Everything you need to know about Iceland
Follow Iceland from Reykjavík around the coast to the northern fjords and eastern valleys. Explore the maps, read the history and everyday life behind the landscape, then practise Icelandic.
Read it, then make it stick
Geography of Iceland
A volcanic North Atlantic island with coastal settlements, a wide highland interior and eight commonly used regions.
Know the shape of the country
Start with eight geographic and statistical regions, then place seventeen cities and towns and explore eight selected waters. Zoom into the capital area to separate its neighbouring towns. Region boundaries and coastline: Natural Earth, public domain, with the 2020 Hornafjörður transfer corrected using IS 50V Sveitarfélög by Náttúrufræðistofnun, CC BY 4.0. Bays and Eyjafjörður are simplified coastal areas derived from that coastline.
Places worth visiting
Essential · National park & history
Þingvellir
Iceland’s parliament first met here in 930, in a valley where two tectonic plates pull apart. Walk the Almannagjá gorge between the continents.
Follow the south coast past waterfalls and black sand beaches, then head north for volcanic lakes and whale watching. Essential is our shortlist for a first trip, and worth a detour goes further. Select a pin to read about a place, then play the map and find them all.
Take Icelandic with you
Greetings and politeness
Hello, please, thank you, sorry: the ten openers everything else builds on.
Keep going one country deeper
When you have had your fill of Iceland, the countries marked guide have a page like this one, and every other has maps of its own.
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