Jökulsárlón

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The Jökulsárlón glacial river lagoon is Iceland’s most famous glacial lake and lies on the southern edge of Vatnajökull, the country’s largest glacier with an area of around 8,100 km², i.e. around 8% of the country. The lake itself is around 18 km² in size and, at 284 meters, is the deepest lake in Iceland. The icebergs that float on it and are washed up by the sea along the coast, on Diamond Beach, are particularly impressive.

The trail of history

The lake was formed naturally between 1934 and 1935 when meltwater from the Vatnajökull glacier began to collect on the site. A few years later, in 1975, the glacial lake reached a size of 7.9 km². Since the Icelandic glaciers are melting more and more due to global warming and large blocks of ice are breaking off from the shrinking glacier, the lake is still growing today and is therefore already over 18 km² in size.

Until 2017, the glacial lake and the surrounding land were privately owned, but then the beautiful piece of land was put up for sale and the Icelandic state used its right of first refusal and at the same time placed the area under nature conservation through a merger with Vatnajökull National Park. This national park has since covered almost 14,400 km², has since been considered the largest in Iceland and the second largest in Europe and was declared a world natural heritage site by UNESCO in 2019.

Useful information

The lagoon is located very close to the sea and is connected to the North Atlantic Ocean. The falling chunks of ice first fall into the lagoon, where they slowly melt and float out to sea. There, the salt water ensures that the icebergs, which are up to 15 meters high, melt relatively quickly, but at the same time the rough North Atlantic washes the glacier ice back to the black volcanic beach, where the many small and sometimes large pieces of ice lie like diamonds on the shore, causing this piece of coastline also known as “Diamond Beach”.

Because they look so impressive, Diamond Beach and the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon are one of the country’s most popular film locations. The location served as a backdrop for films such as “Tomb Raider” and “James Bond” and some commercials and music videos were also filmed there.

Since it is said that there are always people who step on the icebergs, it should be added at this point that the visible ice is only the tips of the icebergs and in reality they are much larger. Visitors cannot see how large and stable each individual iceberg actually is and can lead to dangerous situations. Entering the icebergs endangers the animals living there, nature and people themselves. If you would like to get closer to the icebergs, you should book one of the boat tours offered there.

There are also several hiking trails along the lagoon, and in summer visitors can look for large arctic skuas that build their nests near the glacial lake. If you are attentive, you can also see many smaller birds and seals.

How to get there?

The lagoon and Diamond Beach are best visited as part of a booked tour or with your own car. If you have some time (and you definitely should when traveling to Iceland) you can make further stops along the 380 kilometer route from Reykjavík to Jökulsárlón, enjoy the beautiful landscape and visit some of the sights along the way. Parking spaces are available, as are toilets and a small shop.

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, at the time of our visit the weather was pretty bad, so we weren’t able to visit this place as we would have liked. We can’t judge the boat tours offered there, but Jökulsárlón is beautiful to look at with its huge white-blue-grey shimmering icebergs. We also saw seals and would definitely go there again if we had the opportunity again.