Iceland is known as one of the most diverse, beautiful places in the world. Known as “the land of fire and ice” it’s no secret that it’s filled with dramatic mountain ranges, volcanoes, clear blue lakes, thermal pools, and much more to experience.

While there are plenty of great ways to see this natural beauty from land, one of the best ways to cover it all is from an aerial view. While airplanes are great for transportation, helicopters take the cake when it comes to sightseeing.

If you really want to experience Iceland in all its splendor, check out one of the top Iceland helicopter tours available!

Be sure to see our reviews of Northern Lights Tours, Whale Watching Tours and ATV Tours.

Best Helicopter Tours in Iceland

	Mountain Helicopter Tour with Summit Landing from Reykjavik	Reykjavik Helicopter Flight: Geothermal Landscapes	New Active Volcano: Helicopter Tour in Iceland
Departure Location:	Nauthólsvegur, 102 Reykjavík	Nauthólsvegur, 102 Reykjavík	Reykjavik Airport
Departure Time:	Anytime from 9 am to 5 pm	Anytime from 9 am to 5 pm	Anytime from 8:30 am to 7 pm
Duration:	30 to 45 minutes	Around 1 hour	40 minutes
Includes:	Professional pilot, summit landing	Professional pilot, commentary	Professional pilot, commentary
	Tour Information & Booking	Tour Information & Booking	Tour Information & Booking

Quick Answer: The 3 Best Rated Iceland Helicopter Tours For 2026

1. Mountain Helicopter Tour with Summit Landing from Reykjavik
2. Reykjavik Helicopter Flight: Geothermal Landscapes
3. New Active Volcano: Helicopter Tour in Iceland

Iceland Helicopter Tour Reviews

1. Mountain Helicopter Tour with Summit Landing from Reykjavik

The Mountain Helicopter Tour with Summit Landing from Reykjavik is an unreal excursion that is perfect for people of all experience levels. Lasting 30 to 45 minutes and with the ability to schedule throughout the entire day, it’s super easy to fit into even the busiest of schedules.

If you want to try out a tour that most people haven’t, this is a great option. Meet up with your pilot at the Reykjavik Domestic Airport at the agreed-upon time and they’ll provide you with an informative briefing.

They’ll tell you what you can expect throughout the entire tour and answer any questions you may have at this time.

Now, it’s time to don all necessary equipment and take a seat either next to your professional pilot or in the row of seats behind them. This is a tour that’s fun to do in small groups but can also be done solo.

Once you’re up in the air, you’ll head towards Mount Esja and land on one of the summits! You’ll have around 20 minutes here to look around and take in the insane views. Fly over Reykjavik city where you’ll surely recognize some of the sights you’ve already seen from the ground.

If you’re lucky, you’ll even get to see a volcano erupting and other natural phenomena! Of course, it’s not guaranteed as the pilots cannot predict something like this, but that only adds to the excitement. The pilots are incredibly engaging, providing fun anecdotes and informative commentary about the areas as you pass by.

You can expect a very smooth flight, with a high-quality helicopter and professional pilot that knows just about everything about what to see in Iceland. The views you’ll get to see are absolutely breathtaking, and this mode of transport is perfect for adrenaline junkies.

More Information & Tour Booking

Other Experiences You May Enjoy:

2. Reykjavik Helicopter Flight: Geothermal Landscapes

Next up is the Reykjavik Helicopter Flight: Geothermal Landscapes tour. Lasting approximately 1 hour long, it’s easy to fit into a busy schedule as well. You can choose any start time (so long as it’s not already booked) between 9 am to 5pm, however morning flights tend to be particularly beautiful.

Once you arrive at Nordurflug Helicopter Tour Base, you’ll meet your professional pilot who will welcome you and give you a safety briefing. At this time, you can ask any questions you may have to ensure everyone feels comfortable boarding. The helicopter is very well-maintained and looks pristine.

Climb on board, buckle up, and enjoy the view! You’ll start heading east of Reykjavik and get further and further away from civilization. Your first stop is the legendary Geothermal Park Hveragerdi, where you’ll have plenty of time to explore on land.

This picturesque spot is somewhere the majority of tourists don’t get to experience, so make sure to take photos! The hot springs located high up the mountains certainly is unique.

Throughout the entire smooth and expertly-navigated flight, your pilot will offer up an interesting narrative. You’ll learn all about everywhere you fly over and pass by, which only enhances what you’re seeing.

