The Cave People, Laugarvatn

What a cool tour and experience. The hosts were fantastic, dressed in period attire and told a wonderful and interesting history of the region, cave and its inhabitants. I’d highly recommend this tour, so unique.

My husband and I experienced “The Cave People” just after New Year’s Day 2022 and I would highly recommend the experience. We were staying in a rather remote place near Thingvellir National Park where interesting, “geeky” educational experiences (which is what we like to do when traveling) were not something in great supply. Happily we learned about “The Cave People” and couldn’t have been happier that we did. Although the Google listing and the self-booking tool on the Cave People website noted that this enterprise was closed for the season, they offered multiple ways to reach out. I contacted them regarding the potential for a private tour for the following day and received a professional, polite, and complete reply from Smári (who was also the gentleman who led our tour) in mere minutes. We were offered two time slots and (thankfully!) apprised in advance that private tours are cash-only, which saved us from any embarrassment or delay upon arrival. When we arrived the next morning (after the beautiful drive) to the Cave People’s site, we were greeted by our guide, Smári, in full period attire exactly as pictured on their website. Coming from a marketing background, whenever you receive exactly what you are shown, it builds immediate trust and makes me feel valued for my business. We had a private tour of this most remarkable cave residence, made very relatable via expertly told (but no so much as to feel forced or overly rehearsed) the personal histories of Indriði Guðmundsson and Guðrún Kolbeinsdóttir, and Jón Þorvarðsson and Vigdís Helgadóttir, who lived in there. Without spoiling anything, the story-telling was great– replete with suspense, royalty, and Huldufólk (hidden people). Smári gave a brilliant tour, slightly longer (happily so) than the 25 minutes promised on the website, and indulged us in all of our questions (of which we had more than a few). If you are interested in something off-the-beaten path, interesting, that is a departure from the all-too-expected snowmobiling/jeep/faux-adventure tours, I think you will thoroughly enjoy the Cave People as we did. Highly Recommended. Honestly, I do not have any constructive feedback for this most interesting and welcomed attraction that we were not expecting but so happy that we did discover.