Iceland, once known only for the midnight sun and the Blue Lagoon hot springs, is now attracting people for its high-adrenalin activities, as well as its unique landscape.
Part of it is its accessibility. Anyone using Reykjavik as a layover point from Europe to North America or vice versa can get off the plane and be snowmobiling on a glacier within an hour. Or if the weather is right, skydive or ultra-glide and see the wondrous land from above.
Add another day or two to your trip and you can include dog sledding and diving or snorkeling in pure glacier water in the Silfra rift (the divide between the Eurasian and North American continents), where you will swim between the continents and take a good look at the crack beneath the surface.
To get the most out of the land of fire and ice, take a week to travel around the entire island. Hire Arctic Surfers, the country's only surf tour company, to take you to some amazing swells, stand-up paddle among icebergs or catch a wave in unusual, picturesque locations.
Go rafting down some challenging rivers, or spend the day kayaking around a fjord. And don't forget Iceland’s newest attraction Into The Glacier, the ice tunnel in Langjökull that takes tourists 90 feet below the surface of Europe’s second largest glacier, with a series of tunnels and caverns that will leave you aghast.
But don’t put the sheer beauty of the country on the back burner. The thousands of waterfalls, countless natural hot springs, herds of horses, majestic mountains and the black beaches will leave even the most hard core daredevil breathless.
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