8 Raufarhólshellir Lava Tunnel Mistakes to Avoid
The gate on Route 39 is locked between departures, and the most expensive mistake anyone makes here is a 70 km round trip to find that out. The rest cost less but sting in their own way: trainers on wet basalt, a warm coat instead of a waterproof one, $81 a head for transport you already had parked outside your guesthouse. Here are the eight we watch play out, with what each one costs and how to sidestep it.
Quick answer
The costliest mistake is driving out without a booking: access has been guide-only since 2017, the gate stays locked between departures, and there is nothing else at that turn-off to salvage the trip with. After that it is footwear, packing warm instead of waterproof, and paying $151.19 for a coach seat when a rental car is already sitting outside your accommodation.
Key takeaways
- Book before you drive: entry is guide-only and the gate is locked between hourly departures
- Wear hiking shoes with grip; the adventure tour refuses anyone without ankle support at the desk
- Pack waterproof, not thick: the cave sits at 3 to 4°C and the roof drips in every season
- With a car, meeting at the cave costs $70.48 against $151.19 on the coach, about $81 a head
- Arrive 15 minutes early; check-in, helmets and crampons all happen before the hour starts
- Plan it as a stop on a driving day, not as the day itself, and the one-hour length stops being a disappointment
The Eight Mistakes at a Glance
Same order as the sections below, booking first and expectations last. If you have not picked a ticket yet, compare the Raufarhólshellir lava tunnel tours first; half of these mistakes are booking decisions.
| Mistake | What it costs you | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Driving out without a booking | A 70 km round trip and a locked gate | Book a departure time before you leave Reykjavík |
| Wearing trainers or town boots | Refused at the desk on the adventure tour | Hiking shoes with grip, ankle support for the caving tour |
| Packing warm instead of waterproof | A wet jacket for the rest of your driving day | Waterproof shell over a mid layer, hood up |
| Booking a coach seat you do not need | About $81 per person, $162 for two | With a car, book the meet-at-the-cave tour |
| Turning up on the hour, not before | Missing your slot; the next may be full | Arrive 15 minutes early for check-in and gear |
| Expecting more than an hour underground | Disappointment reviewers write about weekly | Book the 3 to 4 hour adventure tour if an hour sounds short |
| Bringing the wrong child for the wrong tour | Age 3 at the cave, 6 with pickup, 12 for caving | Match the tour to the age before you pay |
| Building a whole day around it | A half-empty afternoon in Þrengsli | Pair it with Hveragerði, Kerið or the south coast |
Four of the eight are booking decisions made in a hotel room the night before, and they are the ones worth ten minutes of attention. The rest are packing and timing, and they are all cheap to fix once you know.
Mistake 1: Driving Out Without a Booking
There is no walk-up at a locked gate
Raufarhólshellir was open to anyone until late 2016, when more than 20,000 unsupervised visitors a year and several metric tons of rubbish forced the owners to close it. It reopened in mid-2017 with a walkway, lighting and access by guide only, and the entrance is now gated between departures.
In July the middle of the day sells out, because that is when coach groups from Reykjavík arrive. Turning up at 12:30 on a Saturday without a booking means a 30-minute drive back to town with nothing to show for it. There is no village at the turn-off, no second attraction, one service building and a hole in the ground.
Book a time before you leave. Free cancellation runs to 24 hours before departure on every tour here, so an early booking costs you nothing if the weather turns.
Mistake 2: The Wrong Shoes
The refusal at the desk is real
The footbridge is steel mesh and easy underfoot. The ramp in and out is not: it is wet basalt and loose rock, and the entrance ices over from October to April. Trainers on that surface are how people land on a hip.
On the Lava Falls Adventure tour the rule has teeth. Hiking boots with ankle support are a condition of joining, guides check at the desk, and they turn people away. That also puts the whole departure at risk, because the tour needs four people to run, so someone in trainers can end a stranger's morning as well as their own.
Crampons come with the ticket through the winter months and are handed out at reception. They fit over a proper boot, not over a canvas shoe. The full clothing list covers the rest.
Mistake 3: Packing Warm Instead of Waterproof
The cave is 3 to 4°C and it drips
People arrive dressed for an Icelandic winter and discover that the cave never has one. The rock holds a steady 3 to 4°C in July and in January, which for a one-hour walk is jacket weather rather than expedition weather.
Water is the actual problem. Meltwater and rain work through the rock and fall from the roof all year, onto your shoulders and your camera. A waterproof shell with a hood beats a thick coat every time, and gloves matter more than a second fleece.
- Waterproof jacket with a hood, the item people most often leave in the car
- One warm mid layer, wool or fleece
- Gloves and a hat between October and April
- Shoes with grip; ankle support if you are on the caving tour
- A camera that copes with low light, and a free hand for the rail
Mistake 4: Paying for a Coach Seat You Do Not Need
Eighty one dollars for a 30-minute drive
Meeting at the cave costs $70.48 on the operator's own tour. The coach from the BSÍ terminal costs $151.19 for the identical guided hour underground. The difference, about $81 a head, buys 60 km of transport on a paved road that any two-wheel-drive rental handles year-round.
For two people that is $162 to sit on a bus with a car parked outside the guesthouse. If you genuinely have no wheels the coach is the right answer and a good one, with Wi-Fi and 30 drop-off points around the city, and the options from Reykjavík without a car set out both of them.
