The National Museum of Iceland features reconstructed settings and original presentations (such as a conveyor belt with a parade of 20C objects) recounting the country’s history as well as its everyday life since its settlement circa 800. A dense and..

The Blue Lagoon, created by run-off from a nearby thermal plant, is on Reykjanes Peninsula, a lava field with open-air volcanic and geothermal activity. The lagoon offers swimmers its warm and salutary opaline waters. Guaranteed relaxation in a lunar..

Thingvellir forms a cirque lined by cliffs and is located on the rift between the Eurasian and North American continental plates north of Iceland’s largest lake. The first parliament, the Althing, was held here in 930. You can see remains of 18C shel..

Fed by the Langjökull Glacier dominating the site, the Hvitá River dives 32m here, then is swept through a narrow gorge. The roar of the water and foam that looks iridescent in the sunlight make Gullfoss, “the golden falls”, a strikingly beautiful si..

The Thórsmörk Valley is hard to get to (by 4WD or on an excursion from Reykjavík ), but the rewards are spectacular: a stunning Arctic landscape watched over by three glaciers and protected by several dangerous fords. There’s a famous trek up to La..

Skaftafell National Park has some fine volcanic discoveries in store for you, including the chain of craters at Lakagígar , the basalt columns at Svartifoss waterfall and the active Grimsvötn volcano, covered by the carefully monitored Vatnajökull g..

This largest glacial lake in Iceland, created in 1950, is inhabited by herring, salmon, seals and numerous aquatic birds. Don’t miss this herald of Vatnajökull, especially if you enjoy seeing eiders swimming between the icebergs, icy sculptures with ..

This is the largest nature park in Europe. Nothing less would have been worthy of Vatnajökull , Europe’s largest glacier, whose 8,000 km 2 cover almost 12% of the country’s area. The park contains two other breathtakingly beautiful national parks: ..

Northwest of Breiðafjörður, on the edges of Europe, the gigantic Látrabjarg cliffs (440m high by 14km long) are a favourite spot for bird-watchers. They are home to millions of birds, including the largest razorbill (Alca torda) colony on the planet.

A concert hall and conference centre, this huge complex, that also houses restaurants, bars and a record shop, is the jewel in Iceland's architectural crown. Inaugurated in May 2011, Harpa was designed by the Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects and..

Specked with strips of obsidian, the mountains of astonishingly coloured rhyolite in Landmannalaugar unfold as far as the eye can see - from pink Brennisteinsalda to orange and green Suðurnámur. Don’t miss this heroic valley, one of Iceland’s most ma..

Located between the harbour and Lake Tjörnin , the old town is a small neighbourhood developed in the 18C around wool-producing workshops. Brightly painted houses in wood and corrugated iron adjoin recent buildings including the Town Hall. In the ce..

Geysir, which has lent its name to geysers all over the world, once spewed a stream of water and steam 60m into the air, created by contact with magma inside a rift. It has calmed down since the mid-20C, giving up top billing to its neighbour Strokk..

Although overshadowed by Snæfellsjökull in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth , Hekla remains one of Iceland’s most formidable volcanos with twenty unpredictable and devastating eruptions to its name. Thus its reputation as the Gateway..

Skogar Folk Museum, one of the finest in the country, is composed of old buildings brought here from all over southern Iceland. This is a real village with a school, a church and a power plant. There’s not a doily or doorknob missing in the houses. A..

The volcanic activity in the Vestmann Islands has made this a constantly changing archipelago. Surtsey Island (a UNESCO World Heritage Site reserved for scientists) sprung out of the sea in 1963, and delightful Heimaey gained a few metres thanks to t..

Imposing Mount Dyrfjöll is believed to be the home of the queen of the elves. Whatever the case may be, the tallest mountain on Borgarfjörður Bay remains shrouded in mystery. Only confirmed mountain-climbers can tackle its steep, jagged summit.

Lónsöræfi is one of Iceland’s largest nature reserves. Coloured rhyolite and deep gorges liven up this superb, sparse mineral world surrounded by high mountain chains. Stafafell Farm youth hostel is a good point of departure.

Lakagígar’s gigantic eruption in 1783 ruined Iceland and created climatic havoc in Europe, affecting harvests and some say partly triggering the French Revolution. An explosively beautiful site with a series of 130 fascinating craters.

Lake Mývatn is a bird sanctuary at the crossroads of great migratory routes. Its surroundings boast unique landscapes, thrillingly disrupted by its volcanic activity: Hverfjall crater, bubbling mud in Námafjáll and petrified lava at Dimmuborgir.