Fernweh

Iceland is a small, Nordic, island country located in the North Atlantic. It is volcanically active and there are glaciers, lava flows, waterfalls, and other striking geological features nearly everywhere you look. While we haven’t traveled to every country in the world, we’d make an argument that Iceland is among the most beautiful and striking places on Earth. We traveled there at the height of summer and barely scratched the surface; we’d love to go back for more summer opportunities, but also in the depths of winter.

Waterfalls

In a country of thousands of waterfalls, Bruarfoss stands out as one of the most remarkable. It is named after a stone bridge that used to cross the river but fell many years ago. The water, melting from the Langjökull glacier, is extremely blue; we visited the falls at about midnight on the summer solstice and the light and colors were spectacular.

Aldeyjarfoss is another incredible waterfall, formed where the Skjálfandafljót river drops 20m down from the Báðardalshraun lava field. This one is a bit tricky to get to, as it is up a long rustic road which at times required a 4WD vehicle to navigate.

Svartifoss is located in Vatnajökull National Park in the southeast part of Iceland. The falls is surrounded by columns of basalt that have become dark over time, giving it its name (“black waterfall” in Icelandic). The falls is reached by a short hike of about 25 minutes (if you don’t stop along the way to enjoy the scenery 😉 )

Mountains

Iceland has around 130 volcanic systems, of which approximately 30 are thought to have erupted in the past 10,000 years. Over the past 500 years, Icelandic volcanoes have contributed about 1/3 of all global lava output. These volcanoes are responsible for created the beautiful landscapes, including mountains, basalt plains and cliff-side waterfalls, and black sand beaches.

Abstracts and Others

Along the southern coast of Iceland, rivers cross miles of gently-sloped sand; they carry with them pulverized rock from the glaciers in the mountains above. These flows of colored water can be hundreds of yards across and produce ever-changing patterns of color, texture, and shape as they head to the North Atlantic ocean.

Viewing these patterns from a helicopter is mesmerizing and yet another great reason to spend time in Iceland if you love landscape photography.

Iceland’s basalt columns are natural pillars of cooled lava, often hexagonal in shape. The more uniform the material is, the more consistent the resulting columns are.

On the southeast corner of Iceland, near the Jökulsárlón lagoon, lies Breiðamerkursandur beach. As the tide flows in and out of the lagoon, and the icebergs melt and break apart, small bergs flow out into the ocean and are occasionally pushed back onto the beach by the waves and tides.