TRAVEL · ICELAND

Is the G Adventures Best of Iceland Tour Worth It? My Honest Review

The itinerary, hotels, transportation, group dynamic, and everything I wish I had known before booking.

Iceland looks deceptively manageable on a map. Then you start pinning everything you want to see and realize that a tiny island does not feel so tiny when a single day can involve several hours of driving between waterfalls, glaciers, black-sand beaches, and tiny fishing villages.

I had one very clear objective: see Iceland’s top ten must-see places. I also wanted to enjoy the trip without spending hours driving unfamiliar roads, constantly changing hotels, or turning my friend into a full-time navigator. That is how we ended up on G Adventures’ Best of Iceland tour with 11 other travelers ranging in age from 19 to 84, one excellent guide, a Mercedes Sprinter, and a very ambitious itinerary.

The short version is that I would travel with G Adventures again. The tour showed me roughly 80 percent of what I hoped to see in Iceland, the drives were far more manageable than I expected, and the trip still felt like an adventure rather than a transportation plan. Still, there were basic hotels, tiring days, one underwhelming glacier hike, and a few things I wish I had understood before booking.

Tour at a Glance

What “Nine Days” Actually Means

The tour is advertised as nine days, but that does not mean nine full days of sightseeing. Day one began with an evening welcome meeting, and the final day was simply departure. We returned to Reykjavík at approximately 7:00 p.m. on day eight, which left us with seven full days of guided travel.

That was still enough time to cover an impressive amount of Iceland, but it is worth understanding when comparing the itinerary, price, and number of hotel nights. You are booking a nine-day trip on paper, but the active tour experience is closer to seven days.

Seating was not assigned, and we were technically free to move around. In reality, everyone chose a seat on the first day and silently claimed it for the rest of the trip. No official discussion was required. Apparently, humans create assigned seating all on their own.

The Hotels and Meals

For the first five days of the tour, we changed hotels every single night. We generally arrived after 6:00 p.m., and the suitcase needed to be packed and ready to go again by approximately 7:00 the following morning. Pack with that rhythm in mind. This is not the kind of trip where you fully unpack, settle in, and begin treating the hotel room like a temporary apartment.

The accommodations were basic and selected primarily for their location along the route. This was not a luxury trip, but the hotels gave us what we needed before moving on to the next destination. Breakfast was included and generally simple and consistent.

Dinner was not included in the tour price. On two nights, we ate at the hotel because we were staying in remote areas with few nearby options. One hotel served dinner buffet-style, with unlimited trips through the available selection. The other offered a menu with several dishes to choose from.

On the remaining evenings, our guide selected a restaurant where the group could eat together. We were always free to choose another restaurant, but keep in mind that once you leave Reykjavík, dining options become much more limited. The freedom was there. The restaurant inventory was not always as enthusiastic.

The Group and Guide

Our group had 13 travelers ranging in age from 19 to 84, although the group was surprisingly young overall. Everyone got along, and smaller groups formed naturally based on age, pace, and shared interests. That made the experience feel social without requiring all 13 people to move together every minute of the day.

The wide age range did not slow down the itinerary. During certain walks or activities, some of the older travelers chose to stay behind, but the rest of the group continued as planned. Everyone could participate at the level that felt comfortable without changing the experience for everyone else.

Our guide was knowledgeable, informative, and consistently gave us options. She explained what we were seeing, helped coordinate meals and logistics, and allowed the group to make choices whenever the itinerary had flexibility. A guide can easily make or break a small-group tour, and ours was one of the strongest parts of the experience.

The Itinerary vs. Reality

The published itinerary is an outline, not a guarantee of every stop. Our guide added several viewpoints and waterfalls that were not listed, including Skógafoss.

We also missed the red church in Vík, and Dettifoss was closed, so we visited a canyon with dramatic basalt columns instead.

Not every change is within the guide’s control. Iceland’s weather, road conditions, and attraction closures can reshape the day quickly. You may miss something you expected to see, but you may also discover places you would never have added to your own itinerary.

Optional Activities: Worth It or Skip It?

The tour offered four optional activities. I personally tried two of them, and my notes on the other two are based on feedback from travelers in my group who participated.

I Tried These

I Skipped These

How Much of Iceland’s Must-See List Did I Actually Cover?

The Final Verdict: Would I Book G Adventures Again?

Yes. This tour allowed me to see a large portion of Iceland without having to drive extended periods of time, navigating unfamiliar roads, or planning a new route every morning. Our guide was knowledgeable, the group got along, and the itinerary covered most of the places I hoped to see on my first visit.

I would recommend it to a first-time visitor who wants structure while still having some freedom. You should be comfortable with basic hotels, early mornings, several days of repacking your suitcase, and an itinerary that may change because Icelandic weather and road conditions have opinions of their own.

This is not the right tour for someone looking for luxury, slow travel, or several hours at every stop. It is designed to show you as much of Iceland as possible within a limited amount of time, and it accomplishes that very well.

Would I book with G Adventures again? Absolutely. I would choose a different destination and itinerary next time, but the experience gave me exactly what I wanted from this trip: a first look at Iceland, without spending the entire vacation behind the wheel.