Iceland

Reykjavík is small, walkable and striking — the Hallgrímskirkja church (73m concrete spire, free to enter, paid elevator to the top), the Harpa Concert Hall on the harbour (designed by Olafur Eliasson — geometric glass facade), the colourful corrugated-iron houses of the old centre.

💡 The Blue Lagoon geothermal spa (45 min from Reykjavík) requires advance booking — it sells out days ahead in summer. The Sky Lagoon, closer to the city, is less crowded and similarly excellent.

The Golden Circle: Thingvellir National Park (where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are visibly pulling apart — you can walk between the continents), the Geysir hot spring area (Strokkur erupts every 5–10 minutes, 20–40m), Gulfoss waterfall (two-tiered, 32m, the spray visible from 1km).

💡 Strokkur geyser erupts so reliably that you can set a timer. Stand upwind of the vent (the cloud of steam goes where the wind goes). The eruption itself lasts about 2 seconds.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall (you can walk behind the curtain — bring waterproof trousers), Skógafoss (a 60m double waterfall, a 30-minute hike gives a view from above), Reynisfjara black sand beach (the basalt columns and the offshore Reynisdrangar sea stacks).

💡 Reynisfjara’s waves are rogue — the beach shelves steeply and waves regularly reach further than expected. Stay behind the safety line. Several people have drowned here.

Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Europe (8,100 sq km). Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon: icebergs calving from the glacier tongue float through to the sea. Diamond Beach: the icebergs wash up on the black sand. A glacier walk on Vatnajökull with crampons and a guide.

💡 Jökulsárlón at sunset — the icebergs lit from below, the glacier in the background — is one of the great photographic experiences in Iceland. Both sunrise and sunset are extraordinary.

The East Fjords are Iceland’s least-visited region — a series of deep glacial inlets with tiny fishing villages at their heads. Seyðisfjörður (an 18th-century painted wooden village in the deepest fjord) is the finest.

💡 Seyðisfjörður’s Skrá restaurant is the best in east Iceland — local lamb, Arctic char, and the freshest vegetables you’ll find in the country.

Mývatn’s volcanic landscape: Dimmuborgir (twisted lava formations), Krafla caldera and lava field (still warm underfoot in places), Hédín (bathing pools in hot spring water). Puffins nesting on the coastal cliffs near Húsavík in summer.

💡 Mývatn Nature Baths are less famous than the Blue Lagoon and considerably less expensive — geothermal bathing in the same milky-blue water, with a view over the volcanic landscape.

3h drive from Reykjavík: the Snæfellsnes Peninsula ends in the Snæfellsjökull glacier-volcano (the setting for Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth). Kirkjufell mountain (the most photographed peak in Iceland, pointed and green). Return to Reykjavík for the evening.

💡 Kirkjufell is most photographed from the south side, with the Kirkjufellsfoss waterfalls in the foreground. The light from the northwest in late evening (10pm in summer) is extraordinary.