Iceland South Coast & Highlands 2017
After my sailing trip through East Greenland I met Luisa in Iceland, and with friends we travelled through the south and up into the highlands. September was the perfect season: long days for explorin…
Travelblog Iceland
Iceland has never quite let me go. I’ve been there in winter, when the snowstorm sweeps over Dyrhólaey and the ice blocks glitter on the black beach at Jökulsárlón, and in summer, when the Highlands show their colours. I’ve chased the northern lights, got lost on the way to the DC-3 wreck on Sólheimasandur and flown the drone over the glaciers of Skaftafell. Here you’ll find all my travel stories from Iceland – from my first road trip around the Ring Road to the Vestrahorn in the morning light. Cold, rough, quiet. And a little different every time.
Iceland – Road Trip to the East
Before we finally met Sabrina and Andy for the shoot in the evening, we used the day for an excursion east from the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, with a short stop at Höfn harbour. The weather was typic…
Iceland – The Black Beach at the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
In the evening we were drawn back to the black beach by the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. The storms of the last few days, however, had driven fewer chunks of ice from the lake into the sea, so the beac…
Iceland – Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon in Winter
A stop at the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon is part of every Iceland trip, but it's getting ever trickier to photograph or write anything new here. After the stormy days before our arrival, fewer ice flo…
Iceland – Vestrahorn “Batman Mountain”
The Vestrahorn near Höfn has become widely known by now, and I had been here several times in recent years. This time, though, I stood right down by the surf for the first time, in the middle of the b…
Iceland – Aerial Views of the Glacier Landscape in Skaftafell National Park
After the sandur plains we went on to the Svínafellsjökull glacier and then to Skaftafell National Park. Of course the drone had to go up here too. The Svínafellsjökull is an outlet glacier of the Vat…
Iceland – Sandur Plains near Skaftafell National Park
On the way to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, just before Skaftafell National Park, the black sandur plains appeared, marked by ash and stones from past volcanic eruptions and criss-crossed by countle…
Iceland – Road Trip from Kirkjubæjarklaustur to the Sandur Plains
From Kirkjubæjarklaustur we continued east towards the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. Here are the first pictures of this stage, up to the sandur plains just before Skaftafell National Park. The landscap…
Iceland – From Vík to Kirkjubæjarklaustur
After the stop at the black beach of Vík we battled on through the snowstorm to Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Despite everything there were a few beautiful motifs on the way. For the first time in Iceland the …
Iceland – Basalt Rocks on the Black Beach at Dyrhólaey
After the peninsula we drove briefly down to the black beach between Vík and Dyrhólaey, a place you have often seen here on the blog. Those few minutes turned into sheer snowstorm chaos. The basalt ro…
Iceland – Dyrhólaey Peninsula in Winter
After a short night we were out early again the next morning. Sadly, storm and heavy snowfall met us head-on. Our first stop was the Dyrhólaey peninsula, which I had been hugely looking forward to: I …
Iceland – Impressive Northern Lights of Strength 7
One night we experienced beautiful northern lights; peaks of strength 7 had been forecast. Most of the time, though, the light stayed far south of Iceland and could only be seen on the horizon. Now an…
Iceland – The Abandoned DC-3 Plane Wreck on the South Coast
I don't need to write much more about the wreck of the old DC-3 at Sólheimasandur – I've been to this surreal place a few times. And yet we managed to take the wrong turn off the Ring Road again,…
Iceland – Hjálparfoss in Winter
In the flurries of snow we made it from Flúðir to the Hjálparfoss reasonably well. After a good kilometre on foot through fresh snow we stood in front of the waterfall – somehow small and cute. In sum…
Iceland – Driving Snow between Flúðir and the Highlands
Overnight a good 30 centimetres of fresh snow had fallen outside our hotel. Beautiful – but it made our plan to drive a loop towards the highlands a risky one. We set off anyway, to see how far we wou…
Iceland – Brúarfoss Waterfall near Geysir
Somewhere near the Geysir geothermal area hides the Brúarfoss, which I had already looked for twice in vain. The directions on the internet are sparse, which probably suits the waterfall's neighbours …
Iceland – Þingvellir National Park
