Open year-round · the water holds 2–4°C in January and July alike

Silfra Snorkeling Tours, Iceland

One fissure, forty-five minutes in the water, and six completely different days out. Three drysuit snorkel tours at three prices, a scuba dive for certified divers, a freedive in a 7 mm wetsuit and a full Golden Circle day that wraps the snorkel inside it. What each costs, who each one excludes, and the catch on every one.

Our Top Pick Compare All 6

Silfra Quick Facts

You get about 45 minutes in the waterAnd that's true whether you book the three-hour trip or the ten-hour one — nobody mentions it, but it's the same swim. Everything else is a briefing, getting zipped into a dry suit, and standing about afterwards with a hot chocolate
Everyone meets in the same car parkThere's one way into Silfra and every tour here uses it — the dive vans parked beside the platform in Þingvellir. Driving yourself? Leave the car at P5 and walk back down the road a few hundred metres. You'll spot the vans
What it'll cost youAround ~$131 if you want the bus from Reykjavík thrown in, ~$137 to ~$145 for the two best-reviewed snorkel trips, ~$224 to freedive it, ~$285 to scuba it, and ~$299 if you'd rather have the whole Golden Circle bolted on
Come whenever suits youThe fissure is spring-fed, so it never freezes and never warms up — it's the same 2–4°C in January as in July, and tours run every day. What actually catches people out isn't the weather, it's the rulebook: every tour has height, weight and age limits, and anyone over 60 needs a note from a doctor

Silfra in 60 Seconds

Silfra Snorkeling Tours: Quick Answers Before You Book

Only got a minute? Here is everything that actually decides which Silfra tour you should be on.

silfra snorkeling tours official website

snorkeling between tectonic plates iceland

In short: the one we would book is Silfra: Fissure Snorkeling Tour with Underwater Photos at ~$145 per person. Three hours, a drysuit, a group capped at six, and a guide carrying a GoPro whose photos you get for free rather than for €40 at the van door. It holds 4.9/5 from 3,283 reviews — the highest rating and the deepest review base of any Silfra tour on the market. The catch is that it does not pick you up: you need a car. If you do not have one, the Arctic Adventures tour at ~$131 runs a bus from Reykjavík.

Best overall: Silfra: Fissure Snorkeling Tour with Underwater Photos — ~$145, 3 hours, drysuit, max 6 people, free GoPro photos, rated 4.9/5 from 3,283 reviews. Here is why we would book it.
If you have no car: the Reykjavík: Silfra Fissure Snorkeling between Two Continents tour at ~$131 is the cheapest here and the only big-volume one that will collect you from your hotel — though at 4.7/5 it is also the lowest-rated of the three snorkel tours, and its travellers score value for money at just 4.4.
If you want the flexibility: DIVE.IS's Snorkeling Tour Between Tectonic Plates at ~$137 sells both a pickup option and a meet-on-location option, includes the ISK 1,500 Silfra entry fee outright, and has a heated van to change in — genuinely nice at 3°C in a car park in February.
If you are a certified diver: Silfra: Diving Between Tectonic Plates at ~$285 takes you down to 23 metres in the Cathedral with groups capped at three. You need a dry suit certification or ten logged dry suit dives with written proof, so most readers cannot book it.
If you would rather hold your breath: the Silfra Freedive Adventure at ~$224 is the only tour here that duck-dives rather than floats — 7 mm open-cell wetsuit, dryrobe on the bank, and a guide rated 5.0/5. Only 44 people have reviewed it.
If Silfra is one stop in a bigger day: the Golden Circle Tour and Silfra Snorkeling at ~$299 buys you the snorkel plus Gullfoss, Geysir and Þingvellir in ten hours, and scores the best value-for-money subscore on the page at 4.7.
The thing that catches everyone out: these tours refuse people at the van, not at checkout. Every one has a height floor, a weight window and an age ceiling, and everyone over 60 needs a doctor's signature on a medical form before they can get in the water. We have pulled the whole rulebook apart below — read it before you pay, not after.

The One We'd Book

Best Silfra Snorkeling Tour: The Drysuit Trip With Free Photos

Of the six here, this is the one we would book first — the highest-rated Silfra tour in existence, and the one with the largest pile of reviews behind that rating.

Best Silfra Snorkeling Tour Overall

Silfra: Fissure Snorkeling Tour with Underwater Photos

4.9 / 5 from 3,283 reviews · Troll .is · free cancellation up to 24 hours before

No other Silfra tour comes close on evidence. This one carries 3,283 reviews at 4.9 out of 5; the next best-rated snorkel tour has 950, and the biggest rival by volume sits at 4.7. GetYourGuide's own breakdown says 94% of English-speaking travellers gave it a perfect score. When one product is simultaneously the best rated and the most reviewed in its category, the argument is more or less over.

Three hours, a group capped at six, and a high-quality dry suit with a thermal undersuit so that only your lips and hands ever touch the water. You gear up in the car park beside the fissure in Þingvellir National Park, walk to the entry platform, and spend roughly forty-five minutes drifting north on a current so gentle you barely have to kick. The guide carries a GoPro the whole way and the photos are free — which sounds like a small thing until you price the same photos as an add-on elsewhere.

