Travel
From speeding over black sand beaches to walking behind waterfalls, descending into volcanoes, hiking on glaciers or driving across the wild Highlands: read about our Iceland travels within.
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Perfect Day: Árni Kristjánsson
In this new series, we pick out some interesting faces from the local scene to find out their favourite spots in Reykjavík, and what they get up to on a perfect day. This time, it’s the turn of DJ, musician, music nerd…
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Green Lakes And Ghosts: A Day Exploring The Reykjanes Peninsula
As much as I love going on tours, I initially wasn’t filled with excitement about my recent day trip to Reykjanes. In retrospect, it was stupid of me to think that it wouldn’t be impressive, just because it hasn’t been discovered by…
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Winter Travel Picks: A Hike & A Day Trip
Everyone knows that you have to be careful getting out into the wilds during the Icelandic winter. But there´s no reason you can’t get out into the landscape, whether on foot, or skiing over a glacier—at least, if you’ve booked a trip,…
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Volcano Island: A Weekend In Vestmannaeyjar
The tiny propellor plane descends into the clouds, buffeted by the ferocious wind. Along with my twelve or so fellow passengers, I’m jolted left and right as a tiny sea stack appears in the round window through a blanket of fog. A…
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Hiking to the Reykjadalur hot springs
Going for a hike is a must-do activity in Iceland. The beautiful scenery comes in a package with fresh air, pleasant physical activity and—if you choose right—a dip in some natural hot springs at the end. The Reykjadalur hiking and hot springs…
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Practical Magic: Learning Sorcery In Strandir
Heavy clouds hover only dozen of metres above the ground, confirming the presence of an approaching blizzard. I slide my fingers over the cool hood of the car, carefully tracing invisible lines and arches. Adding the last circle, I’m done. With a…
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2016 In Travel: Small Towns, Ice Caves, Volcanoes, Islands
To look back on Grapevine’s year in travel, we decided to first go the empirical populism route, and drew up a list of the most clicked, liked and read stories we published in 2016. The first noticeable pattern was that our…
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North By Northeast: A Road Trip To Iceland’s Arctic Henge
Despite its well earned reputation, Icelandic winter isn’t all bad. On a clear day, the short days—four or five hours, around the solstice—can be beautiful. The sun during this perpetual gloaming glances off the tops of the mountains and the bottoms of…
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Weekly Tour: Imagine Peace Tower
I have always wondered about the bright beam of light I see shining into the night sky from my bedroom window. I didn’t dwell on it much, until I heard that it’s an artwork created by Yoko Ono, representing the hope for…
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The Once Sky: Two Days In Rif And Hellissandur
The colour, I am certain, has never existed before, and will never exist again. It has something to do with blue, grey, purple, orange, and yellow and yet is none of them. It coats the sky to our left as we drive…
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Up Close: The Textures & Colours Of Iceland
Grapevine contributor and filmmaker Timothée Lambrecq went up to north Iceland earlier this year to explore and document the area around Lake Mývatn. While he was there, he got an idea for a different kind of portrait of the Icelandic landscape. “I’ve…
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Far East: A Visit To Neskaupstaður
Seen from Iceland’s Ring Road, the Eastfjords seem like a sparsely occupied stretch of undulating fjords and mountainous wilderness, punctuated by small towns, farms and patches of reforested woodland. But Route One turns inland one fjord before Reyðarfjörður—the long, tendril-like inlet that…
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Swimming In Silence: A Scintillating Snorkel Between Continents In The Silfra Fissure
Even in a town as small and quiet as Reykjavík, it’s still easy to get caught up in daily urban stresses: Drinking too much caffeine, staying up too late, and djamming a little too hard. What can someone do to wind down…
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Exploring Exploration: The Explorers Festival Comes To Húsavík
“Can you imagine being up there, literally on the moon, flipping the pages of your instruction manual, and coming across this?” Dr. Huw Lewis-Jones says, with laughter in his voice and eyes. He’s pointing at a little black and white picture of…
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An Autumn World: Exploring The Forests Of Lagarfljót
We take off from Reykjavík in the midst of a dour, spitting dawn. As the small propellor plane races down the runway and lurches away from the ground, the familiar colourful rooftops of the city and the graceful, snowy curve of Mount…
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Snow Comes To North And East Iceland
Grapevine was out exploring the north eastern tip of Iceland yesterday when a snow storm hit. Starting out from Vöpnafjörður, the landscape changed fast under flurries of heavy snow. We were able to take a look at the Ásbyrgi canyon, before a…
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Welcome To Whaletown: A Day In The Northern Town Of Húsavík
After a five-hour night drive, and numerous failed attempts at napping, we arrive at our destination at last. The sun has just reached the peaks of the mountains, covering the bright blue bay in shimmering light and hitting the colourful rooftops and…
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The Forgotten Fjord: Off The Beaten Track In Hvalfjörður
25km north of Reykjavík lies the secluded, undulating fjord of Hvalfjörður: the “Whale Fjord”. This 40km coastal route was once a part of Iceland’s circular Route One, connecting Reykjavík to the north and, eventually, the rest of the country. But in 1998,…
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Iceland Is Weird But So Great #5: Sheep Roundup!
It’s that time of year again: time to round up the sheep that have been running wild all summer, and bring them from the farmer’s pastures to your store-bought sandwich. The sheep vastly outnumber Icelanders, yet somehow we manage to keep them…
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Kexland X Airwaves X Your Hangover
Kex has got your back. Whether it’s an afternoon pick-me-up at the gastro pub, an into-the-evening off venue show, or literally the roof over your head at the end of the night, Kex is around you during Airwaves like a hug. This…
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VIDEO: A Road Trip In North Iceland
Filmmaker Timothée Lambrecq is back in Iceland, and wasted no time in getting out into the countryside. This time, his adventures took him up to the north and north-eastern area of Iceland, where he encountered geothermal areas, amazing bathing spots and the…
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PHOTOS: Trip to North East Iceland part 2
As mentioned in a previous article, I took a superb road trip to the northeast part of the island with my friend Ronald. As it was really hard to sum up all these beautiful places we’ve witnessed in one gallery, and as the…
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Colour Concept For This Week’s #GVPics
Autumn doesn’t have the charisma of summer’s bright shine, but there is something refreshing about its downplayed tones. As we head toward more days of grey, we thought we’d recognise the more subtle colours at play that make up our surroundings. This…