Langjökull glacier tour: all twenty listings, what each one actually includes, and what it costs

One: the short meeting-point listing. You make your own way to Geysir, Gullfoss or Húsafell, a vehicle takes you up to the base on the ice, you ride, you come back. Two to four and a half hours. This is the leanest Langjökull glacier tour on offer and it is what you want if you already have a car and a plan for the rest of the day. $225, $218 and $220 are the plain versions.

Two: the full day from the capital. This is the Langjökull glacier tour most people without a car end up on. Pickup in the city, the drive out, the ice, the drive back. Six to eleven hours. $266 is the shortest of these at six hours with a transfer and a maximum of 14 guests; $340 runs eight and a half. You are buying a driver and a day you do not have to plan.

Three: the Langjökull glacier tour with the famous stops attached. Thingvellir, the geothermal field at Geysir and the waterfall at Gullfoss, with a block on the ice cap added. Ten hours, usually. $338 is the most reviewed thing on this page by a long way, and $321 is the small-group version of the same idea.

Four: the same day in a super jeep. Identical ground, higher vehicle, smaller group and the three highest fares here — $372, $395 and $401. Their review counts are in single figures, so what you are reading there is a young listing rather than a verdict. $403 is the same shape with 90 reviews behind it.

Five: the kind of Langjökull glacier tour where nobody rides. $157 takes you across the surface in the Red Monster Truck with hot cocoa, a Kleinur pastry, glacier golf and sledding down snowy slopes. $184 and $319 walk you through the tunnel cut into the ice. These three are not a lesser version of the others; they are a different activity that happens on the same ice cap.

Best overall: $338. Ten hours from Reykjavik, the three famous stops and a one-hour ride on the ice cap, 4.7 from 1,491 reviews. That review count is nearly a third of everything gathered on this page, and it is the reason this is our top pick rather than the cheapest listing being it.

Best short Langjökull glacier tour: $225. Two hours out of Húsafell, a super jeep to the ice and a full hour of snowmobiling on new machines, capped at 14 guests, rated 4.9. It is the shortest listing here and it is the one where the riding is the largest share of the clock.

Best value on a machine: $218. Four hours from Geysir, a super truck to the base camp and a guided ride, 573 reviews at 4.6. It is the lowest fare on this page that puts you behind handlebars, and $220 is two dollars above it from the waterfall.

Best without a car: $266. Six hours including the transfer from the city, a Super Jeep up to the ice and a full hour of riding, 14 guests at most, rated 4.9. It is the shortest day on this page that collects you in Reykjavik.

Best long day: $419. Ten hours with pickup, a ride across the ice cap and hot springs to finish, rated 4.8 from 191 reviews. It is the highest fare here and it is the only listing that ends you in warm water.

Best for a mixed party: $286. Three and a half hours from Húsafell with both the riding and the walk through the tunnel in one afternoon. It is the only listing on this page that does not make anyone choose.

The spread is wide and it is mostly road. The listings on this page run from $157 to $419, and the difference is not an hour of riding: it is the transfer, the driver, the guide and the extra stops. A meeting-point listing asks you to bring yourself to the ice. A ten-hour day brings itself to your hotel.

Cost per hour is the most misleading column on the page. It divides the fare by the length of the listing, and the length counts the road. That is why a Langjökull glacier tour that spends four of its hours driving looks cheap per hour and a two-hour listing looks expensive, when the riding block inside both is roughly the same. Use the column to compare listings of the same shape, not across shapes.

Where the review weight sits. Three listings carry more than half of the 4,987 reviews gathered on this page, and picking a Langjökull glacier tour without looking at that is the commonest way people get the day wrong. They are $338 with 1,491, $184 with 862 and $218 with 573. The three super jeep listings at the top of the fare range carry twenty-one reviews between them. High ratings on a young listing are a promise rather than a record, and it is worth knowing which you are reading.

What does not change with the fare. The thermal suit, the helmet, the gloves and the balaclava come from the operator whichever listing you book. So does free cancellation, which is shown across the listings gathered here. The higher fares buy road, group size and extra stops — not warmer clothing.