South Coast Small-group Tour From Reykjavik

it was a good basic tour. saw good tourist things. Long but a nice view from the bus. Pick up was convenient.

We had a wonderful time in this small group tour. Yan was a great guide, very knowlegeble, kind, and happy to help us throughout the tour. We didn't feel rushed or missed anything. This experience made our honeymoon a lot better despite the not so great weather.

This tour was very enjoyable. Small group tours are the way to go! The tour guide, Rakel, was very knowledgeable and friendly. A member of the group thought her purse had been misplaced, and Rakel went out of her way to help her through the situation.

We won the tour guide lottery with Rakel on Gateway to Iceland's South Coast Small-Group Tour! Rakel shares incredible insight into Iceland's culture and history, while makeing sure you have the best trip along Iceland's amazing South Coast. A small group is definitely the way to go, if you're looking for a more intimate experience. We hope you'll book this tour, and we'll keep our fingers crossed that you're lucky enough to get Rakel as your guide!!

My family and I loved traveling with Gome (spelling?) who was delightful, funny, gave a beautiful balance of myth and saga and true stories as well as helpful geological knowledge, was patient and kind. My family (two boisterous boys with us) and I loved it! Small bus was very comfortable, the drive between stops was gorgeous and stops were very well sequenced and timed. Thank you for some new forever memories!!

The tour was wonderful, and our tour guide, Trond was amazing! He was knowledgeable and helped our kids learn about each place that we stopped. It was a wonderful day!

Rakel was awesome! The weather not so much. It put a damper on the trip but we made the most of it. something you can't control. Rakel kept us safe and informed throughout the day.

Two tours - South Coast and Golden Circle. Both Joanna and Gummi are amazing! Highly recommend both tours for their knowledge of the land and sites

Ian was an amazing tour guide, had some fantastic stories and taught us so much about Iceland, would highly recommend. Ian gave us tips on what else to do in the city. The tour itself was spectacular, seeing Diamond beach took my breath away, I didn’t want to leave. The waterfall in the dark was also one not to be missed!

Was looking forward to this but it started badly and got worse wholly because of the tour guide, and I use that term loosely. His name was Oli and he messed up pick ups, hadn't charged his headset and when he eventually did charge it up only used it once to give us some very brief, useless information. Hi didn't mention seat belt safety, he didn't get out and open and close the door he expected my son to do it for him. We learned absolutely nothing from this 'taxi driver' despite booking a guided tour. The plus side, he got us to our destinations on time. The van was just that a minivan not a tour bus, the seat belts were stiff and the van rattled. The windows were full of condensation so we couldn't see out anyway. The worst part was at the glacier when 2 of the 8 of us decided to stay in the van. He opened his driver's door and took a piss outside the front of the van rather than go and walk to the toilets. He did actually say 'I'm leaving the door open because I have to take a leak'...I was speechless. Disgraceful, lazy driver who knew nothing at all. I will never use this company again. Instead I will use Nice travel who were brilliant on the Golden circle tour. Avoid this company at all costs.

This is the 4th time I've used this company. I wanted to see Lupins growing wild and what a tour this was! 10 days ago they were perfection and Gummi, our guide, let us photo every single flower (to exaggerate a bit!) To see this area in the summer is totally different to winter (which I love too.) Grass, wild flowers....and lupins! Helped by warm sunshine! Small minibus so we went to places that I hadn't seen before. The scenery is fascinating and beautiful. We never felt rushed, indeed we had time to watch the puffins. Don't hesitate, this is a great trip with the greatest local guide and a thank you to Clare for sorting out my booking.

We spent a wonderful day with Gummi on the South Coast tour. I went with my daughter and 3 grandchildren. Gummi was very patient with the grandchildren allowing them plenty of time to explore the many waterfalls. We greatly appreciated his extensive knowledge of the geography and history of Iceland. He made the trip special.

Amazing tour. It is definitely for those who are more outgoing and spontaneous. Ian's inputs were also certainly valuable. Thank you. I highly recommend this.

