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.
Most read
Latest
-
Volcanoes! Storms! Lightning! It’s The Travel News Roundup
The volcano Katla, located close to the southern Ring Road, has continued to rumble intermittently over the last weeks. Over 200 earthquakes were recorded on September 29th and 30th, resulting in the eruption threat level being elevated to “yellow” status. The road…
-
On High Alert: A Night Of Aurora Chasing
After seeing a recent high-alert aurora forecast, myself and a few other Grapeviners decided to jump in the car and get out of the city for the promised spectacle. Our photographer became a special Northern Lights tour operator for the night, deciding…
-
To The Lighthouse: A Magical Getaway At Dyrhólaey
At the southernmost point of mainland Iceland sits a particularly dramatic and tide-lashed stretch of coastline. Around the town of Vík, the waves crash in with particularly ferocious force, rending the cliffside apart in imperceptibly slow motion and leaving behind angular basalt…
-
Drive-Through Towns: A Day In The Kópacabana
I’m not going to lie—when I suggested to my editor that we should write a travel article about Kópavogur, I was joking. Kópavogur, for non-Icelanders, is a suburb of Reykavík—technically a separate municipality—best known for Smáralind, the largest mall in Iceland. While…
-
Photo Gallery: Magic Aurora
Last night saw the arrival of a spectacular display of aurora borealis over many parts of Iceland. A car full of Grapeviners took a drive out the Hvalfjörður to escape the city lights, and this is what greeting them: So far tonight,…
-
Tagging Along With The Reykjavík Food Walk
The idea of “Icelandic Food” is changing. A few years ago, and still a bit even today, the phrase “Icelandic Food” conjured up ideas of fish, moss and hardship—possibly rotten shark and sheep face too. You came to Iceland for the landscape,…
-
PHOTOS: North East Iceland
Ronald Rose , a photographer based in Berlin, joined me on a small trip in the northeast of Iceland. We went to explore and shoot a video of the amazing textures that the region of Mývatn has to offer. We couldn’t resist driving further…
-
A World Beneath Our Feet: The Víðgelmir Lava Cave
It becomes dark almost as soon as we begin our descent into Víðgelmir. It’s the kind of darkness to which your eyes will never adjust, and although above ground it’s a summery twelve degrees Celsius, the temperature has quickly dropped to near…
-
Drive-Through Towns: Nostalgia For The Non-Existent in Þorlákshöfn
When I told the waitress that I was looking for something interesting to do in Þorlákshöfn, she expressed condolences. It’s not exactly the reaction one hopes for when writing a piece about a town. She asked the other waitress and went in…
-
Birds For This Week’s #GVPics Instagram Competition
It’s obvious that winter is approaching here in Iceland, while everywhere else in Europe you’ll melt in a second. But the cold doesn’t lessen the country’s beauty—it just takes a quick soar over Instagram to remind me of that. Here are our selections from this week’s…
-
Summon The Whales! In Search Of The Sea Giants
“I understand and acknowledge the risks I’m undertaking by choosing to participate in activities and assume all responsibility for exposing myself to these risks/dangers,” states the last sentence of the contract. I consider these words before signing. It’s a necessary step before…
-
Travel News: Aurora Spotting, Happy Russians, Eruption Advice
The Norðurflug helicopter tours company has launched a new combination trip for the winter season, when the northern lights are often to be seen dancing their way across Iceland’s skies. Despite being prohibited from making helicopter flights after dark, they’ve decided to…
-
Volcano Watch: A Closer Look At Katla
Hvolsvöllur is a sleepy village in south Iceland, between Hella and Seljalandsfoss. It’s a somewhat forgettable, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it settlement of just a few small hangars and stores, a bank, and a handful houses, all whipped by dust from the steady tourist traffic of…
-
Golf In The Westman Islands: Being Angry and Frustrated In A Beautiful Place
“I’m going to tell you something, ok? What shot do you really think you can do? Do you think you’re going to make that long difficult shot? Probably not. You want to be a better golfer? Make better decisions,” said Howard Glassman,…
-
This Weeks #GVPics Winner
It’s that time of the week when we pick our favourite Iceland Instagrams with the hashtag #GVPics. It often gets heated when we have to decide on which ten to choose as runners-up. But after much consideration and some unarmed combat we…
-
Fjord Serenity Now! A Kayaking Day In Hvalfjörður
Kayaking has always been a favorite sport of mine because its effort-to-awesomeness ratio is incredibly low. Sure, pro kayakers can get up to all kinds of badassery, but if you’re a tourist interested in trying it for the first time or a…
-
Have Some Havarí: On Leaving Reykjavík For The Far East
It would be easy to miss Havarí if you weren’t looking out for it. Along the Ring Road between Djúpivogur and Breiðdalvsík, a simple roadside sign points away from the water towards the cluster of buildings of the Karlsstaðir farm, nestled deep…
-
Travel News: Northern Lights, Viking Ships, Criminal Rubbish
As the Costa del Iceland’s pretty damn decent summer draws to its conclusion and the nights draw in, there are new seasonal activities on the menu for travellers. First and foremost, the northern lights will once again start to dance their ghostly…
-
Havarí: Driving The Length Of Iceland To The East-Side Party Barn
After three months on this island, it all came down to a few short final hours and a road trip. Less than two days before my departure from Iceland, I’d been stamping my feet at the Havarí arts space and barn disco…
-
Minimalistic Painting For This Week’s #GVPics Instagram Competition
Iceland has a lot going on right now; kids are starting school, some are preparing for winter and painting their houses, while others are enjoying the last days of summer by taking walks by the harbour. Of course, it wouldn’t be Iceland…
-
Humans of Reykjavík: Three Americans Here By Chance
Every issue, we will interview someone living in Reykjavík or just visiting the city, so as to share with you, dear reader, the trials and tribulations of daily life here in the capital. This issue’s humans: Brad&Susan Imsdahl and Carolyn Shwash, tourists…
-
On The Road: Sandfell Öræfi
Of all the things Iceland is famous for, trees are not among them. Most Icelandic trees are shivering, skinny things, with branches close to the trunk, as if trying to cling to the ground through the gale-force winds of winter. But the…
-
Kálfstindar: Take Your Pick
Elevation: 824 m Ascent time: 2.5-3.5 hrs Length: 4 km Map: 37 Elevation difference: 600 m The mountain A tuya or stapi mountain is a subglacial volcanic structure on top of a short volcanic fissure. If a longer, subglacial volcanic fissure opens…