Local operators

Family-owned glacier and volcano specialists operating from Vík í Mýrdal since 2012. What started as a husband-and-wife guiding team — Steinunn and Jón — has grown into a crew of twelve IFMGA-certified mountain guides who share an obsession with the ice beneath Mýrdalsjökull and Vatnajökull. Our safety record is impeccable: over 4,000 glacier excursions without a lost-time incident. Every guide carries a satellite communicator, avalanche beacon, and enough first-aid training to stabilise a patient in a crevasse. We run small groups — never more than six guests per vehicle — because the ice deserves your full attention, and you deserve a guide who knows your name. When we're not on the glacier, we maintain a fleet of modified Toyota Land Cruisers purpose-built for Iceland's highland tracks, support local search-and-rescue volunteers in Suðurland, and work with glaciologists from the University of Iceland to monitor ice-cave stability each season. Vík is our home, and the landscape around it is our life's work.

Geiri Skutl er traustur og úrræðagóður maður sem lætur hlutina ganga upp. Hann er þekktur fyrir að vera duglegur, hjálpsamur og alltaf tilbúinn að taka að sér verkefni—hvort sem það er að skutla fólki, leysa vandamál eða sjá til þess að allt rúlli smurt. Geiri kemur hlutunum í verk með jákvæðu viðhorfi og góðri nærveru, og fólk treystir því að þegar hann er á staðnum, þá reddast málin.

We started Höfuðborg Excursions in 2017 after a decade working as private drivers for embassies and visiting heads of state. What we learned there — discretion, punctuality, and knowing every short cut around Reykjavík — is now the backbone of how we run our Golden Circle, city walking, and Blue Lagoon transfers today. Our fleet is small, modern, and immaculate. Twelve vehicles, all under two years old, all serviced at Bílaumboðið Askja by the same technicians who maintain the prime minister's motorcade. Every driver is cleared for VIP transport, speaks at least three languages, and has passed the Icelandic Tourist Guide Association exam on Icelandic Saga-era history — because a Golden Circle tour should come with real storytelling, not a recycled script. We operate exclusively in the capital region and the Reykjanes peninsula. Keflavík airport transfers, Blue Lagoon packages, the classic Golden Circle, Reykjavík city walking tours, and private evening runs to the Sky Lagoon. If you want to go further — say, the south coast — we will happily refer you to friends at Eldfjall Expeditions, because sticking to what we do best is how we keep the fleet, the drivers, and the service the way they are.

Akureyri-born and Akureyri-based, we have been chasing the northern lights and guiding whale-watching trips in Skjálfandi Bay since 2015. Our team of eight combines marine biologists from the University of Akureyri, a retired Icelandic Met Office forecaster, and certified wilderness first responders — a mix you don't find in the big Reykjavík operators. We run a deliberately small operation. No rented coaches, no commission-only freelance guides. Every vehicle in our fleet is owned, serviced, and driven by someone on the team. When you book with us in October, the guide picking you up from your Akureyri hotel is the same person who serviced that van the week before and who will be logging the whales you see into our long-running Skjálfandi Bay cetacean database. North Iceland sees a fraction of the tourist traffic of the south — which is exactly why we love it. Mývatn, Húsavík, Goðafoss, Dimmuborgir, the Diamond Circle — these places still feel like discoveries. We keep group sizes under eight on the aurora chases and under twelve for the day tours, so they stay that way.