Gummi is the most amazing guide. We have traveled quite a bit and been on many tours. This ranks up there as the best of the best. First, we left at 7:30 am and didn’t arrive home until after 11:00 pm. There were only 3 of us —my husband, me and a new friend from South Africa. Over 500+ miles and nearly 16 hours of touring, we learned about the volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, bridges, flooding, the Vikings, waterfalls (foss), the geothermal power plants, the people, the Sagas / history, each other, the legends and folklore, the swimming pools, and the list goes on! We ate lunch and dinner, had hot chocolate, and finished with ice cream as a night cap. And we saw the sites—so many with each one better than the next! I was on sensory overload because everywhere we stopped, there was something even more unbelievable to see, hear, smell and touch. What made it the best was Gummi—his knowledge of everything Iceland is simply amazing. His stories kept us captivated. After 21 years as a tour guide, it shows through the experience he gave us. When we come back, we will do another tour with this company and Gummi. Thank you, Gummi—you went above and beyond and we appreciated it! Thanks for giving us a truly inside view of your beautiful country.

Our guide was lovely with many facts and stories to tell…HOWEVER-people sitting in the back of the van could NOT hear her at all. She tried to change microphones, but they did not work well enough. 2 seats were broken as well making for uncomfortable travel for some passengers. A tour the day before had microphones working just fine. (different company). Please fix the microphones and seats for others.

Most of the tour companies take people to the same sites. The landscape is spectacular all along the southern coast. Trond, our guide for this day trip, is what set this apart from other tours. His wittiness, down-to-earth practicality, patience, directness, and range of personal experience elevated the experience from beautiful scenery to an incredible trip all around. While all of the stops were amazing (waterfalls! glaciers!), our personal favorite was Reynisfjara, the black sand beach. Incredible! Booking was easy, as was the pick up process. My sister and I highly recommend this tour company and this specific tour.

We had a great day seeing the sites of the South Coast with our guide, Ian. The black sand beach and glacier were highlights. Ian also provided background and history on Iceland, which added to the experience.

" Gumi " was the owner/driver/tour guide absolutely awesome! We would highly recommend & I have already passed his info on to friends from the DC area who plan on going to Iceland next year! Yes, Gumi -- Iceland Rocks!

We had a wonderful tour led by our guide Gummi. He had great stories to inform us about every place we passed, not just the places where we stopped. We heard about Viking sagas, stories of trolls and elves, Icelandic authors, and more, along with facts about the natural landscape including volcanos, earthquakes, hot springs, islands, and wildlife. It was a really packed day including two waterfalls, a beach, a glacier, Vik village, and best of all a puffin nesting site! There were only 7 of us on the tour and we were able to linger as long as we needed to to see everything at each site. The whole tour took about 11 hours, longer than advertised but it was so nice not to be rushed. It was a lovely day.

