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Driving Iceland’s Ring Road - Day 9: Exploring south Iceland

Today is a special day.  You will visit one of Iceland’s top tourist attractions, see calving glaciers, icebergs and a black sand beach studded with small ice pieces that look like diamonds.

For more detailed information incl. links to google maps locations, more reviews, website links, etc., check out our Iceland Highlights Purple Guide.

For Pinterest users, here are some pins that you can use:

Our Iceland Travel Guide has detailed information about the individual destinations, links to their locations in google maps, reviews and websites (if available).

Please see the Backpack & Snorkel Travel Store for more information.

Here are more Iceland destinations to explore:

Jökulsárlón

Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is one of the most-visited and most photographed tourist attractions in all of Iceland. 

Jökulsárlón is Icelandic and means "glacial river lagoon".  It is located in the southern part of Vatnajökull National Park and was seen in the movies “A View to a Kill”, “Die Another Day”, “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”, and “Batman Begins” and the reality TV series “The Amazing Race”.

Jökulsárlón itself is a large 6.9 square mile (18 km2) glacial lake in that is formed from the melting and receding  Breiðamerkurjökull glacier.  The lake is reportedly the deepest lake in Iceland with a depth of at least 932ft (284m).  It likely developed in 1948 when the glacier started receding from the Atlantic Ocean and the melted water filled the depression that the glacier had carved out.

There are different ways to explore Jökulsárlón.  You can:

• View the glacier, lake and incredibly beautiful icebergs from the lake shore and the vista points along the trail
• Join a Zodiac Tour which gets you as close as safely possible to the icebergs and glacier
• Join an Amphibian Boat Tour, which is a cost effective way to see the icebergs and glacier
• Join a guided kayak tour which gets you as close as safely possible to the icebergs

Parking and enjoying the lake and scenery is free.  The above mentioned tours come with different price tags.

Diamond Beach

Diamond Beach is a short drive or 5-10min walk from Jökulsárlón and most visitors of the Glacier Lagoon also come here and make Diamond Beach one of the most-visited and most photographed tourist attractions in all of Iceland.

Most tourists stay to the east of the mouth that connects Jökulsárlón with the Atlantic Ocean, but you can also visit the western park of Diamond Beach which is called Breiðamerkursandur.

Either way, walk from the parking lot to the connection between Jökulsárlón with the Atlantic Ocean where you will see icebergs floating towards the ocean and sea birds and seals.

After that, go to the black sand beach and you will see remains of icebergs scattered all over the black sand.  These ice pieces range in size from are half your size all the way down to size of the tip of a pen and look like diamonds in the black sand.

Larger iceberg chunks can be seen out in the ocean.

Admission and parking are free.

Fjallsárlón

While Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is one of Iceland’s top tourist attractions and busy year-round, nearby Fjallsárlón can be described as a smaller version that is not connected to the ocean.  There are plenty of tourists who report that they were the only ones there.  When we toured Fjallsárlón, we shared the place with maybe 5-10 other people.

Like with Jökulsárlón, at Fjallsárlón the glacier Fjallsjökull calves into the Fjallsárlón lake.  This lake has no outlet and the icebergs stay put until they melt in the more muddy brownish water of the lake.

Unlike Jökulsárlón where you can see the glacier and lake from the parking lot, at Fjallsárlón you will need to take a 5min path down to the lake.

In all, it is not as impressive as Jökulsárlón, but we liked it as it is more serene.

If you like, kayak and zodiac tours are offered from the restaurant at the parking lot.

Admission and parking are free.

Vatnajökull National Park at Skaftafell

Skaftafell used to be a farm which became a national park in 1967 and, since 2008, it is part of the larger Vatnajökull National Park.

Skaftafell’s appearance resembles the Alps, but it was formed over thousands of years by repeated volcanic eruptions, carving actions from glaciers and rivers.

There is a service fee for visitors.  At the time of writing, the fee for a car with up to 5 seats was ISK 750 and ISK 300 for a motorcycle.

While Skaftafell is popular for multi-day hikes, glacier hikes and ice caving in winter, the park has plenty to offer for short term visitors like us.

The most popular hike is the 1 mile (1.5km) one way hike from the visitor center to the 80ft (20m) tall Svartifoss waterfall (=“Black Falls”) with its black hexagonal basalt columns, which reportedly inspired the design of Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavik.

This hike is often combined with two other attractions to form the “Svartifoss waterfall - Sjónarsker viewpoint - Sel farmhouse,” loop hike which is 3.5 miles (5.5km) long and should take you 2-3h.  This easy hike starts near the visitor center and is well marked. 

Walk through the campground and follow the trail that then turns right and goes uphill.  You will gain 450ft (140m) elevation over the next 1 mile (1.5km) until you reach the viewpoint above the waterfall.

Now continue your way down, cross the footbridge, and climb up the basalt column steps on the other side of the ravine and follow the trail to the viewpoint at Sjónarnípa where you can see the Skaftafellsjökull glacier.

Afterwards, head south towards the turf-roofed houses at Sel and then continue on the trail back to the visitor center via the Lambhagi trail.

Scenic Green Lava Walk

By now, you have traveled through miles of volcanic landscape in which the normally black lava rocks are green.  Green, because they are covered with dense green moss. 

The Scenic Green Lava Walk is a designated area directly on Iceland’s Ring Road which allows you to get close to the green rocks and the short trail explains what you see and provides fantastic views.  This can be a 5-10min stop if you are in a hurry. 

Admission and parking are free.

Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon that was shown in the Justin Bieber “I'll Show You” video

Fjaðrárgljúfur means Fjaðrárgljúfur in Icelandic.  It is a spectacular canyon that has come to fame after it was shown in Justin Bieber’s “I'll Show You” video.  Unfortunately, the masses of visitors have damaged the frail environment of the canyon.  To combat this, Iceland’s authorities are periodically closing parts of Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon for revegetation.

The parking lot can be accessed via a 2 mile (3.2km) dirt road from Iceland’s Ring Road in summer; in winter 4x4 vehicles are strongly advised.

Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon is up to 328ft (100m) deep and 1.25 miles (2km) long.  It was formed over the last 2 million years by progressive erosion from flowing glacier waters.

From the parking lot, you will need to walk 0.6 miles (1km) uphill to the first viewpoint which is pretty spectacular already.  But wait, it will get better.  Keep on walking 0.4 miles (0.6km) to the second viewing platform.  From here you will have even better views on the canyon and on the Mögáfoss waterfall.

Do not leave the marked path as the grass can be slippery, the ground unstable and there is nothing that will stop you when you slip and fall.

There is also another route which takes you along the bottom of the canyon, but this route should only be taken with a tour guide as it means wading through the Fjaðrá river which has drastically different water depths during the year.

Hótel Búrfell

We only stayed here for one night.  The hotel advertises itself as “Stay on a farm”.  To get there, you have to drive a 1 mile (1.6km) gravel road from the Ring Road.

Our room was clean and it had two single beds, a table, one chair and 2 sofa chairs, an open closet, wall mounted TV and a suitcase stand.  The bathroom had a shower and again no sulfur smell. 

Breakfast was provided in a large dining room and it was similar to what was available in the other hotels we stayed in.

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