Langjokull with Kids: Age Limits, What They Can Ride and Whether It Is Worth It

The age rules, in one table

This is the whole decision, and it is not visible from any tour title. Every figure below is the operator's own stated minimum.

Under six: the truck or the tunnel

With a four- or five-year-old you have two options and both are good ones. The monster-truck day drives out onto the ice cap and stops on it, with hot chocolate and Icelandic kleinur served up there, crampons handed out, and sledding or glacier golf when the snow allows. One parent calls it the highlight of the whole family's trip, and their youngest was four.

The tunnel sets no minimum age at all. It is an hour's walk on level ground inside the ice, and children are explicitly welcomed. Between the two, the truck day is more active and the tunnel is more remarkable; a family with a long trip does both.

Six to eleven: a passenger seat on a snowmobile

From six, several operators will carry a child on the back of a snowmobile with an adult driving. Two people share each machine as standard, so a parent and a child are one booking rather than two. There must be one adult per child or teenager on the tours that say so.

Be honest with yourself about the hour. It is cold, it is loud, the seat vibrates and there is nothing to look at but white in flat light. Children who like that sort of thing love it — one grandmother describes her granddaughter loving the whole hour. A child who is unsure at the base camp will not be less unsure forty minutes into a snowfield.

Twelve and over: almost everything

From twelve a teenager can ride as a passenger on every snowmobile tour here, and the practical question becomes whether they would rather be behind you or the other way round. They cannot drive: that needs a full licence, which means eighteen at the very earliest and in practice later.

The one tour that is closed to them entirely is the fast-paced ride, which sets an adult band starting at eighteen and runs 140-horsepower machines with a ten-rider cap. It is built for experienced riders and it says so.

What a family day actually looks like

Take the Golden Circle day as the worked example, because it is the one most families book. Pickup is from your hotel or the bus terminal. There are stops at Þingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss, none of them long. Three hours go at the glacier, one of them riding, and the kit is issued at base camp.

Ten hours door to door is a lot for a small child and about right for a nine-year-old. One parent's account puts it plainly: they liked the national park and the geysers, and the snowmobiling was the clear favourite, particularly for their nine-year-old. Everything that day covers is on nearby attractions.

The kit question, which is simpler than parents expect

• Provided: a winter overall, helmet, gloves and a buff on the snowmobile tours; crampons at the tunnel. In children's sizes.
• You bring: warm layers, waterproof outer clothing, a hat, and footwear that can be wet. Nobody issues boots.
• Booster seats: available on request on the monster-truck day; a child seat is named in that listing's exclusions, so ask when you book.

Reviewer after reviewer makes the same point for anyone packing: you do not need to bring cold-weather gear, because the operators cover you head to toe. The full list is on visitor information.

What to feed them, and where

Food is outside the fare on almost every tour here, and there is nothing to buy on the glacier except the hot chocolate and kleinur on the monster-truck day. That is a straightforward problem with a straightforward answer: eat before you go up and carry something for the way down.

On the southern side there is a café at Gullfoss, in the same car park several tours meet in. On the western side there is a bistro at Húsafell beside the check-in. Both are the last food before the ice, and both are worth twenty minutes you have built into the morning rather than five you have not.

The questions to ask before you book

• Does anybody in the party hold a full driving licence? If not, the snowmobile tours are out and the truck and the tunnel are in.
• How does the youngest traveller handle a rough hour in a vehicle? The transfer is longer and bumpier than the activity, on every single one of these.
• Do you want them doing something or seeing something? The ride is the first; the tunnel is the second. Both are good days and they are not the same day.

Is it worth it?

For a child who likes machines, snow or both, this is the best day out in the country and it is not close. For a child who is happier looking at things than doing them, the tunnel is the one to book: it is strange enough to hold anybody's attention for an hour and it asks nothing of them physically.

What it is not is cheap. Family fares add up quickly once four people are riding, and the honest comparison is with a day that costs a fraction of it. If the budget is tight, the monster-truck day at $155 puts the whole family on the ice cap for less than one adult pays to ride from Reykjavik. Which is which is set out on things to do, and every family-friendly fare is compared on Langjokull Tours.

The tours that take the youngest travellers

Gullfoss: Sleipnir Monster Truck Tour of Langjokull Glacier

No licence and no minimum age past four: a truck drives you out onto the ice.

From $155 per person

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Snowmobiling Adventure on Langjokull Glacier from Gullfoss

The cheapest hour on the ice for anyone already driving the Golden Circle.

From $260 per person

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Reykjavik: Langjokull Glacier Snowmobiling with transfer

Six hours door to door from a city bus stop, the shortest ride day going.

From $269 per person

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