Well, summer is coming to an end, the migratory birds are heading south, and the Icelandic/Norwegian branches of the forum are filling up with fresh reports without delay. I’ll make my modest contribution to the common voice of the fans of northern nature.
The trip to Iceland took place in the first two weeks of August, and the route went clockwise and thus ended up looking as follows:
Keflavik (1 night) – Hraunfossar Akureyri (1 night) – Godafoss – Dettifoss – Myvatn (1 night) – Hofn (1 night) – Ice lagoon-Vik Thakgil (1 night) – Thorsmork – Selyalandsfoss – Skogafoss (1 night) – Landmannalaugur – Laugarvatn (1 night) – Haifoss – Gjain – Fludir (1 night) – Langisjor Lake – Hraunejar (1 night) – Snaefellsness Peninsula (1 night) – Western Fjords, Latrabjarg – Dynjandi (2 nights) – Gullfoss – Rekjavik (2 nights).
Huge thanks to Evitta, Rapuncel and Ruslendingurf for the amazing stories, photographs, and advice, which helped us plan and implement this trip as well as we possibly could.
Iceland left many impressions on me, which I’ll try to share with tourists who have already been there and those who are only just planning their trip to this amazing country.
On literally the first day it was already obvious that there are just so many tourists in this country. No, seriously. SO MANY tourists.
With its population of 325,000 people, Iceland is planning to take in 2.5 million tourists in 2015. Popular places quickly become overrun with crowds of people, just like Golden Week in Japan (photo below). Also see: Japan at the beginning of May.
It’s interesting to compare Iceland with other northern regions with similar climates and comparable numbers of unique natural beauty spots by sq. m.
So, when going round the island on highway No 1 you may experience a certain feeling of déjà-vu: these magnificent glaciers are like Alaska, this hairpin bend could have been taken from Norway, and that part of the road really reminds you of Patagonia.
But it’s worth delving a little bit deeper into the country, where real Icelandic Iceland starts with its unique landscapes, completely unlike any other part of the world.
It’s interesting, that while we liked the must-see places of absolute perfection which we heard about in guidebooks and reviews, they weren’t our favourites. Maybe this is just a typical example of overly high expectations. But there were a few ‘non-compulsory’ places which we just passed through on the way to other places, simply because we were heading that way, which were really impressive.
The first waterfall that we saw in Iceland was Hraunfossar, which we gave our full and undivided attention.
On the road to Akureyri.
The next day, on the way to Myvatn lake, we stopped off at Godafoss waterfall.
But the most impressive one was, of course, Dettifoss.
Before the trip I tried to get the experts to confess as to which side is best if you want to get a good view of it – the west side or the east side. The answers were completely identical – from both!
On the way to Selfoss waterfall, which isn’t far away.
Around Myvatn lake you could drive or walk more intensively than we did. We only managed to visit Hverir, Jardbodin thermal lagoon (we were horrified by the number of people in it) and as the weather began to turn sour we decided to go a bit further towards Hofn.
We were accompanied by rain the entire way through the Eastern fjords. This was the only completely rainy day for the whole 2 weeks, so we can’t really complain.
Having stayed the night in a guesthouse near Hofn, we went to the Ice Lagoon in the morning. I wasn’t really that excited for this place, because we’d seen similar lagoons before, for example, the year before last in Spitzbergen (photo below).
Cruise to Spitzbergen: bears and whales, again. August 2013.
But actually it exceeded all expectations.
A lot of ice had accumulated in the lagoon and while we walked along the shore the current changed and a mass exodus of ice began leaving the lagoon.
Large chunks of ice drifted at cruising speed from the bridge towards the sea and after half an hour the shore looked like this.
Chrystal goose and fish.
Heading down south after the lagoon we popped into Fjadrargljufur canyon, which proudly holds the title of the most beautiful canyon in Iceland.
That day we planned on stopping for the night in a campsidte in Thakgil, not far from Vik. This place is also called ‘troll valley’, and the bizarre rock formations along Road 214 towards the campsite provide superfluous explanation as to why this is.
In the campsite we reserved a cabin with a kitchen and all comforts, but people stay in tents there, too. You can wander around the campsite, which we did with pleasure after dinner.
The next day we had a trip to Thorsmork waiting for us. On advice from Ruslendingur, we went down the gravelled Road 249 to the intersection with the river Krossna, over which our Suzuki Grand Vitara couldn’t have crossed unless it swam, parked the car in the car park and made the last 10 minutes of the journey to Volcano Huts camping using the Reykjavik Excursions bus. (You have to buy tickets in advance on the company website).
