Things to do in Iceland: 35 experiences worth the trip

1 to 2 hoursNo booking needed

Sit in a geothermal hot tub with the regulars after a cold day on the road, for a fraction of what the spa lagoons charge.

A full day from ReykjavíkNo booking needed

Stand in the spray at the foot of Skógafoss, then end the day on Reynisfjara's black beach under its basalt columns and sea stacks.

2 to 4 hours after darkGo alone or with a tour

Watch for the northern lights from the beach at Grótta lighthouse, about 15 minutes from central Reykjavík, on a clear dark night.

1 hour with GljúfrabúiNo booking needed

Follow the footpath behind Seljalandsfoss and see the coast through a 60-metre curtain of falling water.

A full day, better with a night out of ReykjavíkGo alone or with a tour

Done in a rush the Golden Circle is three car parks; done slowly, with Gullfoss and Kerið, it is a full day.

1 to 2 hoursFree

Watch icebergs drift across the lagoon towards the sea, then cross the road to find the ice thrown back onto black sand.

15 minutesNo booking needed

Order one with everything at the Reykjavík hot dog stand selling since 1937: one of the cheapest meals in the city.

3 to 4 hours with the soakNo booking needed

Hike up past steam vents and hot springs to bathe in a warm river instead of a pool.

A long full day from ReykjavíkBook ahead

Let someone else drive the long loop round the glacier-capped peninsula of Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Three or four nights in NovemberBook ahead

Hear new bands across every genre in venues all over central Reykjavík, at the music festival held each November.

30 to 40 minutes by amphibian, 75 minutes by ZodiacBook ahead

Out on the water you see the size of the ice the shore only hints at, and taste a piece about 1,000 years old.

About 2.5 hours on site, 30 to 40 minutes in the waterBook ahead

Float through a water-filled rift in Þingvellir, in glacial meltwater filtered through lava and famous for its visibility.

2 to 3 hoursTimed entry

Milky blue seawater in a lava field about 20 km from Keflavík airport, which makes it a natural first or last stop.

3 to 4 hours returnNo booking needed

Through a small cave, over the river on a log and up the canyon edge to look down on a 198-metre fall.

45 minutesNo booking needed

Take the lift up the church tower and look down on the coloured roofs of the old town, the harbour and Esja.

1 hourFree

Wait for the moment the water bulges into a blue dome, then Strokkur throws boiling water up to about 30 metres.

Usually 4 daysBook ahead

Four days on foot from rhyolite mountains and hot springs, through lava and black desert, down to the birch woods of Þórsmörk.

2.5 to 3 hoursTimed entry

Walk into a tunnel of blue ice that summer meltwater carved through Vatnajökull, a cave that will not match last year's photos.

2 to 3 hours on the cliffsFree

Walk the cliff top at Iceland's westernmost point, where puffins sit close to the grass above ledges of nesting seabirds.

2 hoursBook ahead

Soak in 36 to 40 °C water above Lake Mývatn after a day among the craters, quieter and cheaper than the Blue Lagoon.

1 to 2 hoursFree

Wander a maze of lava pillars, arches and caves to Kirkjan, a hollow lava arch big enough to stand inside.

30 minutes to walk through, an evening for a concertFree

Walk the foyers of Reykjavík's harbour concert hall for free as Ólafur Elíasson's glass facade throws coloured light across them.

45 minutesNo booking needed

Try a cube of fermented shark with a shot of brennivín at the farm where one family has made it for generations.

1.5 hours at the museum, a day for the islandNo booking needed

Walk into a house dug out of the ash that buried hundreds of homes on Heimaey in 1973, then climb the new volcano.

About 2 hours on foot, 1 hour with the shuttleNo booking needed

Cross a flat plain of black sand to the fuselage of a US Navy plane that came down here in 1973.

Two days with a night on the peninsulaNo booking needed

Drive Snæfellsnes yourself and stay a night, so you choose the stops and walk the cliffs rather than just look.

45 minutes for the viewpointFree

Frame Kirkjufell behind the small waterfall across the road, the classic shot of what is said to be Iceland's most photographed mountain.

A full day from the south coastBook ahead

Climb streaked pink, green and yellow rhyolite peaks from the hut, then end the hike in a hot pool under the lava.

1.5 hours with SelfossFree

Watch some 200 cubic metres of glacial water a second fall into the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon, then walk upstream to the horseshoe of Selfoss.

An eveningNo booking needed

Reykjavík's music scene lives in small rooms, from a whiskey bar's upstairs stage to experimental sets on Óðinsgata.

2 hoursFree

Walk down the rift wall where two tectonic plates pull apart to the Law Rock, where Iceland's assembly met for centuries.

45 minutes for both banksFree

The falls where, the story goes, a lawspeaker threw his statues of the old Norse gods, right beside the Ring Road.

An hour for lunchNo booking needed

Lamb, potatoes and root vegetables in a clear broth, eaten at a farm that raises its own animals on a long driving day.

3 hoursBook ahead

Sail into Skjálfandi Bay on a restored oak fishing boat to look for humpbacks, minke whales and, on lucky days, blue whales.

3.5 to 4 hoursBook ahead

Strap on crampons and learn to use an ice axe on the closest glacier to Reykjavík, the easiest place to try walking on ice.