Explore Iceland

Reykjavík

The world's northernmost capital is also its most liveable — a compact, colourful city where geothermal pools steam beside cutting-edge design museums and the Hallgrímskirkja church pierces a sky that turns green on winter nights. The old harbour district and Laugavegur shopping street form the heart of a cultural scene punching far above its size.

Akureyri

Iceland's northern capital sits at the head of Eyjafjörður, the country's longest fjord, ringed by snow-capped peaks that give way to a surprisingly mild microclimate. Its botanical garden — the world's northernmost — is a symbol of the warm, independent spirit that makes this small city feel like a destination in its own right.

Vík

Perched on Iceland's southernmost point, Vík is the gateway to some of the island's most dramatic scenery — the black sand beach of Reynisfjara with its basalt column stacks, and the offshore Reynisdrangar sea stacks rising like dark sentinels from the surf. A tiny town with an outsized role on the Ring Road itinerary.

Selfoss

The largest town in south Iceland sits astride the Ölfusá River and serves as a natural base for exploring the Golden Circle — Þingvellir, Geysir, and Gullfoss are all within easy reach. Selfoss itself is a relaxed service town with good restaurants and a growing reputation as a food-producer hub.

Höfn

Often called the lobster capital of Iceland, Höfn is a small fishing town backed by the vast Vatnajökull glacier — Europe's largest ice cap — whose outlet glaciers calve into the famous Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon just up the road. The annual lobster festival draws gourmands from across the island.

Egilsstaðir

The largest settlement in Iceland's remote Eastfjords region, Egilsstaðir sits beside the Lagarfljót river — whose resident 'worm' monster has been sighted for centuries — and acts as the hub for exploring the dramatic fjords, forests, and reindeer herds of the east. The local folk museum is the best introduction to the region's unique character.

Ísafjörður

The largest town in the Westfjords sits on a narrow peninsula jutting into the fjord, its colourful wooden houses hemmed in by sheer mountains that make it one of Iceland's most dramatically sited communities. The surrounding Hornstrandir Nature Reserve — reachable only by boat — is a wilderness walker's paradise of towering cliffs and Arctic fox sightings.

Keflavík

Most visitors know Keflavík only as the location of Iceland's international airport, but the town on the Reykjanes Peninsula is a genuine destination in its own right — close to the Bridge Between Continents, the Blue Lagoon, and the volcanic landscapes of a peninsula that resembles Mars more than anywhere else in Europe.

Borgarnes

A compact town on the Borgarfjörður inlet with one of Iceland's best settlement-era museums, the Settlement Centre brings the sagas of Egill Skallagrímsson vividly to life through theatrical dioramas. The surrounding valley was one of the most densely farmed areas in early Iceland, and ancient farmsteads still dot the landscape.

Stykkishólmur

A picturesque harbour town in the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Stykkishólmur's brightly painted houses and ferry connection to the Westfjords give it a distinctive end-of-the-road charm. The Norwegian House is Iceland's oldest wooden building, and the volcanic island of Súgandisey just offshore offers panoramic views of the labyrinthine bay.

Hvolsvöllur

The gateway to the south coast's most powerful natural attractions — Eyjafjallajökull volcano, whose 2010 eruption halted European air travel, looms over the town, while the Lava Centre museum here is the island's best introduction to Iceland's volcanic geology. It's also prime hiking territory for trails around Fimmvörðuháls and Þórsmörk.

Dalvík

A quiet fishing village on the shores of Eyjafjörður north of Akureyri, Dalvík is the departure point for whale-watching tours that rank among Iceland's best, with humpbacks and minkes regularly sighted in the rich fjord waters. The town also hosts Fiskidagurinn mikli, an annual festival where locals serve free fish soup to thousands of visitors.

Húsavík

Iceland's whale-watching capital sits on Skjálfandi Bay, where the cold, nutrient-rich waters attract an extraordinary concentration of whales — humpbacks, blue whales, and minkes are common sightings. The town's striking wooden church and the Húsavík Whale Museum, one of Europe's finest, make this a rewarding stop even on grey days.

Siglufjörður

Once the herring capital of the world, Siglufjörður reached its peak in the 1940s when hundreds of boats crowded this remote northern fjord. The magnificent Herring Era Museum — winner of the Council of Europe Museum Prize — tells that boom-and-bust story in vivid detail, and the town's artistic revival has made it one of Iceland's most charming small communities.

Þórshöfn

A remote village in northeast Iceland on the Langanes Peninsula, one of the country's least-visited but most rewarding wildernesses — a windswept finger of land where a ruined fishing village sits beside vast seabird colonies and Arctic foxes trot across the moorland. For travellers willing to leave the Ring Road, Þórshöfn is a genuine edge-of-the-world experience.

Reyðarfjörður

Set in one of the longest fjords in eastern Iceland, Reyðarfjörður is home to a fascinating Second World War museum commemorating the Allied forces stationed here — making it an unexpected draw for history travellers exploring the east. The surrounding mountains offer excellent hiking and the fjord itself is hauntingly beautiful in autumn fog.

Grindavík

The closest town to the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, Grindavík is a working fishing port on the Reykjanes Peninsula surrounded by hardened lava fields that look freshly poured — because some of them were, following the dramatic volcanic eruptions beginning in 2023. Despite the eruptions, the town has become a symbol of Icelandic resilience.

Blönduós

A small town on the Blanda River in northwest Iceland, Blönduós is best known for the Textile Museum, which celebrates Iceland's long tradition of hand-knitting and weaving in extraordinary depth. The surrounding Húnavatnssýsla region is known for its seal colonies and the Vatnsnes Peninsula's famous stone-stack landmark Hvítserkur.

Vestmannaeyjar (Heimaey)

The largest of the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, Heimaey is the site of one of the most dramatic natural events of the 20th century — the 1973 eruption that buried a third of the town in lava overnight. Today the Eldheimar museum preserves a house just as the lava left it, and the island's puffin colony is one of the largest in the world.

The cradle of Icelandic democracy, Þingvellir has hosted the Alþing — one of the world's oldest parliaments — since 930 AD, when Viking settlers gathered here to establish laws and settle disputes in a dramatic rift valley where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are visibly pulling apart. The site unites outstanding geological significance with a founding moment in democratic history that still resonates across the Nordic world.

One of the youngest islands on Earth, Surtsey erupted from the ocean floor southwest of Iceland between 1963 and 1967, offering scientists an unparalleled living laboratory to study how life colonises barren volcanic rock from scratch. Strictly protected and accessible only to researchers, it has documented the complete sequence of ecosystem formation — from pioneer bacteria to nesting seabirds — since the day it first broke the surface.

Covering more than 13% of Iceland's entire landmass, Vatnajökull National Park encompasses Europe's largest glacier by volume and a landscape shaped by the extraordinary interplay of volcanic heat and glacial ice — active subglacial volcanoes, glacier outburst floods, and lava fields all coexist within its boundaries. The park protects the most complete record of dynamic subarctic processes anywhere on the planet, and its outlet glaciers — including those calving into the famous Jökulsárlón lagoon — are among Iceland's most visited natural wonders.