The route is simple enough that nobody needs a driver: Route 1 east about 18 km, then south onto Route 39 for another 12 km, car park on the left.
Mistake 5: Arriving Exactly on the Hour
Fifteen minutes early is the actual start time
Departures run on the hour from 9:00 to 17:00, but check-in, helmet fitting, the safety brief and crampons all happen before that. Reception asks for 15 minutes, and the group leaves without stragglers.
Build the drive around it rather than the departure time: 30 minutes from Reykjavík plus a margin for the weather. In December you are driving both ways in the dark, which is one more reason the 11:00 departure is the easy pick that month. The month-by-month view has the rest of the calendar.
Mistake 6: Expecting More Than an Hour
The complaint reviewers write every week
The standard tour walks a lit footbridge through the front of a 1,360-meter tube and turns back inside 55 to 60 minutes. Across the three standard listings the recurring criticism is the same word: short. On the coach tour that hour sits inside a three-hour round trip, which sharpens it further.
Nothing about that is hidden, and it only becomes a mistake when you book the wrong ticket for what you wanted. If an hour on a bridge sounds like a taster, the adventure tour runs 3 to 4 hours, covers over 1.3 kilometres on head torches and reaches the lava falls at the source end. If an hour sounds right, take it and put the cave inside a bigger day. What the hour actually holds is written up minute by minute.
Mistake 7: Matching the Wrong Tour to the Age
Three, six and twelve are different tours
Minimum age at the cave is 3. Add a Reykjavík pickup and it rises to 6, because a bus is involved. The Lava Falls Adventure is 12 and over, with no exception for a confident ten-year-old.
Parents book the pickup option for convenience and then discover a five-year-old cannot ride it. Drive to the cave instead and the same child walks the same footbridge. Our family guide works through the ages, the entrance slope and how children take the lights-out moment.
| Tour | Minimum age | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Meet at the cave, standard hour | 3 | Footbridge underfoot, one hour, no transport |
| With Reykjavík pickup | 6 | A bus segment is part of the ticket |
| Coach from the BSÍ terminal | None stated | Three hours door to door, one hour underground |
| Lava Falls Adventure | 12 | Boulders, head torches, 3 to 4 hours, no walkway |
Mistake 8: Building a Whole Day Around It
It is a stop, not a destination
Þrengsli has one thing in it. An hour underground plus an hour of driving is a good morning, and it is a poor day. The people who come away happiest treat the cave as the first stop on a route east.
Hveragerði is 15 km east of the turn-off with its greenhouse valley and hot river walk. Kerið crater and the Golden Circle continue in the same direction. The south coast runs the same way. Route 39 is also the low road that stays open when Hellisheiði closes in a storm, which makes it a sensible line east on a rough winter day.
Which Mistake Applies to You
If you have a rental car and no booking yet
book the meet-at-the-cave hour and keep the $81 the coach would have cost
If you are travelling with a child under 6
drive to the cave; the pickup option will not take them
If you packed for a glacier and not for rain
borrow or buy a shell before you set off, and skip the extra fleece
If an hour underground sounds thin
book the 3 to 4 hour caving tour instead of adding a second cave
If your only free slot is midday in July
book it now rather than driving out on spec, because that is the window that sells out
Questions We Get at the Desk
What happens if I turn up without a booking?
Most likely you wait for a departure with space, and in summer there may not be one. Access is guide-only and the gate is locked between tours, so there is no way to look around on your own while you wait. Since booking is free to cancel up to 24 hours before, there is no reason to gamble on a 70 km round trip.
How far in advance should I book the lava tunnel?
A day or two is enough outside summer. From June to August the 10:00 to 14:00 departures are the ones that fill, because coach groups from Reykjavík land in that window, so book those a few days ahead or pick an early or late slot. The adventure tour needs four people to run and goes once or twice a day, so book it early in your trip and leave yourself a second date.
Can I wear jeans in the lava tunnel?
On the standard hour, yes. It is a one-hour walk at 3 to 4°C on a footbridge, and jeans under a waterproof shell are fine. On the adventure tour they are a poor idea: three to four hours of scrambling over wet rock leaves denim cold and heavy, and the boots rule there is enforced regardless of what you wear above them.
Do I need to rent a car to visit?
No, but it is the cheaper way. Meeting at the cave costs $70.48 against $151.19 for the coach from the BSÍ terminal, and the drive is 35 km on a paved road that stays open through winter. Without a car the coach and the pickup option both work, and both put you on the same walkway for the same hour.
Is one hour underground worth the drive?
For most people yes, if you plan around it. The hour buys a floodlit walk through a lava tube 30 meters wide in places, with three collapse skylights and a lights-out stop in total darkness. Treat it as one stop on a route east toward Hveragerði and the Golden Circle rather than the reason for the day, and the length stops being the story.
What should I not bring into the cave?
Food, cigarettes and vapes stay outside; eating and smoking are not allowed inside on any tour. Leave anything you cannot get wet in the car, because the roof drips year-round. There are bathrooms and somewhere to leave a bag in the service building at the entrance.
Most of what goes wrong here is decided the night before, in a hotel room, by someone guessing at a booking screen. Ten minutes on the tour type, the age limits and the shoes, and the day works. If you are still choosing, start from the prices and departure patterns rather than the photographs.