Glaciers of Iceland: A complete guide

Nothing makes you confront the power and vastness of nature head-on quite like Iceland’s glaciers. These extreme landscapes with their dramatic forms and textures draw thousands of visitors each year from all over the world, who travel to witness the jaw-dropping magnitude and beauty of the glaciers and the surrounding ice formations.

Glaciers form when layer after layer of unmelting snowfall compresses into ice and accumulates over hundreds of years. The immense weight, gravity, and the presence of meltwater pull these glaciers slowly downhill and across the terrain – between a few inches and a few feet each day. 

You may have heard of some of Iceland’s most famous glaciers, including Vatnajökull (the largest ice cap in the country), or Eyjafjallajökull, the tricky-to-pronounce glacier and stratovolcano whose eruption stopped global air traffic in 2010.

However, Iceland is home to many more glaciers as well as stunning glacial features, including lakes, rivers, and lagoons, which are just as impressive as the mighty ice caps themselves.

Before making the journey to the Land of Fire and Ice, uncover the beauty, diversity, and defining features of Iceland’s glaciers and learn how best to explore them.

There are around 269 glaciers in Iceland that cover around 10% of the country’s total landmass. The glaciers vary in shape, size, and formation, from the flatter topographies of ice caps to the river-like patterns of valley glaciers.

The largest of all the glaciers in Iceland is Vatnajökull, which makes up close to 8% of the whole country. A vast national park has been established that encompasses the ice cap and its surroundings, and is named Vatnajökull National Park.

Vatnajökull, like Iceland’s other largest glaciers, is an ice cap. An ice cap completely covers the terrain beneath it with its icy dome, whether that terrain is a volcano, mountain, or valley, or a combination of these. A glacier, in comparison, is influenced by the topography through which it moves. In Iceland, the term ‘glacier’ is often applied to ice caps.

Large ice-cap glaciers like Vatnajökull, along with other giants like Langjökull and Hofsjökull, ‘feed’ outlet glaciers – these are rivers of ice that flow slowly out from ice caps and larger formations like ice sheets. They are particularly well observed in Iceland’s southeast, flowing down from Vatnajökull.

Iceland’s glacier landscape is far richer than just ice caps and outlet glaciers. There’s an astounding range of ice formations that can both carve out and be determined by the surrounding landscape.

It can be helpful to know the different glacier formations to maximize the number of different locations you visit and sights you see during your time in Iceland. Look out for the following features:

• Mountain glaciers: These are made of snow and ice and form high up in the mountains that surround them.
• Rock glaciers: This type of glacier comprises a mixture of rock and ice, giving it a brownish-grey appearance. Their composition also means the rock glacier moves more slowly and creates a tongue-like shape as it slides down a mountainside.
• Valley glaciers: These were once rivers and track the contours of the valley, sometimes for many miles.
• Outlet glaciers: This is where the ice extends from an ice cap in a slow-moving, river-like form.
• Glacier lakes: These lakes are formed when glacier water pools into depressions in the landscape.
• Glacier rivers: Iceland’s glacier rivers are also formed by melted glacier ice, except these flow downwards and feature large levels of sediment picked up by the flow of water.
• Lagoons: A glacier lagoon is a type of lake that forms in a depression left behind as a glacier melts and retreats, with the resulting hole filling with meltwater – and often with icebergs too.
• Caves or ice caves: Caves are created when the flow of water or air hollows out a space in the glacier. Inside, they’re an incredible blue color, and the meltwater that resides in this space can also create interesting ice formations within the cave.

Glossary

Here are a few handy Icelandic words, to help you make sense of some place names:

• fell or fjall – mountain
• jökull – ice cap or glacier
• jökulsá - literally ‘glacier river’ – this is the name of several rivers in Iceland, often with more detail or a location specified in the name (eg Jökulsá á Fjöllum or Jökulsá í Fljótsdal)
• lón – lagoon

So, you see the logic: Jökulsárlón translates as ‘Glacier river lagoon’.

The majority of Iceland’s glaciers are located in the southern part of the country, with the largest concentration of glaciers, outlet glaciers, and glacial lagoons found in the southeast thanks to the colossal icy mass of Vatnajökull.

If you’re looking at a map of Iceland’s glaciers, you’ll see Hofsjökull and Langjökull and a large area of Vatnajökull are more centrally located, while Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjokull (with its well-known outlet glacier, Sólheimajökull) are situated on the south coast. A more challenging journey to Drangajökull takes you into the wilderness of the remote Westfjords, while Snæfellsjökull sits on the westernmost point of the Snæfellsnes peninsula.

The scenic Tröllaskagi peninsula in North Iceland is home to a steep mountain range that covers about 58 sq miles (150 sq km) and holds 150 small glaciers on and among its peaks.

Iceland’s dramatic, ever-changing landscape is not just a drawcard of fascinating beauty. Its icy volcanic peaks, crevasses, and caves also provide opportunities for incredible adventures like glacier hiking, snowmobiling, and ice-cave exploration.

As we’ve explored, there are many different types of glaciers in Iceland that each offer something unique.

For those looking for an epic expedition, hiking across the massive ice caps of Vatnajökull, Langjökull, and Hofsjökull lets you experience the astonishing scale of Iceland’s glacial landscape first-hand. However, outlet glaciers are generally more accessible for most visitors, and they offer the option for glacier hiking as well as other activities like exploring ice caves.

When people refer to Iceland’s ‘blue glacier’, they’re likely talking about Vatnajökull glacier and its ice caves. Inside the ice caves, the walls give off a mesmerizing crystal blue color.

It’s important to remember that each glacier may take several hours to reach and explore, so it’s not just the glacier itself that makes it the ‘best’ one, but the journey itself and all that it has to offer.

Below, we’ve included the major glaciers to visit in Iceland, and you can find out more about each one by clicking the cards.

The longstanding, million-year history of glaciers in Iceland is nearly as impressive as the formations themselves.  

Beneath the ice, Iceland is almost entirely built from volcanic rock, which has been accumulating since the Miocene period, 23 million to 5 million years ago.

In the Pliocene Epoch that followed around 5 to 2.6 million years ago, a period of climate cooling saw Iceland’s glaciers begin to form.

In the subsequent Ice Age (the Pleistocene Epoch), approximately 20 glacial episodes impacted Iceland’s landscape, leaving behind its mountainous and rugged, icy landscape. This includes the glaciers you see today, such as Vatnajökull, as well as its valleys, ridges, and fjords.

Sadly, no natural wonder of the world is spared from human interference, and the effect of climate change is present in Iceland.

The changing landscape is visible through Iceland’s retreating glaciers and the new and deeper lagoons caused by rising temperatures and melting ice.

For example, Jökulsárlón, the renowned glacial lagoon in the southeast of the island, was formed from this period of rapidly melting glaciers in Iceland. The lagoon appeared around 1935 and has since grown to an estimated 25 sq km (~10 sq miles), with a depth of around 250 meters (820ft), making it the deepest lake in Iceland.

The rapid glacial retreat is a sobering milestone in the climate crisis. Glaciers are critical in regulating the Earth’s climate, reflecting back solar radiation and helping to cool the planet. Their retreat has the potential to accelerate the effects of global warming.

Responsible tour operators (such as our partner Reykjavík Excursions), and the protection and expansion of places such as Vatnajökull National Park all play a key role in preserving the landscape and educating visitors on the destructive power of global warming.