It’s dotted with over 100 volcanoes, yet is home to Europe’s largest glacier. It’s perched on the edge of the Arctic Circle. Yet as warmed by the Gulf Stream. Iceland truly is the land of fire and ice. It’s also the land of story. The marks of human hands are few and far between on this windswept land. Footprints are quickly reclaimed, but stories linger forever. Such is the sheer force and beauty of this place that Viking warriors have been transformed into poets and family stories, into epic sagas.
When Norseman engulfed Arnason first caught sight of these shores over 1100 years ago, he cast the wooden pillars of his chieftains thrown overboard and vowed to build his farm wherever they washed up. Three years later, the pillars were found and a settlement was born. That settlement became Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, a city two thirds of Icelanders now call home. With a population of only 300,000, Iceland can feel like the most isolated place on earth.
Yet Reykjavik is only a three hour flight from London and just under six from New York. Reykjavik is one of those places that’s not sure if it’s a big town or a small city, and therein lays its charm. Its relaxed and welcoming, yet possesses a fierce creativity and cultural life that holds its own against other European capitals. Most buildings here are a response to the natural environment. Simple and low to beat the North Atlantic winds. Colorful to brighten the spirits through the long, dark winters. Yet. There’s grand civic architecture here, too. Buildings truly inspired by Iceland’s natural beauty. Like a spire from a fairy tale ice castle, the soaring central tower of holograms watches over all of Reykjavik. Designed to mirror the geometric shapes of ancient lava flows. Few other churches in the world so honor the natural world. Iceland’s conference and concert center is designed to reflect the city’s Sky harbor and cultural energy once again.
The island’s dramatic geologic formations are honored here, as well as the incredible winter spectacle of the Northern Lights. Icelanders value their heritage buildings to. When Reykjavik modernized in the mid 20th century, dozens of the city’s older buildings were relocated to the last of the city’s farms. Today, our buyers often serves as a museum, which allows visitors to walk through the pages of earlier times. While at the National Museum of Iceland take a voyage through Icelandic history from the present day back to the settlement age.
Wherever you step in this city, nature beckons you over windswept. Walters Across the mountains and into limitless horizons. Many of the country’s most popular sites are within easy reach of it, often by public transport. Immerse yourself in the spirits of Iceland at the Blue Lagoon. Here and the hundreds of volcanic baths across the island. Locals come to soak in the healing thermal vaulters, share gossip with neighbours, and even conduct business meetings. Not far from Reykjavik, is an area known as the Golden Circle, which encompasses three of Iceland’s greatest natural wonders. Just 30 miles from the capital is Thing Valley National Park, considered the country’s heart and soul. Here, you can actually walk between the tectonic plates of North America and Europe that have been drifting apart for millennia. Stand upon the shore of the country’s largest lake wander the grass covered lava flows, and imagine the clans who gathered here for Iceland’s open air parliament for two weeks each year for over 800 years.
Also in the Golden Circle experience, a boiling cauldron of hissing steam vents and belching mud pools at the gay of geothermal field. The great glacier itself has been quiet in recent years, but nearby its little brother still puts on a show thrusting water into the heavens every 10 minutes. If there’s one natural wonder in the golden circle that outshines them all, it’s Goofus. Early last century, the waterfall was threatened by a hydroelectric project until a local farmer’s daughter walked barefoot to Reykjavik and threatened to throw herself from the falls unless the project was stopped. Today, that woman is regarded as Iceland’s first environmentalist, and the Golden Falls have been protected forever. For many visitors, their Icelandic story continues no further than the Reykjavik and the Golden Circle. Which is a shame because the further you roam, the greater the adventure.
Iceland’s main ring road circles the entire island, stringing together an endless series of epic landscapes and tales. An hour and a half’s drive east from Reykjavik is one of the world’s most beautiful waterfalls. Sally, Ireland’s first. Follow the trail behind a 200 foot veil of pure glacial water, where throughout the ages adventurers have come to pause and breathe in the mists of this sacred place. Drive another 18 miles east to school, Davos, where, according to folklore, a Viking buried his chest of gold behind the Falls. Years later, a local boy found the chest and attempted to wrench it from its hiding place, only to tear off its handle before the chest vanished again. On sunny days, the falls create a double rainbow. A treasure in itself. Continue eastward towards the southernmost village in the country. Here, wedged between the mountains and the sea, lies some of Iceland’s most dramatic landscapes. Weather and legends. Explore the basalt sands of Black Beach, considered one of the most beautiful non tropical beaches in the world. Just offshore rise.
The basalt sea stacks of rain stronger. Locals say the formations are the remains of two trolls heading out to see who once caught by the rising sun or frozen in the morning light. The shorelines here are made up of otherworldly rock formations and caves like Hudson said, to be a monster’s lair until a landslide sealed the entrance only a century ago. Pike across the natural arts of Holly and sits surrounded by puffins. While below waves that have traveled uninterrupted all the way from Antarctica and their journey against Iceland’s most southerly point. Follow the ring road for another 2 hours into the ethereal light of Yuccas out along Lake.
Here at the tongue of Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest glacier, icebergs break away and float for years, melting down until they are small enough to tumble out to sea. A magnet for photographers and filmmakers. Yonkers all alone has been the setting for modern day legends like James Bond, Batman and Lara Croft. From the wild. Windswept shores of the East Coast to the volcanic wonders of the north, Iceland’s ring road offers one jewel after another, all strung together with mile upon mile of absolute solitude. Stand before the northern Horseshoe Falls of Sanford. Then just downstream.
Need your boots and Europe’s mightiest waterfall. That ethos whose plume can be seen over half a mile away. Nearby the Moroccan region awaits, whose centerpiece is a tranquil lake surrounded by nature and all its violent beauty. Take a careful walk through the boiling landscape of. Lose yourself amid the lava pillars and dark castles of Demian Beauregard, the place where Satan is said to have landed when God cast him from. Then peer into the caldera of the volcano and witness the incredible geothermal power that resides just beneath the ice. Just to the west of me is a waterfall forever linked to a turning point in Iceland’s epic narrative. When Civil War threatened to tear the island in two in the 10th century. Iceland’s loudspeaker. United the country on the. One faith Christianity in the symbolic act of conversion. The chieftain hurled his pagan totems off the falls, which have been known as Davos, the waterfall of the gods ever since. After a few days on the road, the tiny city of Akureyri appears like an Arctic oasis. Known as the capital of the north. al-Kuwaiti is the perfect place to warm up and enjoy some comfort and culture before heading off into the wilds again. There are some stories we never want to end that we never want to put down. But rest assured, this is only an introduction. In Iceland. Every side road, every path is a story waiting to unfold. From the vast interior to the west fjords, each untouched.
