Iceland’s unique combination of lava rocks, vegetation, liquid, steaming and frozen water, geographic position and climate make for a champagne tourist experience like nowhere else on earth. There are dozens of reasons to visit Iceland but here are 7 that are convincing enough.
1. Steaming, liquid and frozen water
Where else but in Iceland will you get these three in abundant measure? Visit Blue Lagoon and wallow in its thermal hot springs or go to Landmannalaugar. You can visit sites that spout steaming geysers of water. You can then go to Vatnajokull glacier for a trek to explore the ice caves and then to Jokulsarlon where you can go boating among giant icebergs from the Breidamerkorjokull glacier. Iceland has its fair share of glaciers and a visit to Gullfoss and Seljandsfoss is obligatory.
2. Land of the midnight sun and Northern Lights
Arrive in Iceland in summer and you can enjoy treks late till night as the sun hangs low over the horizon and never really sets. Summer is the time for late night revelry in Reykjavik. Winter, however, brings up a spectacular show of another kind and that is the Northern Lights. People have been known to travel just outside Reykjavin in some of the best Iceland tours with emphasis on Northern Lights and they stay out all night gaping at the grandest spectacle in the sky.
3. Where two continents meet
Visit Thingvellir National Park and enjoy its beautiful scenery. If you wish to see two tectonic plates then all you have to do is don a scuba diving outfit and dive into the Silfra Fissure. You can actually stretch out two arms and touch the two continental plates. Can you do that anywhere else on Earth?
4. Driving a 4×4 in the Golden Circle Tour
The best Iceland tours are best undertaken in a converted superjeep with a driver to take you to the routine spots on the Golden Circle with side trips to less well known places. The drive itself is a journey you will cherish as much as the night camping and foods you eat at various places. You get to visit Gulfoss, Thingvellir, watch Stokkur geysir send up steaming hot water up into the sky every 10 minutes and enjoy a breathtaking round trip around the country.
5. Lake Myvatn
Located in Northern Iceland, Lake Myvatn is just captivating and what makes it so intruguing is the presence of Krafla volcano just a few kilometres away. The landscape is something out of science fiction and you get to bathe in a number of hot water springs around Krafla.
6. Black beaches
Some countries proudly claim to have golden sands or silver sands but Iceland has unique black pebble and sand beaches. Djupalonssandur in the Snaefellsnes peninsula is a must visit place as is the even more spectacular Breidamerkursandur in south-east Iceland where black sand is dotted with white ice from which it takes the name diamond beach. Reynisfjara sits in front of black basalt cliffs and caves and is another black beach to visit.
7. Active volcanoes
The Krafla is not the only active volcano in Iceland. Just join volcano tours in Iceland and you will be able to view searingly hot magma at Prihnukagigur which is now dormant but has remnants that tell of a fiery past.
Get details at: https://www.discover.is/tours/
Martin Wynn