Price from: ~$145
Duration: 3 hours · roughly 45 minutes in the water
Operator: Troll .is
Suit: Dry suit with thermal undersuit
Meets at: The operator's car park at Silfra, Þingvellir National Park
Group: Small group, limited to 6 · live guide in English
Photos: GoPro photos included, no extra charge
Cancellation: Free up to 24 hours before · reserve now, pay later

Check Availability & Price Compare With Others

Where the three hours actually go

Around forty-five minutes of it is in the water. The rest is the part nobody photographs: a briefing, then fifteen to twenty minutes of being zipped, sealed and wrist-checked into a dry suit by a guide who has done it ten thousand times, then the walk to the platform, then getting out of the thing again with hot chocolate in your hand. That ratio is the same on every snorkel tour here — which is exactly why the ~$299 Golden Circle day is not four times the Silfra experience. It is the same forty-five minutes.

Before you get in

Meet at the vansThe operator's car park beside the fissure. Self-drivers park at Þingvellir P5 and walk back to the Tröll Snorkel Meeting Point — the vans are signed
Briefing and gearing upThermal undersuit first, then the dry suit, then the neck and wrist seals. Wear a warm base layer underneath, and take off every ring, watch and earring before you start

Down the steps to the entry platform

The four rooms of Silfra

The Big CrackSilfra's narrowest section, where the two walls close to within arm's reach on either side. The photograph everyone comes home with
Silfra HallThe fissure opens out and the colour changes. At the right angle you can see straight down the hall for well over a hundred metres
Silfra CathedralThe long deep section where the floor drops to around 23 metres beneath you and the walls run parallel into blue. Snorkellers float over the top of it; divers go down into it
Silfra LagoonThe current widens and slows into a shallow, bright lagoon before the exit. Keep an eye out for the dwarf char and for troll hair — the neon-green algae on the boulders

Out at the exit platform and back to the van

Hot chocolate and cookiesIncluded, and not a token gesture — you will want them. Photos from the GoPro follow by download link

What you'll actually see

Silfra is the only place on earth where you can swim inside the boundary between two tectonic plates above sea level. The fissure is a crack in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and the water in it is not lake water at all — it is glacial meltwater that has spent decades filtering through porous lava rock before surfacing here, which is why visibility runs past a hundred metres and why there is almost nothing alive in it.

The Big CrackTwo continents, arm's reach apart
Silfra Cathedral23 metres of blue below you
100 m visibilityAmong the clearest water on earth
Troll hairNeon-green algae on the boulders
Dwarf charJust about the only fish in here
Þingvellir rift valleyA UNESCO World Heritage Site
Silfra LagoonBright, shallow, where it ends
Free GoPro photosTaken by your guide, not sold to you

What nobody sells you, and what shows up in review after review, is how calm it is. There is no swell, no surge and nothing to swim away from — the current does the work and you float. Reviewers who arrive nervous about the gear almost all write the same sentence afterwards: the moment you are in the water, the claustrophobia goes.

Why this one and not the cheaper Arctic Adventures tour?

Fourteen dollars. That is the entire difference between our pick at ~$145 and the ~$131 tour that will also collect you from your hotel. For that fourteen dollars you move from 4.7/5 to 4.9/5, from 2,321 reviews to 3,283, and from a value-for-money subscore of 4.4 to 4.6. You also stop being one of a busload. The reason we would still take the cheaper one seriously is the one thing money cannot fix here: our pick does not run a bus. If you are not renting a car in Iceland, the choice makes itself.

One thing we'd flag: travellers score this tour separately on guide, transport and value, and value is where it gives — 4.6 out of 5, against 4.9 for the guides. Nobody thinks ~$145 for forty-five minutes is cheap, and they are right. There is also a genuine inconsistency in the listing's own small print: the restriction list says the tour is not suitable for people under 135 cm, while the know-before-you-go section says you must be at least 145 cm. If anyone in your party is near either figure, email the operator before you book rather than finding out at the van. And note the hard ceiling that catches people every week — the maximum age is 69, and anyone 60 or over needs a doctor's clearance in writing.

Who you'll be in the water with

Troll .is, running out of their own vans at the Silfra meeting point. Guides are PADI-certified and named individually in review after review — Marcello, Leo, Kevin, Anna, Jan — which for a three-hour tour where one person zips you into a sealed suit and then swims beside you matters rather more than it would on a coach.

What to bring, and what they take care of

They supply the dry suit, the thermal undersuit, mask, fins and snorkel, the guide, the hot drinks and the photographs. You bring a warm base layer — leggings, a long-sleeved shirt, thick socks — plus a change of clothes just in case, and contact lenses if you normally wear glasses, because glasses do not fit under a snorkel mask. Take off every piece of jewellery before you arrive: rings and watches tear dry-suit wrist seals, and a torn seal ends your tour.

