Snaefellsjokull National Park

The national park covers the western end of the Snaefellsnes peninsula, centred on Snaefellsjokull, a stratovolcano capped by a small ice cap that is visible across the bay from Reykjavik on clear days. Around it the land is mostly lava, some of it bare and sharp, some deep in grey-green moss. The coast road passes the Londrangar basalt pinnacles, the Malarrif lighthouse, the Saxholl crater with a stepped path to its rim, and the Vatnshellir lava tube, entered by spiral staircase on guided tours. Weather here changes fast because the peninsula sticks out into open sea, and the summit is a guided trip rather than a walk.

Background

The park takes in Snæfellsjökull, snow-fell glacier, a 700,000-year-old glacier-capped stratovolcano at the western tip of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, sometimes visible from Reykjavík, 120 kilometres away across Faxa Bay. Its fame comes mainly from Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), whose travellers go underground here. Three large Plinian eruptions occurred in the Holocene, about 8,500, 4,000 and 1,800 years ago, and its latest eruptions date from about 200 CE. The ice cap shrank from 16 square kilometres in 1946 to 10 to 11 in 2008, and in August 2012, for the first time on record, no ice remained on the summit. On 17 July 1939 an arctic mirage let Captain Robert Bartlett of the Effie M. Morrissey sight it some 536 to 560 kilometres away.

Source: Wikipedia, "Snæfellsjökull"

The landscape

• Londrangar - two basalt pinnacles standing off the cliff line, remnants of an old crater.
• Saxholl crater - a small scoria cone with a stepped metal path to the rim in about ten minutes.
• Vatnshellir - a lava tube entered by spiral staircase on guided tours.
• The moss lava - wide fields of deep moss over old flows either side of the road.

When to go

May to September for open side roads, long light and easier weather, though the loop road is normally maintained year round. Clear days matter more than season here, since the glacier and the pinnacles disappear in low cloud. Summit trips run in spring and early summer with guides and equipment rather than on foot alone.

Before you go

The peninsula makes its own weather and a full day of horizontal rain is a realistic outcome. Distances between stops are longer than the map suggests and there are few services inside the park. Moss on lava is fragile and footprints in it stay for years. The ice cap has thinned and looks smaller than in older photographs.

Nearby

Djupalonssandur lies inside the park, and Kirkjufell stands further east along the peninsula.

Key facts