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On the Reykjanes peninsula, a single day from Reykjavík or from Keflavík Airport takes in steaming hot springs, a lighthouse above a lava coast, a quiet lake among volcanic hills and a footbridge laid across the gap between two tectonic plates. The trips on this page are day tours, private or in small groups.
Built of steel and wood, the Bridge between Continents joins the Eurasian Plate to the North American Plate. Every trip on this page stops there, and you cross it on foot above the rift that opens between them. The bridge is in Suðurnes, the Southern Peninsula Region, which borders the Capital Region and the Southern Region of Iceland.
At the Gunnuhver hot spring, the tours walk around boiling mud pools and steam vents. Close by stands the Reykjanesviti lighthouse, a concrete tower 31 m (102 ft) tall. Its light sits 69 m (226 ft) above the sea, flashes white twice every 30 seconds and carries 22 nautical miles out over the water.
On the same stretch of coast, several trips stop at the cliffs of Valahnúkur and at Brimketill, a pool in the lava rock where the Atlantic waves break.
Seltún, in the Krýsuvík area, falls within the municipality of Hafnarfjörður, in the Capital Region of Iceland. Boardwalks lead you past mud pots, steam vents and ground stained yellow and red by minerals. Krýsuvík lies within Reykjanesfólkvangur, some 29,200 hectares of land protected since 1975 and listed in IUCN category V as a protected landscape. Kleifarvatn, the lake most tours visit on the same day, lies inside it too, in the municipality of Grindavíkurbær.
Grindavík was evacuated on 10 November 2023 because of the earthquakes of that year. Some trips pass through the town, and three head for the young lava fields around Fagradalsfjall, where the 2021 eruption began on 19 March and ended on 18 December. Where it is safe on the day, the guide takes you on a short walk close to the new ground; when conditions do not allow it, the plan changes.
Three of these trips go in small groups. The guided day trip to the lava fields collects you from your accommodation and visits Seltún and Krýsuvík, Kleifarvatn, Brimketill, Gunnuhver and the bridge, with the walk to new lava when it is safe. The volcano circle tour adds Grindavík and the Náttahagi lava field to the lake, the hot springs, the lighthouse and the bridge; it is rated easy. The small-group tour from Reykjavík covers Kleifarvatn, Seltún, Brimketill, a pause in Grindavík, the Fagradalsfjall eruption area, Valahnúkur with Reykjanesviti, Gunnuhver and the bridge, and is rated easy as well.
Private tours move at your own pace. The private full-day tour picks you up at your hotel in the capital area and adds the lighthouses at Garðskagi and the black church at Hvalsnes to the bridge, Gunnuhver, Valahnúkur and Brimketill. The private tour of the peninsula, from Reykjavík or with pickup at Keflavík Airport, visits Grindavík, Gunnuhver, Reykjanesviti and the bridge. With pickup and drop-off at Keflavík Airport or at the harbour, the private tour for a stopover suits a layover or a cruise call: it takes in the bridge, Gunnuhver, Reykjanesviti, Brimketill, Seltún and Kleifarvatn.
More trips on the peninsula are listed on the Reykjanes destination page.
You can walk over a footbridge that joins the Eurasian and North American plates. All six tours here include it.
Some tours go near the lava from the recent eruptions, but only if the guide judges it safe that day. The peninsula is still volcanically active, so routes can change.
Yes. Two of the private tours offer pickup at the airport, and one of them also brings you back there.
No. Two of the small-group tours are rated easy and the walks are short, though the ground is uneven and the weather on the coast can turn quickly.
Sources: Wikidata (CC0).