What's included

Certified PADI dive guide
Dry suit and all snorkelling equipment
Hot drinks
Cookies
GoPro photos of your snorkel
Small group, limited to 6 participants
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before

Not included

Parking fees at Þingvellir
Hotel pickup and drop-off — you need your own car
A wetsuit option, if you would rather not wear a dry suit
Anything for under-70s without a doctor's note, if you are 60 or over

Best for

Anyone with a rental car who wants the best-reviewed Silfra tour there is, in a group of six rather than a coachload, and who would rather have the photographs included than sold to them afterwards.

Into the Crack

Silfra Fissure Guide: The Water, the Suits and the Season

A bit of background on what you are actually swimming in, why every tour costs roughly the same, and when to come.

It is not lake water, and that is the whole point

The water in Silfra fell as snow on Langjökull, about 50 km north-east, and has been travelling underground ever since — percolating through porous basalt for decades before it surfaces in the fissure. That journey is a filter. What arrives has almost no suspended sediment and almost no nutrients, which is why you can see past a hundred metres and why there is nothing much living in it. It is also why the temperature never moves: spring-fed water arrives at 2–4°C in August exactly as it does in February.

Every tour enters at the same platform

There is one set of steps into Silfra and one set out, inside a national park, and the operators share them on a rota. No company has a secret entry point, a better section or a longer route — the fissure is the fissure. What you are actually choosing between is the suit, the group size, the transport, whether photos are included and how good the guides are. Which is why we compare these six on evidence and inclusions rather than on scenery claims, because the scenery is identical.

Dry suit or wetsuit is a real choice, not a downgrade

Five of the six tours here put you in a dry suit: you stay dry apart from your lips and hands, and you float high. The freedive tour uses a 7 mm open-cell wetsuit instead, because a dry suit's buoyancy makes duck-diving nearly impossible. So a wetsuit at Silfra does not mean a cheaper tour — it means a different activity. Watch for this in the listings: one snorkel tour's description still says "gear up in a wetsuit" while its own inclusions list says dry suit. Believe the inclusions list.

Winter is not the problem people assume

The water is the same temperature in January as in July, you are sealed inside a dry suit either way, and the fissure never freezes. What actually changes in winter is the drive: Route 36 to Þingvellir can close in weather, daylight is short, and fewer departures run each day. If you are visiting between November and March, take the earliest slot and let a guided tour with pickup do the driving rather than a hire car on a dark icy road.

The bit of the day nobody budgets for

Þingvellir is about 45 minutes from Reykjavík, and the tours that pick you up spend three to five and a half hours in total for forty-five minutes in the water. If you are self-driving to a meet-on-location tour, you are looking at an hour there, three hours on site and an hour back — most of a day either way. Bundling it with the Golden Circle, as the ten-hour combo does, is the only way to get a second attraction out of the same drive.

Book earlier than you think for summer

Groups are capped at six on almost every tour here and at three on the scuba dive, so a busy July morning is a small number of seats. The listings carry "likely to sell out" flags through high season, and the tours with free cancellation up to 24 hours before — which is all six of them — cost nothing to hold. Book the slot, then decide about the weather the day before.

All Six Ways In

6 Best Silfra Snorkeling and Diving Tours Compared

Every way into this fissure that we would genuinely put on the table, with the catch that comes with each one.

Our Top Pick

Silfra: Fissure Snorkeling Tour with Underwater Photos — Best Overall

Three hours at the fissure with a PADI-certified guide, a dry suit over a thermal undersuit, and a group capped at six. Roughly forty-five minutes drifting through the Big Crack, Silfra Hall, the Cathedral and the Lagoon, with your guide shooting GoPro photos the whole way and hot chocolate waiting at the van.

Duration3 hours · small group, max 6
OperatorTroll .is
Rating4.9/5 (3,283 reviews)
Meets atOperator's car park at Silfra, Þingvellir — self-drive only
HighlightsFree GoPro photos, dry suit, guides rated 4.9/5
Best forAnyone with a car who wants the best-reviewed tour there is

Worth knowing: the highest rating and the deepest review base of any Silfra product, and 94% of English-speaking reviewers gave it full marks. The trade-offs are real though: no hotel pickup, parking fees are yours, and value for money scores 4.6 against 4.9 for the guides. The listing also contradicts itself on minimum height — 135 cm in one place, 145 cm in another. Maximum age 69, and a doctor's clearance is required from 60.

~$145per person Check Price

Cheapest With Pickup

Reykjavík: Silfra Fissure Snorkeling between Two Continents — Best Without a Car

Arctic Adventures runs the volume operation here: a bus from Reykjavík, forty-five minutes in the water at Silfra with a PADI-certified guide, dry suit and full kit, complimentary underwater photos and hot cocoa afterwards. Þingvellir's park admission fee is included, and you can also select a meet-on-location option if you would rather drive yourself.

