Where to Stay for Vatnajokull Tours

Sleep near your base, not in the city. Where you spend the night shapes your day as much as Vatnajokull ticket prices do: every tour on the ice starts 4.5 to 5 hours east of Reykjavík, and asks you to arrive 10 to 30 minutes early.

Sleep near the base, not in the city

A 09:00 hike from Skaftafell would mean leaving Reykjavík in the dark. In winter the road can close, and one base cancels a late arrival outright. So the night before your tour belongs within an easy drive of the base.

We do not name hotels: we have not verified any, and places change. What we can give you is where each base is, and which way to look.

The Skaftafell campsite

The one place to sleep that the park runs itself is the campsite at Skaftafell, open all year. It sits in the same valley as Skaftafellsstofa, the visitor centre, and two of the hiking bases. Pitches cannot be reserved, and you pay on site.

The fee includes a shower, a washing machine and a dryer. In winter, check with the rangers what the site has open before you drive out. Bring a tent rated for wind: the valley is sheltered, the ice cap above it is not.

Öræfi: between Skaftafell and the lagoon

Öræfi is the district below the ice around Skaftafell and Hof. The Tröll base is here, at Hof, and so are the Skaftafell huts. If your tour starts at any of them, this is the place to be.

Book your bed as soon as you have your tour date, above all in summer. If you are doing a hike and a lagoon tour, Öræfi puts both within reach.

Kirkjubæjarklaustur, 70 km west

Kirkjubæjarklaustur is 70 km west of Skaftafell, on Route 1. If you drive from Reykjavík, it is the last village before the park. That makes it a good first night on a two-day trip.

The park runs a visitor centre near it, Skaftárstofa, at Sönghóll by Route 1. It opens 09:00 to 17:00, and 09:00 to 17:30 from 1 June 2026. The phone is 853 1882.

Höfn, 130 km east

Höfn is the town on the east side, 130 km from Skaftafell. The glacier lagoon lies between the two, and the snowmobile base is 34 km east of the lagoon. If your tour is the snowmobile, Höfn is the town on that side.

For a Skaftafell hike, Höfn is a long way back west. Stay there only if your route continues round the east of Iceland afterwards.

Reykjavík, for the lagoon day or the eight-day tour

Only the lagoon day and the eight-day tour start in the capital. The lagoon day picks you up in central Reykjavík and runs 14.5 hours. The eight-day tour collects you from designated bus stops. For both, stay in Reykjavík, close to your stop.

Remember that the lagoon day never goes onto the ice. If you want a glacier hike too, you need a night near Skaftafell.

Matching a base to a tour

Find your meeting point on your booking, then read across. The meeting points themselves are on the getting-there page.

Asked about where to stay

The campsite prices, the distances and the Skaftárstofa hours are the national park's own, read 23 September 2026. Every meeting point is the tour's own listing, saved 23 September 2026.

• The Skaftafell visitor centre: hours and campsite (national park)
• Pricelist: the regional fee and camping (national park)
• Skaftafell: access, history and trails (national park)
• The visitor centre on the west side (national park)