The bus back set off four hours later and we spent this time walking around the area and going up Valahnukur mountain, where you can find stunning views of the three valleys of Thorsmork.
In the distance the colourful Landmannalaugar rhyolite mountains can be seen.
Part of the compulsory programme for the south – Vik, Skogafoss, Selyalandsfoss.
The next day we decided to head up Road 208 (from the east to the north) towards Landmannalaugaur.
Dear reader, if you are ever lucky enough to end up in these places on a nice day, once again in a car (4×4), don’t overthink anything and don’t hesitate, just follow our footsteps (and the footsteps of thousands of other travellers, naturally).
This road is one of the ones that left the longest lasting impressions on us while we were in Iceland.
When we got to Landmannalaugar the sun was hiding behind the clouds, but this didn’t spoil the walk along the circular route to Brenninsteinsalda.
Famous colourful mountains.
During the planning stage of the trip we decided to make the most of the advice of the gurus on the Icelandic branch of the forum to ‘travel according to the weather’. We booked the majority of our hotels and guesthouses with the option of free cancellation and adapted our plans according to the next-day weather forecasts on the site en.vedur.is
Because the forecast promised that the next day in the Highlands was going to be variably cloudy without rain, we decided to try to get to Langisjor lake.
This time we went along road F 225, then along the F 208 and up to the lake on the F 235, then back along the 208 to the Hraunejar Highland Centre.
Picnic on the shore of the lake.
The day was packed and exhausting, so the next day we took a ‘relaxation day’ with some small trips.
For the first half of the day we saw the second highest waterfall in Iceland, Haifoss.
Then we stopped into the town of Gjain, which was listed as one of 10 ‘secret places’ on the island.
This ravine makes me think of Sannikov Land. We went about 4 km from the exit off Road 32 along a black dirt road and stopped the car at the gap in the gorge. Looking below, we saw a green oasis with blue streams, waterfalls and lush, colourful fauna.
We spent the evening in another ‘secret place’ – the Secret Lagoon in Fludir, a natural hot spring which has its own geyser. There was hardly anyone there at all in the evening.
Then our route took us to the Snaefellsness peninsula.
The famous black church of Budir.
Kirkjufellsfoss always attracts the attention of photographers due to how photogenic it is. We snapped these photos in the evening expecting to get the right light.
In the same place in the morning the view of the mountains was a bit better.
From the other side this mountain looks like the talking hat from ‘Harry Potter’.
There’s also a lot of beauty around the mountain.
We spent 2 whole days in the Western Fjords, so we decided not to go up to Isafjordur, but rather go down to the southern coast of this region.
Gjorgrabot bay
We stayed in a pleasant hotel called Breidavik Guesthouse, which was a half an hour drive from a cape with puffins.
View from the window of the guesthouse.
This is what Breidavik itself looked like.
Latrabjargs and puffins, where would we be without them!
This one’s doing some Irish folk dancing.
These ones have gone for a walk along the evening promenade.
Just posing.
Evening closes in on the most western point in Europe.
Other birds also popped up in front of the lens.
Well, since we’re already having so much fun I might as well show you some horses while we’re at it.
Classics of the genre: blonde, brunette, and chestnut
Dynjandi Waterfall
For the second half of the day the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse and on the way back we tried to make our way round the hairpin bends along the southern shore of the Western Fjords with heavy rain and squally winds. We decided to stop in the village of Djupidalur and wait out the bad weather in a small private pool with hot springs (entrance 300 krona, cash), which are fed from a nearby source. We hung out for about an hour there in complete solitude, so much so that you could consider this to be another ‘secret lagoon’, although the sign to the baths is right on the road.
The water from this spring is sent down pipes to the baths, mixing with the cold water from the river.
On the Reykjavik side we went along a long road, driving past small farms, closed churches, and shallow bays with algae and rocks.
The Gullfoss waterfall had been left out thus far in the trip, so we decided to pay it a visit.
On the last day we went on an excursion from Reykjavik ‘Inside the Volcano’.
This decent into the magma chamber of the Thrihnukagigur volcano, the only known volcano with a hollow chamber.
They pick tourists up from the hotel with buses, take them to the volcano, where, after a trip to the lava field, they descend into the volcano on special platform lifts.
It looked like this inside.
Next to the guides’ hut lives this baby fox, which gets fed by the cook.
This two-week trip has come to an end.
Smile, we’re on camera!
