Volcanic Iceland

Self Drive or Guided Tour

Covering much of Iceland’s spectacular highland wilderness, this self drive tour/ Super jeep tour offers the participants the chance to see some of the country’s greatest natural wonders, with the added thrill of driving the 4x4 jeeps yourself or having your private driver guide. Iceland is like a treasure island, with the treasure being volcanos, glaciers and hot springs scattered all around the country.

Day 1 Arrival

Arrival in Keflavik, meet and greet with your local guide for the next days. The 4x4 Jeeps are at the airport and the tour starts from there. We drive straight to the HL – Adventure offices to reorganize the vehicles and to get information about the tour, how do drive in Iceland etc. We drive towards the volcano Hekla where we will spend the first night in the nearby area. Hekla is a stratovolcano located in the south of Iceland with a height of 1,491 meters (4,892 ft). Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanos with over 20 eruptions since settlement in 874. During the middle Ages, Icelanders called the volcano the "Gateway to Hell."

Day 2 Landmannalaugar

We turn into the highland interior. Crossing rugged lava fields, unbridged mountain rivers and arctic deserts, the tour reaches Landmannalaugar. The landscape of colourful mountains and hot and cold springs blend together to create the ideal setting for a relaxing swim in a natural hot spring or a bracing walk. The Landmannalaugar area is a popular tourist destination and hiking hub in Iceland's highlands. The area displays a number of unusual geological elements, like the multicoloured rhyolite mountains and expansive lava fields. The many mountains in the surrounding area display a wide spectrum of colours, including pink, brown, green, yellow, blue, purple, black, and white. Following a picnic lunch, we head over the rugged landscape into the sweeping mountains and lush valleys of the highlands of Iceland. At the roots of Vatnajökull we will put up our camp and overnight.

Day 3 Askja

A thriving natural oasis in the midst of a lava desert. Rich in alpine plants and flowers, it is a photographer's dream. We head through the spectacular Drekagil gully to Askja, a salutary reminder of the awesome natural forces that created Iceland and are still shaping it. Its caldera, Lake Öskjuvatn, was formed in 1875 in a huge eruption, one of the worst to strike the country since its settlement in 874. We will overnight in this spectacular area. Askja was virtually unknown until the tremendous eruption which started on March 29, 1875. Especially in the eastern fjords of Iceland, the ashfall was heavy enough to poison the land and kill livestock. Ash, or tephra, from this eruption was wind-blown to Norway and Sweden. The eruption triggered a substantial wave of emigration from Iceland. Another less well-known eruption occurred in the early Holocene, ca 11,000 years ago. Tephra from this eruption has been found in south-east Sweden, Northern Ireland and north Norway. The last eruption of the Askja was in 1961.

Day 4 Myvatn

From Askja we head to Karahnjukar where the biggest hydroelectric dam in Iceland is. Onwards to Myvatn. The natural beauty of Myvatn and surrounding area is unique and has been sculpted by volcanic eruptions through the ages. Lake Myvatn is one of the largest in Iceland, 36.6 km2 and renowned for birdlife. We will overnight by the lake. Mývatn is a shallow eutrophic lake situated in an area of active volcanism in the north of Iceland, not far from Krafla volcano. The lake and its surrounding wetlands have an exceptionally rich fauna of waterbirds, especially ducks. The lake was created by a large basaltic lava eruption 2300 years ago, and the surrounding landscape is dominated by volcanic landforms, including lava pillars and rootles vents (pseudocraters). The effluent river Laxá is known for its rich fishing for Brown Trout and Atlantic salmon.

Day 5 Hveravellir

We pass the Goðafoss waterfall, named for the heathen idols which are said to have been cast into it when Iceland adopted Christianity in the year 1000. Then we head on for Akureyri, Iceland’s northern capital. Driving south along the spectacular Kjölur mountain road, where we will put up our camp and take a relaxing bath among the hot springs at Hveravellir. The Hveravellir central volcano lies at the northern end of an active volcanic zone that extends to the NE from the Reykjanes Peninsula. Hveravellir central volcano occupies the NE half of the massive Langjökull icecap, east of the prominent Pleistocene table mountain, Eriksjökull. A summit caldera lies beneath the ice.

Day 6 Gullfoss, Geysir and Þingvellir

We continue to Gullfoss waterfall, one of Iceland’s most impressive waterfalls and head for the surreal colours, hissing steam and spouting hot spring of the geothermal area at Geysir. Walking about this natural wonder, one experiences the intensity of the forces of nature. Night time offers a fascinating view of the bubbling hot springs. A pot of boiling water takes on new dimensions. Gullfoss Gullfoss is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. The wide Hvítá river rushes southward, and about a kilometre above the falls it turns sharply to the left and flows down into a wide curved three-step "staircase" and then abruptly plunges in two stages (11 m and 21 m) into a crevice 32 m (105 ft) deep. The crevice, about 20 m (60 ft) wide, and 2.5 km in length, is at right angles to the flow of the river Geysir The geothermal field surrounding the Great Geyser is the definitive geyser, having given its name to the geological phenomena. The Strokkur, another famous geyser located nearby, gives a performance every few minutes, shooting a tower of water and steam 30 meters into the air. There are other attractions apart from the magnificent geysers. For example, Blesi, a hot spring with water the colour of turquoise, delights the senses. Back at the lowlands we drive on to Thingvellir National Park, home of Iceland’s parliament from 930 – 1798, and the place where we can clearly see how the North Atlantic ridge splits the geological continents of America and Eurasia. Þingvellir (Icelandic: Þing: 'parliament', vellir: 'fields'), is a place in Bláskógarbyggð in southwestern Iceland, near the peninsula of Reykjanes and the Hengill volcanic area. Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It is also the site of a rift valley and home to Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland. Parliament or Alþingi was established at Þingvellir in 930 and remained there until 1789. Þingvellir National Park was founded in 1930 to protect the remains of the parliament site and was later expanded to protect natural phenomena in the surrounding area. Þingvellir National Park was the first national park in Iceland and was decreed "a protected national shrine for all Icelanders, the perpetual property of the Icelandic nation under the preservation of parliament, never to be sold or mortgaged”. Þingvellir is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. From Þingvellir we return back to Reykjavík city, where we will stay for the last night.

Reykjavík

Today, Reykjavík is the centre of the Greater Reykjavík Area, which is the only metropolitan area in Iceland, with a population of 202,000. As a highly modernized capital of one of the most developed countries in the world, its inhabitants enjoy a first-class welfare system and city infrastructure. Its location, only 2 degrees south of the Arctic Circle, receives a maximum of only four hours of daylight on the shortest day in the depth of winter; during the summer the nights are almost as bright as the days. It has continued to see population growth in past years as well as growth in areas of commerce and industry. Reykjavík was ranked first on Grist Magazine's "15 Greenest Cities" list in 2008.