Rides in Iceland

The rides category in Iceland is given over almost entirely to helicopters, and geography explains why: much of the island is glacier, lava field and roadless highland, where ground transport is either slow or impossible. The shortest flight lasts 35 minutes at 495 dollars — a pass over the active volcanic zone with a landing.

From there the scale rises with distance. A lift over Reykjavík takes forty minutes at 310 dollars, an evening flight 327, an hour-long geothermal route 463. The fire-and-ice combination, landing on a glacier and beside lava, runs a hundred minutes at 1059 dollars; the flight to the Kerlingarfjöll mountains, two and a half hours at 1429. Half-day expeditions to the glacier lagoon, Lake Mývatn and the Westfjords cost between 3326 and 3700 dollars.

The ground half of the category is more modest: a two-hour horse ride by Lake Mývatn at 154 dollars, a private day to the Blue Lagoon with city transfer at 966, and a self-guided Reykjavík quest at 9. GetExperience lists 19 programmes in this category, from 9 to 3700 dollars; helicopter flights depend on weather, and the rescheduling terms are stated on each page.