Duration3 – 5.5 hours · small group, max 6
OperatorArctic Adventures
Rating4.7/5 (2,321 reviews)
Meets atReykjavík hotel pickup, or Þingvellir National Park
HighlightsCheapest here, park fee included, free photos, pickup option
Best forTravellers without a rental car

Worth knowing: ~$131 is the lowest price on this page and the pickup is the real reason to take it. It is also the lowest-rated of the three snorkel tours at 4.7, its transport scores 4.5 and its value for money 4.4 — the weakest value subscore of the snorkel tours. The exclusion list is the longest here too: no under-12s, no claustrophobia, no heart or respiratory conditions, no epilepsy, no diabetes, no recent surgery, 150–200 cm and 45–120 kg.

~$131per person Check Price

Most Flexible

Silfra: Snorkeling Tour Between Tectonic Plates — Best of Both Ways

DIVE.IS are the best-known name at this fissure and they sell this tour both ways — with pickup from thirty-five points around Reykjavík, or meet-on-location if you are driving. An hour of briefing and gearing up, forty-five minutes in the water in a dry suit and warm undersuit, then thirty minutes of hot chocolate and cookies with a heated van to change in.

Duration2.5 – 6 hours · small group, max 6
OperatorDIVE.IS — Dive & Snorkel Tours Iceland
Rating4.8/5 (950 reviews)
Meets atSilfra Meeting Point off Route 36, or 35 Reykjavík pickup points
HighlightsHeated changing van, ISK 1,500 Silfra entry fee included
Best forAnyone who wants to choose between driving and being driven

Worth knowing: a strong middle option — 4.8 from 950 reviews, guides at 4.9. The heated van is a genuine comfort advantage in winter and the Silfra entry fee is built into the price rather than collected later. Two catches: parking fees and hotel pickup are billed separately depending on the option you pick, and the listing's own description says you "gear up in a wetsuit" while its inclusions list says dry suit and warm undersuit. Participants aged 60 and over need a physician's approval.

~$137per person Check Price

For Certified Divers

Silfra: Diving Between Tectonic Plates — The Deep Version

The same fissure, from underneath. Groups of three with one instructor, an hour of briefing and kitting up, then about forty-five minutes on scuba through all four sections — including down into the Cathedral, where the floor falls away to 23 metres and the walls run parallel into blue. Silfra entry fee, dry suit, undersuit and a heated changing van are all included.

Duration3 – 5 hours · small group, max 3
OperatorDIVE.IS — Dive & Snorkel Tours Iceland
Rating4.5/5 (80 reviews)
Meets atSilfra, Þingvellir — arrive 15 minutes early · pickup optional
Highlights23 m in the Cathedral, groups of three, 100 m+ visibility
Best forCertified dry suit divers only

Worth knowing: most readers cannot book this. You need PADI Open Water or equivalent plus either a dry suit diving certification or ten logged dry suit dives within two years, with written proof from an instructor. Minimum age 17; over-60s need DIVE.IS's own medical form signed by a doctor. The evidence is also the thinnest of the six — 80 reviews, the lowest rating on the page at 4.5, and a value-for-money subscore of 4.1, the worst here. Tips are excluded.

~$285per person Check Price

Something Different

Thingvellir: Silfra Freedive Adventure with a Guide — Best for Divers Without a Card

The only tour here that goes down rather than along. A 7 mm open-cell wetsuit instead of a dry suit — because dry suits float too well to duck-dive — and a freediving instructor who takes you at your own pace into the ravine between the plates. A dryrobe overcoat for the bank, the dive van doubles as your changing room, and hot cocoa at the end.

Duration3 hours · small group, max 6
OperatorFreedive Iceland
Rating4.8/5 (44 reviews)
Meets atÞingvellir P5 car park, then 300 m walk to the Freedive Iceland vans
HighlightsGuides rated 5.0/5, bilingual English and Icelandic, no certification needed
Best forConfident swimmers who want to go under, not over

Worth knowing: the guide subscore is a perfect 5.0/5, which nothing else here manages — but it is built on 44 reviews, so treat it as promising rather than proven. Value for money sits at 4.5. This is the one tour where you get genuinely cold, because a wetsuit means the water reaches your skin. No hotel pickup, you park at P5 yourself, and the age ceiling is 65 rather than 69.

~$224per person Check Price

Best Full Day

From Reykjavík: Golden Circle Tour and Silfra Snorkeling — Best Whole Day

Ten hours that start with the snorkel rather than finish with it: a 70-minute minibus run from Reykjavík, two and a half hours at Silfra in a dry suit with a PADI guide, then Þingvellir on foot, Gullfoss, and an hour at Geysir watching Strokkur go up. Wi-Fi and Icelandic music on the bus, hot drinks and chocolate bars at the fissure, photos from the tour included.

Duration10 hours · minibus, pickup included
OperatorTroll .is
Rating4.8/5 (305 reviews)
Meets atDesignated pickup locations in central Reykjavík
HighlightsSilfra plus Gullfoss, Geysir and Þingvellir in one day
Best forShort trips where one day has to do two jobs

Worth knowing: the best value-for-money subscore on this page at 4.7, and transport at 4.9 — people genuinely rate the day. Be clear about what you are buying, though: the snorkel inside it is the same forty-five minutes in the water as the ~$145 tour, so you are paying roughly ~$155 for the Golden Circle half. Lunch is not included. Ages 12 to 69 only, medical clearance from 60, 150–200 cm and 45–120 kg.

