Guide · Combos

Lava tunnel combo tours: Silfra, aurora and more

Several day and evening trips from Reykjavík fold an hour in Raufarhólshellir into something bigger. Here is how the main combinations work, what they ask of you and when a combo beats two separate bookings.

Check availabilityfrom $72 · cancel without a fee

Editorial team, lavacavetouriceland.comUpdated October 25, 20267 min read11 sources

The tour that goes with it Reykjavik: Silfra Snorkeling & Lava Tunnel Adventure Combo 4.5 (224 reviews) 5 to 10 hours from$195per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

The quick picture

01Silfra combo: Cave at 9:30, snorkeling at 14:00, 5 to 10 hours, from $195.
02Aurora evening: An hour in the cave, 2.5 hours at a viewpoint, 4 hours in all.
03Silfra rules: Water of 2 to 4 °C, never alone, medical form required.¹ ² ³
04Aurora odds: Needs dark and partly clear skies; no sighting is guaranteed.⁴
05Cave only: The 1-hour walk at the cave starts from $72.

Why pair the cave with something else

Lava tunnel combo tours exist because the cave visit is short. The guided walk through Raufarhólshellir takes about 1 hour, and the cave lies approximately 30 km from Reykjavík.⁵ That leaves most of a day free, and tour companies fill it with the things visitors want to do anyway: snorkeling in Silfra, chasing the northern lights, driving the Golden Circle or riding a quad bike.

For travelers without a car, a combo solves a real problem. Each activity on its own may need its own transfer, its own pickup time and its own booking, and the logistics add up quickly. A combo bundles the transport and the timing into one listing. You give up some freedom: the cave slot, the lunch break and the order of the day are set for you, and you move with the group.

The cave part of almost every combo is the same: the standard guided hour in the lit section of Raufarhólshellir, with a helmet and lamp. So the choice between combos is really a choice about the second half of the day. Pick the partner activity you most want, then check its requirements carefully, because some of them, Silfra above all, are far stricter than the cave.

Silfra combo

A day underground and underwater

Before 9:30

Arrive at the cave

Be at Raufarhólshellir 15 minutes before the 9:30 start.
Morning

Lava caving

The guided cave visit comes first.
Midday

Drive and lunch

Refuel, then head to Thingvellir National Park.
Before 14:00

Park at P5

Walk 400m back along the road to the meeting point.
From 14:00

Snorkel Silfra

Snorkeling begins at 14:00 sharp in the fissure.

Silfra snorkeling and the lava tunnel

One combination sends you underground in the morning and underwater in the afternoon. The listing sold on this page asks you to arrive at Raufarhólshellir 15 minutes before a 9:30 departure, then to meet again in Thingvellir National Park, where snorkeling begins at 14:00 sharp. It runs 5 to 10 hours with an English-speaking instructor and starts from $195.

The listing is clear about getting between the two. You park at Thingvellir Parking P5 and walk 400m back along the road to the meeting point, and you are asked to allow enough driving time and check the weather and road conditions first. Pickup is available for those who need it. It is rated 4.48 from 224 reviews, with 4.7 for the guide, 4.4 for transportation and 4.3 for value for money.

Silfra has requirements the cave does not. You must be able to swim and be comfortable in the water, communicate in English and have a moderate level of fitness, and you must fit the safety gear: a height of 150 cm-200 cm and a weight of 45-120 kg. Signed physician approval is needed for some medical conditions, and glasses cannot be worn under the snorkel, so bring contact lenses if you need them.

Dark hours

When the sky is dark enough

Hours without sunDays with precipitationSeason

Columns show the hours without daylight at mid-month, which we calculate for the cave; dots count wet days of 2.5 mm or more. Data: NOAA, Reykjavík city station, about 32 km from the cave, 1991 to 2020.¹¹

Side by side

Lava tunnel combos compared

Combo	Partner activity	Listed time	Price
Silfra & cave	Snorkeling at Silfra	5 to 10 hours	from $195
Evening & aurora	Northern lights hunt	4 hours	from $208
Golden Circle	Gullfoss & Geysir	10 hours	from $208
Golden Circle plus	Dairy farm & Faxafoss	11 hours	from $229
Reykjanes day	Geothermal areas	9 hours	from $196
Cave & quad bike	Quad bike ride	5 to 8 hours	from $313

From the GetYourGuide listings; prices are starting prices and change with the date.

Three combos

Water, wheels or a full circle

Most reviewed combo

Silfra and the cave

Snorkeling in the afternoon

Time: 5 to 10 hours
Water: 2 to 4 °C
Price: from $195

See this tour

Caving & ATV full day adventure From Reykjavik

Two activities

Cave and quad bike

With a lunch break

Time: 5 to 8 hours
Rating: 4.95
Price: from $313

See this tour

Reykjavík: Best of Golden Circle, Hidden Gems & Lava Tunnel

Longest day

Golden Circle and cave

Dairy farm lunch stop

Time: 11 hours
In the cave: 1.5 hours
Price: from $229

See this tour

Decision helper

Which combo fits you

Start from the second activity you want most

I am a confident swimmer I visit between autumn and spring I want the classic sights I want something fast and loud I have a car and want freedom

Silfra and the cave

Swimming ability and a medical form are required.³

The aurora evening

It adds 2.5 hours at a northern lights viewpoint.

Golden Circle and cave

Thingvellir, Gullfoss, Geysir and Kerid in 10 hours.

Cave and quad bike

An hour underground and an hour on a quad bike.

Book separately

The cave walk alone starts from $72.

Silfra is a fissure located in the rift valley that separates the North American and the Hreppar micro plate.

