Reykjavik

About Reykjavik

Reykjavik is the world's most northerly capital and the gateway to landscapes that look like another planet. The city itself is compact and colorful — corrugated-iron houses painted in bold hues, the angular Hallgrimskirkja church rising like a basalt column, and a creative scene that punches absurdly above its population of 130,000. But the real draw is what lies just beyond the city limits.

The Golden Circle — a 300-kilometer loop from Reykjavik — delivers three of Iceland's signature sights in a single day: Thingvellir, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates visibly pull apart; Geysir, the original geyser that gave the English language the word; and Gullfoss, a thundering two-tiered waterfall plunging into a canyon. Further afield, the South Coast offers black-sand beaches at Vik, the glacier lagoon at Jokulsarlon (with floating icebergs), and behind-the-waterfall walks at Seljalandsfoss.

From September to March, the Northern Lights dance across the sky on clear nights — ribbons of green, purple, and white shimmering above a volcanic landscape. In summer, the midnight sun never sets, and the days stretch endlessly for whale watching, glacier hiking, and soaking in geothermal pools. The Blue Lagoon gets the press, but the newer Sky Lagoon, with its infinity edge overlooking the North Atlantic, may be even better.

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