Southwest Iceland & the Golden Circle - Iceland - page 192

8 See the continental plates part at historic Þingvellir National Park .
9 Wait for water to shoot skywards at Geysir , or watch it tumble down at
Gullfoss .
REYKJANES PENINSULA
The Reykjanes Peninsula expands in drama as you move away from the highway between
Keflavík International Airport and Reykjavík. You'll find not only the Blue Lagoon, Ice-
land's most famous attraction, filling a part of the vast lava fields, but other gorgeous and
interesting sights all around - many of them based around active volcanoes. The busiest
towns are no-frills Keflavík and nearby Njarðvík, but the sweet, windswept fishing ham-
lets Garður and Sandgerði are just minutes to the west of the airport on a small northwest-
ern spur, and are great for whale watching. The rest of the Reykjanes, from dramatic Reyk-
janestá in the southwest, to the Reykjanesfólkvangur wilderness reserve in the southeast, is
an untamed landscape of multi-hued volcanic craters, mineral lakes, bubbling hotsprings,
and rugged, quad-bike-ready mountains and coastal lava fields.
The Reykjanes Peninsula has formed a Geopark Project ( ht-
tp://reykjanesgeopark.tumblr.com ) , to protect, research and celebrate the region's unusual geo-
logy (pillow lava! oceanic ridge! meeting of tectonic plates! four volcanic systems!) and
local culture.
Public transport to Keflavík and the Blue Lagoon is fast and frequent from Reykjavík,
and while there is limited public bus service to other villages, you'll do best with private
transport to reach the more remote parts of the peninsula.