Best landscapes in Iceland

Perhaps it is the unpredictability of Iceland that appeals so much. In a world where globalisation has galvanised destinations, where information overload has almost taken the fun out of the unexpected before we even get there – Iceland manages to constantly keep us guessing. It has 30 active volcanoes after all. It has glaciers such as Jokulsarlon that melt and calve into floe filled lagoons. You can stand here for 24 hours a day during the summer season when the sun doesn’t set and watch Iceland float serenely past you. It has gushing geysers in the geothermal field of Haukadalur still doing their thing despite not actually being in a volcanic zone. Because everything, as its location for the latest Star Wars film proves, feels the force in Iceland.

But to really experience that chemical reaction that Iceland offers, you need to really get away from the crowds. Get off the beaten track to discover a land of faults, fissures and fjords. Lava, lagoons and littoral legacies. Land that is moving, in all senses of the word. Try standing in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by lunar like lava fields, such as up by Lake Myvatn in the remote far north with one foot on either side of a fissure. Then remember that this whole island is located on a fault line where two tectonic plates are slowly separating, resulting in a country that is expanding by 1 cm every year. Go slightly further afield to the Mount Krafla caldera, 10km of active awesomeness, or the Leirhnjúkur’s steaming, multi-coloured lava fields and you will start to have that inexplicable bonding moment that Hannah Kent describes so well above.

In such volatile landscapes, the best way to explore is with an expert local guide, who understands both the risky and remarkable aspects of these natural spectacles. From walking holidays that take you along its famous Laugavegur long distance walking trail through the Landmannalaugar Mountains or into the uninhabited Hornstrandir Nature Reserve in the Westfjords region, where you can walk and wild camp for days and hardly meet a soul. You could wake up to rampant Atlantic waves one day and a serene volcanic lake the next, with looming, basalt mountains reflecting in its waters like nature’s grand overseers. Or just go the whole hog and take on a two-week trip circumnavigating on foot, camping in some of its most mind expanding landscapes. Because all in all, Iceland is one intense trip.