I hate to go after a small tour business at a time when the industry is struggling, but I feel compelled to warn other people away from this company.  While this review is going to be long, if you just want the summary it's this:  nasty driver + broken-down van = worst tour experience ever. - Driver (named Gummi) picked us up in a dilapidated, creaky old mini-van - a stark contrast with the pristine, spacious, wifi-equipped mini-buses EVERY other tour company uses.  It looked like the kind of van you'd warn your children away from if you saw it at a playground. - I mentioned in passing to one of the other passengers that I was using the same tour company for a trip to the Snaefellsnes peninsula the next day.  The driver interrupted and said that actually, that tour had been cancelled.  Luckily, this happened early enough in the day that I could call around to other tour companies to try to find a replacement tour, but if I hadn't happened to mention it, I don't know when/if the driver would ever have informed me that my next tour had been canceled.  - The driver's commentary throughout the day was a monotone drone filled with boring minutiae (like the precise dimensions of a caldera that wasn't even visible on the tour), which he seemed to have memorized from a script written 20 years ago and not updated since.  He never tried to engage with any of the passengers, or make conversation; and if one of us asked a question, he would snap a brusque answer and then go back to his rehearsed monologue, seemingly annoyed that we'd dared to interact with him.  As one of my fellow passengers dryly put it, "It's like being stuck on a family trip with your least favorite relative." - As we tried to leave a mountain top in heavy, chilly rain and fog, the piece-of-crap van wouldn't start.  The driver kept trying the ignition, but it sounded like the engine was flooded.  So we got out and gave the van a push, hoping that once he was coasting the engine might start again.  The van crunched down the gravel road with us passengers running behind it - in conditions so foggy we only had about 10 feet of visibility, as cars passed us in the other direction.  We caught up with the van eventually - but it still hadn't started, and it was very clear it would never start again, but the driver kept vainly trying to goose the engine.  We begged him to call for another car to rescue us, which he eventually, grudgingly did - but it was going to take a few hours to arrive, during which time we were expected to sit with him in a freezing van at the side of a mountain, with no access to heat, food, or bathrooms.  Frustrated, we passengers ended up taking our fate into our own hands and hitchhiking with some friendly American tourists to the nearest town, to wait for rescue there.  We ended up waiting several hours at a gas station convenience store until the driver finally came to get us - this time in a small family sedan we crammed into. - From the time the car broke down till the time Gummi finally fetched us at the gas station, 3 hours had elapsed.  We were all tired and cranky but the driver was adamant that we finish the tour - since if we finished the tour, he wouldn't have to give us a refund.  He zoomed through the remaining sites - continuing with his dour, affectless monologue - and then took us back to Reykjavik.  As he dropped us off, he said, "I hope you had a good time."  We pointed out that the 3 hours we waited for rescue were not a "good time".  He tried to argue that it hadn't been a whole three hours, but we had the receipts on our phones (thanks to contemporaneous texts/phone calls), and he eventually, sullenly gave up.  At no point did he EVER apologize, or even acknowledge the inconvenience.  No one else from the company ever apologized or acknowledged the inconvenience, either.  Listen, things happen, but the company's attitude swung between indifferent and hostile, uniting all of the passengers in seething resentment not just of the situation, but of Gummi in particular.  - Afterwards, I asked for at least a partial refund for our trouble.  The driver - who seems also to be the owner - says that per the terms and conditions, because we saw everything on the itinerary, we couldn't get any money back.  I pointed out that lunch had been on the itinerary, and we never got lunch - his response was that because we could have bought snacks at the gas station, that counted.  Never mind that the only reason we made it to the gas station was because we hitchhiked with strangers - he counted it as the tour company providing the scheduled lunch. - There are a lot of tour companies in Iceland, and I had better experiences with every single one of them (Troll Expeditions was particularly good).  Most folks only make it to Iceland once in their lives - don't let Gateway to Iceland ruin your once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

Spent a wonderful day exploring the South coast with our delightful tour guide Ian. Not only were the sights amazing, he made it all that more interesting and entertaining with his stories of the area.

Best tour guide of the week. Besides keeping us informed of where were going and what we would see, our guide provided us with a history lesson, fantastic.

Tour guide very nice. However, serious change in weather midway through and took unnecessary risks attempting to go to black beach with orange warning and minimal to no visibility. Life threatening conditions both at beach and on roads ..

We had Gumi as our driver. His knowledge was of his lifelong experience on the island. The stops were amazing we had blue skies, which were great for photos, however it was very cold and windy. Dress with layers. Due to the cold temperature we couldn’t go behind the waterfall, however we still got great photos. If an area was too busy, we went to the next stop and returned later. The benefit of a small group tour. Black beach is a must. The waves are huge. Again the photos of the black sand, snow and blue sky are beautiful. Driving back through the mountains was an experience. Wind blowing the snow onto the road. Loved every minute.

Our tour to the South Coast led by Ian was our first trip in Iceland. We were very impressed with our guide Ian, he was extremely knowledgable and kept us fully interested in the history and sights of this part of Iceland. Unfortunately our tour to the Golden Circule & Secret Lagoon had to be cancelled due to the storm but we were impressed by Liam (Marketing) who kept us fully informed of the situation. It was a very pleasant surprise to be offered a free city tour to compensate. Again Ian was our guide and gave us a grand city our of Reykjavic. We fully recommend Gateway To Iceland.

Timely pickup. Our guide, Ian was wonderful - friendly and knowledgeable who kept our nice small group regaled with lots of stories and information. Regular stops for the sight-seeing, comfort breaks and lunch. All food/drink stops provided reasonably priced offerings suitable for us and our son. All sight-seeing stops were awe inspiring and we were given plenty of time to explore each before moving on. Would definitely recommend highly. Many thanks Ian for an amazing day in Iceland.

Great trip and totally unique. Visiting and walking on a glacier is an experience like no other. Waterfalls on a cold winter day is very memorable. Plus an amazing and very knowledgeable driver, Gummi. And oh, the bonus of seeing the northern lights made the day long trip even more amazing.

Fabulous South Coast Tour trip. We lucked out with just 4 of us on the mini bus. Stefan was an excellent tour guide who imparted his breadth of knowledge with good humour. Would thoroughly recommend booking through this operator.

