Things to do in Vík

7 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Vík í Mýrdal is the southernmost village in Iceland and, according to Visit South Iceland, the only village on the coast without a harbour. It lies in the middle of the Katla Geopark, between the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap and the sea. For visitors that means two kinds of day. One is spent on ice, with a cave under the Katla volcano or a hike on the Sólheimajökull glacier. The other goes along the black sand coast, from the Reynisdrangar sea stacks to Dyrhólaey and the old US Navy plane on Sólheimasandur. The first half of this page covers the tours, the second the places you can visit on your own.

Tours from the village and the glacier car park

Katla ice cave

The ice cave tours leave from Vík in high-clearance Super Jeeps and cross the black floodplain of Mýrdalssandur to the edge of the glacier. Troll Expeditions gives about 30 minutes for the drive, 30 minutes on foot and an hour in the cave, with the equipment provided. Several operators run the trip, and the minimum age is 6 or 8 depending on the tour. The cave changes from week to week, and reviews from the summer months often say it was smaller than the photos suggested. The tours are compared under Katla ice cave tours.

Glacier hiking on Sólheimajökull

Sólheimajökull is an outlet glacier on the south-western side of Mýrdalsjökull, 11 km long and 1 to 2 km wide. The tours meet at the car park below it, west of Vík. The Blue Ice hike by Arctic Adventures covers about 6 km, is rated easy to moderate and takes children from 8, with crampons, ice axe, helmet and harness provided. Reviewers mention the walk in to the ice, which can take close to an hour, and a brisk pace. Ice climbing starts at 12 years on the Troll tour. All formats are on the glacier hiking page.

Quad bikes and buggies

Icelandic Mountain Guides has a base camp just off Road 222, the Mýrdalsjökull road. The quad tour lasts one or two hours, crosses the black sand of Sólheimasandur, stops at the DC-3 that crashed there in 1973 and returns along the river Jökulsá with a view towards Dyrhólaey. You need a valid driving licence, and single riders book a single quad. The buggy tour starts at Ytri-Sólheimar, about 25 km west of Vík, and heads towards the ice cap; in winter, when the glacier road is not passable, it switches to the beach and the plane wreck. Reviews mention large groups and waiting time. See ATV and buggy tours.

Horse riding

Vik Horse Adventure keeps its stable at Smiðjuvegur 6 in the village, reached through the Orkan petrol station. The ride lasts an hour on Víkurfjara, the beach below the village, mostly at walking pace, with a chance to try the tölt for confident riders. Riders must be at least 10 and weigh no more than 100 kg, and in summer puffins fly over the beach. If you bring your own riding clothes to Iceland, the food and veterinary authority MAST asks for them to be washed first, and used riding gloves may not be brought in at all. More rides are on the horse riding page.

Kayak and paragliding

The kayak tour paddles on the lake in front of Sólheimajökull, which the Katla Geopark puts at 60 m deep. You wear a drysuit, no experience is needed, and the tour takes three hours; reviewers wanted more time on the water and fewer stops. Tandem paragliding with True Adventure starts in the village, takes a 10-minute jeep ride to the take-off and usually flies from Reynisfjall for 10 to 15 minutes. Passengers must be 12 or older and weigh 30 to 120 kg, and the operator asks you to keep two hours spare in case the wind changes. Details under kayaking, paragliding and zipline.

The Lava Show

On Víkurbraut, the main street, real lava heated to about 1,100 °C is poured in front of the audience. The visit lasts about 50 minutes, is in English only and runs in any weather. Reviewers point out that the talk takes up most of the time. Read more about the Lava Show.

Highlands by Super Jeep

Gravel Travel picks up guests in Vík at 8 am for a day of about ten hours to Landmannalaugar, with stops at the Eldgjá fissure, Blautulón and Langisjór on the way. Other tours from the village go to the Laki craters and Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, or into the Þakgil canyon, which runs from May to October. The Icelandic Road Administration opens the highland roads only for part of the year. Compare them under Super Jeep and highland tours.

Places to visit on your own

Reynisfjara is the beach on the far side of Reynisfjall, the 340 m mountain west of the village, with basalt columns, the Hálsanefshellir cave and the 66 m Reynisdrangar sea stacks offshore. The waves there have killed several visitors in recent years. Since 2022 a warning light at the entrance has shown the danger level, and at red you may not go out to the basalt columns or the cave. Erosion in February 2026 damaged the signs and for a time blocked the way down to the columns. Read the Reynisfjara page before you go.

Dyrhólaey is a 120 m promontory with a rock arch and a small orange-roofed lighthouse from 1927. Puffins nest in its cliffs from late April to mid-August. In May and June parts of the reserve close for the nesting season or open only from 9:00 to 19:00, and in winter the steep upper road to the lighthouse is often shut because of ice and wind. Parking costs a fee, paid through the PARKA app. See Dyrhólaey.

The plane wreck lies on Sólheimasandur, and the car park is on the Ring Road 27 km west of Vík. Driving to the plane has been banned since 2016, so you walk about 4 km each way, close to two hours there and back, or take the shuttle, which needs 10 to 15 minutes and runs from 10:00 depending on daylight. The glacier and plane wreck page has the details.

Further west, Skógafoss falls about 60 m, and the Skógar Museum next to it shows 18,000 regional objects in three museums and six old buildings, open on 362 days of the year. The Fimmvörðuháls trail to Þórsmörk starts at the waterfall and is usually passable from about late June to mid-September. In the village itself, the Katla Centre has a free exhibition on the volcano, and Visit South Iceland calls the walk up Reynisfjall a local favourite. More on Skógafoss and Skógar and Vík village.

What runs in which season

Vík has no midnight sun and no polar night. On 21 December the sun is up from 10:59 to 15:29, and on 21 June it sets at 23:35 and rises at 03:00, while the sky stays bright in between. The ice cave, glacier and quad tours have reviews from summer and winter alike. Puffins, the Þakgil tour and the Fimmvörðuháls trail belong to the summer half of the year. Northern lights need dark, partly clear skies, roughly from September to April, and nothing about them is guaranteed. Month by month, see the best time to visit.