Three hours from Heathrow and you’re in a country that still feels half finished. Steam drifts out of the ground, glaciers run down to black beaches, and in winter the sky does things you’ll struggle to describe to anyone back home.
We’ve taken groups there, and we’ve watched what it does to people. For an incentive trip, that matters. You want your best people to come home with a story, and Iceland hands them one almost every day. A long weekend is plenty. Fly out on Thursday evening and by Sunday night they’ll have walked inside a glacier, swum in water that fell as snow decades ago, and sat in a steaming lagoon with a drink in hand.
It’s an easy country to work in, too. Everyone speaks English, things run smoothly and the distances are short enough that you aren’t spending half the trip on a coach. The one thing you can’t control is the weather, which we’ll come to.
When to go
Honestly, it depends what you want people to remember.
Winter, from November to March, is when most British groups go, and it’s easy to see why. Around Christmas you only get four or five hours of proper daylight, but that long darkness is what gives you a shot at the Northern Lights. The ice caves open, everything is under snow, and sitting in a hot lagoon while it’s minus five outside is something nobody forgets in a hurry.
Having run trips in different seasons, September, October, April and May are our favourites for groups. There’s still a decent chance of the aurora, enough light for a full day out, and the best hotels are far easier to get hold of.
Summer feels like a different country. It barely gets dark, the valleys turn green, there are puffins on the cliffs and the Highland roads open up. You can fit a glacier walk, a whale trip and a late dinner into one day without anyone feeling rushed. It’s peak season, though, so book early.
Whenever you go, pack for four seasons. The weather can turn several times before lunch, and every day of the programme needs a plan B sitting quietly behind it.
Getting there from the UK
This is the easy bit. Nearly every international flight lands at Keflavík, about 45 minutes by coach from the centre of Reykjavík, and from London you’re in the air for roughly three hours.
Icelandair, the national airline, flies from Heathrow twice a day and also from Manchester and Glasgow. Its Saga Premium cabin is worth a look if you have senior people travelling. British Airways flies daily from Heathrow as well, which suits anyone collecting Avios or connecting from elsewhere.
On the budget side, easyJet flies from Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast, and adds a new twice weekly route from Newcastle on 27 October. Jet2 runs a winter programme from all twelve of its UK bases, which helps when your guests are scattered around the country. One thing to watch: PLAY, the Icelandic budget airline, has stopped flying, so any older advice that mentions it is out of date.
If you’re heading north, easyJet’s direct flights from Gatwick and Manchester to Akureyri save you a domestic connection. Otherwise it’s a short Icelandair hop from Reykjavík’s city airport.
For bigger groups it’s worth pricing a charter. Flying from a regional airport near your office spares everyone a 4am drive to London, and the trip feels like yours from the moment you board.
On paperwork, British passport holders can stay for up to 90 days without a visa. Iceland is in the Schengen area, so the EU’s new Entry/Exit System takes fingerprints and a photo on your first arrival, which can slow passport control a little. The next change is ETIAS, an online travel permit expected to start in the last few months of 2026. Once it’s live every guest will need one before they fly, so add it to your delegate checklist and check the official EU site for the start date and fee.
Where to stay
From experience, we usually suggest splitting the trip. Two nights in Reykjavík for the restaurants, the bars and the easy logistics, then a night or two out in the country where it’s just you and the landscape.
Reykjavík and the Blue Lagoon
The Reykjavik EDITION is the smartest address in town. It sits on the Old Harbour right next to Harpa, and the rooftop bar is the place for welcome drinks. If the lights come out, you’ll see them over the water.
The Retreat at the Blue Lagoon is the one people dream about. Around 60 suites built into a lava field, a private stretch of the lagoon, an underground spa and Michelin recognised cooking at Moss. It’s ideal for a small group of top achievers. Silica Hotel, its quieter neighbour, has its own lagoon at a gentler price.
If you prefer character to polish, Hotel Borg is a 1930s art deco landmark on the main square, and the Reykjavik Konsulat, a Curio Collection hotel in an old department store, is another good central choice. For a conference session or gala dinner, Harpa is hard to beat.
Out in the country
Hotel Rangá in the south is a timber lodge with its own observatory. Staff will knock on your door if the aurora appears, and it’s well placed for the waterfalls and glaciers along the south coast.
ION Adventure Hotel sits on the side of Mount Hengill near Þingvellir. It’s a striking building with a spa cut into the hillside, and it puts you close to the Golden Circle and Silfra.
Up north, Eleven Deplar Farm is a 13 room lodge on the Troll Peninsula that you can take over completely. Buyouts are based on 26 guests, with room for up to 32. Heli skiing in spring, snowmobiles and whales in winter, and a spa you won’t want to leave.
Highland Base at Kerlingarfjöll, run by the Blue Lagoon team, is about as remote as comfort gets in Iceland, with 46 rooms, two suites and six lodges deep in the mountains. If you’re flying straight into Akureyri, the new Skáld Hotel, a 70 room Curio Collection by Hilton, opened this year. And near Jökulsárlón, Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon is the natural base for ice caves, glacier walks and Diamond Beach.
A word on size. Many of the best country hotels are small, so a group of 60 might need to take a whole property or split across two. Talk to them early.
