Arctic Adventures - Iceland Tours Reviews

It is one of the big tour companies of Iceland and you can see their vans pretty much everywhere you go. I did the 6-day tour around Iceland and I am very satisfied with the experience. The service is great, their guides are competent and the itinerary, though a bit rushed at times, is adequate. The highlights of my trip were the glacier hike and the stay at the Wilderness Center. I highly recommend this company.

Try Different Guided Experience This is my personal experience and how I felt after. Others might have diff/better experience. This was my first time snorkelling. I have done Scuba (still fresh in my memory) before but not snorkelling. Technically I can’t tell you how it is diff when it comes to breathing through mouth in both cases. But i wish i had done it before. I tried it directly here, I feel that wasn’t the best choice. To start with first step in deciding to go for snorkelling here is big, it’s overwhelming in itself. No photos, videos or pre-study prepares you for it once you see the fissure right under you, huge, magnificent, unending, beautiful and scary unknown at the same time. You run all scenarios through your head the first time you think about it. Unfortunately in my case, I didn’t foresee the event where I’ll be with a guide who wouldn’t remember my name and will ask it 3 times removing mouth tube right after I landed in water. We got all the instructions guidance near bus where we suited up. But no moments practice near the edge of water, specially with snorkel gears. We directly dived in. This was a big trouble for me, because after removing it so many times right after diving in I drank so much water and I panicked. I don’t know if i panicked after seeing the fissure under or just thinking that I don’t know how to breathe through the gears given. The guide asked me multiple times do you want to continue or come out which added more to panic that the person won’t help or take any responsibility if I decide to go forward so it’s better go back right now. 2 out of 3 members in our group returned even before reaching the regret zone marker. This wasn’t the guided experience I was hoping for, maybe I assumed that it will be more encouraging and supportive throughout. The adventure team while booking does ask for all kind of personal details such as clothing size, weight, medical conditions. But the suits provided at the time were all bigger than my sizes and told us it was standard size. They were huge and heavy to carry even to walk from meeting point to diving point. 2 other folks were told that they can’t snorkel because of medical conditions, I hope they did their booking at last minute and this wasn’t rejected after whole load of planning for them. Given the cost of whole debacle I would recommend to snorkel somewhere else and come more prepared to enjoy the view under you. You don't get photos or cocoa if you don't finish it. :(

When scheduling my tour, I was never prompted to get a medical note from my doctor for any specific medical conditions. I was only asked for this medical note in the last minute before the tour began preparing for the trip and was immediately told that I am not allowed to go. The employees were being rude and threatening to start a fight in order to get me out of the area when I simply requested another person to aid in finding a solution. I decided to contact customer support regarding this, but they too gave me a response that was not assuring that this company cares about its customers. There was a lack of communication on their part from their site and the emails that I received for reminders about the tour. The only emails I received were to promote buying merchandise from them, nothing regarding my tour information or the requirement of a medical note for a condition that does not affect me for this activity. The employees requiring a note incredibly last minute and for the distress that the employees caused to me and my group minutes before we began to even start talking about the snorkeling adventure is incredibly unprofessional, let alone the employees violating the right to privacy laws that Iceland follows because the employees had asked us in the whole group if we have the medical conditions they listed. I attempted talking with customer support after the terrible treatment given by the employees, but they too said it was my fault that I did not get the note, but how is it my fault if their site simply did not prompt me to get such a note. Being told last minute that I cannot go on the tour, and for customer support to tell me I cannot be refunded for this lack of communication tells me that they do not care to address the issues of their website and would rather keep the large amounts of money they collect from us customers and blame the issues that occur on us. I do not recommended this company for tours unless you want to deal with the lack of empathy and lack of communication.

I emailed the company and this was their answer Dear Sohair Rostom, Thank you for reaching out to Arctic Adventures. Your pickup location is Bus Stop One. The pickup time for your tour will be at 8:30 AM. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I called the company at 9:09 they said she will be there in 15 min and he was not apologetic, he said the guy who sent you the email is new in the company, as if this is my fault they showed up at 9:45 , bus driver is super sweet, hope rest of trip is nice

We just returned from our 6 day tour of the Ring Road around Iceland and all I can say is “WOW!” Our Icelandic guide, Sindri, was the absolute best! He not only shared the beauty of Iceland, but he gave us background knowledge about the culture. We will never forget his wonderful stories and Icelandic sagas. Sindri’s humor and expertise on everything Icelandic made this trip unforgettable. We even saw the Northern Lights three times on our journey! I would highly recommend this trip to anyone traveling to Iceland!

