Inside the Volcano

- darkometer rating: 4 -

A unique activity – getting lowered by a lift cage suspended over a narrow crater opening down to a gigantic drained magma chamber 400 feet (120m) below; so that’s literally inside a volcano (a dormant one, of course). It’s a relatively recent addition to Iceland’s tourism portfolio and for many who’ve done it it’s one of the highlights of their time on this island. I’d concur. But it does not come cheap!

>More background info

>What there is to see

>Location

>Access and costs

>Time required

>Combinations with other dark destinations

>Combinations with non-dark destinations

>Photos

More background info: The volcano in question is called Þrihnukagigur and it’s part of the volcanic systems of the Reykjanes Peninsula. The first letter of that Icelandic spelling, by the way, is pronounced in the same way as the <th> in the word “thorn” (which is also the name for this sound in phonetics jargon.)

However, it’s quite a bit further east from the recent eruption sites of 2021-2023. Þrihnukagigur belongs to the Brennisteinsfjöll system south of Reykjavik. Some of the mountains here function as the main skiing area for the capital city’s inhabitants in winter times.

Þrihnukagigur, however, is a ca. 45-50 minute hike away to the north in the middle of old lava fields and craters. This volcanic system is regarded as dormant, and it’s reckoned that it hasn’t erupted in at least 5000 years.

The massive chamber underneath the inconspicuous-looking crater opening was discovered in 1974 by an Icelandic cave explorer going by the name of Árni Stefánsson. In 1991, the chamber was properly explored and surveyed. It was found that the space inside would easily be big enough to house New York’s Statue of Liberty in its entirety (pedestal included), or Reykjavik’s massive Hallgrimskirkja tower.

How the chamber came about isn’t entirely clear. Somehow, instead of being spouted out, the lava must have drained underground. Otherwise the crater would have been closed shut by solidified lava. Here it is left open but you can see the walls of the chamber and the conduit up to the crater opening partially lined with a ca. one and a half foot (50cm) deep layer of solidified lava. It’s intact in only a few places; much of the layer had come off the rock and fallen to the chamber’s floor. This floor hence forms a kind of dome. To the sides of this, even deeper under the Earth’s surface, more lava tunnels and lava conduits upwards have been discovered, but these end in blocked passages. They would probably have led to neighbouring craters once.

During the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on the south coast of Iceland in 2010 (when massive ejections of volcanic ash and gases severely interrupted Europe’s air traffic space) a team from National Geographic, who were in Iceland to cover that eruption, heard about the Þrihnukagigur magma chamber and decided they wanted to film inside this too. To get the film crew’s equipment down to the bottom of the chamber, a crane was placed sideways over the crater opening and from it was suspended a kind of lift cage which could then be lowered on cables by means of electric winches.

And it’s been by this sort of device that from 2015 trips down Þrihnukagigur became available for tourists too. The lift cage was apparently fashioned from one that had previously been used by window cleaners on the outside of skyscrapers, in this case allegedly one in Frankfurt, Germany. It looks precarious and feels quite adventurous to use, but the staff assured us that they have a triple backup system in place and that the lift has never once failed.

Some might argue that this isn’t really dark tourism in the strict sense. Indeed there is no death or tragedy involved, as characterizes most other dark-tourism sites. However, as with Cold War sites, there’s an element of the potentiality of something dark involved (there haven’t been any accidents yet, but the stringent safety measures suggest that it’s been considered as a possibility). Anyway, it is also literally dark, going 400 feet (120m) down into the bowels of the Earth. And I just didn’t want to exclude this exceptional experience from being covered on my website’s Iceland pages …

What there is to see: This unique tour into a volcano is an incredible experience – but you have to pay dearly for it and also put in some legwork.

First you have to get to the meeting point for the tour, either by free minibus transfer from your hotel in Reykjavik, or by self-driving (e.g. if you’re not staying in the capital) – see details and directions below.

At the meeting point inside a seasonal ski hut by the Bláfjöll mountain deep inside the Reykjanes Peninsula. Here you have to register and you will be given the first briefing about the tour. There are also information panels with details about the history and geology of Þrihnukagigur and the surrounding volcanic system.

Just before the group departs you are given the chance to borrow extra rain capes – which we all did as it had begun to rain outside. I’m glad I had this extra layer because the rainproof trousers I was wearing were beginning to leak a bit (they were quite old).

