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Pro
No humans for miles and miles, and when you see them they are very nice and hospitable
Con
NOTHING ELSE
In a nutshell
Many geothermal formations in a very compact area
Mt. Krafla caldera - Stóra-Víti (Big hell).
Regina1965 Says: Krafla is a caldera of 10 km in diameter with a 90 km long fissure zone. The highest peak of Krafla is 818 m. It contains one of two Víti craters in Iceland (the other one is in Askja, where you can actually have a bath in the water). This one is called Stóra-Víti and was...
Dimmuborgir - The Dark Fortress at Mývatn.
Regina1965 Says: Dimmuborgir "The Dark Fortress" at Mývatn are a true wonder of nature and nowhere else to be seen in the world i.e on dry land. They are huge lava rock formations which make you feel like you stepped into another world - a world of fairy-tales. Dimmuborgir are 1 km in...
The view-platform - and Krafla power station.
Regina1965 Says: Krafla is a caldera of 10 km in diameter with a 90 km long fissure zone. The highest peak of Krafla is 818 m. Krafla erupted 9 times from 1975-1984. The last eruption lasted for 2 weeks with a lava flow of 24 sq.km and lava fountains up to 70 meters high lit up the sky the...
Regina1965 Says: Now this is a strange looking mountain. It looks like something you might encounter on the moon, as it were. It looks like a pile of black sand with a hole in the middle.Mt. Hverfjall means literally Hot spring mountain and is a tuff ring volcano, or a tephra crater. It...
Regina1965 Says: There is an interesting formation of lava pillars by Lake Mývatn almost next to Höfði (see my tip). Lake Mývatn is Iceland's 4th largest lake and was created in a basaltic lava eruption 2300 years ago and the surrounding landscape in the Mývatn area is extraordinary. There...
Regina1965 Says: Lake Mývatn is Iceland's 4th largest lake and was created in a basaltic lava eruption 2300 years ago and the surrounding landscape in the Mývatn area is extraordinary. There are so many wonderful lava formations in this area, including the lava pillars by and in Lake...
Mývatnsstofa - The Information Center.
Regina1965 Says: There is an information center at Mývatn called Mývatnsstofa. Here you can get detailed information the what there is to see and do in this area - countless of things as this is one of the most interesting areas in Iceland.And here one can buy tickets for the busses and...
Beware of the mud pools and sulphur poisoning
Regina1965 Says: I accidentally put this tip under things to do - but this is a warnings and dangers tip.There are many mud-pools and fumaroles in Iceland. Take care while visiting them as the sulphur fumes can overwhelm you at times there, especially when the wind is strong. Try to stay up...
Jokulsárgljúfur (Vatanajokull) N. P: Dettifoss
smirnofforiginal Says: The north of this park is closer to Husavik but the south, where Dettioss can be found is definitely closer to Myvatn.During winter the roads are not great and the F-roads (which you may or may not be allowed to travel on in a hire car - check your rental agreement) are...
smirnofforiginal Says: Well this is a sureal place, for sure! The steaming vents, pipes and strange little structures make Kroflusod appear like something from a mad professors laboratory! It reminded me of one of the levels in Sonic The Hedgehog!!!Winter is not the ideal time to come here. The...
smirnofforiginal Says: Mud! mud! glorious mud!Arriving here is a little like arriving on the moon - the sulphuric steam that wafts out of the orange and brown earth, the craters full of blue gloopy, boiling and belching mud...Light soil areas indicate trecherous areas but you don;t have to worry...
smirnofforiginal Says: The weather may be cold and austere outside and the exterior of the building itself, modern and glass, may not give the impression of any warmth but if there is one thing you do in Iceland it should be this. It is wonderful!It is described as The Blue Lagoon of the north...
smirnofforiginal Says: A road encircles the lake. It is in good condition and being only 36km so easily driven.It is quite a spectacular drive with the scenery changing every few minutes!Pseudocaters, lava, marsh-land, mountains and farms... it is a rural and beautiful part of Iceland and there...
Leirhnjúkur - Mývatn - mud pot area near Krafla.
Regina1965 Says: Leirhnjúkur area is really like stepping into another world, there are big contrasts and a lot of colours. There are several walking-paths in the Leirhnjúkur area and you feel like you might be walking on the moon or in another world. Stay on the paths as it is bubbling and...
Höfði peninsula - Mývatn, N-Iceland.
