Iceland Travel GuideLOCAL TRAVEL AGENCY IN ICELAND
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Iceland Travel GuideLOCAL TRAVEL AGENCY IN ICELAND
My trip
Talk to a local
Vatnajökull National Park is Iceland's largest national park, built around Europe's biggest ice cap, and covers roughly 14,967 km² (about 14% of the country). It has no single entrance: most visitors reach it through Skaftafell in the southeast, about 330 km (4–5 hours) from Reykjavík, or through Ásbyrgi and Jökulsárgljúfur in the north. Entry to the park is free, it is open all year, and how long you stay depends entirely on what you come to do, from an hour at a viewpoint to several days of hiking.
Vatnajökull National Park was established in 2008 by joining the older Skaftafell and Jökulsárgljúfur national parks with the ice cap between them. It covered about 12,000 km² at the start and has grown since, with Lakagígar, Langisjór, Krepputunga and Jökulsárlón among the areas added. In 2019 UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site for showing, in one place, the push and pull of glaciers, volcanoes and rivers that has shaped Iceland. It is often called the largest national park in Europe. By area it is the second largest, after Yugyd Va in Russia.
The park is split into four regions, each with its own character: the south around Skaftafell, with black basalt columns, glacier tongues and Iceland's highest peak; the north around Ásbyrgi and the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon, home to Dettifoss; the east around Kverkfjöll, a remote area of ice caves and geothermal heat; and the west around Lakagígar, the crater row from the 1783 Laki eruption. Most travellers see only one or two of these on a single trip, and that is normal: the park is too large to cover in a day.
Because it is really several regions under one name, it helps to think of it not as one attraction but as the frame around many of Iceland's biggest sights: Jökulsárlón, Svartifoss, Dettifoss and the glacier itself all sit inside its boundary.
Within its borders are Europe's largest ice cap, Iceland's highest mountain and the most powerful waterfall in Europe, along with glacier lagoons, black sand, active volcanoes and highland desert. You could spend weeks here and not see all of it.
UNESCO's listing calls the park a place of "fire and ice": under Vatnajökull's ice cap lie several active volcanic systems, including Grímsvötn and Bárðarbunga, and their eruptions regularly melt tunnels through the ice and send sudden floods, called jökulhlaup, down the rivers that drain the glacier. The 1783–84 Laki eruption in the park's western area was one of the most devastating in Icelandic history, and its crater row, Lakagígar, is still visible today.
That combination of ice and fire is also why the landscape changes faster here than almost anywhere else in Iceland. Glacier tongues have retreated visibly within a single generation, and rivers have carved new courses after floods. Rangers and researchers use the park partly to track those changes, which is part of why it earned UNESCO recognition alongside its scenery.
Because the park has several unconnected entrances, plan around one region per trip rather than trying to see all of it. Kverkfjöll, Askja and Lakagígar are on mountain roads that need a 4x4 and are only open in summer.
A quick guide to which part of the park suits your trip.
The best-known sights and walks inside the park, from south to north.
Ice caves inside Vatnajökull can usually only be visited with a guide from around November to March, when the ice is stable enough to tunnel safely.
Visitor centres with toilets, information and small exhibitions are at Skaftafell (open all year), Ásbyrgi and Skriðuklaustur (seasonal) and Kirkjubæjarklaustur, with an information centre in Höfn. Campsites operate at Skaftafell and Ásbyrgi in summer. Fuel and shops are in nearby towns such as Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Höfn and Húsavík, not inside the park itself.
Where to stay depends on which region you visit. For the south, Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Skaftafell and Höfn all have hotels and guesthouses. For the north, Húsavík and Akureyri are the main bases. Inside the park itself you camp: the Skaftafell campsite is the most popular in the south, and the one in Ásbyrgi is a good choice in the north.
No, entry to the park is free. Parking fees and camping fees apply at specific sites such as Skaftafell.
No. The park's regions are far apart and not directly connected by road, so most visitors see one region per trip.
Not for Skaftafell or Ásbyrgi, which are reached on paved roads. The Kverkfjöll and Lakagígar areas need a 4x4 and are open in summer only.
Vatnajökull, Europe's largest ice cap, plus Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, Dettifoss waterfall and the black basalt columns at Svartifoss.
It is often described that way. By area it is the second largest in Europe, after Yugyd Va in Russia, and it covers about 14% of Iceland.
About an hour and a half there and back from the Skaftafell visitor centre. The path climbs steadily and can be muddy near the waterfall.
Summer, when all roads are open, including the highland routes and the roads along Jökulsárgljúfur, and the days are long. Winter is the season for ice caves from Skaftafell.
Tours and trips that include Vatnajökull National Park, booked directly with a local travel agency in Iceland.