~$299per person Check Price

Prices and ratings come straight off each tour's booking page, but they shift with the season and your date — treat them as a ballpark. Some links here are affiliate links: book through one and we earn a small commission. Costs you nothing extra, and it has never decided which tour goes top.

Before You Get Wet

Silfra Snorkeling Tips: Height Limits, Medical Forms and Cold Hands

Eight things the booking pages either bury in an accordion or leave out entirely — starting with the three that can stop you getting in the water.

What to know before you book a Silfra tour

There is a height floor, and it is higher than you expect. Dry suits come in fixed sizes and a suit that does not seal is a suit that floods, so every operator sets hard limits. Arctic Adventures and the Golden Circle combo both require 150–200 cm; the freedive tour asks for 145–200 cm; our top pick states 145 cm in its know-before-you-go section while its restriction list says 135 cm. That inconsistency is in the listing itself, not a typo here. If anyone in your group is around 150 cm or under, email the operator and get it in writing before you pay.
The weight window cuts both ways. Almost every tour here requires between 45 kg and 120 kg — and the floor catches people out far more often than the ceiling, because a child or a very slight adult who clears the height limit can still be refused on weight. The freedive tour is the outlier, accepting 40–127 kg. These are equipment limits rather than policy, so there is nothing to negotiate at the van.
Over 60 means a doctor's signature, and over 69 means no. Every snorkel tour on this page requires written medical clearance from a physician for participants aged 60 or over, and sets a hard maximum age of 69 — 65 on the freedive tour. The scuba dive has its own medical form, which DIVE.IS publish as a PDF for your doctor to sign. Getting this arranged takes an appointment, so start it before you fly, not the night before.
Your hands and lips get cold, and nothing prevents it. A dry suit keeps your body dry, but the hood and gloves are neoprene — water gets in there by design, and the water is 2–4°C. Reviewers who loved the tour still mention it: head and hands are cold, and that is normal rather than a sign something has gone wrong. Wear the warmest base layer you own underneath, because you cannot add one once you are sealed in.
Contact lenses, not glasses, and no jewellery at all. Glasses do not fit under a snorkel mask, so if you need correction bring lenses or accept a blurry hundred metres of visibility. Rings, watches, bracelets and earrings all have to come off before you are suited up — a metal edge against a latex wrist seal tears it, and a torn seal means a flooded suit and the end of your tour. Leave them at the hotel rather than in the van.
Parking and park fees are not always in the price. Þingvellir charges for parking, and Silfra itself has an entry fee of ISK 1,500. DIVE.IS builds the Silfra fee into its price and Arctic Adventures includes park admission; our top pick excludes parking fees outright. It is a small amount of money and an irritating surprise at a card machine in a car park, so check which of the two your booking covers.
If you are self-driving, P5 is the car park and you walk back. Every meet-on-location tour sends you to the Þingvellir P5 car park, then asks you to walk a few hundred metres back along the road to where the dive vans are parked. It is signed but it is not obvious, and in winter dark with a bag of dry clothes it takes longer than you think. Add fifteen minutes, and arrive before your slot rather than on it.
The exclusion lists are medical, long, and enforced. Beyond the size and age limits, the tours here rule out pregnancy, non-swimmers, and — on the Arctic Adventures listing — claustrophobia, heart conditions, respiratory problems, epilepsy, diabetes, high blood pressure, recent surgery within six months and any pre-existing condition without physician approval. You will be asked to read and sign a medical statement at the van. Read the actual restriction list on your chosen tour before booking, because this is refused at the door rather than refunded afterwards.

Side by Side

Silfra Tour Comparison: Price, Suit, Group Size and Pickup

All six in one place — the quickest way to spot which one fits your day, your budget and your driving licence.

