Silfra is the one place at Thingvellir where you leave the path and get in: a fissure of glacier water at 2 to 4 °C, in groups of six or fewer. Every tour here gives you a PADI-certified guide, a suit and the kit. You choose between meeting at the fissure with your own car or being collected in Reykjavík, and between a snorkel and a certified dive.
You drive to the Silfra car park and meet a PADI instructor at the vans. Drysuit, undersuit, a heated changing van, the Silfra permit and hot chocolate are in the fare, six to a guide, ages 12 and up.
From $159 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Meet at the Troll base by P5 and snorkel in a drysuit with a PADI-certified guide, six to a group, with GoPro photos free. Three hours in all, ages 12 to 69; parking is yours to pay.
From $149 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Pickup in Reykjavík, forty minutes in the fissure and underwater photos included, in a group of six with a PADI divemaster or instructor. Bring a swimsuit and a towel; five hours door to door.
From $219 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
For certified drysuit divers: a guided dive in Silfra with a PADI instructor, three divers to a guide. Pickup in central Reykjavík or at BSÍ, all dive gear, a heated van and hot chocolate included; five and a half hours.
From $349 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Every snorkel here includes the suit, the kit and a PADI-certified guide. Choose by where you start: at the fissure with your own car, or in Reykjavík.
Check AvailabilityA Silfra tour puts you in the fissure itself, not at a viewpoint above it. The fissure lies in the northern part of Lake Þingvallavatn, at most 10 metres wide and up to 60 metres deep. Its water has travelled about 30 years underground from the Langjökull glacier, and it stays at 2 to 4 °C all year.
You float face down on the surface in a suit and mask, following your guide through the narrow sections into open water. The park sets the rules: never alone, no caves or overhead spaces, 18 metres at most for divers, and full cold-water protection. For you as a snorkeler, that means a drysuit or a thick wetsuit.
The plates are about five kilometres apart and the fissure sits inside that zone, so you do not touch both continents at once. What you get is a swim through the rift itself, in water clear enough that the name Silfra means silver.
Every other tour sees Thingvellir from the paths and viewpoints. This one takes you into the rift, a short walk from the P5 car park.
You cannot snorkel Silfra alone, and you need full cold-water protection. A tour brings the suit, the guide the park requires and, on the DIVE.IS fares, the Silfra permit.
Snorkel groups cap at six per guide and the dive at three, so you get real attention from your guide.
Meet at the fissure and you are done in two and a half to three hours. Take the Reykjavík pickup and it is five, with no driving for you at all.
Most visitors meet Thingvellir on a Golden Circle day, from the paths above the rift. If you only have one visit, here is how the two compare.
| Silfra snorkeling tour | Golden Circle tour | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you are | In the fissure, in a suit | On the paths and viewpoints |
| Length | 2.5 to 5.5 hours | 6.5 to 11 hours |
| Other sights | The fissure only | Geysir and Gullfoss on every one |
| Group | 6 per guide, 3 for divers | A coach or a minibus |
| Who can go | 12 and over, swimmers, medical form | Almost anyone; children with an adult |
| Price | From $149 per person | From $85 per person |
| Best for | Swimmers who want to be inside the rift | First visits that want the classic sights |
Check availability — From $159
You can do both on one trip if you have a car: snorkel in the morning, then drive on to Geysir and Gullfoss. Without one, a Golden Circle tour and a Reykjavík-pickup snorkel on separate days is the simpler plan for you.
The fares differ in where you start, what you wear and whether photos are in the price. Choose by the one that matters to you.
| If you want | Choose | Price |
|---|---|---|
| The shortest visit, with your own car | The DIVE.IS snorkel, meet on location | From $159 |
| Free photos, with your own car | The Troll snorkel with GoPro photos | From $149 |
| Pickup in Reykjavík | The wetsuit snorkel with photos | From $219 |
| A dive, with a drysuit certificate | The DIVE.IS dive with pickup | From $349 |
Check availability — From $149
You get a PADI-certified guide, a suit and all the snorkel or dive kit on every fare, and hot chocolate afterwards. Underwater photos are free on the Troll and Reykjavík-pickup fares. The DIVE.IS fares add a heated changing van and include the Silfra permit in your price.
You don’t get transport on the meet-at-the-fissure fares, or parking at P5 on those days, which is 1,000 ISK a car. Lunch and tips are not included, and souvenir photos cost extra on the DIVE.IS snorkel.
Pick your fare, fill in the medical form and bring your thermals. Every one refunds in full up to 24 hours ahead.
Check AvailabilityThe park rules and fees are on visiting Thingvellir, the car parks on the Thingvellir map, and every way to visit on Thingvellir Tours. Or start again with the guided tours of Thingvellir.