Spectacular, luminous-blue icebergs drift through Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, right beside the Ring Road between Höfn and Skaftafell. Even when you’re driving along, expecting this surreal scene, it’s still a splendid surprise. It's one of Iceland's top visual treats: take in wondrous ice sculptures (some of them striped with ash layers from volcanic eruptions) calved off enormous Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, scout for seals, take a boat trip, or track the icebergs to the black-sand beach where they head out to sea.
The icebergs calve from Breiðamerkurjökull, an offshoot of Vatnajökull, crashing down into the water and drifting inexorably towards the Atlantic Ocean. They can spend up to five years floating in the 25-sq-km-plus, 260m-deep lagoon, melting, refreezing and occasionally toppling over with a mighty splash, startling the birds. They then move on via Jökulsá, Iceland’s shortest river, out to sea.
Although it looks as though it’s been here since the last ice age, the lagoon is only about 80 years old. Until the mid-1930s Breiðamerkurjökull reached the Ring Road; it’s now retreating rapidly (up to a staggering 500m per year), and the lagoon is consequently growing.
The lagoon boat trips are excellent, but you can get almost as close to those cool-blue masterpieces by walking along the shore, and you can taste ancient ice by hauling it out of the water. On the Ring Road west of the car park, there are designated parking areas where you can walk over the mounds to visit the lake at less-touristed stretches of shoreline.
It’s also highly recommended that you visit the rivermouth (there are car parks on the ocean side of the Ring Road), where you’ll see ice boulders resting photogenically on the black-sand beach as part of their final journey out to sea.
If you're in the area in late August, don't miss the annual fireworks display held here as a fundraiser for the local search and rescue team. Entry is usually around Ikr1000, with buses running from Höfn for the event. See www.visitvatnajokull.is for details.
A new walking trail has been marked from the western car park, leading to Breiðárlón (10km one way) and Fjallsárlón (15.3km).