On the first day we went straight for Iceland's standard programme: the Golden Circle. The highlight was to be the Brúarfoss; the pictures of it are coming in the next post. Somewhere between Reykjaví…
Iceland – Reykjavík Sightseeing and Hallgrímskirkja
We spent the first night in a small hotel in the city centre, with the Hallgrímskirkja and Harpa within easy walking distance. After what has become our traditional dinner at Chuck Norris Burger and a…
Flight to Iceland
At last, here come the pictures from Iceland! At the beginning of March I flew from Frankfurt to Reykjavík/Keflavík to explore the south coast for nine days. Just before Iceland the sky cleared, and w…
Shopping in Reykjavík
On the last day we treated ourselves to a few hours of shopping in Reykjavík – for the first time on our fifth visit to Iceland, which is actually a shame, because there are some really lovely shops. …
Northern Lights in Akureyri
On our penultimate night in Akureyri we finally had two or three minutes of really strong northern lights. So intense that I could hardly capture the full spectrum of colour and the rapid flickering w…
Laufás Turf Houses and Church
After two nights at Mývatn we went on to Akureyri. On the way we spontaneously turned off to the turf houses and the church of Laufás. The turf houses were beautiful, but the small Icelandic church ne…
On the Way to Mývatn
After the East Fjords we went on into the geothermal area at Mývatn and to the famous Goðafoss waterfall. The smell of sulphur still lingers in our noses, but the low sun bathed the steaming crater la…
On the Way to the East Fjords
After three nights at the glacier lagoon we moved on into the East Fjords, heading for Egilsstaðir. The route was magnificent, the weather held until the end, and on the way a few reindeer crossed our…
Blocks of Ice on the Black Beach by the Jökulsárlón
After our ice cave tour we briefly went to the black beach by the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. I had long wanted to take long exposures of the ice blocks here, and this time it paid off: overnight the …
Ice Cave Tour near the Jökulsárlón
As the year before, we went into an ice cave again, though this time with other tourists and into a somewhat smaller cave than last time. It was beautiful all the same. What was especially impressive …
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
From the black beach we walked the few metres over to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. We didn't take many pictures there, because we were pretty frozen, and a warm soup from the little stove on the sh…
Black Beach at the Jökulsárlón
At the Jökulsárlón we first visited the black beach, where the sea washes the icebergs from the lagoon back ashore. To our surprise the big chunks of ice were missing this time, and the warmth of the …
Northern Lights at the Jökulsárlón
After it had poured with rain all day, we hardly believed the forecast that the sky would clear from 10 o'clock. But when the first stars began to twinkle, we jumped into the car and drove to the Jöku…
From Skógar to the Jökulsárlón
On our second day we drove from Skógar to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon – a classic where we stop every time. The weather that day was simply wet, probably the rainiest day we have had in Iceland so …
The Golden Circle
At last we're off again: Iceland, for the fifth time. This time we want to go round the whole island in ten days, in winter – something different for a change. Of course we start with the Golden Circl…
New Northern Lights Pictures
On our last night at the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon we were lucky once more shortly after dinner: a few northern lights appeared on the horizon. Sadly they were gone as quickly as they had come, and f…
Iceland – Time-Lapse Video of the Drive to the Glacier Lagoon
Here's something new on our blog: a time-lapse video of our drive in the south of Iceland, from Vík to the glacier lagoon, recorded on 1 January. Michael and Thomas lent us two GoPro cameras, which ke…
Iceland – The Way Back to Reykjavík
At the end, on the way back to Reykjavík, we had lovely weather once more and stopped twice: first again at the black beach of Vík, then on to another “old familiar” spot: the old plane wreck on the s…
Iceland – Ice Cave Tour
There was one thing we had wanted to do in Iceland for a long time, and now the moment had finally come: an ice cave! The pictures on the internet had already impressed us, but seeing it all for ourse…
Iceland – Black Beach by the Jökulsárlón
After the impressive northern lights we had good weather for photography again the next day. We spent the whole day on the black beach by the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, where the sea washes the chunk…
Northern Lights – Let There Be Light!