Regina1965 Says: Höfði is a beautiful peninsula in the Mývatn area, by ring-road 1. You can enter a gate at the parking lot and walk to the top of Höfði and have a breathtaking panoramic view of Lake Mývatn and the surrounding areas. It is extremely beautiful up there, I do recommend...
1 Review and 56 Opinions Beautiful hotel situate in the middle of the Reykjahlid, this hotel has got only 9 rooms with...
2 Reviews and 74 Opinions We stayed in Reynihilo after doing a lot of research on the net as nothing else was available. In...
smirnofforiginal Says: This is a very comfortable setting with good food.The restaurant is actually in a cow shed!!! There is a wall of glass between the restaurant and the cowshed - it is fun and really does not smell like you may think it could!!!It is not the cheapest place to eat and if you...
Cow Shed: A good place to eat in a Cow Shed
amazingclick Says: We were recommended the place by the tourist information and we went staright there. This is a farm with a cowshed to which they have added a restaurant. Fancy place....expensive but, good food...and different food. Service was great....and it was packed out. So try it....
Helpfulness
The Icelandic Yule lads in Myvatn!
We stopped somewhere near Lake Myvatn to see the pseudocraters and at the side of the store, I did see a picture of Santa Claus-like men holding a lamp and pictured on the side of the shop wall. My guide was beside it, and I swear – if my guide grew his beard and hair, he would look like one of them. I actually told him about this in good humour, and he just smiled and said that his ancestry is Irish since the Vikings probably got some slaves with them from Ireland (?)...
But the Santa-Claus like men I saw pictured on the wall are actually the Yule Lads – 13 sons of Gryla and Leppaludi, vicious trolls that live in the Myvatn area.
Thirteen days prior to Christmas, the Yule Lads start coming down from the mountain, one lad each night. The kids have to put their best shoe on the windowsill before naptime and a little gift each night from the Yule lad. If the child was misbehaving, the child gets a raw potato instead.
And then, you can actually visit these Yule lads in Dimmuborgir everyday between Dec 13-15, and on the first Saturday of December you can join them at the Myvatn Nature Bath (opened in 2004, check it out at www.jardbodin.is)
Updated Jul 2, 2009
Regina1965 Says: Mývatn gets its name from the "mý" or the midge/blackfly. It is literally everywhere and gets totally on one's nerve. The best thing is to keep one of your hands above your head, as they always go for the highest point, but there is a limit to for how long one can do that. I...
Helpfulness
Favorite thing: This is not my favourite thing about Iceland, but I put it as a general tip :D
The Moss balls - Cladophora Segagropila or Aegagropila linnaei, which we call in Icelandic "kúluskítur", can only be found in Mývatn, North-Iceland and in Lake Akan in Hokkaido in Japan. I have heard that it has been found in Estonia as well but Mývatn and Lake Akan are the only places where the Moss ball is common. It is so amazing that it can only be found in these countries.
The Moss ball is an algae which grows into big velvety balls and lives at ca 2 meters' dept here in Lake Mývatn and they just roll around there at the bottom of the lake at 3 meters' depth when it is windy. It has been there since the lake got "formed" 2300 years ago, remnants of it has been found since that time.
The Moss ball is now preserved, both in Iceland and Japan. In Japan they even have a festival in the honour of The Moss ball.
When David Attenborough visited Iceland he was given Moss balls as a gift and he still keeps it at home. It can be kept in tap water and the water has to be changed ca every 1-2 weeks. Photosynthesis occurs even when the Moss balls are kept at home. See my picture for how to keep them in your home. I took this picture at our annual "Festival of the Sea".
All in all it looks cute, although the farmers at Mývatn didn't consider it to be at all cute when it got stuck in their nets, therefore the name "kúlúskítur" which means ball-sh...
Updated Nov 19, 2008
Now this area in Iceland is absolutely amazing and should not be missed while visiting the country. The Mývatn area is called Mývatnssveit, but we Icelanders always refer to it as going to Mývatn. In...
Myvatn: the meeting between water and fire.
In 1974 Myvatn became a National Reserve of Myvatn-Laxà with the pseudocrater of Skutustadir, in the south area of the lake that became national monument. Myvatn is situate on the Middle Atlantic...
The landscapes around lake Mývatn are exceptionally diverse, beautiful and bizarre. The area has highly active geothermal hotspots with smelly, steamy and bubbly mudpools. Old craters are adjacent to...
Námafjall - boiling mud pools - more photos.
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