Explore Iceland – The Country of Ice & Fire

Iceland is truly a land of contrasts with colorful northern lights, snow-capped mountains, magnificent glaciers, and rumbling volcanoes. Could you imagine a better panorama to sooth your eyes and melt your heart? Possibly not. There’s a lot to explore in Iceland. Here we’ve curated a few things that you can explore Iceland in a unique way.

5 Must Do Things in Iceland

Yes, We Ignored the Obvious Northern Lights 

 

Explore Iceland’s infinite natural beauty

With magical panoramas and striking geographical formations, Iceland is home to quite a few of hiking trails that take days-long. If you’re not up for hiking for multiple days, the country has easy hikes too.

Easy hikes in Iceland that take less than 4 hours 

• Mt. Esja
• Glymur Trail
• Landmannalaugar Loop
• Thorsmork Panorama
• Hverfjall Crater Rim Trail

Check out the filming locations

Movies and Icelandic locations have been friends for long. The varied landscapes & long daylight hours has kept directors intrigued with this fancy white land. Every location in Iceland is shot-worthy.

Besides the foreign movie industries, the country’s own Icelandic film industry is gaining reputation across the globe for its amazing work.  Iceland is a perfect setting for fantasy as you can see in blockbuster movies like Star Wars, Rogue One, Justice League, Captain America: Civil War, Batman Begins, and many more.

Movies shot in Iceland:

Game of Thrones (TV series), Noah, Jupiter Ascending, Flags of Our Fathers, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and many more.

Popular filming locations:

• Mýrdalssandur beach
• Reykjavík
• Kjalarnes
• Máfabót
• Svínafellsjökull glacier
• Stykkishólmur

Let your heart beat with the pulsating beat of the country

Icelandic music has reached every corner of the world thanks to the efforts of worldwide pop stars like Björk, Sigur Rós, and Of Monsters and Men (five-member band). And exciting new artists join their ranks year on year, most of whom play at concerts around the country. There are ample opportunities to attend music festivals of all sorts.

Popular music festivals in Iceland

• Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavík
• Aldrei fór ég suður, Ísafjörður
• Secret Solstice Festival, Reykjavík
• Drangey Music Festival, Reykir
• Þjóðhátíð, Westman Islands

Waterfalls that add the flowing charm

Adding to the fire (volcano) and ice (mountains), Iceland has water too. The magnificent thundering waterfalls look like they came out of the picture book. But most of tourists visit popular waterfalls leaving the hidden waterfalls that are located just around the major attractive waterfalls.

Hidden waterfalls

• Gljúfrabúi, the hills of Seljalandsfoss
• The Secret Lagoon, Village of Flúðir
• Þjófafoss, east side of Merkurhraun Lava field
• Gluggafoss, Hvolsvöllur
• Aldeyjarfoss, Akureyri

Go for camping

There are many accommodation options in the country. Camping has always been a favorite option for travelers, especially during its summers. There are about 200 registered campsites available for camping among which few are open for year-round. Most of the campsites are open from the month of June until August or mid-September. Most of the campsites offer camper vans too.

Scenic camping sites in Iceland

• Skaftafell
• Úlfljótsvatn
• Ásbyrgi
• Egilsstaðir
• Siglufjörður