While your stay in Iceland seeing one of our beautiful glacier lagoons is a must do experience. Despite a common belief we have one (Jokulsarlon) we actually have quite a few of them. You can visit any of them to hike around. Although if what you crave is a glacier travel we highly recommend booking a glacier tour so you can enjoy them to the fullest without jeopardizing your safety.
So let’s start from the beginning.
A glacier lagoon is a body of water formed at the edge of a glacier, often created by the melting of glacial ice. These lagoons can be found in areas where the glacier meets the land, and they often contain icebergs that have calved off from the glacier. The water in a glacier lagoon is typically cold and can be a striking blue or green color due to the presence of glacial silt. It is a sweet water and our biggest reservoir of drinkable water. All hidden in glaciers all over the world.
Glacier lagoons are dynamic environments, constantly changing as the glacier advances or retreats, and they offer unique and picturesque landscapes. They are also important indicators of climate change, as their size and presence can provide information about the health and movement of the glaciers feeding them.
Vatnajokull National Park covers roughly 14,141 square kilometers and it’s home to the biggest by volume and second biggest by area glacier in Europe. Vatnajokull glacier is creating and feeding the most beautiful glacier lagoons you can find in Iceland.
So here you can find a list of top 5 according to our guides!
Fjallsarlon Glacier Lagoon
This is a home to our operation. We truly are amazed day by day observing the changes and the nature of Fjallsarlon. Lagoon covers 4 square kilometers and at its deepest point it reaches roughly 100 m. Fjallsjökull glacier is one of the most beautiful glacier outlets that creates and feeds the Fjallsarlon glacier lagoon. Constant changes and calving of the glacier tongue makes this part of National Park truly magical. As well, it’s not as crowded as other lagoons. If you would like to see all the wonders of our beloved place you should definitely check out our Ultimate Glacier Adventure. Here you can experience sailing towards the calving side of the glacier on one of our zodiac boats and as well hike with us on the biggest by volume glacier in Europe.
Skaftafellsjökull Glacier Lagoon
During your stay in Southeast Iceland we highly recommend taking some time to hike towards Skaftafellsjökull glacier. Hike is easy and doable for most. You can see all sorts of Icelandic vegetation and at the end of the trail quite impressive glacier tongue with a lagoon that expands year by year. In the past, glacier hikes and travels were operated over there but since 2019 due to extended water levels, National Park restricted the area and stopped permits for glacier operation on this particular outlet. Still our feelings about it did not melt and we highly recommend stopping at the Visitor Center located there and checking exhibitions of all sorts of valid information about the area created by local rangers.
Svínafellsjökull Glacier Lagoon
Backdrop of many famous movies and tv productions. Svínafellsjökull itself is a quite dramatic glacier outlet with impressive icefall scenery. Definitely a great place to visit if you are looking for a bit of a magical movie experience. To list a few made over there: “Batman Begins”, “Interstellar”, “Game of Thrones”. Lagoon surrounding the glacier is one of the most popular spots for enthusiasts of photography. Hiking is easy and doable for most people. Svínafellsjökull is closed for glacier operations due to the possible landslide jeopardizing safety of operation there.
Heinabergslón Glacier Lagoon
A must do for nature enthusiasts. Heinabergslón is quite an impressive lagoon surrounded by wildlife. It is rich in birdlife and quite frequently you can spot various species of them. Lagoon is quite hard to reach but worth visiting. Beautiful and impressive in size icebergs and not ordinary ice formation makes this place one of our favorites. Reaching it involves 4×4 driving on not easy terrain. We highly recommend booking a tour over there to avoid dangerous situations and possible implications of extra payments due to rental cars insurance.
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
One that’s known by many. And for a good reason. Jökulsárlón is an outstanding lagoon with beautiful views. Lagoon connects with the North Atlantic Ocean and creates an area of wonders visited by thousands of people every year – Breiðamerkursandur / Fellsfjara, commonly known as Diamond Beach. Here we prefer to call it as it was – Fellsfjara (we are aware it’s hard to pronounce). For sure a place to visit and check possible kayak tours over there to get closer to seals and icebergs.
