Explore all 42 countries

Snorrastofa is the cultural and medieval centre in Reykholt, where the saga writer Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) lived. Its visitor reception, in the building of the church consecrated in 1996, shows the exhibition Snorri's Saga and carved Húsafell gravestones. Outside are the old church of 1885–1887 and Snorralaug, Snorri's round stone-built hot pool.

Kerið is a volcanic crater in the Grímsnes area of south Iceland, about 270 m long, 170 m wide and 55 m deep, with a shallow aquamarine lake at the bottom. Formed in an explosive eruption several thousand years ago, it has walls of red scoria and basalt; a path follows the rim and a gentler, moss-covered slope leads down to the water.

Urriðafoss is a waterfall on the Þjórsá, Iceland's longest river, east of Selfoss, where the river drops in broad steps over the edge of the Þjórsá lava field. With an average flow of about 360 cubic metres per second it carries more water than any other waterfall in Iceland.

Hraunfossar is a series of waterfalls where rivulets stream out of the Hallmundarhraun lava field over about 900 metres and pour into the river Hvítá in Borgarfjörður. Just upstream, the Hvítá rushes through the narrow gorge of Barnafoss, named in a folk tale after two children who fell from a natural stone bridge. Footpaths and viewpoints follow both.

Heimaey Stave Church is a close replica of the 12th-century Haltdalen stave church, a gift from Norway marking a thousand years of Christianity in Iceland. Built in Norway and completed here on 30 July 2000, it stands at Skansinn by the harbour on ground formed by the lava of the 1973 Eldfell eruption.

Eldfell is a volcanic cone about 200 metres high on the east side of Heimaey, formed in an eruption that began without warning on 23 January 1973. Ash and lava destroyed around 400 homes, and pumping sea water onto the lava flow kept the harbour open. Marked paths lead up the red slopes to the crater rim, with views over the town.

The Caves of Hella are man-made caves carved into sandstone on the farm Ægissíða near Hella; twelve are known there, and their age and origin remain uncertain. Visitors enter three of them on guided tours only, seeing carved crosses, wall markings, ledges and chimneys in caves once used as dwellings, barns and sheep sheds.

Skálholt Cathedral stands at Skálholt, seat of Iceland's first bishop from 1056 and for centuries the country's religious and educational centre. The present church, designed by Hörður Bjarnason, was built in 1956–1963 on the site of nine earlier churches; it holds stained-glass windows by Gerður Helgadóttir, an altarpiece by Nína Tryggvadóttir and an exhibition in the crypt.

Friðheimar is a family farm at Reykholt in Bláskógabyggð, run by Knútur Rafn Ármann and Helena Hermundardóttir, where tomatoes are grown all year round under artificial light in greenhouses. Its restaurant sits among the tomato plants inside a greenhouse and serves tomato soup with fresh bread; the farm also breeds Icelandic horses.

LAVA Centre is an interactive exhibition on Iceland's volcanoes and earthquakes in Hvolsvöllur, opened in 2017 in a building by Basalt Architects. Its halls cover the hot spot under Iceland, eruption history and live seismic monitoring, with an earthquake simulator, a cinema and a rooftop view towards Hekla and Eyjafjallajökull.

Geysir is the geothermal field in the Haukadalur valley named after the Great Geysir, the hot spring that gave the English word geyser its name. The Great Geysir now erupts only rarely, but Strokkur, about 50 metres to the south, sends water 15–20 metres high every 6–10 minutes, and paths lead between hot pools and steam vents below the Laugarfjall hill.

Seljalandsfoss is a waterfall on the Seljalandsá river in South Iceland, beside Route 1 near the turn-off to Þórsmörk. The river, which rises under the Eyjafjallajökull glacier, drops about 60 metres over a former sea cliff, and a footpath leads round behind the falling water through a shallow cave in the rock face.

Gullfoss is a waterfall on the Hvítá river, where the river runs down a wide three-step staircase and then plunges in two stages, of 11 and 21 metres, into a gorge about 2.5 kilometres long. Sigríður Tómasdóttir, daughter of a co-owner, campaigned against plans to harness the falls for power; they became a protected site in 1979.

Skógafoss is a waterfall on the Skógá river at Skógar, where the river drops about 60 metres over the former sea cliff that marks the edge of the South Iceland lowlands. The falls are some 25 metres wide; a path leads to the foot, and a staircase on the east side climbs to a viewing platform at the top, where the Fimmvörðuháls trail begins.

Skógar Museum (Skógasafn) is a regional museum at Skógar, founded in 1949 on the initiative of the collector Þórður Tómasson. It holds some 18,000 objects in a folk museum with the eight-oared fishing boat Pétursey, an open-air museum of turf houses, a church and a school moved from the district, and a transport and technology museum opened in 2002.

The Sólheimasandur plane wreck is the fuselage of a US Navy C-117, a military version of the Douglas DC-3, that made a forced landing on the black sand plain of Sólheimasandur on 21 November 1973 after icing; all seven crew survived. It lies about 18 km west of Vík and is reached on a 4 km walk from the car park on Route 1; the track has been closed to cars since 2016.

Sólheimajökull is an outlet glacier flowing south from the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap, between the Katla and Eyjafjallajökull volcanoes, about 20 km west of Vík. A gravel path leads from the car park to viewpoints over its ash-streaked snout and the meltwater lagoon left as the ice has retreated; walks onto the ice itself are made only with guides.

Dyrhólaey is a 120-metre promontory on the south coast west of Vík, formed by a volcanic eruption about 100,000 years ago and once an island. A lighthouse built in 1927 stands on top, and the sea has cut a large arch through its seaward end; the viewpoints look over Reynisfjara, the Reynisdrangar stacks and the Mýrdalsjökull glacier.

Reynisfjara is a black sand beach on the south coast just west of Vík, between the Reynisfjall mountain and the Dyrhólaey promontory. At its eastern end stand basalt columns and the cave Hálsanefshellir, with the Reynisdrangar sea stacks offshore; the surf here produces sudden large waves that run far up the beach.

Fjaðrárgljúfur is a canyon of the Fjaðrá river west of Kirkjubæjarklaustur, about 2 km long and up to 100 metres deep, cut into palagonite rock by glacial meltwater. A path runs along its eastern rim to viewing platforms above the winding river, and the eastern part of the canyon has been a protected area since 2024.