Seltun Geothermal Area

Seltun sits on the Krysuvik geothermal field, where rainwater percolating into hot rock returns as steam and boiling water, altering the ground into a palette of yellow, orange, red and grey - sulphur, iron oxides and clays - with mud pots plopping and fumaroles hissing. Boardwalks keep visitors off ground that is both fragile and dangerously hot. The area is not entirely stable: a borehole drilled in the 1940s for a power scheme exploded in 1999, throwing mud and rock and leaving a crater, which is a plain demonstration of why the marked paths matter here. Steam obscures and reveals the field as the wind shifts, and the smell of sulphur carries a long way.

What you actually see

• Mud pots and fumaroles - boiling ground on a boardwalk circuit.
• Mineral colours - sulphur yellow, iron red and pale clays.
• A borehole crater - left by the 1999 explosion on the same field.
• Shifting steam - the field appearing and disappearing with the wind.

When to go

All year; boardwalks ice up in winter. Two hours.

Honest expectations

Stay on the boardwalks - the crust is thin and the water is at boiling point; people have been badly burned at sites like this. The sulphur smell is strong. There are no facilities beyond a car park. Wind and rain are frequent.

Nearby

Graenavatn and Kleifarvatn are alongside; Krysuvikurberg cliffs are south.