Jökulsárlón is a glacier lagoon in southeast Iceland, filled with chunks of glacial ice and one of Iceland’s most popular attractions. When booking our trip last November, the first thing Catherine mentioned when suggesting must-see destinations was Jökulsárlón and taking a glacial boat ride quickly became the excursion that I built the rest of our trip around. Here are my tips for experiencing Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon with kids!
On Saturday morning, our first full day in Iceland, I woke up ready for our long scheduled glacial boat ride at Jökulsárlón. I had reserved our tickets in March (2+ months prior to our arrival) and the plan was to make the 2.5 hour drive from our cottage on Reynisfjara with plenty of time to take in a number of stops along the way. Our boat ride was scheduled for 1:10pm and I had long since planned on an early departure to allow us plenty of time to meander and check out the sites, which included Eldhraun Lavafield, Fjaðrárgljúfur, and Vatnajökull.
Unfortunately, overnight, the rains had poured in so it was extremely dreary outside. So dreary in fact that we could not even see the beach from our rental cottage located less than 5 minutes walking distance from the beach. My son looked at me with heavy anticipation, clearly inquiring as to what our game plan would be. Having grown up in Los Angeles, rain is my absolute least favorite weather, so I wasn’t too keen on making a bunch of stops along the way and ending up damp and wet for the long day in the car. I also wasn’t necessarily looking forward to a boat ride on a glacial lagoon, but since I had already pre-booked our tickets (which were no longer refundable), I decided to push back our departure time and skip the various pre-planned stops along the way, in the hopes that the weather would be tolerable for our boat ride.
Our 2.5 hour drive went pretty much according to plan. The intensity of the rain varied throughout our drive such that at times, it was so violent I could hardly see despite having our windshield wipers on high. On other occasions, the rain seemed to stop and/or barely sprinkle down, so I was hopeful that our boat ride might still take place.
Glacier Lagoon Cafe
At around 11:45, we arrived at Glacier Lagoon, an outfitter that provides amphibian boat tours. I quickly parked and walked to the ticket book located immediately to the left of the dining room/cafe. I confirmed our reservation for 1:10pm, but then inquired as to whether there were any earlier scheduled tours with availability. Fortunately, there just happened to be two spots left for the 12:40pm boat ride, which I happily exchanged our 1:10pm reservations for.
With less than an hour to kill, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat inside the Glacier Lagoon cafe.
The self-help counter at the Glacier Lagoon Cafe.
Not fancy by any stretch of the imagination, the Glacier Lagoon cafe contains pre-made sandwiches, two soup offerings, a few other pre-packaged/pre-prepared food items, and your choice of beverages. I picked up a ham sandwich for my son and chose to try one of the soup offerings for myself. Our two items cost just over $20 ($13 for the soup and bread, $10 for the sandwich). Not fancy by any stretch of the imagination and certainly costing well more than they were worth, the fact that we were actually able to get something to eat was not lost on me as I’m not sure where the nearest restaurant alternative would have been.
After finishing up our simple meal and using the restroom, we went back to wait in the car. By then, the rain had slowed to a mist. Considering the deluge we had woke up to, this was really the best of all possible circumstances.
Five minutes prior to our scheduled tour, I saw the amphibian boat pull up to the free-standing stairway and we walked over to line up. An attendant checked our tickets, handed us life vests and we were quickly off. It took less than 2 minutes to get from the boarding area into the water and a short 15 minute boat ride later, we were well surrounded by floating glaciers. My son really enjoyed taking pictures on the journey out and once stopped, a john boat that was following behind us approached and handed the tour guide a large chunk of glacial ice.
The ice hand off.
The guide’s explanation of lagoon formation and ice transitions.
The guide explained that the lagoon was formed by glacial melting and that the lagoon gets bigger every year as the glaciers continue to melt. The different colors of the ice are typically a result of how long the ice has been floating in the water and how much of that ice has been exposed to direct sunlight. The guide cut off pieces of glacial ice for everyone to taste and also handed out a large chunk for people to hold and pose for photos with.
The guide, handing my son his own small chunk of ice.
My son really enjoyed getting to touch the large chunk of ice and getting to taste the small chunk of ice that the guide cut off. After about 10-15 minutes, the boat started up again and we returned to shore. The entire experience lasted approximately 40 minutes.
While the weather on the day of our visit was not ideal, Catherine and her family got a better view of the surrounding area, and particularly, Vatnajökull, Iceland’s largest icecap, on their trip to Jökulsárlón last year. They also saw icebergs washed up on the shore of the black sand beach located on the other side of the Ring Road.
Pro-Tips:
- Our one adult/one child ticket cost $77. While there is no discount for advance purchase, you are subject to availability if you show up the day of. I didn’t want to run the risk of not being able to take a boat ride, thus, I purchased our tickets well in advance of our trip.
- Individuals must be seated while the boat is driving, but once the boat is in the water, passengers are free to get up and walk around.
- We each wore thermals with rain pants layered over our thermals. We also wore heavy duty fleece and rain jackets as our outer layer. Unfortunately, we did not pack gloves, which I sorely missed, although for the short time we were out on the water, it was fine. There were many individuals there who were very poorly dressed and clearly freezing and/or getting drenched. Although the rain was mild (nothing more than a slight drizzle), it was cold enough that being damp was unpleasant.
After our boat ride, we simply turned around and drove back to our cottage. It may seem slightly insane to drive 5+ hours for a 40 minute boat ride, but it was well worth it. I’m glad we didn’t let the rain deter us (it helped that we didn’t have anything else planned) and I was glad that the rain seemed to be more mild down near Jökulsárlón than near Reynisfjara. On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up spaghetti supplies just to have handy. I’m glad I did as the rain picked up and after having showered and put on dry and warm clothes, we had no desire to make even the short 5 minute walk or 1 minute drive down to Black Sand Restaurant for dinner. Our spaghetti supples (sauce, noodles, and ground beef) cost less than $12 total, so it was a cheap and satisfying way to end our day.
Planning your own trip to Iceland with kids? Continue reading Icelandic Weekend Getaway With Kids: Solheimasandur Beach, and be sure to check out our listing of all Iceland posts or join our Facebook group We Go To Iceland With Kids, a forum to ask questions and share ideas about family travel to Iceland.
