From the moment I heard about this Inside the Volcano tour, I knew I wanted to do it. Get this: visitors go inside the magma chamber of an extinct volcano. NUTS, RIGHT?! If you need a refresher on exactly what part is the magma chamber, it’s the giant pool of hot lava that sits under the volcano waiting for an eruption:

(image via)

But once a volcano is extinct, the former magma chamber lies empty. And over time it actually becomes safe to enter and explore. This is where Inside the Volcano tour comes in — they’ve set up a way to get down via an open elevator system through the crater’s opening. Check out these official photos from their website:

The tour is on the pricey side (around $300 USD per person) and no matter how I crunch the numbers I don’t have the budget to make this happen. Luckily when I contact the company, they very kindly agree to host me in exchange for photography / blogging about my experience IF they have space available to add me at the last minute. And guess what? When I email them upon arrival at Keflavik Airport, they have a spot left for a tour later that day! I am so pumped to experience this.

They pick up the guests up from various hotels and hostels in Reykjavik and transport us to the lava field. It’s not far — maybe 45 minutes or so by car. The drive out there is quite pretty, especially since I have just arrived in Iceland eight hours earlier and ALL of this blows my mind.

Our entire tour meets at this structure (some guests choose to self-drive) and our guides introduce themselves.

These are our two guides, Steiney and Karl.

I have to take a moment to tell you about Steiney — she is awesome and we click right away. I tell her I love theater and she tells me about her recent visit to NYC where she saw Book of Mormon and Kinky Boots. She brings up the Tony Awards and asks if I know anything about Fun Home… to which I gleefully reveal that I worked on the Tony Awards! What a small world. During my time in Reykjavik, the musical Billy Elliot is playing with an all-Icelandic cast; Steiney said she wishes she could see musicals every night (ME TOO, sister!). She has also been to the Del Close marathon at UCB in NYC and she performs on a news improv comedy show for Iceland TV. So cool.

Next we get into our wardrobe for the afternoon: these long rain coats that also provide a bit of relief against the wind.

Let’s do this!

First we walk about 45 minutes across a lava field. The views are stellar.

My first (of many) Icelandic rainbows:

At many points across this path the ground opens up to reveal an extinct lava tube just below the surface.

Karl explains this was once a natural conduit for flowing lava that has since cooled into a long, cave-like channel. Watch your step.

This is the volcano we will enter, right in front of us:

But first let’s go to base camp — a large hut where we gather for instructions and keep warm while we take turns entering the volcano in small groups.

The site manager gives us details about what to expect:

COFFEE… this makes my jet-lagged brain so happy.

They divide our group into three and assign us an order for the tour, because they can only fit about 4 guests at any one time on the open air elevator that descends into the volcano. So we will overlap on the floor of the magma chamber even though we go down separately. In total, we will each get about 35-40 minutes inside the volcano.

While waiting for the first group to descend, we are told about a short path around the hut — there is a partially intact lava bubble that remarkably has kept its shape. Our guide explains that it’s like the earth farted and the bubble hardened just as it breached the surface.

There is also a shelter that was built many decades ago up here — our guides have no idea who originally built it under this pile of rocks. I pop my head inside and it’s very cramped.

Okay, our turn is almost here — we follow the short path leading to the top of the volcano.

Almost there…

And here we are! The very top of a formerly active volcano. An open air elevator awaits to carry us into the magma chamber.

Down we go…

It’s really narrow in some places as our elevator operator maneuvers down the conduit. The elevator has rubber wheels on the sides to keep the ride from getting too bumpy.

Can you make out the conduit where lava once actively flowed out of this volcano? It’s very clear in this next photo. Until now I’ve only seen this depicted in a text book graphic in middle school science class. How nuts that people can see this in person!

At one point our elevator operator tells us to look down… if we dare.

We are approaching the magma chamber:

And just like that, we are on the floor of the magma chamber. The elevator drops us off and then returns back to the surface for the next part of our group.

I’m immediately struck by how colorful the walls are.

I drill our guide: are you sure this is all natural? What sort of lights are used to illuminate the walls — and do they have any gels to enhance the colors? I work in Hollywood; you can’t trick me.

But he swears there is no trickery; they only have white light and do not make any attempt to dress up the colors. I believe him.

Check out the array of hues on display:

I snap photos as the open air elevator returns with new guests.

The newest visitors take in all these colors:

I keep walking around in search of new angles. There isn’t too far to walk here, and it’s important to be careful as there is not much of a clear path — we are climbing over medium-sized rocks.

My favorite wide angle image from inside the magma chamber:

Before we know it, we need to ride back up to the surface. But I will leave you with a video of our time inside the volcano:

Stunning, right? What a cool adventure. It’s on the short list of really cool activities I’ve done like shark cage diving and sky diving.

Back at the top:

I spy a pup!

Our very kind site host shares soup upon our return. We warm up before starting the 45 minute trek back to where we started.

It’s nearly 8pm as we hike back — but you’d never know it by the brightness of the sky:

We have time to stop at a lava tube on our way back. I’ve been in one before in Ecuador but these are much prettier because they are covered in bright green moss.

Almost back at our starting point…

We bid adieu to our guides and the van driver takes us back to our respective hotels / hostels in Reykjavik.

The sun begins to set around 9:30pm (this is late August) and the sky is spectacular for our drive back.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour recap and that my enthusiasm for this experience shines through. It’s one of the more unique travel experiences I’ve had in the last three years and I’m delighted to have taken part in this activity.

Many thanks to Inside the Volcano for hosting my tour. Opinions are my own.