Then the guide at the front leads the group along a track over the old lava fields towards the base camp and crater itself. It’s not a particularly difficult hike, but the terrain can be rocky, crumbly and wet in places and there are a couple of steeper bits, especially at the end. The whole distance takes about 50 minutes to cover – each way. I found it OK at the time, but could feel it in my legs the next day.

At the “base camp”, a mid-sized wooden hut with some ancillary buildings (including toilets), you are then outfitted with a hard hat with a headlamp as well as with a harness. This is for attaching you to the bridge to the lift and to the lift cage itself for the descent down into the volcano. The group is given a safety briefing, then it is split up into smaller groups of 6-8 people. These go successively to the crater and down it. The first group down is also the first one back up; everybody gets about the same amount of time at the bottom (ca. 30 minutes).

When it’s your turn, a guide will lead his or her group up the final bit of the track to the opening of the crater. One by one everybody then crosses the bridge to the lift cage, while being clipped into the railings for safety (hence the harness), and inside the lift cage you also get attached to this. You are instructed to keep your arms inside the cage and not to hold any objects out of the lift cage … e.g. your smartphone, because if you drop it that’s definitely the end of it – and it might hit somebody at the bottom.

As soon as everybody in on board and secured the operator sets the lift in motion. The early part is quite narrow and not 100% straight, hence two rows of rubber wheels to the side of the cage help stabilizing it through that passage. The colours of the rock and the lava remnants are already quite something to behold.

Then the enormous cavern of the drained magma chamber opens up below you. At the bottom, floodlights have been installed so you can see something – because otherwise it would be pitch-black dark down here – except for the faint little speck of daylight at the top of the crater, which from the bottom looks very far away … and it is: 400 feet (120m)!

After a six-minute descent, the lift cage reaches its stabilizing crate structure at the bottom, you get unhooked and are instructed to move away from the cage quickly. That’s because this is the most dangerous part, directly under the opening far above. If anything was dropped or came loose from up there it would become a veritable projectile by the time it hits the chamber bottom.

At a relatively even patch on the floor of the chamber I set up my tripod and began photographing, changing to a wide-angle lens halfway through. That kept me occupied a while so eventually I had to hurry a bit in order to complete the circuit around the magma chamber bottom, where ropes have been installed to help with navigating the very rocky ground. Most of the others in my group had long completed the circuit.

Even though concentrating on my photography (and it’s a bit demanding down here if you want sharp results) distracted me a bit, I still had time to just take in the awesome interior of this chamber, with its former lava churns, charred bits and others in totally psychedelic colours. It’s hard to put into words – so I refer you to the photos below!

Eventually it is time to go back up and your group will be called by the guide. Again you traverse the distance towards the lift cage quickly and, again, your harness will be hooked in once you’re inside the cage. Then the slow ascent begins. At the top you cross the bridge again and then make your way back to the base camp where you drop off your hard hat and the harness.

Inside the base camp hut you are offered a bowl of hot soup to warm up. By default that’s an Icelandic meat soup, but there’s also an alternative vegetarian version. Whether they are any good I can’t say (many reviews claim the meat soup is excellent; I haven’t read any comments about the veggie soup). The reason I can’t say anything is that I was too distracted watching an extra attraction up here: two semi-resident Arctic foxes. Watching those two super-cute animals frolicking about and play-fighting was so captivating that my wife and I completely forgot about the soup offer. By the time our re-assembled group was due to hike back to the meeting point by the road it was too late. I also only had a quick look at the souvenirs on offer and picked up a photo book about Þrihnukagigur there.

The hike back was in better weather, no rain and even some sunshine, so I carried the rain cape I had borrowed all the way back (you’re not supposed to leave them at base camp). On the more relaxed hike back I also paid more attention to the surrounding scenery and some special features. For instance there was one deep crack in the lava ground and deep down there there was still snow – in mid-August. Further on there was also a partially collapsed lava tube to be seen. But there wasn’t really time for closer inspection.

Back at the meeting point in the ski hut we dropped off the rain capes we had borrowed and I tried to check out the souvenir shop there, because I hadn’t been able to find an XL size of the T-shirt they also sell at the base camp, which shows the shape of the inside of the magma chamber. That would have been a good one to have. Unfortunately by the time we were back at the meeting point, the shop there had closed because the last groups had already gone. Oh well, you can’t have everything …

So instead we headed back to our car for our onward journey, while those using the free transfer to Reykjavik boarded the bus for the drop-off there.

