Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, and the geology makes itself known at every turn — volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, lava fields, and glaciers covering more than ten percent of the country's surface. It is one of the most volcanically active places on Earth, and also one of the most sparsely populated countries in Europe.
The country was settled in the 9th century by Norse Vikings and Celtic settlers from the British Isles. The culture they built has proved remarkably persistent — the Icelandic language has changed less in a thousand years than almost any other European tongue, and the medieval sagas are still read here as living literature, not historical curiosity. Iceland's parliament, the Alþingi, was founded at Þingvellir in 930 AD and is one of the oldest in the world.
Around two-thirds of the population of 380,000 lives in the capital, Reykjavik, which is the world's northernmost capital city. Outside of Reykjavik and a handful of smaller towns, the country is largely empty — vast lava deserts, highland plateaus, and fjord coastlines with a farm here and there.
Iceland is not cheap. It is also not easy to travel in without some planning — distances are long, road conditions change with the weather, and the interior is inaccessible for much of the year. But it repays the effort. The landscapes are genuinely unlike anything in continental Europe, the light in summer and winter has a quality that photographers notice immediately, and the country has a self-possession that comes from eight centuries of isolation and hardship.
The Ring Road (Route 1) circles the country and opens up most of the main destinations. Reykjavik makes a good base for the south and west; Akureyri for the north. The Snæfellsnes peninsula west of Reykjavik packs an exceptional range of scenery — glacier, lava fields, sea cliffs, and saga landscapes — into a manageable two-day circuit. The Westfjords and the east are less visited and more rewarding for that reason.
