General Information

Probably some of the most amazing landscapes on Earth, midnight sun in the summer, northern lights in the winter, sleeping and erupting volcanoes, glaciers, thermal rivers in the middle of nature, lakes and waterfalls of incredible beauty, Iceland has it all ! And furthermore, so many things that you can do, such as hiking in national parks, skiing, climbing on glaciers, snorkeling, whale watching and more !

The reasons of the many volcanic phenomena is that Iceland is located at the intersection of 2 tectonic plates (north American and Eurasian) that are shifring away from each other. Hence you can see something that is completely unique on Earth: a mid-ocean ridge on land !

Pictures above borrowed from Arctic Adventures

What to visit in Iceland

Basically, wherever you're heading to in Iceland, expect to go for an amazing experience. Few countries in the world offer such a variety of unbelievable landscapes and unusually rare phenomena on a single spot.

Nevertheless, there are some stunning places you really shouldn't miss, if you have the time and the opportunity to visit them:

• The great waterfalls

  There are waterfalls about everywhere around the island, however, some of them are really outstanding

  • Gullfoss - A huge and impressive waterfall, with almost a permanent rainbow over it in the southern part of the country, near Reykjavik
  • Dettifoss - A massive waterfall in the northern part of the country, near Akureyri
  • Gjain - This one is smaller, but it is not just a simple waterfall, it is a breath taking unique oasis of waterfalls in a desert of stone

• The national parks

  Actually almost a fifth of the country is a national park. However, one of them offers worldwide known landscapes appearing in several major sciance fiction movies and offering opportunities of worrld class trekkings

  • Fridland national park - With its famous 'Landmannalaugar', you need a good 4x4 car to reach it but it is worth the investment !

• The glaciers

  A part of Iceland is permanently covered by ice. In spring and summer enourmous pieces of ice detach themselves from the glaciers, falling into the sea as floating icebergs. These icebergs are then pushed back by waves onto the black lava shore, sparkling like diamonds

  • Jökulsárlón - A glacier ending up in an interior lake of sea waters and covering a bléack lava shore with huge sparkling ice cubes

How to visit Iceland

• Public Transportation

  Of course, you can choose public transportation, there are many busses, that will bring you almost everywhere.

  In Reykjavik, public transportain is really a fairly good option, as busses are relatively affordable and will spare you the burden of searching parking places. Be careful, thoug, if your accomodation is not right in the center, to make sure you know when to catch the last bus in the evening !

  Outside of Reykjavik, many operators provide single or multiple days tours around the island. However, they are really very expensive and will drive you through stop watched organized visits.

• Private transportation

  If you really want to enjoy the island, have fun under the midnight sun or stay awake late in the night to capture Northern Lights, then you might want to enjoy your own time schedule and destinations.

  Iceland has a very fair road network. However, national parks and some regions in the far East are still widely using unpaved roads, som made of mud, others out of stones and some of them crossing rivers