Lava Tunnel Tours From Reykjavik: The Two Ways Without a Car
The cave is 35 km from Reykjavik and there is no bus route to it. If you are not driving, two tours solve that: a coach from the BSI terminal at $151.19 for three hours door to door, and an Arctic Adventures ticket from $67.07 where a Reykjavik pickup is one of the options you choose at checkout. Both put you in the same cave, on the same lit footbridge, for the same hour. What you are choosing between is a bus seat and a minibus, and how much of your morning the transport eats.
About the Coach Tour
Door to door from Reykjavik, of which the guided walk underground is one hour
Per person, transport both ways included. The same cave costs $70.48 if you drive yourself
Be there 15 minutes early; 30 drop-off points across the city on the way back
Climate-controlled bus, 30 minutes each way on Route 1 and Route 39
Handed out at the cave along with crampons through the winter
Guides get the praise; the criticism is the price against one hour underground
Check Coach Departures
Live availability for the ICELANDIA coach from BSI. Departures are fixed rather than hourly, so the date you want may have one slot rather than nine.
Which of the Two to Book
Take the coach if your day has nothing else in it
The ICELANDIA tour leaves the BSI terminal, drives 30 minutes each way and drops you at one of 30 points around Reykjavik afterwards, including Hallgrimskirkja, the Hilton, Skarfabakki harbour and most of the bus stops the city uses for tour pickups. Three hours, $151.19, Wi-Fi on the way.
That price is the honest problem with it. You are paying $81 more than the people who drove themselves, for a 60 km round trip. If you have no car and no plans, it is the simplest thing that exists. If you are also doing the Golden Circle that week, look at the combined day tours instead.
Take the Arctic Adventures ticket if you want the cheaper base price
Arctic Adventures sells the same cave from $67.07, and pickup from Reykjavik is an option you select with your date rather than a separate listing. Choose the pickup and the tour runs about three hours with a 40-minute drive each way; choose to meet at the cave and it is an hour.
The pickup price is shown at checkout and sits above the base fare, so compare it against the coach before you assume it is cheaper. Minimum age rises from 3 to 6 when a bus is involved, which matters if you are travelling with small children.
Neither is cheaper than a rental car you already have
Two people on the coach is $302.38. The same two people meeting at the cave pay $140.96 and drive 70 km round trip on a paved road, which is a few litres of petrol.
So the question is not which tour is better value. It is whether you have wheels. If you do, book the meet-on-location tour and read the full comparison of Raufarholshellir lava tunnel tours on the homepage first.
The Two Tours With Transport
Same cave, same guided hour underground, different ways of getting there. The coach leaves from a terminal; the Arctic Adventures ticket picks up around the city when you choose that option.
from $151.19 
from $67.07 Coach or Pickup, Side by Side
Prices are the GetYourGuide starting fares in July 2026. The Arctic Adventures figure is its meet-at-the-cave base; adding pickup changes it at checkout.
What the Drive and the Hour Look Like
Thirty minutes of lava field, then a gate in the ground
The route runs east on Route 1 past Hveragerdi's greenhouse valley, then south onto Route 39 over Threngsli. It is moss-covered lava on both sides for most of it, which is the same 5,200-year-old flow that built the cave you are about to walk into.
The car park sits beside a low service building. There is nothing else out there: no village, no cafe strip, one gate and a hole in the ground.
One hour on the footbridge, lights out once
Inside, the tour is the same for everyone: a built footbridge with low warm lighting through the front section of a 1,360-meter tube, 30 meters wide in places and 10 meters to the roof. Three collapsed skylights drop columns of daylight near the entrance.
Somewhere in the middle the guide turns the lights off. In a cave this size, with no daylight reaching you, the dark is total, and it is the moment most people describe afterwards.
The Full Visit on Video
Independent visitor footage of the standard walk, entrance to turnaround.
How the Coach Day Runs
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15 min before
BSI Bus Terminal, Reykjavik
Check in at the terminal rather than at a hotel door. The coach leaves on time and does not circle back.
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0:00
East on Route 1
Thirty minutes through the lava fields toward Threngsli, with Wi-Fi on board and commentary on the way.
