Iceland’s Most Underrated Places and Best-Kept Secrets, According to 24,877 Traveler Comments

We reviewed 24,877 traveler-to-traveler comments about Iceland and analyzed them against the Google ratings of 93 places. The ranking of Iceland's genuine hidden gems ranges from a Highland caldera to a village swimming pool. Kerlingarfjöll mountain range takes first place, and four of the top six hidden gems are in the Highlands.

Post on any Iceland forum asking where to go and back comes the Golden Circle, then the South Coast. The Golden Circle and the South Coast both earn their reputation as Iceland's most recommended destinations. Scroll further down any Iceland forum thread, though, and you will see people quietly recommending somewhere else entirely.

The comments in this study came from 2,068 threads on the two biggest Iceland travel communities on Reddit. We took the full comment tree from the 947 most relevant threads, then folded in 98 posts from three Facebook travel groups, including our own Iceland Travel Tips group of 197,000 members.

Against the full text of those comments and posts, this study matched 166 Icelandic place names, scored how warmly each is discussed, and lined each place up with its Google rating, review count, and star distribution.

Key Findings

• Iceland's best hidden gems are in the Highlands and the Westfjords. Kerlingarfjöll takes first place overall, and four of the top six are Highland sites, with the Westfjords the second-strongest region. Highland roads open only in summer, and nearly all of them need a real 4x4.

• Almost every famous attraction in Iceland has a quieter sight nearby that travelers like just as much. Travelers rate Kvernufoss waterfall as highly as Skógafoss, and they rate Gljúfrabúi waterfall above Seljalandsfoss, and Hvammsvík hot springs above the Blue Lagoon.

• Crowds are what travelers in Iceland complain about, not the sights. Complaints rise from 16.4% of comments at the quietest attractions to 20.4% at the busiest, while the star ratings are barely affected.

• Travelers rate Iceland's hidden gems almost as highly as the famous sights. The 63 gems in this study average 4.64 stars on Google, and the famous sights 4.74, a gap of one tenth of a star.

• Iceland's small natural pools beat the big commercial lagoons. Travelers speak more warmly about the Hofsós swimming pool, Fosslaug, and Hrunalaug than about the Blue Lagoon, Sky Lagoon, and Secret Lagoon.

• Almost nobody comes away disappointed by an Icelandic small town. Every comment about Patreksfjörður, Grímsey, and Hrísey in this study was positive, and 97% of the comments about Dalvík were positive.

What Counts as a Hidden Gem in Iceland

The famous sights are in this study for comparison only, not as candidates: the Golden Circle trio, Reynisfjara, Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss, Jökulsárlón, the Blue Lagoon, Sky Lagoon, and Kirkjufell. Everywhere else in Iceland was eligible, including quiet stops a few minutes' walk from a famous sight.

To qualify for this ranking, a place needed at least 15 mentions across the 24,877 comments and at least 50 Google reviews. Sixty-three places cleared both thresholds. Each of those 63 places gets a Hidden Gem Score out of 100: its Google rating counts for 35%, how positive travelers sound for 30%, how often people recommend it for 15%, and how few reviews it draws for 20%.

The 20 Highest-Scoring Hidden Gems in Iceland

Scores in the table are out of 100. Each score is calculated from the attraction's Google rating, the review count, and how many times travelers mentioned it in the 24,877 comments analyzed.

Ranks 21 to 30 by Hidden Gem Score are Háifoss (70), Rauðisandur (70), GeoSea (70), Sigöldugljúfur (70), Fjallsárlón (70), Þakgil (69), Hraunfossar (67), Kolugljúfur (64), Vök Baths (64), and Grettislaug (63), followed by Brúarfoss, Friðheimar, Forest Lagoon, Efstidalur II, and Gunnuhver.

Why These Hidden Gems in Iceland Are Worth the Detour

1. Kerlingarfjöll Mountains: Iceland's top-scoring hidden gem is a Highland range of rust-red rhyolite peaks, where the steaming valley of Hveradalir lets you hike between fumaroles and finish the day in a warm stream.

