Fascination Iceland – that means breathtaking landscapes, dreamy roads, fairytale waterfalls and so much more. In these 7 experiences, I want to try to put into words what makes this fascination so special for me.
Here we go…
Bathing – In the Snow Beneath the Stars
There are dozens, maybe hundreds of hot springs in Iceland, and each one is more beautiful than the next. The most famous of them all is the Blue Lagoon, which sits right next to the international airport in Keflavik and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Somewhat less known are its natural counterparts, like the Secret Lagoon and the Myvatn Nature Baths.
For me, though, it was a different kind of bathing that captured the fascination of Iceland: in the Valley of Smoke, as Reykjadalur can loosely be translated, you can see the full beauty of Iceland’s geothermal features. The hike takes you a little over an hour up into the mountains, past gorges, hot mud pots and a small river. Once you reach the top, you can take a look at the little waterfall where it all begins. Further down the river, hot springs feed boiling-hot water into the ice-cold flowing stream. Here and there, small dams have been built that collect just enough water to bathe in. Thanks to the constant flow, the water sometimes mixes through nicely – and sometimes you get a brief shock of heat or cold.
We visited the hot river in Reykjadalur in April; there was snow all around us, and on the way home we could see the stars in the sky. Next time I’m here, it will hopefully be with a campervan or a tent, so I can spend the evening in the water and marvel at the stars!
Hiking on Glacier Ice
Eternal ice – that’s what glacier ice is often called. In fact, glaciers are often many hundreds of years old, and due to global warming almost all of them are retreating. How much longer we will have glaciers on the scale of Vatnajökull (water glacier) is uncertain. So if you have the chance, don’t miss the opportunity to walk on this ice and see it up close.
Fascination Iceland also means experiencing what it looks like when our environment changes this rapidly: every year, about 100m of glacier are lost. The glacial lagoon has grown from 8 to over 18 square kilometers over the last 40 years and is more than 240m deep.
Night Walks in Daylight
Iceland lies far up north, which is why it’s cold there – and because it also sits right in the middle of the Atlantic, it rains a lot. But its location has one more unique consequence: in summer, the sun shines here for more than 20 hours a day. Even at midnight.
So fascination Iceland also means the midnight sun. The light and the colors during a walk under the midnight sun are a wonderful experience. Whether you’re strolling along the coast of Reykjavik or hiking through the highlands. Less rare than the northern lights, but not necessarily any less impressive.
In return, winter often brings only a few hours of sunlight, so the day starts late and is over just as quickly. Which makes it perfect for hunkering down at home!
Descending into Lava
Iceland consists largely of lava rock. Especially along the rift between the continental plates and at the edges of the country, this becomes visible again and again. Inland, moss has the rock firmly in its grip. Sometimes air bubbles form in lava flows, and here and there the rock cools down before the air can escape. Among other ways, this is how cavities form – and very occasionally even entire cave systems.
Some of them can be entered and explored, ideally with an experienced guide. You can find these caves all over the country, and all the major tour operators offer visits. So fascination Iceland doesn’t even end at the earth’s surface – it goes far deeper, into the ice caves of Iceland.
Aurora Borealis: The Northern Lights
The northern lights in Iceland are unique. They are probably among the most wished-for sights for travelers to Iceland, and not without reason. Seeing the northern lights once is, for many Europeans, what the wish to see snow once is for Africans. For Icelanders, it’s a phenomenon like a rainbow is for us, because when you grow up here, it’s naturally far less rare to see.
For us visitors, however, they remain a rarity, because all the factors have to line up for the fascination of Iceland to reveal itself through the northern lights: first of all, the lights have to be there in the first place, and if they are, the clouds have to stay away so the sky is clear. On top of that, light sources like street lamps, cars and even houses should be as far away as possible.
If all of that comes together, the Aurora Borealis is a natural spectacle that will stay with you forever.
Diving Between Two Continents
Iceland sits right on the fault line of two continental plates: beneath your feet, North America and Eurasia part ways while you’re here. The plates keep drifting, a few centimeters every year. Sometimes this makes itself felt, through earthquakes and also through smaller or larger volcanic eruptions. In Þingvellir National Park you can see the rift between the continents up close and walk between them.
For me, part of the fascination of Iceland is that you can also swim – or dive – between them. From the Langjökull glacier, kilometers away, the water flows for years through the lava field at its feet and resurfaces for the first time at Silfra. The water here is clearer than anywhere else in the world, and for divers this place is an absolute must-have in the logbook. Diving in Iceland is one of my absolute favorite things to do when I’m there – give it a try!
Following in Jon Snow’s Footsteps
The other side of the Wall? That’s Iceland. Large parts of the series Game of Thrones were filmed here, and it’s not just the country that appears in the show. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Iceland’s strongest man, plays the character of ‘The Mountain’ in the series.
Beyond Game of Thrones, there are many, many more movies that chose Iceland as their backdrop: in 2013, ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’ was filmed here, as was ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’. That same year, ‘Thor’ and ‘Prometheus’ were also shot here. The glacial lagoon of Jökulsárlón (Tour) in particular is a popular spot for filmmakers, and if you look closely, you might recognize it in one Hollywood movie or another.
Conclusion: Fascination Iceland
If I had to sum up in a single sentence what the fascination of Iceland means to me, it would probably be this: Iceland is so naturally diverse.
In such a small space you get so much, and so much of it is real and so little of it is artificial. That makes Iceland one of the last little corners of the earth you can say that about.
I hope it stays that way for a long time to come!
Have fun in Iceland!
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