Highlights of the Diamond Circle, Iceland Six Day Tour Trip Highlights: Volcanic Rock Formations Glaciers & Waterfalls Northern Lights in remote locations Lake Myvatn & Krafla Volcano
Arrive in Iceland Typically, flights into Iceland arrive early in the morning. We will arrange transportation for you to get from the airport to the hotel in Reykjavik after you land. You will be able to leave your bags at the desk while you explore Reykjavik until check-in time. Our first meet-up of the Big Chill Adventure team will be in the hotel lobby, and then we head out for dinner and drinks at our favorite restaurant in Reykjavik. After dinner everyone is free to explore the town on your own or rest up in your room before we meet first thing in the morning for breakfast! If you are interested in arriving a day early and being on your own, resting up or exploring, we can help you find accommodations and transport into town.
Day One We will start with an early breakfast in Reykjavik, then off to the Hallmundarhraun Lava Field. Here we will tour and photograph the largest lava tube cave in Iceland, Viðgelmir, filled with sparkling ice formations. We will explore the Hraunfossar and Barnafoss waterfalls and then an "epic" 4WD truck drive to the Langjökull Icecap. We will travel to one of the local towns for accommodation and dining.
Day Two After breakfast we will spend the morning visiting trolls around Hop, the largest saltwater lagoon in Iceland. We will investigate black sand beaches covered in rare alpine and arctic plants, as birds and horses vie for our attention. Hvítserkur arch, believed to be a troll turned to stone by the sun will be one of the highlights. After finding a suitable spot to enjoy our packed lunches, we will be going to Varmahlid for a 3 hour private rafting trip down the West Glacial River. We wind our way through the Vesturdalur Valley's enchanting landscape; between rapids there are promises of hot chocolate made from the natural spring water bubbling up from the riverbank, and stops aplenty at spectacular scenery calling out to photographers!
Day Three After an early breakfast we explore traditional turf farmhouses, thought to have first been built on this site in 900 A.D. during the Age of Settlements. We will lunch in Akureyri, the largest "city" in northern Iceland with 18,000 inhabitants before traveling to the Goðafoss and Aldeyjarfoss waterfalls. A leisurely drive will bring us to Húsavik, with a picturesque harbor. We will have dinner overlooking the water. In addition to the harbor, there are many exploration and photo opportunities all around the town. There is a lovely wooden church, gardens, a lighthouse, and whale museum.
Day Four After breakfast, we will stop to pick up our lunch supplies. Day four brings us into the geologically diverse and spectacular Northeast of Iceland. A gigantic, horseshoe shaped canyon, Ásbyrgi, stands guard next to the northern entrance to Jökulsárgljúfur National Park. The canyon is divided through the middle by a distinctive rock formation, called Eyjan "the Island", for more than half of its length and contributes giving the canyon its peculiar horseshoe shape. We will continue on to Vesturdalur walking trails and the strange basalt rock formations of Hljóðaklettar, which means "echoing rocks". This mysterious stone "forest"was created by the interaction of fire and ice, when hot lava came into contact with glaciers and meltwater. We will end the day at Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Iceland before heading to Lake Myvatn.
Day Five Today's journey will begin with intense heat: geothermal fields and active volcanoes! The unmistakeable odor of sulphur greets visitors as the road climbs up and over Námafjall. Temperatures in bore-holes here have been recorded as high as 608 degrees F! We are going exploring in the geothermal field of Hverir. There are walkways and paths running across the multi-colored clay, with steaming vents, hissing chimneys and bubbling hot pots of mud. Next we head four miles north of Hverir, where the volcanic fields are known by the name of Krafla. This series of volcanoes last erupted in the 1980's and are formed by the pulling apart of two oceanic tectonic plates beneath Iceland. Krafla is also an active geothermal power plant, whose pipes form a metal entrance-way to the magma reservoir.
Day Six After breakfast we start our last day together hiking to the top of a recent tephra cone: Hverfjall, which last erupted about 2500 years ago. The view from the top is spectacular and will provide some lasting memories of this fantastic trip. We then will drive to Akureyri, with time to enjoy some lunch before our plane departs for Reykjavik at 3 pm.