2. Askja Caldera: A deep blue crater lake in the middle of a black lava desert, so bare that Apollo astronauts trained in the area before flying to the Moon.

3. Þórsmörk Valley: A birch-covered green valley ringed by three glaciers that only 4x4 buses and super jeeps can reach, which is why its hiking trails stay quiet even in peak summer.

4. Dynjandi Waterfall: A 100-meter waterfall that fans out into many streams across a wide cliff face, and because it sits far off the Ring Road in the Westfjords, you can often have it to yourself.

5. Berserkjahraun Lava Field: A moss-covered lava field on the north side of Snæfellsnes with red craters rising out of it, which almost every traveler on the peninsula drives straight past.

6. Landmannalaugar: The most-recommended Highland destination in the comments we analyzed, where rhyolite mountains in orange, pink, and green surround a natural hot river at the start of the Laugavegur trail.

7. Hofsós Swimming Pool: The most positively discussed place in this whole ranking, an infinity pool built at the edge of Skagafjörður so the water looks like it runs straight into the fjord.

8. Múlagljúfur Canyon: A moss-walled canyon with waterfalls dropping into it from a hanging valley, twenty minutes from Jökulsárlón and far emptier than anything else on that stretch of the south coast.

9. Hvammsvík Hot Springs: The most-recommended hot spring in this study, a set of geothermal pools on the shore of Hvalfjörður where the incoming tide cools the pools nearest the sea.

10. Nauthúsagil Canyon: A narrow gorge off the road to Þórsmörk with a rowan tree wedged between its walls and a waterfall hidden at the end, reached by a short scramble along the stream.

11. Látrabjarg Cliffs: Europe's westernmost point, and the best puffin cliffs in Iceland, where the birds nest so close to the clifftop that you do not need a zoom lens.

12. Aldeyjarfoss Waterfall: Travelers call this one a hidden gem more often than any other place we measured, because black basalt columns frame the white water on every side.

13. Kvernufoss Waterfall: A waterfall you can walk behind, a fifteen-minute walk from Skógafoss and rated just as highly by travelers, but with far fewer people at it.

14. Djúpalónssandur Beach: A black pebble beach where the rusted ribs of a shipwreck still lie in the sand, next to the four lifting stones fishermen once used to test their strength.

15. Hrunalaug Hot Spring: A tiny stone-walled hot pot in a sheep field twenty minutes off the Golden Circle, warm all year and just big enough for a handful of people at a time.

16. Krossneslaug Pool: A geothermal pool at the end of the Strandir road in the Westfjords, set on a black beach close enough to the surf that you watch the waves break while you swim.

17. Fosslaug Hot Spring: A natural hot pool in north Iceland that sits right beside Reykjafoss, so you can hear the waterfall the whole time you soak.

18. Gljúfrabúi Waterfall: Hidden inside a mossy cleft six hundred meters from Seljalandsfoss, which is why most people drive past it, and why the ones who wade through the stream find it nearly empty.

19. Silfra Fissure: The snorkeling fissure at Þingvellir where you float between the North American and Eurasian plates in glacial water clear enough to see a hundred meters ahead.

20. Glymur Waterfall: Iceland's second-tallest waterfall, an hour from Reykjavík, but reached by a hike with a river crossing and a log bridge, which keeps it a half-day adventure rather than a roadside stop.

Iceland's Hidden Gems Score the Same With a Fifth of the Reviews

Travelers give Iceland's quiet places and its famous ones almost the same ratings. The 63 hidden gems in this study average 4.64 stars on Google and the famous sights average 4.74, a difference of one tenth of a star. What does differ is how many people turn up: the famous sights average 8,368 Google reviews each, 4.7 times the 1,779 reviews that the hidden gems average. Múlagljúfur, Kvernufoss, and Kerlingarfjöll all hold 4.9 stars, the same as Gullfoss and Skógafoss, with far fewer reviews.

