Are you planning a trip to Iceland soon and want to make sure that you tick off all the must-see places AND make sure that you take all the snaps you need to share on the ‘gram? Then I got you!
Before I venture our on trips, I usually send hours researching the most beautiful, awe-inspiring and photogenic places I can so I can try and fit as many of them into our plans as possible whilst getting many photos along the way.
Having recently got back from the most unforgettable trip to the Land of Ice and Fire (and being slightly obsessed with Instagram), I wanted to share the most Instagrammable waterfalls, glaciers, beaches and more that I managed to visit (and some of the ones we didn’t quite make it to) so that your trip can be as magical as ours! Here are my favourite places in Iceland that you absolutely have to visit:
1. The Blue Lagoon
One of the most iconic attractions in the country and one that was top of our must-see list. And once you have visited, it is not hard to see why this geothermal spa is one of the most visited attractions.
The Blue Lagoon is a large geothermal pool which is the perfect temperature to just take a long old soak in and relax and unwind. The high levels of silica are great for your skin as well as all the other minerals and salts having great cleansing and exfoliating benefits.
Word to the wise! There isn’t anywhere to easily leave your phone or camera on the side, so be prepared to walk around with your hand out of the water or on a selfie stick. I did see some visitors putting their phones in sandwich bags to protect them from the water. We entered the lagoon, took a few quick snaps and then went and put our phones back in our locker. In hindsight, I wish I had kept it a little longer to get a few better photos, but I was a bit anxious to drop it and lose everything, and it did mean that my husband and I could just focus on being there in the moment.
2. Skógafoss
Probably the most famous waterfall in the country, of which there are many, and the one you will probably recognise from all the pictures you have already seen when you have been scrolling on our favourite photo-sharing app.
As one of the biggest waterfalls with a 60 metre drop, you can walk straight up to it but be prepared to get a little damp. But once you have grabbed your shot, make sure to take a moment to just take in the majesty of this natural wonder.
The best times to go are first thing in the morning before all the buses full of day trippers get there, but also if you time it right, you can take a selfie at Skógafoss not only with the waterfall in the background but with a beautiful rainbow too because of all the spray.
3. Black Sand Beach, Reynisfjara
A beautiful and powerful beach at the south of the island. Make sure to be aware of the incoming waves, but it is one of the coolest beaches I have ever been to and such a contrast to the white sand beaches of the Caribbean. It is a stunning stop off on your South Coast tour of insane basalt columns, lava formations, towering cliffs and this magical black sand.
4. Geysir and Strokkur
Seeing the exploding geysers is probably near the top of most people’s Iceland bucketlist, but you may not know that there isn’t just the one! The geyser you will be more familiar with is called Strokkur and found within an area of hot springs. This is the one that spurts boiling hot water up to 30 metres high every few minutes.
Geysir, the much larger geyser that they get there name from, is dormant but if it were to suddenly become active it could launch water a massive 100 metres into the air. It is still a spectacle to behold though and we arrived at a perfect time to get some stunning shots as the sun was lowering in the sky.
It can get busy around Strokkur and because it doesn’t go off every two minutes on the dot, trying to get that perfect photo does mean some awkward standing around and waiting and then BAM! All of a sudden it will go off. My best tip for getting photos here is to actually record a video and then take some of the frames as stills.
5. Gullfoss
Situated at the furthest point on Iceland’s iconic Golden Circle route, Gullfoss is another stunning waterfall located in the canyon of the Hvítá river and another of the most popular tourist attractions. A day excursion where you can head here straight from the geysers and rounding it off in Þingvellir National Park is a must-do for first time visitors to Iceland.
6. Kerið Crater
As it’s name suggests, Iceland is known for snow and ice, but it also exists because of the other end of the scale; heat and volcanic activity. Kerið is a volcanic crater lake that you could also visit on the Golden Circle route.
Situated in the middle of vast lava fields, this crater used to be a volcano and an eruption around 3000 years ago caused it to collapse in on itself to create it’s statement red slopes that lead into this crystal clear aquamarine blue waters at the bottom.
7. Sólheimajökull Glacier
One of the many glaciers that are melting away on this beautiful landscape, and the one that is retreating the quickest. Just a short 15 minute hike up to the edge of the glacier you can see its errie blue columns slashed with black ash. Both immense and beautiful, yet tinged with sadness that we are losing these amazing formations to the glacial lagoon.
Sólheimajökull is a glacier in southern Iceland, between the volcanoes Katla and Eijafjallajökkull. Solheimajokull glacier is an approximately 11-km-long outlet glacier, which advances from Myrdalsjokull glacier, down a one to two km wide valley.
We did a self-guided tour of Iceland on our trip, but I wish we had booked onto a trip to see this and to do some glacier walking, but there is always next time right?
8. Sólheimasandur Plane Crash
Then across the road (even though a super long walk away), you’ve got the wreckage of a United States plane on Sólheimasandur black sand beach. You have probably seen every Instagrammer and their friend with a shot of this so don’t miss your chance to get your own.
9. Diamond Beach
Much further along the Southern coast of Iceland, you can find another glacier and glacier lagoon at Jökulsárlón bordering Vatnajökull National Park. What makes this once special is that the ice that is breaking away from the glacier floats down the lagoon towards the see and you get these huge chunks of ice glittering like diamonds against the grains of black sand.
If you aren’t doing a self-drive tour, you can get day trips from the capital Reykjavik to visit this South Eastern part of the country. It would be a lot of hours on a bus but might be worth it for you for this once in a lifetime experience.
10. Seljalandsfoss
Another of Iceland’s famous waterfalls. You can spot it from the Ring Road as you head towards Skógafoss from Reykjavik so no wild goose chase to find this one. Much smaller than it’s neighbour but you can trek the path behind this one. There are also small alcoves further down the cliff that have been eroded by the water where you can get some pretty spectacular photos from too.
11. Rainbow Street, Reykjavik
We are at number 11 on this list already and only just mentioning the beautiful capital Reykjavik. Rainbow Street is exactly what it says on the tin. This colourful street just makes you want to smile and perfectly sums up the bright and cheering nature of the capital (even though we visited the city on the most miserable day of our trip)! It also leads straight up to the infamous Hallgrímskirkja church that sits atop the very top of the city. Another incredible structure to take a snap or two with and the views from the top are unbelievable.
12. Silfra
Being a scientist, one of the things I was excited to experience in Iceland was walking between two tectonic plates. Now we didn’t manage this activity because it was closed, but if you are a fan of scuba diving you can head to the crystal clear waters of Silfra and dive down with Europe on one side of you and the North American plate on the other. Now if that isn’t a shot for your Instagram then I’m not sure what can beat it…. Okay maybe one thing….
13. Anywhere you can capture the aurora
We were so lucky to see the Northern Lights not one, but twice on our trip in 2021. one display was something you couldn’t see with the naked eye but could be picked up by cameras, and the second was the most unforgettable night of my life.
For me, a chance to see this magical phenomenon with my own eyes is something I cannot believe I have ticked off my bucket list. There are various tours you can go on when hunting the aurora and the aurora can be spotted from a range of locations as long as the sky is clear, there is geomagnetic storms from the Sun and there is little light pollution.
Soph talks travel! 