Swipe the table sideways → the tour name stays put

Tour	Best for	Price	Duration	Suit & meeting point	Operator & rating	The good & the catch	Book
Silfra: Fissure Snorkeling with Underwater Photos (our top pick)	The best-reviewed way into the water	~$145	3 hours	Dry suit, max 6 · self-drive to Silfra	Troll .is 4.9/5 (3,283)	The highest rating and the deepest review base at this fissure, with GoPro photos thrown in rather than sold to you. You'll need your own wheels though, parking's on you, and the listing can't make its mind up about the height limit.	View Deal
Reykjavík: Silfra Fissure Snorkeling between Two Continents	Getting there without a car	~$131	3 – 5.5 hours	Dry suit, max 6 · hotel pickup or Þingvellir	Arctic Adventures 4.7/5 (2,321)	Cheapest on the page, park admission included, free underwater photos and a bus from your hotel. It's the lowest-rated snorkel trip here though, and people reckon it's a bit dear for what you get — 4.4 on value.	View Deal
Silfra: Snorkeling Tour Between Tectonic Plates	Choosing between driving and being driven	~$137	2.5 – 6 hours	Dry suit, max 6 · 35 pickup points or Route 36	DIVE.IS 4.8/5 (950)	A heated van to change in, the ISK 1,500 Silfra fee built into the price and guides rated 4.9. Just watch which option you tick — pickup and parking are priced separately, and the description still says wetsuit when the kit list says dry suit.	View Deal
Silfra: Diving Between Tectonic Plates	Certified divers who want the Cathedral	~$285	3 – 5 hours	Scuba, dry suit, max 3 · Silfra, pickup optional	DIVE.IS 4.5/5 (80)	Twenty-three metres down inside the rift with two other divers and an instructor. You'll need a dry suit card or ten logged dry suit dives to get on it, and with only 80 reviews it's the lowest-rated and the poorest value here.	View Deal
Thingvellir: Silfra Freedive Adventure with a Guide	Going under without a dive card	~$224	3 hours	7 mm wetsuit, max 6 · P5 car park, self-drive	Freedive Iceland 4.8/5 (44)	The only tour that duck-dives rather than floats, with a guide subscore of a perfect 5.0. You will get properly chilly in a wetsuit though, there's no pickup, and 44 reviews is a promising start rather than proof.	View Deal
From Reykjavík: Golden Circle Tour and Silfra Snorkeling	One spare day, spent completely	~$299	10 hours	Dry suit · minibus, pickup included	Troll .is 4.8/5 (305)	Silfra plus Gullfoss, Geysir and Þingvellir in one run, with the best value subscore on the page at 4.7. Bear in mind the snorkel bit is the same 45 minutes as the ~$145 trip, and lunch is on you.	View Deal

From the Water

Real Traveler Reviews of Silfra Snorkeling Tours

Unedited thoughts from people who have actually been in that fissure.

★★★★★

I have snorkelled reefs in three oceans and nothing prepared me for this. There is no colour in the usual sense — no coral, barely a fish — and yet it is the most beautiful water I have ever put my face in, because you can see the whole geology of the place laid out below you like a cutaway drawing. The Big Crack is genuinely narrow enough to touch both walls. Worth every dollar.

★★★★★

Long one, apologies, but here is everything I wish I had known before booking Silfra. First: the water temperature is irrelevant and the air temperature is everything. We went in November, the water was the same 3°C it always is, and the misery was entirely in the ten minutes standing in a car park in the wind while they zipped us in. Bring more layers than you think. Second: your hands are going to be cold and no one can fix that — it is neoprene gloves in glacial water and it is fine, it just is not comfortable. Third: take the tour with photos included. I watched people at the exit platform discover that pictures were an extra and it was not a small extra. Fourth: if you wear glasses, sort contact lenses before you leave home, because a hundred metres of visibility is wasted on someone who cannot see ten. Fifth, and nobody tells you this: the current carries you. You do not swim. You lie there, and Iceland moves past underneath you.

★★★★★

Die Klarheit des Wassers ist unbeschreiblich. Switching to English: our guide Kevin was patient with a group that included two very nervous swimmers, and by the end both of them were reluctant to get out. The dry suit feels absurd on land and then completely right the moment you float.

★★★★☆

Superb experience, one star off for the admin. We booked the meet-on-location option without fully registering that P5 is a proper walk from where the vans actually park, and with two kids and a bag of dry clothes we arrived flustered and nearly late. The snorkel itself was flawless. Just leave more time than the confirmation email implies.

★★★★★

透明度が信じられませんでした。In English: the visibility is the thing you cannot photograph and cannot really describe. Our guide explained that the water has been filtering through lava for decades before it reaches the crack, and you can believe it — there is simply nothing in it. Forty-five minutes went by in what felt like ten.

★★★★★

Booked the freedive option because I wanted to actually go down rather than float on top, and it was the right call. The wetsuit is colder, no question, but being able to duck into the Cathedral and look back up at the surface is a completely different experience from snorkelling over it.

★★★★★

Fizemos o passeio em fevereiro. In English: do not let winter put you off. The water does not change with the season and the suit does its job. What changes is the drive, so we chose a tour with pickup and let someone else deal with Route 36 in the dark. Best decision of the trip.

★★★★★

My daughter is fourteen and has never snorkelled. Our guide spent ten minutes with her alone at the platform before anyone else got in, and she came out of the water talking non-stop for an hour. That is what you are paying for.

★★★★★

难以置信的清澈。Writing the rest in English: I booked the Golden Circle combination because I only had one full day outside Reykjavík, and it worked perfectly — Silfra first thing while we were fresh, then Gullfoss and Geysir in the afternoon. Ten hours is long but nothing felt rushed.

★★★★☆

Brilliant snorkel, slightly oversold on the timings. The listing says three hours and that is honest, but only about forty-five minutes of it is in the water — the rest is suiting up and hot chocolate. I would still do it again tomorrow. Just do not plan it as a quick stop between two other things.

