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Mývatn, Iceland
Iceland

Things to do in Mývatn

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Mývatn

A shallow lake district on the plate boundary in the northeast, the water 37 square kilometres in area and 4.5 metres deep at its deepest, laid down by a basaltic eruption about 2,300 years ago. Fifteen duck species breed here, the largest number in Europe. The ground around it is still working: mud pots at Hverir, hollow lava pillars at Dimmuborgir, and the Krafla fissure to the north, which last erupted between 1975 and 1984.

7 places on record
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Things to do

7
  1. Askja

    Askja

    Natural Wonder · 4 hr

    The most remote place in Iceland reachable by road, and the ground Apollo crews trained on before the Moon.

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  2. Hverir Geothermal Area

    Hverir Geothermal Area

    Natural Wonder · 30 min

    The geothermal engine at its rawest, ochre and sulphur yellow, ten minutes off the ring road.

  3. Víti Crater at Krafla

    Víti Crater at Krafla

    Natural Wonder · 30 min

    A five minute walk from the car park to the rim of the crater that opened a five year eruption.

  4. Dimmuborgir

    Natural Wonder · 1.5 hr

    The drained plumbing of a lava lake, left standing as a collapsed citadel, and walkable on marked loops.

  5. Grjótagjá

    Natural Wonder · 30 min

    A lava fissure lit blue from below, on private land, to be looked at rather than entered.

  6. Mývatn Nature Baths

    Hot Spring · 2 hr

    The northern counterpart to the Blue Lagoon at a fraction of the crowd, looking out over a lava field.

  7. Skútustaðagígar Pseudocraters

    Natural Wonder · 1 hr

    The easiest walk in the district, through craters that were made by water rather than by a vent.

Basemap Meridian · data © OpenStreetMap

Dispatches

1
Half of Vatnajökull Is Always Shut
Vatnajökull National Park

Half of Vatnajökull Is Always Shut

Ice caves October to April, interior roads for a few weeks at midsummer, boats at the weather's discretion: whichever month a visitor picks, a large part of Iceland's biggest national park is shut.

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Walk into a horseshoe canyon three and a half kilometres long, under cliffs up to a hundred metres high.

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