Must see North Iceland

This is the sixth blog post about my Iceland trip In this post, I’ll write about the places I think that you must see in Northern Iceland. Check my other post for Reykjavík and Western Iceland, and the eastern part of the Westfjords and the north and the south of the Westfjords. As usual, I’ll probably miss some great places so let me know in the comments!

After my round trip of the Westfjords, I joined the other tourists on the ring road. There were a lot more tourists, but as it was early Septembre, it was ok. The weather in this region was however quite terrible, I had planned to hike a couple of times, but the rain was pouring down so much that I had to cut back the hikes to very short ones between getting dry and warm again in the car.

My first overnight stop was at Grettislaug which is a great camping ground with a hot pool and a view over the island of Drangey.

Must see - Grettislaug camp ground and hot pool

Must see – Whale watching in Akureyri

The two biggest places to go whale watching in Iceland are Húsavik and Akureyri. I choose Akureyri which is also a nice city to stock up on groceries even if that is less of an issue when you are close to the ring road. I choose Ambassador Whale Watching because I heard good things about them and their tour was great. The guide was very knowledgeable, and we saw a lot of whales close up while the captain always respected the safe distances for the whales.

Must see – Godafoss

On your way to Myvatn don’t forget to stop at Godafoss, the “waterfall of the gods”.

Must see – Myvatn and its surrounding

Myvatn has a lot of things to see. First of all the lake and the pseudo craters, the very surreal Hverir volcanic area, Dimmuborgir valley with its crazy lava structures, Hverfell which you should absolutely hike up and Grjótagjá cave which you might remember from “Game of Thrones” tv series (if you paid attention to the cave in this scene…).
In the evening you can enjoy the public and quite crowded Myvatn Nature baths to relax after all the hiking.

Must see - Hverir
Hverir
Must see - Skutustadir pseudo craters
Skutustadir pseudo craters
Must see - Viti crater
Viti crater

Must see – Dettifoss

Going further east you should, even if it’s raining like crazy as it was on my visit, stop at Dettifoss. You can walk from Dettifoss to Selfoss in half an hour easily from the parking lot; you will probably stay longer to take in the power of those two waterfalls.

 

Further north and a bit away from the ring road you should stop at Ásbyrgi canyon, where you could hike for hours or even days if the weather weren’t as terrible as it was when I was there.

Must see – Ásbyrgi canyon
Ásbyrgi canyon

Langanes

And way up in the northeast there is the very isolated and abandoned Langanes peninsula and Skoruvík cliffs with the rock column “Stóri Karl” which is one of the largest gannet colonies.

Must see - Langanes
Stóri Karl

Must see - Langanes peninsula Must see - Icelandic horses, Langanes peninsula Must see - Icelandic horses, Langanes peninsula

 

Don’t hesitate to let me know if I forgot something on my list.
Share this post if you liked it or if you know somebody that is going to Iceland soon.

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