★★★★★

Nunca había flotado entre dos continentes. In English: the guide made a point of stopping us at the narrowest section and letting us just hang there for a minute with a hand near each wall. Silly, theatrical, and I have thought about it every week since.

★★★★★

I am a certified diver and did the scuba version. Three of us and one instructor, which is a ratio you never get anywhere else. Dropping into the Cathedral and being able to see the far end of it is genuinely disorienting — your brain keeps insisting the water is not there.

★★★★★

Cold lips, warm everything else, and a memory I will bore people with for years.

★★★★★

私は60歳を過ぎています。In English: be aware that if you are over sixty you need a doctor's signature, and arrange it at home. I did, it took one appointment, and there was no problem at the van — but the couple behind us had not and were turned away. They were not angry, just devastated, and it was entirely avoidable.

★★★★☆

A wonderful hour and an irritating twenty minutes. The snorkel deserves five stars; the parking and entry fees we had not budgeted for, paid at a machine in a freezing car park, deserve fewer. Check what your particular booking actually covers, because the six tours all draw that line differently.

★★★★★

Vi fikk bilder med i prisen. In English: the free photos were better than anything we would have managed ourselves, and they arrived by download link the same evening. Having seen what other groups were being quoted at the van, I would choose an operator that includes them again.

★★★★★

我们选择了六人小团。In English: the small group is not marketing. Six people and one guide meant nobody was queuing at the steps and nobody got left behind, and our guide could actually point things out to each of us rather than shouting at a crowd.

★★★★☆

Excellent tour, and I want to say one honest thing about the price. It is a lot of money for forty-five minutes and there is no getting around that. What I would say is that it is forty-five minutes you cannot have anywhere else on the planet, and I have spent more on worse dinners in Reykjavík.

Ready when you are

Book the Best Silfra Fissure Snorkeling Tour

If you have one morning at Þingvellir and you want Silfra properly — the Big Crack close enough to touch on both sides, Silfra Hall opening out ahead of you, the Cathedral dropping twenty-three metres into blue underneath, and the Lagoon bright and shallow at the end — the tour we would put in the calendar is Troll .is's drysuit snorkel with underwater photos. Six people, one PADI guide, and a GoPro that costs you nothing.

It is rated 4.9 out of 5 by 3,283 travellers, the best-rated and most-reviewed Silfra tour there is. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before and you can reserve now and pay later, so a changeable forecast is no reason to wait — but you will need your own car to reach the meeting point, and if you are 60 or over, get that medical clearance signed before you fly.

~$145

per person · 3 hours · Troll .is

Check Availability

✓ Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
✓ Small group, limited to 6 participants
✓ Dry suit, thermal undersuit and all gear
✓ GoPro photos included, not sold separately

Curious Minds

Silfra Snorkeling FAQ: Your Questions Answered

The questions we get asked most often before people book a tour into the fissure.

Which Silfra snorkeling tour is the best one overall?

For most people it is Silfra: Fissure Snorkeling Tour with Underwater Photos, run by Troll .is. It starts from ~$145 per person, runs three hours with roughly 45 minutes in the water, puts you in a dry suit over a thermal undersuit in a group capped at six, and includes GoPro photos taken by your guide at no extra charge. It holds 4.9/5 from 3,283 reviews — both the highest rating and the largest review base of any Silfra tour — and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before. The one catch is that it does not offer hotel pickup, so you need a car to reach the meeting point at Þingvellir.

How much does a Silfra snorkeling tour cost?

Snorkel tours on this page run from ~$131 to ~$145 per person. The cheapest is Arctic Adventures' Silfra Fissure Snorkeling between Two Continents at ~$131, which includes hotel pickup from Reykjavík; DIVE.IS's tour is ~$137 and our top pick from Troll .is is ~$145. Going deeper costs more: freediving is ~$224 and scuba diving ~$285. The full-day Golden Circle tour with Silfra snorkeling is ~$299. All prices are per person, and they move with the season and your chosen date.

How long are you actually in the water at Silfra?

About 45 minutes, on every tour here, regardless of what the total duration says. A three-hour tour is a briefing, fifteen to twenty minutes of being sealed into a dry suit, the walk to the entry platform, the 45-minute drift, getting out of the gear, and hot chocolate. A ten-hour Golden Circle combination is the same 45 minutes with Gullfoss, Geysir and Þingvellir wrapped around it. It is worth knowing before you compare prices, because the difference between a ~$145 tour and a ~$299 one is not more time in the water.

Is snorkeling in Silfra cold?

Your body is not, your hands and lips are. The water sits at 2–4°C all year, but every snorkel tour here puts you in a dry suit over a thermal undersuit, so you stay completely dry apart from your face and hands, which are covered by neoprene that lets water in by design. Reviewers consistently describe cold hands and cold lips as normal rather than as a problem. The genuinely cold part is standing in a car park in the wind while you are being zipped in, which is why every operator tells you to wear a warm base layer — leggings, a long-sleeved top and thick socks — underneath.

Can you snorkel Silfra in winter?

