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The Hot Sea: GeoSea Geothermal Baths Open In Húsavík
On a grassy hilltop at the edge of the small northern town of Húsavík, a brand new state-of-the-art bathing facility called the GeoSea geothermal sea baths recently opened its doors. Situated a twenty-minute walk from the town centre next to an old-school…
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Alice in Beerland: An Adventure At The Icelandic Beer Baths
When word got out that a new beer spa had opened in the North of Iceland, people had very strong opinions about it. We mostly had questions. Do you get drunk if you lie in it long enough? Does it have any…
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The North Iceland Pentathlon: Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads
In 1871, the famed poet and socialist William Morris decided to leave London behind for what the English then considered simply ‘the edge of the map.’ Morris and a few comrades packed their bags, caught a train, and set out for Iceland.…
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Siglunes Guesthouse: A Warm Sanctuary In A Cold Place
Between the snowy mountains in Siglufjörður, you can find a hot and passionate chef from the warm country of Morocco, Jaouad Hbib. He fills this former herring fishing town with an exotic aroma from the warm lands of North Africa, brightening the…
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Grey Stone And The Red Peninsula: Hiking In Northeast Iceland
Route 85 turns suddenly from tarmac to gravel somewhere around Þórshöfn. We trundle over the dusty track that connects the northeastern corner of Iceland with the Ring Road, which we left some 140 kilometres ago. To the east, the Langsnes peninsula rolls…
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The Winter Ring Road Pt. 1: Driving Route One In Iceland’s Stormy Season
Route One is Iceland’s main highway. Completed in 1974, it loops the country, carving a path through tracts of farmland before reaching the lava fields and sweeping floodplains of the southern coastline, rattling over countless bridges along the way. The single carriageway…
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Best Of Iceland Awards: North
Welcome to Grapevine’s Best Of Iceland—a guide to the best hikes, hotels, must see spots, eateries, road trips, tours, shops and more, all around the black shore of this rocky subarctic isle. We assembled panels of locals, travellers and Iceland experts to…
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Land’s End: The Villages, Cliffs & Windswept Islands Of Skagafjörður
We’re just north of Bifröst when the night falls hard. After a blustery three hour road trip up the western coast of Iceland, the richly coloured autumn landscape is plunged into an eerie, enveloping darkness. Without the comfort of highway lamps, distant…
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Summer In Mývatn And How I Found Out I Enjoy Bird-Watching
“Great weather today,” exclaims Jakob. “It’s a perfect day for bird-watching!” It’s barely ten on a Saturday morning, and he’s already excited by the prospect of watching animals in their natural habitat. Personally, I don’t find anything exciting before 11am, and at…
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Siglufjörður Town Guide: Hikes, Herring And Hot Pots
In the international TV hit ‘Trapped’, Siglufjörður is a place of dismembered corpses and human trafficking; dark secrets and guilty consciences; a CGI ferry looming ominously in the harbour; endless nights of snow and wind; and one very tired, very sexy crime-solving,…
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The Silver Of The Sea: Siglufjörður’s Living Dioramas
A herring might not be suitable for cutting down the mightiest tree in the forest, but don’t underestimate its power: for much of the 20th century, herring proved it could make or break a whole community. The Herring Era Museum, in Siglufjörður,…
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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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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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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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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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Alone In The Dark: Spending Winter in The Highlands
The Icelandic highlands are a famously inhospitable region. In the winter, deep snow and regular storms make them unsafe to enter for anyone but the most well-prepared and experienced Arctic traveller. The whole region is often referred to as uninhabited—and uninhabitable. But…
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PHOTOS: A Day Out In Akureyri
On our way up to Grímsey island recently, we had a four hour layover, so we jumped in a hire car and had a drive around in Akureyri, Iceland’s “second city,” population 18,191. It a beautiful place to visit, even for just…
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Iceland’s Only Rabbit Farm Needs Your Help
Approaching the large red-roofed sheep shed at Syðri-Kárastaðir, a farm just north of the village Hvammstangi in the northwest of Iceland, there’s no indication that it’s any different from any other, save for a rabbit-shaped sign at the gate. The pungent scent…
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Speed-Dating An Old Friend: Driving The Ring Road In 2 Days
In a direct challenge to most internet commenters, two friends and I decided to spend two days circling the island in a grey rental car. While certainly not “preferable” to taking one’s time, driving Iceland’s storied Route 1—the ring road—in thirty-eight hours is…
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ROAD TRIP: Reading The Grapevine All Over Iceland
Whilst the Reykjavík Grapevine is mostly written — and printed — in Reykjavík, you know, it’s actually kind of about the whole of Iceland. People pick it up in gas stations, cafés, swimming pools, hotels, restaurants in some of the most far-flung…
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Treading New Ground: Swimming At Iceland’s New Lava Field
There are few things more exciting than waking up in Iceland with a full day of travel ahead. As I pull open the blinds of a bedroom at Akureyri Backpackers—lodgings so comfortable that the term “hostel” seems ungenerous—I’m overjoyed to see the…
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VIDEO: A Road Trip Around Iceland’s Route One
Here’s the latest film by Timothée Lambrecq, the French videographer who spent the summer with us here at Grapevine. Taken on a road trip around the country’s Route One ring road, the film shows foggy mountain ranges, black beaches, crystal-blue icebergs, mossy…