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Snæfellsnes is a peninsula in the west of Iceland, known for the pointed mountain of Kirkjufell and for Snæfellsjökull, the volcano that the tours admire from its western tip. Most visitors come on a long day out from Reykjavík, with black beaches, lava fields and small coastal villages along the way.
Snæfellsnes belongs to the Western Region of Iceland and lies next to the waters of Faxaflói. The Breiðafjörður fjord, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, reaches the municipalities of Snæfellsbær, Grundarfjarðarbær and Stykkishólmur, all three in the same region. Stykkishólmur took the place of two former municipalities, Stykkishólmsbær and Helgafellssveit. These are small communities: Snæfellsbær, which shares a border with Grundarfjarðarbær, covers 682 square kilometres and had 1,669 inhabitants at the start of 2025.
Kirkjufell rises on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, and every trip on this page stops there. The usual viewpoint is near Grundarfjörður, a village in the municipality of Grundarfjarðarbær, which covers 149 square kilometres and was home to 826 people in early 2025. From there, the small Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall sits in the foreground with the steep peak rising behind it, the view most photographers come for.
The volcano of Snæfellsjökull lies inside Snæfellsjökull National Park, on Snæfellsnes; officially, the park is called simply Snæfellsjökull. It was established in 2001 and covers roughly 167 square kilometres.
Inside the park, the tours walk down to Djúpalónssandur, a cove of black pebbles where pieces of a wrecked British trawler still lie on the shore. Four old lifting stones rest there too, once used to test the strength of fishermen. In winter, road and weather conditions can change which stops are reachable.
In the small village of Arnarstapi, a coastal path runs past basalt cliffs and sea arches, with seabirds nesting in the rock. Nearby, the two volcanic sea stacks of Lóndrangar rise straight from the coast. At Búðir, the black church stands alone against the open lava. Several tours also cross Berserkjahraun, a field of jagged lava, and stop at Ytri Tunga, a beach where seals often rest on the rocks, though no sighting is ever certain.
Two small-group days share much the same route. The small-group day trip from central Reykjavík crosses Berserkjahraun, stops at Kirkjufell and its waterfall, enters the national park for Djúpalónssandur, then visits Lóndrangar, Arnarstapi, the church at Búðir and Ytri Tunga. The same day with a Spanish-speaking guide keeps those stops. The small-group tour with a home-cooked lunch adds a meal made from local produce at a horse farm; it views the glacier from the western tip but does not walk on it.
For a private day, the private tour from Reykjavík picks you up in the city, visits Kirkjufell, Djúpalónssandur and the coastal walk at Arnarstapi, and goes inside a lava cave; it is rated easy. The private tour with a photographer collects you from your accommodation in Reykjavík, and the guide also takes your photos, with the edited set included; it stops at Búðir, Arnarstapi, Lóndrangar, the Svöðufoss waterfall and Kirkjufell.
In winter, the two-day tour of Snæfellsnes and Borgarfjörður spends its first day at the hot spring of Deildartunguhver, at Reykholt and at the waterfalls of Hraunfossar and Barnafoss, with a night in the Borgarfjörður area. On the second day it crosses the peninsula to Gerðuberg, Arnarstapi and Djúpalónssandur, goes down into the Vatnshellir lava cave with a guide and ends at Kirkjufell.
More trips that stop on the peninsula are listed on the Snæfellsnes destination page.
Yes. Five of these trips go there and back from the capital in a full day; the sixth takes two days and adds Borgarfjörður.
No. They look at the glacier from viewpoints around the peninsula, and none of them includes a glacier walk.
It is the small waterfall in front of Kirkjufell. The tours stop beside it for the classic picture of the mountain behind the falls.
Not always. Going into Vatnshellir means taking stairs and walking through low passages, so it may not suit people with limited mobility or a fear of tight spaces.
Sources: Wikidata (CC0).