Yes, and the water is no colder than in summer. Silfra is spring-fed with filtered glacial meltwater that arrives at 2–4°C every day of the year, so it never freezes and never warms. What changes in winter is everything around the water: Route 36 to Þingvellir can close in bad weather, daylight is short, and fewer departures run each day. If you are visiting between November and March, take the earliest slot available and consider a tour with pickup rather than driving a hire car on a dark, icy road.

Do I need to be able to swim to snorkel at Silfra?

Yes. Every tour on this page requires you to be able to swim and to be comfortable in open water, and non-swimmers are explicitly excluded. That said, you do not have to be a strong swimmer: the current through the fissure carries you north at walking pace and most of the 45 minutes is spent floating face-down rather than propelling yourself. The dry suit is also extremely buoyant, which makes staying on the surface effortless — and is exactly why the freedive tour uses a wetsuit instead.

What are the height, weight and age limits for Silfra tours?

They are strict and they are enforced at the meeting point. Most tours require 150–200 cm in height and 45–120 kg in weight; the freedive tour allows 145–200 cm and 40–127 kg. The minimum age is 12 on the snorkel tours and 17 on the scuba dive. The maximum age is 69 on the snorkel tours and 65 on the freedive. Anyone aged 60 or over needs written medical clearance from a doctor before they can take part. Note that our top pick's own listing is inconsistent about its height floor — 135 cm in the restriction list, 145 cm in the know-before-you-go section — so if anyone in your group is near that figure, confirm with the operator in writing before booking.

What is the difference between a dry suit and a wetsuit at Silfra?

A dry suit seals at the neck and wrists and keeps water out entirely, so you stay dry apart from your face and hands, and it makes you very buoyant. A wetsuit lets a thin layer of water in against your skin, which your body then warms — so you feel the cold far more. Five of the six tours here use dry suits. The freedive tour uses a 7 mm open-cell wetsuit instead, because a dry suit's buoyancy makes duck-diving almost impossible. If a listing's description mentions a wetsuit but its inclusions list says dry suit, believe the inclusions list — one tour on this page has exactly that contradiction.

Do I need a car, or can I get picked up in Reykjavík?

Both are available, but not on every tour. Arctic Adventures' tour and the Golden Circle combination both include pickup from Reykjavík; DIVE.IS sells a pickup option covering 35 collection points as well as a meet-on-location option. Our top pick from Troll .is and the freedive tour are meet-on-location only, meaning you drive yourself to Þingvellir. Self-drivers park at the P5 car park and walk a few hundred metres back along the road to where the dive vans are parked — it is signed, but it takes longer than you expect, so add fifteen minutes.

Do I need to be a certified diver to dive Silfra?

For the scuba tour, yes, and the requirement is stricter than a basic certification. DIVE.IS requires PADI Open Water certification or equivalent, plus either a dry suit diving certification or at least ten logged dry suit dives within the previous two years with written proof from a diving instructor. The minimum age is 17, and anyone 60 or over must have the operator's own diving medical form signed by a doctor. If you do not hold those qualifications, the freedive tour needs no certification at all, and the snorkel tours need none either.

Are underwater photos included in Silfra tours?

On some, and it is worth checking before you book because the difference matters at the van. Our top pick includes GoPro photos taken by your guide at no extra charge, and Arctic Adventures includes complimentary underwater photos as well; the Golden Circle combination includes photos from the tour. Reviewers repeatedly mention choosing an operator specifically because photos were included rather than sold as an add-on afterwards. You cannot realistically take your own — your hands are in neoprene gloves and you are wearing a mask.

Are park entry and parking fees included?

It depends on the tour, and this is the most common small surprise at Silfra. Þingvellir charges for parking and the Silfra site itself carries an entry fee of ISK 1,500. DIVE.IS builds the Silfra entry fee into its price; Arctic Adventures includes Þingvellir National Park admission; our top pick explicitly excludes parking fees, as does the freedive tour for hotel pickup. Check the inclusions list on your specific booking, because paying at a card machine in a freezing car park is a poor way to start the day.

What should I wear and bring to Silfra?

Wear a warm base layer — leggings or thermal bottoms, a long-sleeved top and thick socks — because once you are sealed into the dry suit you cannot add anything. Bring a change of clothes just in case, a towel, and contact lenses if you normally wear glasses, since glasses will not fit under a snorkel mask. Take off all jewellery before you arrive: rings, watches, bracelets and earrings can tear a dry-suit wrist seal, and a torn seal floods the suit and ends your tour. You will also be asked to read and sign a medical statement at the van.

Is Silfra worth the money?

Travellers are split, and the ratings show it honestly. Across these six tours the guide subscores run from 4.6 to a perfect 5.0, while value-for-money subscores run from 4.1 to 4.7 — people consistently rate the experience higher than the price. At ~$131 to ~$145 for roughly 45 minutes in the water, that is a fair reaction. What tips it for most is that there is nowhere else on earth you can swim inside the boundary between two tectonic plates above sea level, in water with over 100 metres of visibility. If you want the best value on the page by the travellers' own scoring, the Golden Circle combination rates 4.7 for value because it fills a whole day.