Subscribe

Getty Images/Gallo Images

Reykjanes Peninsula

The Reykjanes Peninsula expands in drama as you move away from the highway between Reykjavík and Keflavík International Airport. You’ll find not only the Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s most famous attraction, but numerous other gorgeous and interesting sights, many of them based around active volcanoes. The busiest towns are amenity-rich Keflavík and nearby Njarðvík, but the sweet, windswept fishing hamlets of Garður and Sandgerði – great for whale watching – are just minutes to the west of the airport on a small northwestern spur. The rest of the Reykjanes, from dramatic Reykjanestá in the southwest to the Reykjanesfólkvangur wilderness reserve in the east, is an untamed landscape of multihued volcanic craters, mineral lakes, bubbling hot springs, rugged mountains and coastal lava fields.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Reykjanes Peninsula.

  • See

    Seltún

    The volatile geothermal field Austurengjar, about 2km south of Kleifarvatn, is often called Krýsuvík after the nearby abandoned farm. At Seltún, the main sight, boardwalks meander round a cluster of seething hot springs. The mud pots and steaming sulphuric solfataras (volcanic vents) shimmer with rainbow colours from the minerals in the earth. Even by Icelandic standards, this area is prone to geological tantrums. The temperature below the surface is 200°C and the water is boiling as it emerges from the ground. A borehole was sunk here to provide energy for Hafnarfjörður during the 1990s, but it exploded without warning in 1999 and the project was abandoned. There are bathrooms at the site.

  • See

    Kleifarvatn

    This deep, brooding lake sits in a volcanic fissure, surrounded by wind-warped lava cliffs and black-sand shores. A walking trail runs around the edge, offering dramatic views and the crunch of volcanic cinders underfoot. Legend has it that a wormlike monster the size of a whale lurks below the surface – but the poor creature is running out of room, as the lake has been shrinking ever since two major earthquakes shook the area in 2000. For a macabre fictional book on this event, seek out Arnaldur Indríðason’s thriller The Draining Lake (2004).

  • See

    Grænavatn

    Just to the north of the Seltún hot springs, this lake is an old explosion crater filled with gorgeous teal water, caused by a combination of minerals and warmth-loving algae. The gravel road to the lake may only be drivable with 4WD and could be impassible at various times of year.