Bridge Between Continents

The bridge is a small steel footbridge, about fifteen metres long, thrown across the Alfagja fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, with signs at either end naming Europe and North America. The geology behind it is real - Reykjanes is where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge comes ashore, and the plates are pulling apart at roughly two centimetres a year - but the boundary is a zone tens of kilometres wide rather than a line, so this particular crack is a representative one rather than the join itself. The site says as much. Certificates are sold nearby for crossing. It takes ten minutes and sits close enough to the airport for a stop on the way out.

The main sights

• A fifteen metre footbridge - over the Alfagja fissure.
• Real geology behind it - the ridge comes ashore here, spreading about two centimetres a year.
• A symbolic line - the plate boundary is a wide zone, not this crack.
• A ten minute stop - close to the airport.

When to go

Year round. Half an hour.

Things to know

This is a photo stop and nothing more; visitors expecting a chasm are disappointed. Sand blows hard across the site. The ground around the fissure is loose and unfenced in places. Facilities are a car park.

Nearby

Gunnuhver and Reykjanesviti are minutes south; Grindavik is east.

Key facts