Iceland All-Action Summer Adventure

Clues of Reykjavik’s tectonic past are everywhere. ‘Smoky Bay’, as its name translates, hints at the seething geology that has shaped the world’s northernmost capital, while the bone-white Hallgrímskirkja soars like a ziggurat above the city, its spire evoking the mighty basalt columns that define this rugged landscape. But beyond the epic scenery, the pint-sized Icelandic capital has made a name for itself with a buzzing nightlife scene and cool, contemporary museums, while a host of home-grown chefs put gourmet spins on humble Icelandic fare.

The dramatic scenery of southern Iceland appears ripped from the pages of a Tolkien novel. Far from the civility of the capital, this is a brooding, ancient landscape forged by nature’s bare hands. Venture from Skógafoss, in whose white curtain of water rainbows flicker, to the remote mountain passes of Thórsmörk, following lonely rivers as they wind slowly to meet the moody, black-sand beaches and jagged basalt stacks of Reynisdrangar.  

Protruding into the Atlantic south of the capital, the Reykjanes Peninsula’s coast is strung with pretty, colorful fishing villages, but ultimately this is a land defined by the heat that beneath the surface. Eerily beautiful in its untamed primitiveness, this wild landscape is where volcanoes forever threaten to let off steam and hot springs simmer in the heart of ancient lava fields, the Blue Lagoon the most famous of them all.