From Reykjavik: Helicopter Tour to Hengill with Landing

GYG

From Reykjavik: Helicopter Tour to Hengill with Landing

★ 4.4(12 reviews)

• Guide works in English
• Duration per the operator: 1 hour

from $611

See dates, price and what is included at the operator

A one-hour flight over two volcanic worlds

This tour lifts off from Reykjavik and puts you over the Hengill area in a single hour, with one landing along the way. Hengill is the volcanic system you can see from the city on clear days, and the helicopter gets you there without the road journey. The flight is operated by GlacierHeli and runs in English with a guide on board. At 611 USD, it is priced for travellers who want the experience compressed into a tight window rather than a half-day excursion. The single landing is the centrepiece: you touch down in the field, step out, and stand in a landscape shaped by geothermal heat and ancient eruptions. For anyone weighing helicopter tours in Iceland, this one suits a schedule that has one morning or afternoon to spare but still wants the full arc of takeoff, mountain crossing, landing, and return.

Photographs from the operator GlacierHeli. They show the listing, not your day.

What the fare covers

The entry price of 611 USD buys the helicopter flight itself, the English-speaking guide, and the landing at Hengill. That landing is not a brief hover-and-go; it is a stop where you get out and take the ground in. No place on the itinerary charges admission or parking, so there is no gate fee waiting for you at the landing site. The operator offers free cancellation, though no deadline is attached to that offer in the listing. What you will not find itemised here is any separate charge for the landing, for the guide, or for the time on the ground. The price you see is the price of the whole flight, and the only figure that might change is the exchange rate if you are paying from a currency other than US dollars.

A score with a thin base

The tour carries a rating of 4.4 out of 5, but that score rests on just 12 reviews. That is a small sample, and it means the number tells you less than it would with hundreds of votes behind it. In the helicopter category on this site, which holds six tours, this one ranks fifth by review count. The two comparable tours with the strongest evidence are the New Volcanic Area Helicopter Tour with 540 reviews and the Geothermal Tour with 283, both scoring 4.8 or higher. Against those, the 4.4 here is not a warning, but it is also not a verdict. Twelve people had a good enough time to leave a rating, and the score is positive, but you are making a decision on thinner evidence than the more established helicopter options in the same group.

When the daylight and the weather line up

Reykjavik's temperatures climb from a January high of 3 degrees to a July high of 15 degrees, with lows hovering near freezing in winter and reaching 9 degrees in summer. For a one-hour flight, the cold months are workable but demanding: at 3 degrees in January or February, the helicopter cabin is heated, but the landing at Hengill puts you outside in wind that moves across open ground. The shoulder months of May and September, with highs of 10 and 11 degrees, offer a better balance of daylight and tolerable ground conditions. June through August brings the warmest air and the longest daylight, which matters for a tour that depends on visible conditions to reach the landing site. The time of day is not fixed by the listing, but a morning departure in summer gives you the clearest air before afternoon clouds build over the highlands.

What happens when you land

The landing at Hengill is the part of this tour that separates it from a scenic flyover. The helicopter sets down in a spot chosen by the pilot, and you step onto ground that is geothermally active. There is no staffed facility at the landing site, no building, no path to follow. The experience is simply being there: the heat vents, the colour of the rock, the silence after the engine cuts. The weather governs everything. If the wind is up or visibility drops, the pilot may adjust the landing spot or shorten the ground time. That is standard practice for mountain flying, and the guide makes the call. The flight itself runs out of Reykjavik, and the total hour includes both the transit and the time on the ground, so the landing is not an add-on but part of the single hour you are paying for.

Who should book this, and who should look elsewhere

This tour is for someone who wants the helicopter experience without a long commitment. One hour from city to landing and back fits a traveller who has a single free slot in a packed itinerary. It is also a good fit for someone who specifically wants Hengill, the volcanic system visible from Reykjavik, rather than a generic coastal flight. The 12-review sample means early adopters and those comfortable with less social proof will be fine; travellers who want to see hundreds of verified experiences before spending should look at the New Volcanic Area Helicopter Tour, which runs 40 minutes at 539 USD and has 540 reviews behind a 4.8 score. That tour covers a different volcanic area and is shorter, but the evidence base is far stronger. For those who want more time in the air and two landings rather than one, the Fire And Ice Helicopter Tour runs two hours at 928 USD. The one-hour Hengill flight sits between those two in price and duration, and it is the right choice when the specific destination matters more than the volume of past reviews.

GYG

From Reykjavik: Helicopter Tour to Hengill with Landing

Dates, remaining places and the current version of what is included are at the operator. This page reflects the state of the catalogue, not the state of this morning.

from $611

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