Blasting geysers, heat vents, craters, hot springs and more are all there to experience from a birds-eye view!

Flying over Reykjavik city is also quite the experience, as you’ll see the concert hall, conference centre, and many other notable landmarks you may already recognize. Iceland is absolutely a country that you have to see from the air to really appreciate it the way it should be.

More Information & Tour Booking

3. New Active Volcano: Helicopter Tour in Iceland

If you are in Iceland you really need to see the volcanoes the country is known for. While on other tours seeing the volcanoes may or may not be part of the tour on this one it is the central part of it!

You will meet the pilots at the Reykjavik Airport and after a short flight briefing it’s time to take to the air on your adventure. You will start your tour with a flyover of Reykjavik and see the city from the air. The pilots will tell you the history of the city and how it was founded.

After seeing Reykjavik it’s time for the main event and you will head for the Fagradalsfjall Volcano. This is the most active volcano in Iceland at the moment and you will have an excellent chance of seeing an actual eruption!

I was really impressed with the pilots knowledge of the geology and volcanoes of Iceland. You will learn as much as you want to know. They encourage you to ask questions. Be sure to have a good quality camera or your phone handy as you are sure to get some spectacular pictures to show everyone back home.

After sppening about 20 minutes admiring the volcano and the fissures where you will see the red lava flows it’s time to head back. However you are still in for a treat! You will fly over Faxafloi Bay. The aquablue waters of the bay are a sight to behold!

After your 40 minute flight you will land back at the airport for a few last photos of you with the helicopter and the pilots.

More Information & Tour Booking

Iceland Helicopter Tours, What They Actually Show You and What They Cost

I’ll say this upfront because Shay doesn’t do false modesty about money. A helicopter tour in Iceland is the single most expensive thing you’ll book on this trip, and it’s also the thing I get asked about more than almost anything else.

That should tell you something. People remember these flights years later in a way they don’t remember most of the bus tours.

Why Bother, Given the Price

Iceland’s landscape doesn’t fully make sense from the ground. You’re driving between lava fields and glaciers and canyons that all look impressive at eye level, but you don’t see the scale until you’re a few thousand feet up.

A helicopter solves that problem better than a plane or a drone video ever will. You’re low enough and slow enough to actually register what you’re looking at, not just glimpse it.

This isn’t for everyone’s budget or everyone’s nerves. If you’re white knuckling it in a car on the Ring Road already, a small helicopter over a glacier might not be the move for you.

But if you’ve got the money set aside and you want the one splurge of the trip, this is usually it. Most people don’t regret it. Almost everyone regrets not doing it if they skip it and hear their travel friends talk about it after.

When to Book It

Summer, June through August, gives you the longest daylight and the most stable flying weather, which matters more here than almost anywhere else you’ll fly. Iceland’s wind can ground a helicopter with zero notice, so summer stacks the odds in your favor.

Winter tours still run and the northern lights add a reason to go up after dark, but cancellations climb fast once the weather turns. Book winter tours early in your trip, not on your last full day, so a weather cancellation doesn’t just eat the whole thing.

Every operator reserves the right to change the route or swap you to a different tour if conditions don’t cooperate. That’s not a scam move, that’s just how flying here works, so don’t book anything nonrefundable around a specific flight.

The Tours Themselves

Three companies run most of the flights out of Reykjavik. Norðurflug, Reykjavik Helicopters, and Glacier Heli, and honestly you won’t go wrong with any of the three since they’re all flying the same skies out of the same small domestic airport.

The Reykjavik Summit Flight

This is the short one, 40 to 45 minutes including a 15 minute landing on a nearby mountain. You’ll fly over Hallgrímskirkja church, the Harpa concert hall, and the harbor before landing somewhere with a 360 degree view of the whole city.

It’s the cheapest entry point into helicopter touring here, and it’s a smart pick if you just want a taste without committing your whole budget. Six passengers max per helicopter, and anyone over 265 pounds pays for one and a half seats, which is worth knowing before you show up and get surprised at check in.

The Reykjanes Peninsula Flight

About an hour, and it flies you over some genuinely strange terrain. Seltún’s geothermal mud pools, the lakes Grænavatn and Kleifarvatn, black sand beaches, and lava fields that have shifted noticeably since the eruptions that started here in 2021.

You’ll pass near the Blue Lagoon from the air too, which is a nice bonus if you’re planning to soak in it later that day. This route is less about one big wow moment and more about seeing how much the ground here has physically changed in just a few years.