I initially chose this company because they were so responsive to emails, and they did not disappoint! My sister and I had a wonderful day exploring the South coast of Iceland. Our driver was full of knowledge and stories and we enjoyed talking to him very much. Book this company and this tour - you'll be glad you did!

The tour was excellent overall. There were a couple cancellations but the tour company contacted us and still went ahead, which was very considerate (and appreciated). Our guide, Ian, was fantastic and knew a wealth of knowledge about the history of Iceland and the locations we visited. The waterfalls were beautiful and the black beaches were very unique. I would recommend this tour to anyone visiting Iceland.

Excellent trip. Guide Odi was very informative and made the trio feel more personal. Plenty of time to see everything. Must do trip

For this tour, I havd shortlisted 2 companies and rather than booked with a very well known one, I have decided to booked with Gateway to Iceland online for my family of six in last year and got email back straight away asking how tall was my 3 yrs old nephew so that they can provided a suitable child seat for him (trust me, not many tour companies do that). We have arrived Reykjavik on a cruise and we were the first people to get picked up. After picking up all the others people, we have made our way to see all the attractions. Becausd of the distances our guide/driver (unfortunately I have forgotten his name) has drove pretty fast, but in a safe manner and this has allow us to have more times on all the attractions. South coast is such a beautiful place, personally I have preferred the south coast than Akureyri which is in the north.

The highlight of our visit to Iceland was this marvelous tour of the South Shore. Gummi, our guide, was knowledgeable, patient, and gave thorough and intelligent answers to all of our questions. Although the tour was very efficient, we never felt rushed and each attraction flowed effortlessly from the last. We saw two massive waterfalls (and several smaller ones in proximity), walked right up to a glacier, and spent time on the cliffs looking a beautiful black-sand beaches and stunning geological formations such as a massive stone double arch and the sea stacks of the shores of Vik. It was an unforgettable day.

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our ten hour tour of the South Coast with Andres F. There were about fourteen of us on our mini-bus and everyone was very considerate about staying within the allotted time at each stop. The bus was very comfortable. Andres spoke good English and we could hear him clearly as he chatted throughout the entire outbound trip about what we were seeing and about Icelandic history. Loved his dry sense of humour. My husband did find the two hour trip back to the city a bit long without a break while I fell asleep to Andres's selection of Icelandic music! Beautiful blue sunny skies certainly helped make this tour so comfortable.

This is a great tour. There's so much included that's worth seeing; Seljalandsfoss (wear waterproof clothing and non-slip footwear) and Skogafoss waterfalls, the black sand beach of Reynisfjara, Solheimajokull glacier , and the surprisingly green countryside, provide a good overview of the diversity in landscape in this part of the country. The timing of stops at each site was adequate. We liked that there was a healthy amount of exertion required at each site (walking, climbing) to break up the bus travel portions of the trip. Our guide was excellent. Highly recommend.

Met the mini bus at stop #5 in Reykjavik at appointed time. Ian was our driver/guide and just wonderful. He knows the history, topography and is good driver. He even lent his rain parka to this poorly prepared traveler on our stop to see the glacier in the rain. We also visited two wonderful waterfalls, walked on black lava beach and got pretty close to a cliff full of puffins. Home in good time and enjoyed it thoroughly. Kudos to Ian.

The glacier and black beach were my personal favs. Tour guide, Gunnar, was great! Funny, charming grandpa-type Icelandic native. He loves his country, and rightly so. Explore the sights at your own pace - rigirous or easy! Gunnar customized the pacing for our small group. Lots of 'comfort breaks' for the restroom or snacks. Gunnar had lots of cute stories and factoids to share. Highly recommend for families, couples, friends, or solo travelers.

I cannot say enough amazing things about our tour guide Gunnar from Gateway to Iceland or the tour itself. It was the perfect way to spend 10+ hours visiting some of the country's most beautiful sites along its South shore. I cannot remember the names of every site, but we made 5 stops: waterfalls to begin and end the trip, a glacier, and two black sand beaches with a lunch stop in the middle, and several "comfort breaks" in between. Gunnar picked us up at our hotel and exactly the time he was scheduled to and we had the pleasure of sharing the experience with only 6 other people which made the bus only about 1/3 full and plenty comfortable. Gunnar entertained us the entire time with personal stories about his country that he loves so much and was more than happy to answer questions. He was patient at each site, allowing extra time if needed for us tourists to fully take in all that we were experiencing and there was virtually no rush applied to us to finish the tour by the designated time. He really wanted all of us to enjoy as much as we could. His patience and kindness is off the charts and I hope you have the opportunity of booking your tour with him. As for each site, words cannot express. You just have to see them. I'll post some pics, but they won't do them justice either. This was the perfect tour with the perfect guide. Highly recommended.

