Iceland’s Jokulsarlon
Glacier Lagoon

I can think of no other place quite as unique and mystifying as the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. I’d been fortunate enough to visit the Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon on my first trip to Iceland but to be honest, of all the places I was planning to see and visit while in Iceland, I couldn’t wait to come back here. This place is truly magical…

Iceland’s Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

Stemming out from the massive Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier (that’s right, I said it), huge blocks of ice break apart and drift into the glacial lake that is connected to the Atlantic Ocean. If you can imagine a place so surreal, you have a mountain landscape in the background coupled with the mouth of a domineering glacier that is set amongst a beautiful blue lake with scattered floating icebergs throughout. And if you would like, you can follow these huge floating ice chunks as they float under the bridge connecting the Ring Road as they make their way along Iceland’s black sand beaches out to sea. There is a reason they’ve named the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon as one of the most photographed places in the world. As an avid travel photographer, I loved this place and didn’t want to leave even though the wind chill on this day was well below zero!

And as a traveler cruising along Iceland’s Ring Road, the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon will sneak up on you in an instant. One minute you’re driving along with not much of a scenery change and then, all of a sudden, you come across this breathtaking landscape that surrounds you as you quickly pull your car off the road to witness this gift from mother nature.

And you won’t be the only tourist around. You’ll also be accompanied by plenty of seabirds as well. Most of them are Arctic Terns and they always seem to make a wonderland of this place as they fly in and out of the floating glacial ice on the lake as each makes it way to the inlet to the Atlantic Ocean while searching for krill, salmon, and herring. And no matter which time of year you make it here, you’ll have some perks. In the warmer months, there’s an opportunity to catch a boat ride through the floating icebergs with the Zodiac Boat Tours company based right off the lake. I’ve taken it before and it was well worth the experience… And in the colder months, you may even catch seals there as they spend their time catching fish at the inlet of the lake. Jökulsárlón, the official Icelandic name, literally means glacial river lagoon and is part of the greater Vatnajökull National Park, which is also a truly magical place worth visiting in depth while in Iceland.

Of course, I was wanting to the spend the full day out here on the shores of the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. However, as bone chilling cold as it was with the voracious winds and my travel companion anxious to press on, I would have to put the rest of my stay here on hold until my next trip to Iceland.

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