Last Updated on August 10, 2019

If you have been on Facebook at all for the past year, you would have seen tonnes of articles popping up about Iceland and its beauty.  You can’t really miss it, everywhere I look I see someone else talking about how beautiful the country is or this amazing experience they had there and it’s made me eager to jump on a plane and explore it straight away.  But sometimes we can’t just do that at a drop of a hat which is why I am putting it on my 2020 travel goals (bucket list seems so cliché).

Here are 7 of the best things to do in Iceland and why you should visit.  Don’t worry, it’s not too late to explore because Iceland will still be waiting for you in 2020!

Here are 7 best things to do in Iceland

1. The Ring Road

This road trip is such an iconic and one of the best things to do in Iceland and in my opinion, road trips are the best way to explore the area.  You can stop over suddenly if you like the look of a place, loud (usually) bad music blaring and you get to see the country the best way, by car!

The Ring Road spans for 832 miles and has numerous natural attractions for you to see so you really shouldn’t miss this one.  90% of tourists that travel to Iceland stay within an hour out of Reykjavik, and by the looks of it, Iceland has so much incredible beauty so you need to spread your wings (or turn that engine on) and start exploring the rest of what the country has to offer.

2. Majestic Iceland horses

Icelandic horses must be one of the most photogenic animals on the planet.  You can just see that they are proud to be Icelandic, I would be too if I was from Iceland!  Although I have never seen them in real life I have seen plenty of videos and they are quite simply stunning, which is why I have put them on my 2020 travel goals list.

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3. Northern Lights

One of the most beautiful events in the world would have to be the Northern Lights.  It’s quite hard to time your visit to see them as they are so unpredictable, but it’s one of the major draws for tourists coming to Iceland.  The skies need to be ultra clear and because it’s a North Atlantic country the weather can be very random at times, but it still doesn’t stop me wanting to see them!

If I happen to be there when the Northern Lights are supposed to be happening, I’m booking myself into an Aurora Bubble, yes you read that right!  It’s basically a bubble room with the top half-transparent so you can see the skies.  Even if the lights didn’t happen, staying in one of these would be an amazing experience!

The best accommodation in iceland

4. Glacier hiking

As the weather is rapidly changing glaciers could be harder to come by, which is why I would love to explore and hike one of the ice caves.  More than 10% of Iceland is currently covered in glaciers so I imagine it would be hard to miss one!  Vatnajökull glacier is the largest in Iceland and in Europe!  One of the most popular hiking glaciers would be Öræfajökull glacier because the highest peak in the country is located there.

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5. Volcanoes

One of the experiences high on my list  is seeing an active volcano.  Iceland is home to 130 volcanic mountains because it sits on two tectonic plates and has 30 active volcano systems running throughout the island.  Most are dormant, you can even climb into Thrihnukagigur volcano which is not active anymore, but there are also active volcanoes to be seen too which excites me a lot!

6. Visit the second largest national park in Europe!

Vatnajökull National Park spans for 4600 square miles which is pretty impressive.  Just to give you an idea of how big that is, the national park takes up 13% of Iceland!  Inside you can see a glacier lake (for the real experience do a Jökulsárlón tour ), mountain peaks, rivers, waterfalls and geothermal areas too.  This national park really looks like an incredible place to go.  There’s also two other national parks in Iceland.  One called Þingvallavatn and the other called Snæfellsjökull, both look astonishing too!

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7. Waterfalls

I am a total waterfall chaser at heart.  I love an impressive waterfall and apparently, Iceland has an abundance of them just waiting to be photographed, not necessarily for swimming in as I don’t think I am brave enough for that and I would still like to keep my toes! Seljalandsfoss is probably one of the most photographed waterfalls in the world.  You would have seen it on your Instagram feed at least once this year and rightly so.  Svartifoss waterfall is also one not to miss.  It’s also called ‘Black Fall’ as the background is covered in distinctive black hanging basalt columns.

There are 7 reasons why I’m making my way to Iceland in 2020 and why you should too.  So, I guess the next question is, who’s coming with me?!

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