What to do
The best Iceland programmes mix it up. Something to get the heart going in the morning, a long soak in the afternoon, and dinner with half an eye on the sky.
Ice caves and glaciers
Walking inside a glacier is the bit everyone talks about on the flight home. The Katla ice cave, under the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap, is reached by super jeep from Vík and is open all year. The ice is blue, streaked with black ash from old eruptions. In winter, the Crystal ice cave in Vatnajökull has the deepest blue you’ll ever see.
If your group likes speed, take them snowmobiling on Langjökull, Iceland’s second biggest glacier, and stop at the ice tunnel carved deep inside it. For something slower, a guided walk on Sólheimajökull or at Skaftafell, with crampons and ice axes, feels like a proper achievement without needing anyone to be especially fit.
Volcanoes
The Reykjanes Peninsula has erupted again and again since 2021, and the Icelandic Met Office says magma is still building under Svartsengi. When an eruption is safe to visit, a guided walk or a helicopter flight over the lava is extraordinary. If nothing is happening, the Lava Show in Reykjavík melts real rock and pours it a few metres in front of you, which is the next best thing.
Hot water and very cold water
At Silfra, in Þingvellir National Park, you snorkel in the gap between the North American and Eurasian plates. The water is 2 to 4°C all year and so clear you can see more than 100 metres. Drysuits keep you warm enough, and nobody has ever turned down the hot chocolate afterwards.
Then thaw out. The Blue Lagoon is the famous one, but there are plenty of others now. Sky Lagoon, 15 minutes from the city, has an infinity edge onto the sea and a seven step bathing ritual. Hvammsvík is on a quiet fjord 45 minutes north, and Laugarás Lagoon on the Golden Circle is one of the newest. Several can be booked privately for an evening.
Whale watching runs from Reykjavík’s Old Harbour, but if you’re up north, Húsavík is the place for humpbacks.
Out on the land
The Golden Circle (Þingvellir, the Strokkur geyser and Gullfoss) gets busy, but doing it by super jeep with a detour off road changes the day completely. Along the south coast you can walk behind Seljalandsfoss, stand in the spray of Skógafoss, watch the waves at Reynisfjara and see icebergs drifting out of Jökulsárlón.
Icelandic horses deserve a mention. They’re small and tough, with an extra gait called the tölt that’s so smooth you could almost hold a drink on it. Beginners love them and experienced riders find them fascinating.
For a real treat, a private helicopter over the glaciers and craters takes some beating.
The Northern Lights
From September to April the aurora is the main event. We’d skip the big coach tours and go out by super jeep with a guide who chases the clear patches, or stay somewhere properly dark like Hotel Rangá. Nobody can promise them, which is exactly why the night they show up feels so special.
Food, fun and team challenges
Lunch inside the greenhouses at Friðheimar tomato farm is a lovely surprise. Reykjavík has some seriously good cooking, and lamb, Arctic char and langoustine are the things to order. For a last night, a Viking feast with long tables, mead and a few silly trials of strength always goes down well.
We can also build a team challenge around the place itself: a navigation race by super jeep, a glacier survival task, a photo hunt around Reykjavík or a Viking games tournament. It gets people talking to colleagues they’d never normally sit next to.
A long weekend, for example
Every trip is built around the group, but here’s roughly how four winter days might look.
Thursday. Evening flight from Heathrow, met at Keflavík and straight to the EDITION. A late supper and a nightcap on the roof, keeping an eye on the sky.
Friday. Snorkel at Silfra first thing, then lunch among the tomatoes at Friðheimar, followed by Strokkur and Gullfoss. The brave go snowmobiling on Langjökull while everyone else has a private lagoon session. After dinner, out by super jeep to hunt for the lights.
Saturday. South coast day. Behind Seljalandsfoss, into the Katla ice cave, then the black sand at Reynisfjara before checking in at Hotel Rangá for dinner and, with luck, a knock on the door at midnight.
Sunday. One last soak, a long lunch and an afternoon flight home, back in time for a proper night’s sleep before Monday.
Before you book
A few honest things worth knowing.
Iceland is expensive, especially for food and drink, so agree an inclusive budget at the start rather than leaving people to pay at the bar. Cards work everywhere and the currency is the króna.
Tell everyone to bring layers, waterproofs and decent boots, whatever the season. The specialist kit (drysuits, crampons, snowmobile suits) comes from the operators.
The weather will change your plans at some point. Roads close, flights wobble and glacier trips get called off, so every day needs a second option ready to go.
As for volcanoes, the Reykjanes eruptions have been lava flows rather than ash clouds, and Keflavík has kept running throughout. The Blue Lagoon has closed several times as a precaution, though, so we always keep another lagoon in reserve.
And book early. Six to twelve months ahead is ideal for groups, particularly for aurora season and summer.
Talk to us about Iceland
We’ve been putting together corporate events and incentive trips since 2001, Iceland included, and we look after all of it: flights, transfers, hotels, guides, private dinners and the small touches that make people feel properly rewarded. You deal with one person, and the programme is built around your team and what you want the trip to achieve.
If Iceland is on your list, we’d love to hear from you.
Email: events@seriouslycoolevents.com
Telephone: +44 (0) 1980 630030
WhatsApp: +44 (0) 7989 380058