Iceland Winter Adventure – 4 Reasons to Go When it’s Cold
- Explore Glacier Caves
If you want to experience something truly amazing, then you must visit one of Iceland’s glacial caves. Carved from torrents of melt water from the glacier itself, these ice caves are a sight to see. Follow the flowing water and the ever present winter wind through these caves and explore the world beneath a glacier. Stand beneath the moulin that formed this cavernous ice palace or even crawl through some of the hidden sections to find hidden rooms of crystal blue ice. You will get to see rocks, volcanic dust, and even trees that were frozen in place hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. Best tour? Book through Ice Guides Iceland!
Moulin is a vertical shaft formed by surface water percolating through a crack in the ice.
- Experience an Arctic Circle Winter
If you’ve yet to experience a sunrise over an icy arctic coast, then it’s time to go to Iceland. The contrast of the black volcanic soils with the bright white snow is absolutely stunning and where else can you watch icebergs reflecting in a frozen lagoon? Plus there are diamonds on this beach. (Diamonds as in small icebergs on the basalt beach). In winter, you can catch snow falling on your head, moon reflections across white landscape or even experience something the locals call an “Icelandic Hurricanes”… yes, that’s a real thing.
- The Island is yours (kinda)
So its winter and Iceland can get a bit cold (the county is named after ice for obvious reasons). But a winter adventure in Iceland means that the county is yours to explore. Tourists are ‘mostly’ gone and you can drive across the country and only pass a dozen cars. The rest stops and overnight camp spots are empty but make sure you can stand the cold. The hot tourist spots just if the highway are less crowded and the ones way off the highway are darn near empty. (But just as beautiful). Also fun tip – Prices of food and gas are lower the winter than during tourists season.
Only about four million people live north of the Arctic Circle due to the severe climate; nonetheless, some areas have been settled for thousands of years by indigenous peoples, who today make up 10% of the region’s population
- Aurora Viewing
In a land where the sun can hide itself away for an entire day, and where at noon the sun doesn’t leave the horizon, you can imagine nights are long. But in the dead of winter night, you can be treated to a light show beyond compare. Find a dark place, middle of nowhere (not hard to do in Iceland) and look up. Worried about missing a spectacular aurora show on your adventure? Don’t be! Iceland tracks how “strong” the events will be. Check it out here.
