The Studlagil Canyon Shore Excursion That Skips the Hike

All three go to the same place and look at it from the same side, and all three sit in the comparison of Seydisfjordur tours on the homepage. What separates them is what else gets bolted on and how much of your day it eats.

The BusTravel run, $227, five hours

The default. A full-size coach leaves Ferjuleira, drives 110 minutes inland, gives you an hour at the canyon, then stops 25 minutes at Gufufoss on the way back. It has 305 ratings at 4.4, which makes it the only trip here with enough reviews to mean anything. Reviewers name the guides more than the scenery: Eva, Saga, music on the coach, help taking photographs.

Book this one if you want the canyon, a known quantity and the lowest price.

The Saga Travel run, $233, six hours

Six dollars more and an hour longer, for one extra waterfall. It leaves from the information centre, stops 20 minutes at Rjúkandi in the Jökuldalur valley, gives you the same hour at Stuðlagil, then adds a 30-minute stop on the way back before Gufufoss. Guides wear red Saga Travel jackets and start collecting people 30 minutes before departure.

Rating is 4.5 from 20 reviews, which is a small sample. Book it if the extra waterfall appeals and your call is long enough for six hours.

The Tanni Travel run, $325, six hours

The expensive one, and the only rim trip that ends in hot water. Same viewing platforms, same Rjúkandi stop, then Vök Baths on Lake Urriðavatn for the last stretch. The operator states plainly that it does not include the walk down into the east side.

4.8 from 5 reviews. Book it if a soak matters more to you than $98, and bring a swimsuit and towel, because neither is included.

Stuðlagil is a gorge of basalt columns cut by the Jökulsá á Dal, and it is younger as a sight than most people assume. Until 2009 the water ran seven to eight metres higher and the columns were under it. The Kárahnjúkar hydro scheme filled the Hálslón reservoir that year, the level dropped, and a landscape nobody had photographed appeared.

• Basalt columns up to 30 m, many of them twisted rather than the neat hexagons the photos suggest
• The river running pale turquoise in early summer and grey once the reservoir spills, usually from late August
• A staircase from the car park at the farm Grund down to a platform over the gorge
• Rjúkandi, a wide fall down a mossy cliff in the Jökuldalur valley, on two of the three trips
• Gufufoss, 27 m, four minutes from the pier, on the way back

The stop these three trips make is the farm Grund, on the north bank, and it is the developed side of the canyon. The car park takes coaches, and it has covered seating, a water point and toilets that charge a small fee.

From there a metal staircase of 245 steps drops to a viewing platform over the gorge. Going down is nothing; coming back up in a group of forty on a wet morning is the part people remember. New platforms and stairs went in for the 2025 season, so the setup is better than older guidebooks describe.

What the platform shows you is the gorge from above, with the columns across the water and the river below. What it does not show is the main section, which curves away behind the bend and stays out of sight from this side. That is the honest limit of a rim trip, and it is worth knowing before you compare the photographs afterwards.

An hour, and what fits in it

All three allow about an hour on the ground. That covers the steps, the platform, photographs and the climb back at an unhurried pace, and none of the reviews describe it as rushed.

It does not cover the walk along the rim above the gorge, which is worth doing if your group is quick on the steps, and it does not cover crossing to the east side. The two banks are seven minutes apart by car and there is no bridge, so nobody does both on a coach trip.

Which operator you actually get

Three companies run these and they are different sizes. BusTravel Iceland is the volume operator, with full-size coaches, free WiFi and 305 ratings on this route. Saga Travel run one departure with red jackets and a longer stop list. Tanni Travel use minibuses and pair the canyon with the geothermal pools.

The practical consequence is group size. On the BusTravel run you are one of forty; on the Tanni trip closer to a dozen. Neither is better, and on a wet day at a staircase the smaller group moves faster.

All three include the coach, the guide and the stops. None includes food. Read that literally: there is no café on the route and no lunch stop, so a five or six hour trip runs on whatever you carried off the ship.

• Included: transport from the cruise terminal, a live guide in English, all entry (the canyon is free to visit)
• Included on the Tanni trip only: admission to Vök Baths
• Not included: meals, drinks, personal expenses
• Not included on the Tanni trip: swimwear and towels, which cost extra at the Vök desk
• Not included on any of them: the hike down into the east side of the canyon

What to pack

Five hours with no shop on the route.

• A waterproof jacket. The town takes over 1,650 mm of rain a year and the canyon is exposed
• Comfortable shoes with grip for the staircase, which is wet more often than not
• Water and something to eat, since no food is included and nothing is sold at the canyon
• A camera and a spare layer for the wind on the rim
• Swimwear and a towel if you booked the Tanni trip with Vök Baths

Who these trips do not suit

The operators set their own limits and they differ.

• BusTravel: not suitable for children under 2
• Saga Travel: not suitable for children under 3, or for anyone with a low level of fitness
• Tanni Travel: not suitable for children under 5, and alcohol is not allowed on board
• Anyone who wants the classic river-level photograph, which is taken from the east side and needs the 5 km walk

If your ship tenders

Ships longer than about 170 m anchor in the fjord instead of tying up at Strandarbakki or Bjólfsbakki, and tendering adds 20 to 40 minutes at each end. Guides here are used to it. One traveller in July described the ship switching to tenders on the morning of their trip and the guide reworking the timings so the group still saw everything.

Five hours absorbs that; a seven-hour trip would not.

Things the booking pages leave out, gathered from travellers who have done the drive.

• The postcard shot of Stuðlagil, columns curving above you at river level, comes from the east side. These trips go to the west side. If that photograph is the reason you are going, book a hiking trip instead
• Sit on the left going inland. The Jökuldalur valley and Rjúkandi are on that side, and it is a long stretch of road otherwise
• The toilets at Grund charge. Carry a card or a few hundred krónur
• Ask the guide to stop at Gufufoss on the way out rather than back if the weather is turning. One group in July had the order switched and beat both the rain and the crowds
• The canyon holds its turquoise until the reservoir spills. If you sail in September, the river will be grey and nobody will have told you
• Free WiFi on the BusTravel coach covers the drive, which matters because mobile coverage over the pass is patchy