Busier Iceland Sights Draw More Complaints

Splitting the places in this study into three equal bands by review volume shows complaints tracking the traffic: 16.4% of sentiment words are negative in the quietest third, 18.3% in the middle, 20.4% among the busiest. Star ratings hardly shift across those three review-volume bands. A five-star review and a grumble in a forum thread can come from the same person on the same day, which is why star ratings on their own will never surface the crowding problem.

Rank by negative share among places with 100 mentions or more, the list is almost entirely famous sights: Geysir 28%, Svartifoss 27%, the Blue Lagoon 25%, Gullfoss 23%, Skaftafell 22%, Kerið 22%, Reynisfjara 21%, Þingvellir 21%. The complaints at those crowded sights are about other people, not the view. Crowd words turn up 53 times in the Blue Lagoon's negative passages alone.

Every Famous Iceland Stop Has a Quiet Twin

This study found eight famous-and-quiet pairs, each within a short drive of the other. In six of the eight pairs, the quiet neighbor matches or beats the famous one on Google.

• Jökulsárlón (1,428 mentions, 4.9 stars) and Fjallsárlón (118 mentions, 4.8 stars)

• Skógafoss (620 mentions, 4.9 stars) and Kvernufoss (164 mentions, 4.9 stars)

• Seljalandsfoss (459 mentions, 4.8 stars) and Gljúfrabúi (208 mentions, 4.9 stars)

• Gullfoss (325 mentions, 4.9 stars) and Brúarfoss (195 mentions, 4.8 stars)

• Fjaðrárgljúfur (257 mentions, 4.8 stars) and Múlagljúfur (164 mentions, 4.9 stars)

• Blue Lagoon (1,222 mentions, 4.6 stars) and Hvammsvík (263 mentions, 4.8 stars)

• Svartifoss (231 mentions, 4.7 stars) and Hengifoss (114 mentions, 4.7 stars)

• Secret Lagoon (307 mentions, 4.6 stars) and Hrunalaug (47 mentions, 4.6 stars)

Where Travelers Are Most Enthusiastic in Iceland

Around every mention this study took the 170 characters on each side and weighed praise words against complaint words. Iceland's famous sights average 79% positive sentiment. The places at the top of this chart run 90% and above: Dalvík 97%, Hjörleifshöfði 96%, the Hofsós pool 95%, Fosslaug 95%, Borgarfjörður eystri 93%, Nauthúsagil 92%, Aldeyjarfoss 92%, Hrunalaug 91%, and Askja 91%.

One pattern holds right down the sentiment ranking: small natural pools beat big commercial lagoons on traveler sentiment. Hofsós, Fosslaug, Hrunalaug, and Krossneslaug all outscore the Blue Lagoon (75%), Sky Lagoon (82%), and the Secret Lagoon (83%) on sentiment.

Hvammsvík Hot Springs is the one commercial bath that scores as highly as the small natural pools, at 85% positive sentiment and 4.8 stars. Travelers who want the full spread can read our guides to the best hot springs in Iceland and the best swimming pools outside Reykjavík, and you can book a hot spring tour if you'd rather someone else drove.

The Highlands Are Iceland's Most Underrated Region

The Highlands average 79 out of 100 across their hidden gems, the highest score of any region in Iceland, and the Westfjords come second at 67. Then come the southeast at 65, the south at 62, Reykjanes at 61, the southwest and the north at 60 each, the capital region at 57, the east at 54, and the west at 53.

Far fewer people review the places in the top two regions: a Highland gem has 425 Google reviews on average and a Westfjords gem 428, against 3,620 for a gem in the southwest, roughly eight times more.

Highland roads open only in summer, somewhere between late June and early September depending on the road, and nearly all of them require a 4x4. That access is also why the Highlands stay quiet: the season is short, and rental contracts do not allow two-wheel-drive cars on the F-roads that lead there. If you would rather not ford a glacial river yourself, guided Highland tours are the easier way in.

