Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a tour on this lagoon - you don't have to travel as far to reach the glacier snout, for ex-
ample.
Jökulsárlón
A host of spectacular, luminous-blue icebergs drift through Jökulsárlón
glacier lagoon
,
right beside the Ring Road between Höfn and Skaftafell. Even when you're driving along,
expecting this surreal scene, it's still a surprise. It's worth spending a couple of hours here,
admiring the wondrous ice sculptures (some of them striped with ash layers from volcanic
eruptions), scouting for seals or taking a boat trip.
The icebergs calve from Breiðamerkurjökull, an offshoot of Vatnajökull, crashing down
into the water and drifting inexorably towards the Atlantic Ocean. They can spend up to
five years floating in the 25-sq-km-plus, 260m-deep lagoon, melting, refreezing and occa-
sionally toppling over with a mighty splash, startling the birds. They then move on via
Jökulsá, Iceland's shortest river, out to sea.
Although it looks as though it's been here since the last ice age, the lagoon is only about
80 years old. Until the mid-1930s Breiðamerkurjökull reached the Ring Road; it's now re-
treating rapidly (up to a staggering 500m per year), and the lagoon is consequently grow-
ing.
The lagoon boat trips are excellent, but you can get almost as close to those cool-blue
masterpieces by walking along the shore, and you can taste ancient ice by hauling it out of
the water. On the Ring Road west of the car park, there are designated parking areas where
you can walk over the mounds to visit the lake at less-touristed stretches of shoreline.
It's also highly recommended that you visit the rivermouth (there are car parks on the
ocean side of the Ring Road), where you'll see ice boulders resting photogenically on the
black-sand beach as part of their final journey out to sea.
If you're in the area in late August, don't miss the annual
fireworks display
held here as
a fundraiser for the local search and rescue team. Entry is usually around Ikr1000, with
buses running from Höfn for the event. See
www.visitvatnajokull.is
for details.
A new
walking trail
has been marked from the western car park, leading to Breiðárlón
(10km one way) and Fjallsárlón (15.3km).
