Best Sightseeing Tours in Iceland

Sightseeing in Iceland offers travellers a unique plateau of geological features, from domineering mountainscapes to carved and crooked coastlines.

Iceland’s formation started about 18 million years ago, as lava rising from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, then cooling on the ocean’s surface. This process continues today. The primordial energy that shaped the land seen today is often exposed at the surface, with geothermal areas and hot springs dotting the country.

This intense mixture of the elements has produced many other natural features, including fumaroles, geysers and bubbling mud puddles, providing the unique chance to see, and smell, the earth as it jostles and moves under heat and pressure.

Water is a central feature of Iceland’s scenery, having long sculpted the island with huge carving glaciers, heavy rainfall, crashing Atlantic waves and flowing rivers. Waterfalls are prolific, whether they are gentle trickles emerging from lava plateaus or thundering cascades plummeting from the interior highlands; there are simply too many to count, and they make up an integral part of any sightseeing route around the country. 

Ice dominates much of the landscape, with glaciers covering 11% of the island. Visitors can admire these glaciers from a distance or take the opportunity to see them up close. The spaces these glaciers leave behind create dramatic fjords, now an iconic feature of the Icelandic coastline.

Fantastic rock formations are plentiful and varied. From erupting sea-stacks to basalt columns, there’s no end of wonder to gaze upon. Dramatic lava fields cover much of the surface of this ancient land and are often covered with thick moss.

Travellers to Iceland will always find something new, as the countryside transforms dramatically with each season. Grand waterfalls, accented with rainbows, are a staple sight in the summer but become ice-riddled behemoths in the winter time.

No matter where or when you choose to embark on a sightseeing tour, you’re promised a unique and memorable experience, not to mention countless subjects to feast your camera lens upon.