Raufarholshellir- A Lava Tube Cave In Iceland

Iceland is a magical place. It is full of so much natural beauty. The kids and I got to experience a brief taste of that beauty when we flew there on a 3 night stopover this month. Two of the kids ended up getting sick 1 of those days, the only rain free day we were there, but that didn't keep us from being able to explore a few places our other two days.

The first day we landed at 6:30am, got our rental car and were on the road before 7:30am. We drove from Keflavik to our hotel, halfway between Þingvellir National Park and Selfoss. We took a nap and then drove to Geysir and Gullfoss. Day numero dos two of the kids were spewing what little food they had eaten, so we played around at the hotel. Our third, and final full day, in Iceland we went to the Secret Lagoon. Afterwards, we stopped by Raufarholshellir Lava Tube Cave on our way to the airport hotel.

I missed the pull off for Raufarholshellir, not once, but two times! It wouldn't have been so easily missed had there not been such thick fog, but fog there was. Oh, and the road is a typical Icelandic 2 lane road, except this one was going up a hill with steep embankments on either side. So we just kept driving on up the hill looking for a place to turn around without being hit by an on coming car in the heavy fog. We eventually did find a place to turn around at. Going back down the hill I was going extra slow and straining to see the turn off for it. That fog was something else! I did see it, but not until I was already at the turn off, and not slow enough the stop with cars behind me. So we looked for another place to turn around yet again. Thankfully there was a wide enough spot on the side of the road to do that a few hundred feet away. 

The parking area is just a large gravel area. You park and then walk a few hundred meters in the direction parallel to the road (north). You'll see a bunch of rocks; the opening is in there.

The walk down to the opening is a little wet and slippery, but nothing my 9 and 6 year olds couldn't manage. I had my 4 year old on my back the entire time. Just remember to wear sturdy shoes. The kids only had their Bogs boots, and I only had my Keen hiking sandals, while we were in Iceland. That is all we needed:)

Once inside the cave, there are some stone steps down and then back up to the area that exposes the first opening in the ground above.

After that, you just meander along until you reach the opening to the part of the cave that is dark with no natural light.

 Once you've reached the dark part of the cave, you can continue on in as far back as it goes, but BE SURE TO BRING YOUR OWN SOURCE OF LIGHT! We only enter into the dark part a little ways. We had 1 headlamp and 1 flashlight, but I was concerned about one of my kids tripping over rocks, or not keeping up. If I had had a headlamp for each of us, we may have ventured in farther.

 The hike to the dark part of the cave is fun and totally worth it, even if you don't go into the dark part of the cave! There are places for your kids to romp around and let their imagines run wild. The wind was something fierce the day we went. Down in the cave it's pretty much windless, but you'll want to remember to pack a sweatshirt, raincoat, hat and gloves, in addition to your sturdy shoes! And don't forget your flash light (if you're going deep into the recesses of the cave)!

This is a picture of where Raufarholshellir is on the map. It's about an hour drive to the airport, so even if you only have a few hours for a stopover, you could totally grab a car rental and go! It is off of highway 39, just north of the the highway 39 and highway 38 intersection.