The Iceland Towns Nobody Puts on the Itinerary

Google doesn't rate whole settlements, so Iceland's small towns rank on traveler sentiment alone, with mention counts in parentheses: Patreksfjörður 100% (39), Grímsey 100% (19), Hrísey 100% (13), Dalvík 97% (40), Bíldudalur 94% (29), Flatey 94% (15), Borgarfjörður eystri 93% (128), Ísafjörður 90% (237), Heimaey 89% (272), Siglufjörður 89% (73), Stykkishólmur 87% (149), Hellnar 86% (75), Djúpavík 86% (19), Seyðisfjörður 84% (266), and Djúpivogur 80% (78).

Seyðisfjörður and Ísafjörður carry more conversation than any other small towns in the comments we analyzed. Borgarfjörður eystri is talked about far more than its size would suggest: 128 mentions at 93% positive, and its Hafnarhólmi puffin colony holds 4.9 stars on 543 reviews, level with the best-rated places in the study. Travelers planning a route through Iceland's small towns should read the Westman Islands guide and the Siglufjörður guide first.

How to Use These Hidden Gem Findings on Your Iceland Trip

Travelers keeping the famous stops on a Ring Road trip can add the quiet twin nearby instead of a second famous viewpoint. Gljúfrabúi works straight after Seljalandsfoss, Kvernufoss straight after Skógafoss, and Fjallsárlón before you reach Jökulsárlón. Múlagljúfur is a good alternative to a second glacier hike, with waterfalls and views toward the ice from the canyon rim. Each quiet-twin detour takes about an hour and takes you out of the tour bus traffic.

Travelers with a week or more in summer and a 4x4 should look to the Highlands and the Westfjords. Kerlingarfjöll, Landmannalaugar and Þórsmörk are the three highest-scoring places we measured, and Dynjandi, Látrabjarg, Rauðisandur, Krossneslaug and Ísafjörður put five more on a single Westfjords loop. A rental car or a self-drive package is the only sensible way to reach most of the places in this ranking. Our guide to the best time to visit Iceland covers the seasonal trade-offs, and the road-sign guide is worth ten minutes before you take on an F-road.

How We Analyzed 24,877 Traveler Comments About Iceland

Forty search queries went into the two largest Iceland communities on Reddit, all of them built on the language people use when they recommend somewhere: hidden gem, underrated, off the beaten path, best kept secret, favourite place, less crowded, worth the drive, trip report.

The search queries for this study surfaced 2,068 threads. From the 947 most relevant threads, this study took the whole comment tree, 24,877 comments in total, and added 98 posts pulled from three Facebook Iceland travel groups over 24 in-group searches.

A dictionary of 166 Icelandic places, each with its spelling variants, was matched against accent-normalized text so that Gljúfrabúi and Gljufrabui, or Stokksnes and Vestrahorn, count as the same place.

Sentiment came from counting praise words against complaint words within 170 characters of each mention. Satisfaction came from the Google Maps rating, review count, and full star distribution for 93 places, collected on August 30, 2026.

Two limits on this study are worth stating. Some large sites are split across several Google listings, so treat the review counts as a minimum rather than an exact measure of how many people visit. Reddit also leans English-speaking, self-driving, and summer-heavy, which makes this study a portrait of what that particular crowd tells each other rather than of every visitor to Iceland.

What the Hidden Gem Data Says About Where to Go in Iceland

Kerlingarfjöll is the highest-scoring hidden gem in Iceland, the Highlands and the Westfjords are the two most underrated regions in the country, and the places travelers complain about most are the ones everyone already goes to. The quiet alternatives sit next door to almost every famous stop and rate just as well.

For more on Iceland's hidden gems, our 20 hidden gems in Iceland guide fills in the places that sit under the 15-mention threshold, the 10 most beautiful waterfalls and the 5 best hot springs go deeper on the two categories that dominate this ranking, east Iceland and Snæfellsnes cover two regions worth a detour, and the best attractions on the Ring Road is the place to start if you're building the route around them.

Every tour and rental on this page is run by local operators who work these roads and pools year-round, so you're supporting Icelandic businesses and traveling with companies that meet the highest safety standards in the country.