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0:30
Arrive at the service building
Check in at reception, collect a helmet and flashlight, crampons in winter, and use the bathrooms before you go down.
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0:45
Into the tube
Down the rubble slope under the skylights, then the guided hour on the footbridge with the lights-out stop.
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2:00
Back on the coach
Thirty minutes to Reykjavik with 30 drop-off points across the city, from Hallgrimskirkja to the Hilton and Skarfabakki harbour.
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3:00
Dropped in the city
Total three hours from BSI, of which one is underground and one is the road.
Know Before You Board
What to wear when someone else is driving
The cave holds 3 to 4°C in every month and the roof drips all year, so a waterproof jacket beats a thick coat. Hiking shoes with grip matter on the wet rock at the entrance ramp.
What to have with you:
- Waterproof jacket with a hood, the single most regretted item when left behind
- Warm mid layer, plus gloves and a hat from October to April
- Shoes with grip; the walkway is steel mesh and the ramps are wet basalt
- Food and drink for yourself, since neither tour includes them and the cafe options out there are thin
- A camera that handles low light, and a hand free for the handrail
Pickup rules that catch people out
On the Arctic Adventures pickup option you must be at your assigned stop from the start of the pickup window, because you may be the first collection of the day. On the coach, BSI is the departure point and hotel pickup is not part of the ticket.
Both tours cancel free up to 24 hours before departure, and both run every day of the year, including through the Christmas fortnight.
Where You Are Going
Raufarholshellir sits off Route 39 in Threngsli, 35 km southeast of Reykjavik and 15 km west of Hveragerdi.
The coach covers this in about 30 minutes each way. There is no scheduled public transport to the site.
Questions About Getting There
Is there a public bus to Raufarholshellir?
No. There is no scheduled service to the site, and the nearest town, Hveragerdi, is 15 km east with nothing running between the two. Without a rental car the practical options are the ICELANDIA coach from the BSI terminal at $151.19 or the Arctic Adventures ticket with the pickup option selected at checkout.
How long does the tour take from Reykjavik?
Three hours door to door on the coach: 30 minutes out, an hour underground, 30 minutes back, with check-in and gear either side. The Arctic Adventures pickup option runs about the same, with a 40-minute drive each way. Meeting at the cave yourself takes an hour plus a 30-minute drive.
Where does the coach leave from and where does it drop me?
Departure is the BSI Bus Terminal in Reykjavik, 15 minutes before the listed time. On the way back it uses 30 drop-off points across the city, including Hallgrimskirkja, Hotel Reykjavik Grand, the Hilton Nordica, Skarfabakki harbour and the numbered city bus stops used for tour transfers.
Is hotel pickup included?
Not on the coach: BSI is where the ticket starts. On the Arctic Adventures listing, pickup is one of the options you select with your date, and the price for that option appears at checkout. Be at the assigned stop from the start of the pickup window, because you may be the first collection of the round.
Is it worth $151.19 without a car?
It is if the alternative is not seeing the cave. You get the same hour underground as everyone else, plus 60 km of transport and a guide on the coach. The complaint in reviews is not the cave but the ratio: one hour inside a three-hour trip. If you can borrow wheels for a morning, the same tour at the cave door is $70.48.
Can I do the lava tunnel and the Golden Circle on the same day?
By car, comfortably: the Route 39 turn-off is on the way east and Kerid crater is 30 minutes further on. On the coach tour it is a fixed three-hour round trip back to Reykjavik, so you would be combining two separate bookings rather than one route. Some operators sell a combined day, which works out cheaper than buying both.
What Passengers Said
Great tour guide, great experience! Comfortable ride from BSI to the location and fun items at the check-in for souvenirs if wanted. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining.
We had no car and this was the easy answer. The bus was warm and had wifi, the driver knew the road, and the guide at the cave was funny. Be aware you are underground for one hour of the three.
Booked the pickup option because we were staying near Hlemmur. Collected first, so it was a long loop around town before we left, but the cave itself was worth the early start.
The first quote comes from the GetYourGuide listing for the coach tour, reproduced as written.