Iceland: Imperfectly known!

"How many mountains, glaciers, and volcanoes there are to study, which are as yet but imperfectly known!"

Jules Verne

A Journey to Hidden Iceland

It's rare that I start a written piece with a quote from another writer. But in this case it is too fitting to pass up. Jules Verne's description of Iceland is as true today as it was back in the 19th Century when his sea-sick protagonist excitedly described the journey ahead. If you haven't read A Journey to the Centre of the Earth I would recommend it highly, especially if travelling around the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, where the book is set.

Photo: Arnarstapi Bridge - Sn?fellsnes Peninsula Tour - Norris Niman

It's a quote I keep in my head, and sometimes even say out loud when the mood is right. It will often come out when I realise we may just be the first people to step foot in a new spot in Iceland. Taking guests onto constantly moving and melting glaciers can afford you this luxury from time to time.

I've been accused of being a little cheesy with my guests when working with Hidden Iceland. I would argue it's hard not to be when peering up at the night sky in search of the Northern Lights. Or down at the ground searching for berries in glacier scarred terrain. It comes with the territory. I've peppered this article with a few more of Jules Verne's more emotive descriptions of Iceland so I apologise, the cheese will continue.

"I gazed at these marvels in profound silence. Words were utterly wanting to indicate the sensations of wonder I experienced."

What crowds?

So I've written this piece to try to dispel a myth that has been perpetuated over the last few years. That Iceland is over-crowded. That Iceland has been 'discovered'. My view is that Iceland is still, as Jules Verne puts it, "imperfectly known."

In this article I'll delve into 3 good examples to really prove it; the WestFjords with its deep valleys, the Westman Islands with its still warm volcano and of course the ice caves that are formed anew every year.

Photo: Westfjords View - Wild Westfjords 4 Day Tour -Norris Niman

The facts and figures of it all

As I said, the rhetoric at the moment is that Iceland is over-crowded. And sure, if you spend your entire time in downtown Reykjavik and go on a few big bus tours of the Golden Circle in the height of summer it'll certainly appear that way. But even then I would argue that there's a bottle neck effect. The Golden Circle is famous, no doubt about that. With thunderous waterfalls, erupting geysers and a broken tectonic rift zone there is plenty of reasons for it to be. Hidden Iceland still take guests there, but instead of rushing around like many others, we simply spend the morning bathing in the oldest hot pool in the country, the Secret Lagoon, and then dine at a geothermally heated tomato greenhouse, Frieheimar. By the time we pet the local Icelandic horses we casually venture towards the more popular spots being careful to dodge the big bus timetables.

Photo: Secret Lagoon - Golden Circle Platinum Tour - Susana Garcia

The fact is, around 70% of all tourists who come to Iceland remain within 1 days travel of Reykjavik. Considering Iceland is the size of England (103,000 sq km) there's plenty more to see and do.

According to the Icelandic Tourist Board tourism numbers are even expected to drop significantly in 2019 to around 2 million visitors. (2.3 million visitors in 2018). The second quarter of 2019 saw a 20% drop in numbers (i.e. the busy summer months). This is worrying for economic growth but great news for companies like ours who pride ourselves in making it to the more hidden spots when we can.

To put those numbers into context, similar countries like Norway (8m) and Scotland (3.4m) had significantly more tourists and yet are not perceived to be over-crowded. And don't get me started on the 20 million tourists who squeeze into Venice every year or the 85 million who visit France.

Photo: Crystal Ice Cave 2016 -Norris Niman Hidden Iceland

However, to compare Iceland's crowd problem by saying others are 'worse' is not fair. Iceland's tourism industry is still in its infancy and there are many companies, hotels and local authorities scrambling to make sense of it all. Hidden Iceland for example is only 2 years old and has risen to the top 3 on TripAdvisor out of (deep breath) 437 other tour companies in Reykjavik alone. New attractions are popping up every day to release some of the over-used attractions in Reykjavik from their accidental monopolies.

Hidden Iceland's founders (Dagny Bj?rg Stefánsdóttir, Scott Drummond and I) have taken a different stance. We create trips that take you away from it all. We make sure you see the must see sights along the way but do everything in our power to take you to the less travelled spots too.

1. The Wild Westfjords & Sn?fellsnes

Example one: If I told you that the West Fjords (only 5.5 hours from Reykjavik) receives only 7% of all tourists in Iceland, you'd most likely think there's nothing there. Well, you'd be half right. There's no tourists there, that's for sure. The only traffic jam you are likely to encounter up in this forgotten part of the country is when the free-roaming sheep decide the middle of the road is a nice place to take their afternoon nap.

Photo: West Fjords - Latrabjarg 1 -Scott Drummond - Hidden Iceland

Hidden Iceland explore the deep scarred Fjords, vertiginous mountains and wildlife for 4 spectacular days in the summer months. Often coupled with a stop over in the famous Sn?fellsnes (the setting of Journey to the Centre of the Earth) on the way.

"I'm dreaming with my eyes open."

Boat rides to islands littered with seals are often interrupted with whale sightings. A morning visiting an Arctic fox rescue centre is punctuated with hot pools and Icelandic horses. Our hike along the tallest vertical sea cliffs in Europe are muted with the thousands of puffins fluttering nearby. The drive alone through the glacier scarred mountain ranges is worth the visit all by itself.

2. The Volcanic Westman Islands

The Westman Islands is an odd one. It is well known for having the largest puffin colony in the world. It is an incredible island for spotting whales off the coast. The island is steeped in history with some of the original settlers in Iceland calling these volcanic islands home.

