our tour guide was terrific. He smoothly made adjustments when the weather required. Each location was beautiful!! I highly recommend Arctic Adventures and hope to return again!

Reply from Arctic Adventures
Worth the 10 hour round trip drive.
Considering the month we were visiting and the nature of a changing climate, we were happy to just be walking on the glacier. This in itself was thrilling and humbling. The opportunity to see and move into actual ice caves and tunnels was incredible and exceeded expectations. Helga was lovely and really patient – we could have spent the whole day wandering around the landscape. Despite other tours, it never felt crowded or rushed. Great communication from the tour operator and the booking was easy to make. The meet point clearly signposted and the parking area easy to find.

Reply from Arctic Adventures
We did the 6 day Iceland tour with our…
We did the 6 day Iceland tour with our guide, Diddi. Truly amazing experience overall. Highly recommend!

Reply from Arctic Adventures
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