South Iceland – A Tourist Paradise

Many travellers stay in the capital area and take tours from there to the countryside They even drive the same route day after day to the tourist sites. This is totally unnecessary. South Iceland has all the facilities for an overnight or longer stays with activities to suit every age and interest.

Accommodation ranging from B&b's, farmhouses, guesthouses, hostels to four star hotels are to be found in every village and town. The same goes for restaurants, which serve food from snacks to full meals.

When leaving the capital area and passing the Hellisheidi mountain road the first town you will reach is Hveragerdi – The Hotsprings town, which thrives on all the geothermal water flowing from the ground in abundance. The hot water is used for heating houses, for the local swimming pool and to heat greenhouses and even for outdoor cooking. Have a taste of the famous brown bread which is baked in the hot ground. The new Geothemal Park is now open every day. Why not stop by and watch the manmade hot spring spout jets of steam and hot water into the air.

When driving eastwards the route lies through farmlands where many horsefarms are located. Most of them offer both short and long riding tours. Another stop might be at Friðheimar, where they grow tomatoes all year round, under artificial lighting in greenhouses where visitors are welcome to see and to enjoy a taste of the crop. Activities like kayaking can be done from Stokkseyri, a small town by sea shore. In South Iceland you will find different kinds of museums and galleries which are worth visiting.

To name a few; The Art Gallery in Hveragerdi which is considered the best contemporary gallery in the countryside. The Folk museum at Skogar and the Iceland Erupt Museum at Thorvaldseyri are all worth visiting.

Our company Arcanum Glacier tours is situated at the roots of Myrdalsjokull glacier. Every day except Christmas day and New Year and weather permitting, we take tourists upon the glacier. The glacier hiking and glacier walking are our most popular tours. Glacier walk is a great adventure where you can try for yourself how it feels to walk on ice. We walk on Sólheimajökull glacier (a part of the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap).

After safety briefing and a lesson in ice walking we will head onto the glacier to experience this unique environment with some amazing terrain with crevasse, sink holes and ice ridges. Sólheimajökull is the southernmost glacier in Iceland, the ice is up to about 200 meters thick and the total size with the ice cap Mýrdalsjökull about 600 km2. Underneath the main ice cap is the caldera of the volcano Katla, one of Iceland biggest volcanos. Snowmobiling is great fun. The snowmobile tour is the perfect length of time for first-time riders and individuals looking for a scenic, fun ride, exploring and experiencing the wilderness and the breathtaking views over South Iceland in good weather. Our guides are both qualified and entertaining and take good care of the visitors.

ATV Quad Biking is another popular activity we can recommend. The tour begins at the ARCANUM base. From the base we cross some small rivers and head down to the black lava sands fields which derives from the dormant volcano Katla. Down by the black beach we stop and enjoy the amazing view up to the Mýrdalsjökull glacier and along the coast to the southernmost part of Iceland, the small peninsula Dyrhólaey. We then head along the coast to the famous aircraft wreck. On this tour you can get in touch with the raw black lava sand landscape by the south coast.

Unforgettable experience of conflicting landscapes where the nature envelops the traveller in its warm embrace.There are more interesting places to see in South Iceland such as Vik in Myrdal an little town surrounded with beautiful landscape and Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon and many more.