"However great and mighty the marvels of nature may seem to us, they are always to be explained by physical reasons."

There was even a volcanic eruption in 1973 that engulfed the island in flames and ash that made international news due to the heroic locals redirecting the lava flow into the sea before all was lost. The locals watched in awe and horror in the 1960s when a new volcano, Surtsey, emerged from the sea creating the newest landmass on the planet. They studied and observed this eruption closely to understand how the lava and ash interact with sea water. It was the lessons they learned from the first eruption that allowed for such decisive action in the second, ultimately saving their homes. They sprayed sea water for months onto the lava forcing it down a different path away from the town.

“Science, my boy, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.”

You can still hike to the top of the newly formed volcano, towering over the small town. If you go with a local guide you can even find spots where the ground is still warm. And if all that wasn't enough, it's possible to do all this as a day trip from Reykjavik. Hidden Iceland actually do exactly that.

Photo: Westman Islands view from Eldfjall Volcano - Lucas Peters

So why is this a spot I've chosen as a crowd myth buster? Well if you recall I mentioned that Iceland is still new to the game. The infrastructure hasn't quite caught up with demand in some places. In this case the ferry size and timetable limit the amount of tourists to the island. So even in the absolute height of summer it still feels like a hidden gem with mainly locals to interact with.

3. Ice Cave Discovery in the UNESCO World Heritage Site

This final place is the whole reason I was inspired to write this piece. I should probably be sleeping now as it approaches midnight. But I'm inspired.

Every winter my company, Hidden Iceland, teams up with local ice cave explorers, Local Guide of Vatnajokull to create a 2 day trip that ventures into the Vatnaj?kull National Park. This area was deservedly given UNESCO World Heritage status in July 2019. We couldn't be more thrilled, as it's an area our guides have worked extensively in for years. To be afforded this extra level of protection and recognition is akin to a child at graduation for some local glacier experts. The National Park is dominated by a city sized ice cap, moving glaciers, black sand beaches, floating icebergs, thunderous waterfalls and numerous active volcanoes. UNESCO likened it to another planet, just as Jules Verne did.

"I seemed...as if I were some wandering inhabitant of a distant planet, present for the first time at the spectacle of some terrestrial phenomena belonging to another existence."

We explore this massive area all year round but it's only when the dark and cold of winter descend upon us that the true magic of the Vatnaj?kull National Park appears. This vast empty land is a great place to hunt for the Northern Lights in secluded hotels and farm guest houses.

“What darkness to you is light to me”

The glaciers we hike on in summer start to turn blue on the surface as the ever present summer sun no longer has a strong effect on the ice. The river levels drop and the melting rates of the glaciers reduce. This is when the cherry on the cake appears, the fleeting ice cave season.

Photo: Breieamerkurj?kull 2018 - 19 Treasure Island Ice Cave Original ?mer Acar

For 5 short months of the year it gets cold enough for ice caves to be safe enough to enter. The shapes that are formed from the rapid summer movement, or the deep holes that are carved out by melting water temporarily freeze in time. These shapes can be vertical holes, deep chasms or cathedral style ice caves.

“Wherever he saw a hole he always wanted to know the depth of it. To him this was important.”

To call a newly formed ice cave a unique experience would be the understatement of the year. Each ice cave season has a big question mark over it until the temperature drops. The ice caves we explored last year collapsed in the summer heat and rain. The days of ice caves remaining standing for years are gone. Anyone claiming to take you to the Crystal Ice Cave for example is either lying to you or misinformed. I watched that famous attraction flood for the final time last year.

Hidden Iceland have many talents but to have the generational expertise of sniffing out ice caves in the wilderness is something we don't have. We rely on the experts to help. Local Guides of Vatnaj?kull are often the first ones to discover the winters ice cave. Big and blue is just one of the many criteria needed for deeming them worthy to take guests in. Above all else they must be stable and safe. There are often false starts and misaligned expectations in the lead up to the winter. This year was no different.

Breieamerkurj?kull ice cave 2019 Helen María Bj?rnsdóttir Hidden Iceland 8

It is only now, at the official start to ice cave season, that we have confirmed which ice cave will be using. And even this may be temporary. The picture above, and at the top of this article is that ice cave. Hence why I was so inspired to write this article. We only just got the new pictures of the ice cave that will now affectionately be known as Sapphire. This is the ice cave that we will take our customers to on our private tours or our scheduled 2 day tour.

I don't have a 'favourite time of year' as is often asked. I promise. But getting to explore ice caves during the day and hunt for the northern lights at night from November to late March on our two day tour certainly comes close.

Come and find the best of Iceland

Hidden Iceland run small group and private tours all year round. There's no 'bad' time to come, with each month having its own special reasons to visit. Feel free to drop us a line to find out what there is to do on any given month. From November to March it's all about ice caves. From September to early April you have northern lights hunting. May and June is prime farm time with baby lambs running around. And of course, the warm summer brings nicer weather and millions of puffins.

I would like to finish this article as I started. With a final Jules Verne quote from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. A description of how I, and many of my customers feel when they lock eyes on their first ever blue ice cave or dancing green aurora.

“I looked on, I thought, I reflected, I admired, in a state of stupefaction not altogether unmingled with fear!”

Perhaps you can now see why I refer to Iceland as 'imperfectly known'.

Thank you

Ryan Connolly

Marketing Manager & Co-Owner of Hidden Iceland

+3547759496

[email protected]