After all the waiting outside in the dark, on New Year's night it finally paid off – our first northern lights, at the beautiful Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon! It looked as if painted. At first the north…
Iceland – From Vík to the Jökulsárlón
Of course it was hard to leave the beautiful beach at Vík in this light, but a good three hours' drive to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon still lay ahead of us. As on the days before, strong crosswinds…
Iceland – The Black (Golden) Beach of Vík
We spent New Year's Eve with the locals on the beach at Vík, with a bonfire and fireworks. The next morning we continued east towards the Jökulsárlón – but first to the black beach on the west side of…
Iceland – From Selfoss to Vík
On the way from Selfoss to Vík we visited three well-known waterfalls. The first was the Urriðafoss, about two kilometres off the Ring Road. The second the famous Seljalandsfoss, which you can normall…
Iceland – Heading South
After a few lovely days we moved on south; we spent the next night in Selfoss. Before that we made a detour to Stykkishólmur, with a beautiful old lighthouse and a rather unusual church. The town live…
Iceland – Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Day 2
The next day we explored the peninsula further. For sunrise we were back at the Kirkjufell and the waterfall right next to it, then we crossed a stormy, deeply snowed-in pass to the south side – headi…
Iceland – Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Day 1
On our first day on the Snæfellsnes peninsula we explored its north and west side. In the morning we went to photograph the Kirkjufell, then on to a lighthouse at the south-western tip. Above the west…
Iceland – On the Way to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula
With a new rental car we finally set off on Friday, heading for the Snæfellsnes peninsula, about 200 kilometres north of Reykjavík. On the way we wanted to see the Glymur, Iceland's highest waterfall.…
Plane Wreck and Skógar
On the way back to Reykjavík and Keflavík we stopped twice more. First we drove our lowered mini SUV – a tin can on wheels – across the terrain to the plane wreck on the coast, which I had already…
Zurück nach Vik
Hier mal der zweite Teil der Bilder von vorgestern nachdem wir in der Zwischenzeit (leider) wieder in Deutschland sind, wären gerne noch länger geblieben! Nach dem coolen Morgen am Jökulsarlon-Strand …
Strand am Jökulsarlon
Wir haben ja schon ein paar Bilder vom Strand am Jökulsarlon hier im Blog gepostet. Da wir aber gestern morgen gleich nochmal dort waren und über Nacht da neue und richtig schöne Eisbrocken an Land ge…
Jökulsárlón/Fjallsárlón
We spent a whole day around the Jökulsárlón. In the morning we went first to the black beach, where the sea washes the chunks of ice back ashore. We had seen this place twice before in summer – in win…
Unterwegs zum Jökulsarlon
Bei dem schon gewohnten Wettermix von Sonne, Regen, Schnee und Sturm gings auf die 200km Strecke zum Gletschersee Jökulsarlon. Der Weg zwischen all den verschiedenen Lava- und Sandurfeldern ist recht …
Weg nach Vik
Das Wetter zeigte sich gestern mal wieder von seiner typisch isländischen Seite: morgends Sonne, dann Schnee und abends dann Regen und ein extremer Sturm wie wir es bisher kaum erlebt hatten. Von Self…
Goldener Zirkel
Nach einem ziemlich unruhigen Flug sind wir gut in Reykjavik angekommen und haben ein ordentliches Hostel im Zentrum der Stadt bekommen. Leider hats den ganzen Abend nur geregnet und die Chance auf Po…
Flugzeugwrack an der Südküste Islands
In verschiedenen Zeitraffer- und Musikvideos tauchte immer wieder ein altes silbernes Flugzeugwrack auf, total durchlöchert von scheinbar Schrotmunition, abgelegen auf einem schwarzen Strand irgendwo …