About IcelandX
Three quarters of the wheel is under water.
Iceland is an inconvenient place to plan and run trips. Almost everyone in the business lives and works out of Reykjavík. We work with most of the ones who don't.
Most operators solve that the convenient way. Convenient for them: a hotel in Reykjavík and day trips out and back. That's called hub and spoke. Take a map and draw a circle around Reykjavík as far as you can drive and still be back for dinner. Three quarters of that circle is ocean. The country you came to see is mostly outside it.
If you believe you can run hub and spoke from Reykjavík and see anything but the same ordinary stops everyone sees, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
The rest drive themselves in a rental car, on an itinerary written by AI or by an overconfident influencer who needs a few more views to keep a perfect-looking life perfect.
I'm G.B. Heidarsson. I was born and raised in Iceland and started guiding at eighteen.
We're not into drawing imaginary wheels on maps. We'd rather put you in a 4x4 and show you the Iceland most people only realize they missed once they're back home.
▶ Watch the film: Iceland, The Great Expedition
- Since 2019 operating
- IcelandX Limited est. 2020, Colorado
- IATAN accredited
How we work
What we do differently
Direct with our partners
No DMCs, regional operators or middlemen. We work straight with the people who run your trip.
We explore first
We explore a place to find its essence before we design a tour. Then we take guests where that led us: places that aren't marketed because they're hard to reach or too small for big operators.
Icelandic guides only
Native, experienced guides, privately vetted and known to me. Some operators cut costs with low-cost seasonal foreign guides. We don't.
People we know, start to finish
The person who plans your trip has known the people who drive and guide it for years, often decades.
The highlands, on F-roads
I run highland crossings in expedition-modified trucks, on the F-roads and mountain tracks through the interior.
The people
Who you travel with
Founder & guide
G.B. Heidarsson
Icelandic-American, based in Evergreen, Colorado. Guiding since eighteen, in the industry since 1993. I speak Icelandic, Danish, Swedish and English.
Co-founder
Ivy Heidarsson
Ivy and I run IcelandX together. She builds every client itinerary.
Guide, southern Africa
Alex
British-born guide and wildlife photographer, fifteen years guiding across southern Africa. Alex travels with us in Botswana.
Iceland private. Africa small-group.
In Iceland, every trip is fully custom and private. In Africa, we run small-group scheduled departures. Next: the Botswana Zebra Migration, March 6–18, 2027.
Our mobile camp is run by a family business we've worked alongside for years.
Worth asking
Who runs the trip you're comparing?
Some well-known travel brands are owned by investment holding groups or public companies. That's worth knowing before you book.
Small operators like us work differently. IcelandX is owned and run by the people who guide it.
5-star reviews on Google, TripAdvisor and Trustpilot.
“One does not become a Viking by staying at home.”