Lake Mývatn and Goðafoss Waterfall Day Tour from Akureyri

The road follows Eyjafjörður, one of Iceland's longest fjords, before turning inland towards Mývatn. A stop at a local café along the route is included in the tour.

Goðafoss, the 'waterfall of the gods', is a horseshoe-shaped fall on the Skjálfandafljót river, about 12 metres high and 30 metres wide, right beside the Ring Road. The name is tied to a well-known story about Iceland's conversion to Christianity around the year 1000. Paths on both banks give different views of the curve. Known as the waterfall of the gods, it drops in a broad curve and is one of the most photographed waterfalls in North Iceland.

These rounded, grass-covered mounds on the south shore of Lake Mývatn are not true volcanic craters but pseudocraters, also called rootless cones, because no magma channel runs beneath them. They formed about 2,300 years ago, when a lava flow spread over wet marshland. The water under the lava boiled, and the trapped steam blew small holes through the cooling rock. An easy walking loop leads around them, and the site has been a natural monument since 1973. A path loops between them.

Námaskarð and Hverarönd, often just called Hverir, is one of the starkest landscapes in Iceland: bare, cracked ground in shades of grey, yellow, pink and orange, with steam vents hissing and mud pots bubbling on every side. It sits at about 400 metres above sea level beside the mountain Námafjall, a few kilometres east of Lake Mývatn. The smell of sulphur reaches you before the sight does. The ground is hot, so stay on the marked paths.

Dimmuborgir means 'Dark Castles', and it fits: a maze of black lava towers, arches and small caves, left behind about 2,300 years ago when a lava lake drained away and the crust collapsed into castle-like shapes. Hollow rock chimneys that once cooled the lava from below can be walked between and, in places, through. Five marked loops, from about 600 metres to 2.3 kilometres, let you choose a short stroll or a longer walk. A lava field of unusual rock formations, said in folklore to be a gateway between worlds, with marked walking trails through it.

A geothermal bathing lagoon, at your own cost, as entry is not included. It is a smaller, quieter alternative to the Blue Lagoon, with milky blue water heated by the same geothermal activity as the rest of the area. The baths are now called Earth Lagoon Mývatn.