The tour was easy to book, easy to get to, and there was plenty of parking. (Just make sure you pay the small parking fee via QR code or app before you leave, if you drive yourself.) Our guides were friendly, informative, and efficient when getting everyone situated with the right safety gear. Steven led our half of the group and he was incredibly knowledgeable about the glacier and it's history, made sure to emphasize safety, and made sure we had plenty of fun. Plus, at the end, I recommend hitting up the small food hut at the end of the parking lot serving an Icelandic street food version of pizza- you can't say "no" to using fried dough as the base- yum!

Very disappointing. Spent $400 for my husband and daughter to go on a snowmobiling trip. Found out 2 hours prior that I accidentally chose that we would meet at the site and note for pick up in Reykjavik--- website confusing when choosing the location. Called 2 hours prior and they stated that they would not wait 15 minutes after the scheduled time for them to arrive (would be a 2 hour drive by taxi) and that even though they have room for the tour the next two days, they would not honor the cost and let them change to another day this week. Never had such poor customer service. Would advise using another company that cares about their customers.

Unfortunately we couldn't go to the blue ice for safety reasons but they rescheduled us to the Skaftafell trekking and it was a great experience! Our guide Jay( dont remember his Slovakian name) was perfect and made the experience even better. Was possible to see his love for what he does and how he was trying to make this the best experience for each person of the group. Unforgettable! Tks Jay!

We had a wonderful day trip to Snaelfells Penninsular. The weather helped . Though cold and sometimes windy it was mostly sunny . Absolutely stunning scenery and iconic sights. Some good walks that you could join I or not as you liked . Our guide Thomas was very nice and kind ...if a little talkative on the way home when I would have preferred to rest ! I highly recommend.

Crystal Ice cave tour False advertisement at its best. DO NOT BOOK They sell a tour for "Crystal" ice cave, which according to their own partner tour guides has drowned already some years ago. There are some smaller ice caves in the area which the guides can only take you according to the weather conditions. All the description in their tours are for the Crystal ice cave and the other caves are nothing like that. It is also mentioned in their itinerary that you can take tour own time inside the cave, which is a BIG lie. For us, the tour operator took us at the entrance, we stood there not more than 2 minutes for a picture and then returned back. There were other caves in the area that we could have visited, but they decided that it's enough to take someone to the entrance of a cave to call it a cave tour. Biggest waste of money for the steep price they charge for it! Definitely not worth a single cent. Ruined our day and much of time that we could have done other things around

I did the 6 day tour. I would like to point out the good and areas of improvement. First customer service did a good job of keeping me informed and being available. They made sure the bookings were done well. The tour while hectic as expected did provide the major sights and sounds. Areas of improvement. Our guide Gunner was okay but I felt in some aspects could be improved. Earlier on the tour I felt he wasn't as communicative. In addition one day he seemed to have questioned folks who didn't pay for dinner and single me out in the bus even though I told him I did. At that point he asked me twice if I did which was frustrating. Further more at the next stop I showed him the receipt and he told me that the Wilderness center had several rooms that they said didn't pay. Well then why was I singled out? In contrast the lady who handled the Day tour for Snaefellsness was very social and I liked that. Wish we had someone like that. He was on time which was good but originally I had mentioned I wanted to sit in the front of the bus. We'll he then said to be fair everyone had to rotate. I asked for an exception at which point he asked me to sit in the driver seat whicj was uncomfortable. Further more as that seat didn't have a charging port on one day I asked if I can use one of his to which he said "Don't you charge in the night". Well for his information I do meticulously charge but I also work and the battery drains. Next to the bed I had one power port that I used to use for my fan and I didn't want my phone to be far away from the bed in case I didn't hear the alarm so I would leave it uncharged in the night. Hence the need to charge in the bus. Again if he had left me sit in my seat on the first day that I had picked i would have my USB port but due to driver seat I didn't. At the Wilderness center the lack of heating was a inconvenience but credit to the hosts they took good care with space heater. I wish the buses were a bit larger so the bumpiness of the road wouldn't be felt. The speed at which he drove it was bumpy especially in the back.

My friend and I did a Golden Circle tour followed by a Northern Lights hunt with Arctic Adventures and both were fantastic. The guides (Al and Palli) were both friendly and knowledgable, and the trips were both at just the right pace to enjoy everything without hanging around too much. An amazing tour of an amazing country. Thank you Arctic Adventured.

Really good activity and our guide Sara was excellent. The only negative part of the experience was that one person in our group was not allowed to participate in the activity because they have asthma, even though they had all their necessary medication. When making the reservation, the medical restrictions and requirements are not very visible; it seems like they try to hide them. In the confirmation email, they also do not mention that a medical certificate is required for the activity. This could be avoided by clearly stating what is needed.

Very disappointed with the customer service. Tried to go for a snorkeling trip in Silfra today and was denied. Both of us are medical doctors in the United States and PADI certified rescue divers but were unable to snorkel. Upon initial problem the on site team was unwilling to accept our medical clearance documents and would not contact management so we did. Customer service was unable to get in touch with them either and we were not permitted to continue.