Vatnajökull National Park takes its name from Europe’s most voluminous ice cap, Vatnajökull. In 2008, it became a protected national park. In Icelandic, the park’s full name is Vatnajökulsþjógarður.
Today, the protected area covers around 14,000 km², approximately the size of Northern Ireland. Unsurprisingly, then, the list of things to do in Vatnajökull National Park is almost endless!
Before 2008, the area was mostly covered by two separate parks: Skaftafell (est. 1967) in the south and Jökulsárgljúfur (est. 1973) in the north.
Currently, there is a parliamentary bill proposed to incorporate the area into a huge Central Highland National Park that would cover 40% of Iceland, around the size of Switzerland.
At Ice Guardians, we live towards the south of the ice cap in southeast Iceland and run our incredible range of Iceland adventure activities, including Vatnajökull National Park tours, in the area.
This beautiful place is our backyard, so we’re perfectly placed to put together this Vatnajökull National Park guide.
The map below shows you where this natural haven is located. You can see the many glacier outlets and valleys around which we organise our Vatnajökull National Park tours, be they group trips or custom adventures.
Due to its enormous size, covering nearly 14% of our country, Vatnajökull National Park inevitably contains some of Iceland’s volcanoes. At present, there are 10 central volcanoes, with eight under the ice itself.
When the subglacial volcanoes erupt, they heat up and melt the ice above, producing temporary lakes which burst out in an almighty flood called a jökulhlaup (translated as ‘glacier run’). These surges carry huge amounts of sediment, primarily ash, out onto the large glacial braided river plains. These outwash plains are named sandur. Today, along with jökulhlaup, this term is used the world over.
The term sandur was derived from the highly active Skeiðarársandur, which extends 56 km along the coast from the puffin hotspot of Ingólfshofði, Öræfi, to the picturesque mountain in the west of Lómagnúpur. See the bottom right of the map above.
In 1996, there was a monstrous jökulhlaup originating in the Grímsvötn volcano. A large lake formed and suddenly released, creating at one point a peak discharge of 40,000 m³/s, or about 16 Olympic-sized swimming pools per second.
This jökulhlaup has been actively depositing material since the Holocene (around 12,000 years ago), and in that time it has deposited about 100 to 200km³ of glaciovolcanic sediment at an average rate of 1km³ per century (equivalent to approximately 29,000 50kg cement bags).
With landscapes forged by such almighty natural forces, there are many must-visit places on the south coast of Iceland. Read our local recommendations to start building the kind of Iceland itinerary you’ve always dreamed of.
At Ice Guardians, our team has a passion for exploring the glacier outlets and the surrounding terrain — and it’s this passion that inspired us to start providing Vatnajökull National Park tours and activities.
The outlet glaciers which we have experience accessing include (from west to east):
Are you heading to Iceland on a family holiday and looking for appropriate things to do in Vatnajökull National Park? We think you will appreciate our blog Is Glacier Hiking in Iceland Suitable for Families?
Many of Vatnajökull’s glacier outlets descend from the top of Iceland (peaking at 2110 m.a.s.l), which happens to be the caldera (20km² at ~1900 m.a.s.l) of the mighty active volcano, Öræfajökull (translated as ‘wasteland glacier’ volcano).
The translation aptly describes the character of the volcano when it erupted in 1362 for the first time since settlement in 874. Since 1362, it has had a smaller eruption in 1727 and 1728, and numerous other episodes of activity.
The volcano lies outside the main volcanic belt in Iceland, in the Skaftafell and Fjallsárlón area. The geological nature of the volcano means the eruptions are explosive. And if that wasn’t troublesome enough for the locals, it is filled with up to 500m of snow and ice in the caldera. This huge volume of snow and ice means that activity and/or eruptive episodes can produce jökulhlaups.
Wondering how to get to this corner of Iceland? Be sure to read our blog Driving to Vatnajökull: What You Need to Know Before You Go for local tips and insights.
As we head further west, past all the canyons and glaciers descending from Öræfajökull, we come to Breiðamerkurjökull. You’ve probably seen the ‘wide-mouthed glacier’ before at the movies. It’s famous for the stunning lagoon, Jökulsárlón, into which the ice calves frequently to produce icebergs.
Jökulsárlón is easy to access, so a visit here is one of the most popular things to do in Vatnajökull National Park and a must for any Iceland south coast itinerary. Jökulsárlón is connected by a channel to the North Atlantic Ocean, and so the country’s deepest lake is also a mix of fresh- and seawater.
The salinity reduces the lake’s ability to freeze. In addition to this, the strong tidal flow means the icebergs here are frequently active, more so than many other iceberg lakes.
The glaciers between Breiðamerkurjökull and the port town of Höfn are less frequently visited and have a very different character to those steeply flowing from Öræfajökull. These are some of our personal favourites.
Here, the glaciers have come down off the Vatnajökull plateau and carved out valleys through long-extinct central volcanoes down to the large grazing farms of the district.
There have been numerous quarries into the older rock east of Suðursveit, one of which became the cladding of the Central Bank of Iceland.
In the early 1900s, a crystalline mineral known as ‘Iceland Spar’ was discovered locally. It was subsequently used in nearby public buildings as well as in the manufacture of optical instruments abroad.
During this time Vatnajökull was being researched extensively through multiple expeditions and collaborations between Icelandic and Swedish meteorologists, geologists, and geographers.
This led to many new findings about the unique aspects of Vatnajökull in comparison to other ice caps around the world.
If you want to keep reading about this fascinating topic, we think you’ll love our Adventurer’s Guide to Vatnajökull National Park.
And if you’re looking for things to do in Vatnajökull National Park, our blogs The Ultimate Guide to Visiting Ice Caves in Iceland and 10 Best Things to Do in Skaftafell are great places to start!
Of course, for the most exciting things to do in Vatnajökull National Park, look no further than our range of Iceland adventure activities! With Ice Guardians, you can feel the thrill of glacier hiking, ice climbing, canyoning, and exploring ice caves.
Please feel free to get in touch, if you have any questions for our team.
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