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June 2024 Trip to Iceland
Seven Top Picks
Sea kayaking Hornstrandir Nature Reserve with Borea Adventures
Grimsey Island
Diamond Beach
Mulagljufur Canyon hike
Þakgil & Kötlujökull glacier hike
Landmannalaugar hike
Hveradalir Thermal Area
Trip Reports
More Top Picks (including a few less-known locations)
Latraberg cliffs & Red Sand Beach in Westfjiords
#619 from Bíldudalur to Selárdalur, along Arnarfjörður in Westfjiords
Hvitserkur and Borgarvirki in North Iceland
Hofsós swimming pool (Troll Peninsula)
Haganesvík Beach (short walk on Troll Peninsula)
Siglufjörður town (Troll Peninsula)
Leirhnjukur loop hike (near Krafla, North Iceland)
Borgarfjörður and the Hafnarhólmi puffin colony (also consider the Stórurð trail), Northeast Fjiords
Fauskasandur Beach, Northeast
5km loop around "Melrakkafell", Golden Valley of Hvannagil, Northeast
Rauðaskál volcano crater (near Hekla volcano)
Waterfalls of Iceland
Iceland is unequivocally strong on waterfalls. However, no single waterfall is as impressive as some of the world's "top tourist" waterfalls such as Iguazu Falls, Victoria Falls or, dare I say, Niagara Falls. We found that there were enough beautiful waterfalls in Iceland, that detouring for falls was folly. One of our standout waterfalls was Skógafoss (before the tourist buses arrived). Another is the Klifbrekku Waterfall, that did involve a detour, but the drive was magnificent. There are plenty of roadside waterfalls to feel fulfilled with. Two of the major falls that, in our opinion, fell short of the hype were Dettifoss and Dynjandi Falls, both of which were inundated with other tourists when we were there. Perhaps, we may have enjoyed them more if we had arrived early or late in the day.
Puffins
We visited three puffin colonies in June; Látrabjarg, Grimsey and Hafnarhólmi (Bakkagerði). Apparently the puffins leave the nesting areas sometime in early-mid August.
Látrabjarg in southern Westfjiords featured a beautiful drive in and massive cliffs. There was a relatively small area to see birds and we saw small numbers of puffins, however there were large numbers of other bird species such as razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes and fulmars. It was difficult to see birds further along the beautiful cliff walk.
Grimsey requires more effort; a relatively inexpensive 3 hour ferry from Dalvik. Most people day trip to the island, but it is such an amazing place that it warrants more time. A million sea birds nest on Grimsey, including 100,000 puffins each summer. We stayed at the comfortable Basar Guesthouse (highly recommended). Grimsey was hands-down our best Icelandic puffin experience.
Hafnarhólmi in the Northeast is a relatively small puffin colony but the birds are somewhat habituated to tourists on the well designed walkway through the colony. It allows visitors to get quite close to the nesting birds.
There is plenty of excellent Iceland information on the internet. I'd single out Epic Iceland as one of the best information sources. It also provides a few discount codes. https://epiciceland.net/
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