The Fire and Ice Flight

Two hours, and this is the one people talk about most. You’ll see Glymur, one of Iceland’s tallest waterfalls, then Þingvellir National Park where you can actually watch two tectonic plates pulling apart from the air.

The route continues past Hengill’s geothermal system before you land twice, once on Þórisjökull glacier and once near a volcanic or geothermal site depending on conditions that day. This is the tour I’d point most first timers toward if budget allows, since it hits fire and ice both in one flight.

The Glacier Landing Flight

Around 90 minutes with 15 to 20 minutes actually standing on the ice. You get to touch formations that have been building for thousands of years and look at crevasse patterns up close, which photos genuinely don’t do justice.

This one’s worth it specifically for the landing time, since a lot of shorter tours only give you a brief touchdown before heading back up.

The Þríhnúkagígur Volcano Flight

This one’s different from the rest because it pairs the helicopter with an actual descent into a dormant volcano’s magma chamber, something you genuinely cannot do anywhere else on earth. A geologist named Árni B. Stefánsson first explored this chamber in 1974 and spent decades pushing to open it to the public, which finally happened in 2012.

You land near the volcano, hike a short distance, then take a cable lift down into the chamber itself to see walls streaked red, orange, yellow, and green from the mineral content. It sounds intense but it’s genuinely safe, you’ll get a helmet and harness, and the volcano’s been dormant for around 4,000 years.

The Landmannalaugar Highlands Flight

The longest common option at roughly 2.5 hours, and it’s usually a private charter capped at four passengers so everyone gets a window seat. You’ll pass Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull glaciers, fly over Þórsmörk valley, and land in the geothermal highlands of Landmannalaugar itself, an area most visitors never reach by road because the terrain is too rough.

The route continues past Hekla, one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes, and Háifoss, one of the country’s tallest waterfalls. If you want the highlands without renting a serious 4×4 and driving river crossings, this is how you actually get there.

What It Costs

Entry level tours start around 37,000 Icelandic krona per person, which lands somewhere around 270 US dollars depending on the exchange rate that week. That gets you the short Reykjavik summit flight and nothing more.

The mid range tours, Reykjanes Peninsula or the shorter craters and valleys routes, run closer to 79,000 krona per person, somewhere in the 550 to 600 dollar range. The Fire and Ice flight and the longer glacier landing tours climb from there, and private charters like the Landmannalaugar route can run 119,000 krona and up per person, well over 800 dollars depending on group size and season.

None of this is cheap, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. If you’re deciding between one long flight and two shorter ones, I’d usually pick the one longer flight, since you get more landing time per dollar spent and less time burned just getting up and down.

Book directly through the operator’s own site if you can, since third party booking sites sometimes add a markup on top. Weather cancellations typically get rebooked or refunded, but confirm the specific operator’s policy before you pay, since it does vary slightly between the three companies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a helicopter tour safe in Iceland’s weather?

Yes, because pilots simply won’t fly or will change the route if conditions aren’t safe. Cancellations happen more than you’d like, especially in winter, but that’s the safety margin working the way it should.

Which tour is best if I only want to do one?

The Fire and Ice flight covers the widest range of landscape for the price, hitting a waterfall, a national park, a geothermal area, and a glacier landing in one trip. If budget is tighter, the Reykjanes Peninsula flight gives you a solid taste for less money.

Do I need to worry about motion sickness?

Helicopters ride smoother than small planes in turbulence, and most flights stay fairly low and steady rather than doing sharp maneuvers. If you’re prone to motion sickness anyway, sit up front next to the pilot if the operator allows seat requests.

How far in advance should I book?

Book as soon as your dates are set, especially in summer when demand is highest and good weather windows fill fast. If you’re traveling in winter, book early in your trip rather than your last day so a cancellation doesn’t cost you the whole experience.

Is the Þríhnúkagígur volcano tour worth the extra cost over a standard flight?

If you want to actually stand inside a volcano’s magma chamber, yes, since nowhere else on the planet lets you do that. If you just want aerial views and don’t care about the ground component, a standard scenic flight will scratch that itch for less money.

What should I wear on a helicopter tour with a landing?

Layers, real shoes, and a windproof jacket, since it’s noticeably colder and windier the second you step off the helicopter than it was standing on the tarmac. Gloves are worth packing too if you’re landing on a glacier or in the highlands, even in summer.