All in all the “Inside the Volcano” tour was indeed one of the highlights of my recent trip to Iceland in 2023. OK, the price for it (see details below) is painfully high but on balance I believe it was worth it. It’s such a unique experience – indeed a “one of a kind in the world” as they say on the tour operator’s website. One Tripadvisor reviewer also quoted on the company’s website put it like this: “Inside the Volcano – out of this world”. That’s pretty spot on.

Location: in the middle of the eastern part of the Reykjanes Peninsula 13 miles (20 km) south-east of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik and ca. 2 miles (3.5 km) north from the road and the group meeting point at the seasonal skiing slopes of Bláfjöll.

Google Maps locators:

Turn-off from the Ring Road: [64.06527, -21.57898]

Meeting point: [63.9828, -21.6523]

Base camp: [63.9977, -21.6984]

Crater and lift: [63.99836, -21.69907]

Access and costs: either by hotel pick-up or self-drive, but not too difficult to find; very expensive (it’s Iceland after all).

Details: You should book tickets ahead of time, either from the tour company’s website or through an agent in Reykjavik. Tours only run seasonally from ca. mid-May to mid-October. Check the company’s website’s booking engine for exact schedules and availability.

There are usually at least four departures a day, often six, beginning early in the morning (8 a.m.) and the last tour starts at 12 noon, 1 p.m. or 2 p.m.; the duration of the entire activity, with transfer from Reykjavik and drop-off back there at the end, is 5-6 hours. You can also self-drive to the meeting point if you’re not staying in Reykjavik, but you won’t get any discount if you don’t need the free transfer by minibus.

When driving yourself make sure to get to the meeting point at least half an hour after the scheduled pick-up time in Reykjavik. Take the Ring Road (route No. 1) south-east of Reykjavik and turn off south on the 417 road signposted for the Bláfjöll skiing and hiking area. Stay on this road for a good ten miles (16.5 km) until you get to the ski hut called Breiðabliksskalinn and park there. Look out for the “Inside the Volcano” sign and logo (do not park at any of the other huts in the area!). Parking is free. Go inside and find one of the guides who will give further instructions and register you. Note that you cannot approach the meeting point from the west on the 417 road, even if Google Maps insists you can; as that road is blocked west of Bláfjöll.

Cost per person is (as of 2023) 47,000 ISK (ca. 300 EUR); children between 8 and 12 go for half price; no children under 8 are allowed. You can cancel bookings for free up to a minimum of 24 hours before the start time of the booked slot. Included are transfers from/to hotels in Reykjavik, all safety gear and briefings, guided hike (ca. 50 minutes) to the base camp and crater and of course the ride down into the volcano and back up. The descent/ascent takes about 6 minutes each way and you are allowed ca. half an hour at the bottom of the chamber where you can take as many photos as you like. I was even allowed to take my tripod and extra lenses down with me. As a bonus they offer free tea/coffee/water at the base camp before and after the tour proper, and after it also a helping of free Icelandic meat soup (or a vegetarian soup alternative).

Note: it’s essential that you dress appropriately for this tour. Weather can be extremely unpredictable, and even if it’s sunny in Reykjavik you could still get caught in rain up in the mountains. So taking waterproof clothing is highly recommended, and ideally wear good sturdy hiking boots, as the terrain can be rough and muddy in places. At the meeting point hut you can also borrow extra long rain capes for free – just make sure not to leave them at the base camp but take them back to the meeting point, even if you no longer need them for the hike back. Also take warm layers, even if it’s mild above ground, it’s still cold, only ca. 3 degrees Celsius, at the bottom of the volcano’s chamber.

The hike requires only moderate fitness but can be strenuous for some. And you have to do it twice! (There and back.) People who do not feel up to the hike can still participate in the descent into volcano provided they are prepared to fork out for the alternative private transfer directly to the crater by chartered helicopter. You can imagine that this would cost a substantial extra and obviously would have to be arranged well in advance.

Time required: in total four to five hours, plus transfer/driving time to the meeting point, so at least half a day.

Combinations with other dark destinations: in general see under Iceland.

When I was in Iceland in 2023, there had just been a dramatic eruption further west on the Reykjanes Peninsula at Litli-Hrutur. But this ceased just before I could make it there. They reckon, though, that more similar eruptions will occur in due course nearby. We’ll see …

Combinations with non-dark destinations: see under Iceland.