Health & safety
Dangers & annoyances
Iceland has a low crime rate, police don’t carry guns, and prisoners go home on public holidays. People aren’t the danger here; it’s nature that you need to be wary of! In geothermal areas avoid thin crusts of lighter coloured soil around steaming fissures and mud pots. Snowfields may overlie fissures, sharp lava chunks, or slippery slopes of scoria (volcanic slag). Don’t underestimate the weather: only attempt isolated hiking and glacier ascents if you know what you’re doing.
