North Iceland is one of the most rugged and wild parts of the country. While South Iceland, with its lush green fields, magical waterfalls, and glaciers, tends to be the most popular part of the country to visit, those journeying around the Ring Road (like us) get to see an area of Iceland no less beautiful. I can’t quite say that North Iceland is not a popular area to visit (because it is) but it definitely felt less crowded than in South Iceland, for what that’s worth.
We visited all of the locations below in one day, a very long day, in which we woke up in Seydisfjordur and drove to Akureyri. Ideally, it would have been nice to split this section up into two days of driving (especially since there ended up being way more to see in the Mývatn area than I thought) but we did manage to squeeze all of this into one very long, very busy day.
Narrowing down any list of things to see in Iceland is difficult, since pretty much every corner of the island is so spectacularly beautiful, but this list is a good jumping off point for travelers to North Iceland, especially first-time visitors.
Stuðlagil Canyon
While most of the places on this list are immediately off the Ring Road, Stuðlagil Canyon involved a little more effort to reach. We turned off Highway 1, and had to drive about twenty minutes along a dirt road to reach the parking lot. It is important to note that there are two parking lots to see Stuðlagil. One only lets you view the canyon from an observation deck. If you actually want to hike down into the canyon, you need to park at the east side parking lot, which is the first one. (Just put “Stuðlagil East side parking” into Google Maps, and you’ll find it.) At the parking lot, there is a bridge. If you have a 4WD rental car, you can cross the bridge and drive a little closer to the canyon, where there is another parking lot, but we parked at the bridge and walked.
The hike to the canyon was a little longer than I had expected (especially since we had to leave the rental car pretty far up the road), but it was a pleasant walk on a clearly marked trail. Despite getting to the canyon pretty early in the morning, it was already quite busy.
The canyon is famous for the staggering basalt columns that rise up over a turquoise blue stream, and it was just as beautiful in person as in the pictures. It was fun to climb around on the rocks and explore the area, and we probably could have stayed longer than we did if we had not been on such a tight schedule!
Hverir
Our next stop was Hverir, in the Lake Mývatn area. Mývatn is an area full of geothermal activity, and Hverir is famous for its stinky, bubbling mud pots and steam vents. Walking through this area felt like walking on another planet! It was very cool, but also very smelly. The whole place stinks of sulfur, which is often described as a rotting egg smell.
Getting to Hverir was easy. The parking lot is right off the Ring Road just before you reach Lake Mývatn. We could smell the sulfur even before we got out of the car, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle the smell for very long, but we quickly got used to it, and had lots of fun taking pictures in the unique landscape.
Hverfjall
After Hverir, we made our way to Hverfjall, a volcanic crater in the Lake Mývatn area. There is a walking path around the crater, which is huge and impressive, like so big that I couldn’t actually take a picture of the whole thing at one time. We went to a number of volcanic craters in Iceland because, well, where else can you do that? But this one might have been my favorite. (Besides, of course, the one that was actually erupting. Pretty hard to beat that!)
Dimmuborgir
Where there’s a volcano, there’s lava. Dimmuborgir is a huge lava field filled with hiking trails very close to Lake Mývatn. Besides the insanely cool landscape, this area is also interesting to visit because of all the legends and folklore surrounding the lava fields. The caves in this area were supposedly the homes of trolls (some of whom would eat naughty children who didn’t do their chores!) and while we didn’t see any trolls, it is easy to see why this landscape inspired such sinister stories.
Lake Mývatn
Lake Mývatn is a large lake in North Iceland, and there are a number of interesting sites to see in the vicinity of this lake. I wish that we had overnighted in this area to give us a little more time to explore because it is truly stunning! Besides all the geothermal activity, the lake itself is very beautiful. Our last stop as we drove around Lake Mývatn was for ice cream that is made on a dairy farm. Yum!
Goðafoss
A must-stop for anyone driving around the Ring Road, Goðafoss is a very impressive waterfall not far outside Akureyri. This “waterfall of the gods” is so named because, supposedly, when the leader of the region converted to Christianity, he threw his pagan idols into the falls.
Akureyri
Akureyri is the second largest city in Iceland, which if we are being honest, is not saying a whole lot. The most famous sight in the city is its cathedral, which like the one in Reykjavik, is in a very unusual architectural style. This is a nice city to wander around for an evening (as we did) or to base yourself if you would like to spend longer in North Iceland.
Because we had such a full day, it was too late and we were too tired to do much exploring around Akureyri. We basically went straight to bed the second we got to our Airbnb. But based on the little bit we saw as we were driving in and out of town, it seems like it has a very cool vibe.
Bonus: Húsavik
One of the more famous towns in North Iceland is Húsavik, which has earned a reputation as the whale-watching capital of the world. While we did not quite make if up to Húsavik on this trip, I’d love to go back and check out the whale-watching one day.
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