Þingvellir National ParkSource 6

What Silfra is, and why it is so cold

Silfra is a fissure in Þingvellir National Park. The park describes it as a fissure in the rift valley that separates the North American and the Hreppar micro plate, and as one of the most prominent springs in the area.⁶ The national park itself is where the Alþing general assembly was established around 930 and met until 1798, so the snorkeling site sits in a landscape as rich in history as it is in geology.⁷

The water is the reason people come. Þingvellir National Park says Silfra is famous for the astounding visibility in its clear, cold mineral water.⁸ Cold is the key word: the park requires full equipment suitable for cold water of 2-4 degrees Celsius, a dry suit for divers, and for snorkelers either a dry suit or a suitable thick wetsuit, with hood, gloves and neoprene shoes or socks.¹

The rules are strict for good reason, and they are the park's, not the tour company's. You must always dive or snorkel with a buddy, and entering Silfra alone is prohibited.² Dive operators require a medical screening form, and a doctor's approval where applicable.³ None of this is difficult for a healthy swimmer, but it is very different from a walk in a lit cave, so read it before you book.

Checklist

Before you book a combo

For Silfra

You can swim and feel at ease in water
Medical form filled in
Contact lenses instead of glasses

For the aurora

Check cloud cover on the forecast
Warm layers for standing outside
Keep the free retry in mind

For the cave

A layer for air near freezing
A waterproof jacket
Shoes with a good grip

Calculator

Price a combo for your group

Choose a combo and the number of people

Silfra and cave5 to 10 hoursfrom $195 Cave and auroraEvening, 4 hoursfrom $208 Golden Circle10 hoursfrom $208 Cave and quad bike5 to 8 hoursfrom $313

People 2

Total from$390

each from $195

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Our sum: the trip's cheapest GetYourGuide fare multiplied by how many cavers you enter, converted with the ECB's figure for the day. The exact amount shows once you pick a date.

Video

Snorkeling in the Silfra fissure

Nothing from YouTube loads into the page until you press the play button.

The evening lava tunnel and northern lights hunt

Another pairing happens after dark. One listing collects you in Reykjavík from 23 pickup locations, drives 45 minutes to Raufarhólshellir for an hour's guided tour, then spends 2.5 hours at a viewpoint looking for the aurora before the 30-minute drive back. It lasts 4 hours in all, starts from $208 and is rated 4.69 from 80 reviews.

The listing is honest about the odds. The northern lights are a natural phenomenon and sightings cannot be guaranteed; if they are not visible, you can rebook the northern lights part for free, valid for up to 3 years. That free retry is worth a lot on a short trip: if the first night is cloudy, you can try again on a later evening without paying twice for the hunt.

Most of the cave is dark at any hour, so the walk itself changes little after sunset. What changes is the mood: arriving in the dark, walking under the lamps and then stepping out to look for the aurora over the lava field makes for a memorable evening. Dress for both halves of the trip, with warm layers for a cave near freezing and for standing outside in the night wind.⁹

Dark skies and clouds: reading the aurora odds

Two conditions decide an aurora night. The Icelandic Meteorological Office says the aurora requires dark and partly clear skies.⁴ Its aurora page shows a forecast of auroral activity at midnight on a scale of 0 to 9, next to a map of the forecast cloud cover across Iceland.¹⁰ Check both on the afternoon of your tour: a high activity number means little under a thick blanket of cloud.

Darkness depends on the month. Mid-December gives the cave area just 4.4 hours of sun above the horizon, mid-June 20.8.¹¹ The chart on this page shows how the dark hours grow and shrink through the year. With the sun up for 20.8 hours in June, the sky has little real darkness to offer, and an evening combo then is mostly an evening cave walk.¹¹

Clouds are the other half. The same chart counts the wet days in each month at the Reykjavík weather station, a rough guide to how often the sky is overcast. Autumn and winter months bring plenty of both darkness and wet days, so flexibility helps: book early with free cancellation, watch the forecast and use the free retry if the first night fails.

Golden Circle, Reykjanes and quad bike days

Several day tours fold the cave into a classic route. A 10-hour Golden Circle day spends an hour in Raufarhólshellir and then visits Thingvellir National Park, Gullfoss, Geysir and the Kerid crater, from $208. Another Golden Circle day takes 11 hours, adds the Efstidalur dairy farm and Faxafoss, and ends with 1.5 hours at the cave, from $229.

Two more combos head elsewhere. A 9-hour Reykjanes day pairs the cave with Kleifarvatn, the Seltún geothermal area, the Nátthagi valley and Grindavik, from $196. And a caving and quad bike day combines an hour in the tunnel with a 1-hour quad bike ride after a lunch break, starting from $313 and rated 4.95 from 15 reviews.

These long days suit visitors who want to see as much as possible from a single base in Reykjavík. They are less suited to anyone who wants time at each stop: a 20-minute photo stop at Gullfoss or Kerid is brief, and the timetable keeps moving. If one sight matters more than the rest, consider booking it on its own, with time to linger.

Combo or two separate bookings?

If you have a car, separate bookings usually win. You can drive to the cave for the 1-hour walk, from $72, at the time that suits you, then go on to Thingvellir or the south coast at your own pace. Silfra snorkeling can still be booked on its own, and the northern lights need nothing more than a dark sky and a good forecast.

Without a car, a combo is often the simpler choice. The Silfra combo includes the morning in the cave and the afternoon at Silfra, with pickup available, and the evening combo handles all the driving in the dark. You pay for that convenience, but you also avoid the risk of missing a fixed start time because a transfer ran late.

Whichever you choose, the cancellation terms are the same on every listing compared here: free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance, and reserve now, pay later. Book early, keep an eye on the weather and the road conditions, and move your day if the forecast turns. In Iceland, a plan that can bend is a plan that works.

Under the lava