Snorkeling Silfra Self Drive

Snorkeling in Silfra is an astoundingly beautiful experience. We offer daily snorkeling tours of the famous Silfra fissure and if you prefer to drive yourself, you can meet us directly at the site!

Located about an hour from Reykjavík in Thingvellir National Park, Silfra is a deep fissure created by the diverging movement of the tectonic plates. This fissure is constantly being filled with fresh glacial spring water that has been filtered underground through lava rock for 30-100 years. The filtered glacial water creates one of the clearest bodies of water on earth, providing underwater visibility of up to 120 meters.

On the snorkeling tour of Silfra, you’ll be dressed in a high-quality dry suit by our expert guides so that you can get into the near-freezing water without getting wet. You should be sure to wear long thermal underwear and a couple pairs of thick wool socks to help keep you warm. Your guide will lead you on an approximately 30 minute snorkel through the Silfra fissure. The bouyant dry suit will keep you afloat and a gentle current leads you through the canyon. All you need to do is keep your eyes open and let yourself be immersed in this amazing scenery.

During the snorkeling tour you will see the four main sections of Silfra. The first section is known as Big Crack, an impressively deep caynon that narrows at depth so that the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are nearly touching. The next section, Silfra Hall, is significantly wider, which allows more light so that the full spectrum of Silfra’s colors reveals itself. The awe-inspiring Silfra Cathedral follows. Nature had its best architect at work in Silfra Cathedral, the deepest and, some would argue, most sublime part of Silfra.

As Silfra is located just off the main road in Thingvellir National Park, it is very accessible from Reykjavík as well as from towns on the south coast, such as Hveragerði and Selfoss. Thingvellir National Park is one of the highlights on the celebrated Golden Circle route. As the tour lasts in total about 2.5 hours, you have ample time to use the rest of the day for walking through Thingvellir Park and visiting the other sites on the Golden Circle, such as Geysir and Gullfoss, or to join a caving tour in Thingvellir.