Enjoyed the day out with our tour guide Trond, was very considerate when feeling travel sick made sure I was ok along the whole journey

The scenery of Iceland is magnificent with cascading waterfalls and breathtaking rock formations Ian was a most knowledgable guide and even included waterfalls that were not on the itinery so the tour lasted over 11 hours but was memorable A small group is also always much better as one has a chance to interact with the guide and get a better understanding of life in Iceland Don't go to Reykjavik without taking this ( or similar ) tour

Ian was a pleasure to spend the day with. Top notch. Great ROI on this trip. Zero hesitation in recommending it to anyone.

We saw a lot in a 10+ hour day covering 400+ km, it was incredible! Guide Tront (sp?) made the day fun and interesting (especially his choice of music!). I highly recommend this tour!

Complete full day tour of south coast of Iceland. 8 full stops with Incredible views of waterfalls,black sand beaches, glaciers, distant volcanic peaks, stunning ocean cliffs and rock formations. Too many other worldly sites to fully describe to do justice. Full day is a full day so plan ahead. Trund (sp) was an excellent guide covering 400+km. Worth it, worth it!!!

got to see glaciers for the first time in my life, up close and personal! recommended to go on the boat tour, got to see 5 tourists iconic destinations, walked behind a huge waterfall, black diamond beach. what am amazing time! well worth the money :)

I can be very critical. However, this was truly an excellent tour and great value. Gti’s tour with Gummi (who lived for 5 years in Indiana as a child) was great. Gummi was highly informative and articulate on the history, geography and economy of Iceland. The tour was long (14 hrs) but well worth it. Multiple waterfalls, glaciers and other sights. Today we’re doing a 2nd GTI tour to the golden circle. Gummi is a very fine guide. The Mercedes Sprinter van was very comfortable and the WiFi excellent with many usb recharging ports. WiFi was better than in the US. More to follow after today’s golden circle tour.

We had originally only booked ourselves onto the golden circle tour with Gateway to Iceland, but were so impressed with it we decided to book the southern coast tour as well. We felt in safe hands; having a smaller tour group really does make a difference as it feels more personal and special. We had Gummi for both of the tours - he is clearly very passionate about Iceland and this really comes across! He is a great narrator, very calm and made sure we had enough time at each of the locations along the way. He got the balance right between giving us time to wander round on our own and coming along with us - we never felt rushed. I think he may have even taken us to a few extra bits along the way! Thank you Gummi for two great tours - it really made our trip to Iceland!

I did this day tour last Monday, it was really amazing! First time I have seen a beach with snow in my life!! The guide Andres F was really nice, he gave us a lots of information, also about Njal's Saga book, which was really interesting. I love travelling and reading, so was really nice to know about that. Also he helped us with pictures, thank you very much Andres. Iceland is much more than was expecting, I cannot wait to come back there again. Greetings from Brazil!

I booked this trip in advance based on other reviews and wanted a small group experience. This day trip was amazing with the 2 large waterfalls, glacier, and the black beach stops. Our tour guide was Stephan and he was so good....his voice was that of a narrator or radio announcer and was very helpful with all questions that we had for him. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Iceland. The small group is the best way we have found to see the sights without the hassle of driving.

Returned from this full day excursion and be prepared to be in the car most of the time. Our driver Andres was pleasant enough with a rather boring monotone delivery but to me the driving was the most exciting part of the trip. At some points down right scary. Constantly passing everyone in pouring down rain. It was a bit nerve racking. I tried not to look. As for the sights, waterfalls were nice, black beach was fine, and the glacier was ok too. We only spent maybe 20-30 minutes at each site. Quite honestly it was enough. In my opinion I felt if you can’t afford to or have the time to go to New Zealand than this will give you a small idea of what New Zealand is like. With the exception that New Zealand has much more dramatic landscape. Of course you can’t see the Northern lights there either. We did the golden circle yesterday and felt the same about that tour. Don’t mean to be a travel snob just saying what we felt.