Iceland is an amazing country where people without surnames live, speak a 12th century language and believe in elves. Horses covered with hair gallop across black lava fields, mountains shine with all the colors of the rainbow, and geysers gush from the ground. It’s impossible not to love Iceland, because here you can:
Photo: unsplash.com/@schoelderle
1. Ride an Icelandic horse across the volcanic plain
Iceland has many volcanic plains with craters of cooled volcanoes and black lava sand. Stocky horses the size of ponies often graze on the plains, which grow thick hair every winter and are not afraid of the cold. Icelandic horses are calm and friendly, walking quickly on ice and sharp rocks, so a horseback excursion is the most enjoyable way to visit the volcanic plain.
2. See a giant glacier and visit an ice cave
The best place to admire glaciers is in the Thorsmerk Valley, which is surrounded by mountains with three glaciers. In the valley there are groves of low birches, rivers flow, and several huge glacier tongues slide down from the mountains, which you can drive up to by car. And the most beautiful ice caves can be visited in Skaftafell National Park,
Svinafellsjokull glacier. The ice caves of this glacier, with a rare, bright blue hue of ice, are open to visitors all year round.
3. Walk through the valley of geysers
There are more than two hundred geysers in the Haukadalur Geyser Valley. The largest and most famous are Strokkur and the Old Geyser, which erupt several times an hour. Strokkur spews a fountain of hot water to a height of ten to fifty meters. You can move freely along the valley of geysers and watch the eruptions.
Photo: unsplash.com/@r3dmax
4. Admire the northern lights over the waterfall
The northern part of Iceland is located almost beyond the Arctic Circle and in winter there are often northern lights. It is impossible to know exactly when the northern lights will appear; most often they appear on clear, cold, windless nights. But it is known that Icelanders consider the most beautiful northern lights to be above the Selfoss, Dettifoss and Godafoss waterfalls.
Photo: Jeff Sheldon
5. Swim in the Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon is a huge geothermal pool on the Reykjanes Peninsula in the southwest of the country, an hour’s drive from Reykjavik. The lava rock that makes up the peninsula is so porous that it allows seawater to pass through, which forms underground cavities at varying depths that are heated by the lava. In 1976, a geothermal power plant was built on the peninsula, next to which a blue lake with healing water soon formed. The light blue lagoon is surrounded by black lava rocks, and the water has a temperature of about 40 degrees all year round and has healing properties thanks to minerals, sulfur and algae.
Photo: Jon Flobrant
6. Visit the Landmannalaugar mountains, similar to Martian landscapes
The Landmannalaugar Mountains are composed of the volcanic rock rhyolite, which contains inclusions of many minerals that form shades of all the colors of the rainbow. At the foot of the mountains lie black lava fields, white steam comes out of the ground and hot springs gush out, bathing in them is free. There are many hiking routes through the mountains, and there are campsites with parking lots and shops near the thermal springs. If you go by car, choose highways F225, F208 and F26: they have the best views of the colored mountains.
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Preview photo: unsplash.com/@mahkeo
