Destination: Iceland
Overview Text Size A A A
Iceland, the 40,000-square-mile island located about midway between North America and Europe (surrounded by the Atlantic in the south and the Greenland Sea in the north), is a country of contradictions. The capital of Reykjavík, where some two thirds of the population (a whopping 304,000) lives, is a sophisticated, worldly city whose residents wear designer clothes, sport hipster haircuts that would blend right into Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and typically speak at least three languages (Icelandic, English and one of the Scandinavian tongues).
But the real Iceland lies beyond the Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses and Prada coats found in the capital’s high-fashion shopping scene. A short half-hour drive east out of the city, which is located on the southwest coast, brings you to the expansive countryside, a place that has captured the imagination of such visitors as William Morris, W. G. Collingwood and W. H. Auden. Auden, who traveled to the island in 1936, wrote: “In my childhood dreams, Iceland was holy ground; when, at the age twenty-nine, I saw it for the first time, the reality verified my dream; at fifty-seven it was holy ground still, with the most magical light of anywhere on earth.”
Auden’s “holy ground”—from the country’s sweeping icy glaciers and rugged mountain ranges to black sand beaches and rocky fields resembling lunar surfaces—should be explored with a good guide company, like Luxury Adventures. Situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland is one of the world’s most geologically active places and a terrific destination for anyone interested in the great outdoors and/or adventure travel. Standing on the viewing platform watching Gullfoss, one of Europe’s largest waterfalls, crashing into the depths, or seeing the majestic Hekla, an active volcano that scientists expect to erupt again soon, you can’t help but be awed and humbled by this place, a landscape as sparse and haunting as a Björk song.
Search By Keyword
Popular Destinations
Indagare News Flash
- News: Indagare named Best Travel Website by Vanity Fair. Read an interview with our founder on Vivre.
- Editor’s Picks: An insider’s tour of the Lubéron, a review of the Joule a new design hotel in downtown Dallas, and of Washington D.C.’s remarkable Newseum, a special, week-long itinerary in Colombia and a designer’s tips on what to see and do in Cartagena, behind-the-scenes culture trips to Eastern Europe and a reading and film list of the Hamptons. Plus, introducing our special Indagare Family Trips and an update on what’s new in Marrakech.
- Member Advice: Total immersion to learn Spanish: where in South/Central America would you go for a month? Share ideas. Better for kids Phuket or Koh Samui? Join the discussion.
- Coming soon: Insider reports on Botswana, the Cotswolds, the Turks & Caicos, Anguilla and Mumbai.
- What’s your travel IQ? Take the quiz USA Today called “a killer” and establish your Indagare quotient.
- Postcards: Family trip to Guatemala and Belize and a native’s tips for visiting Cartagena. Submit a postcard.
- Indagare Insiders: Top picks in Delhi from Fiona Caulfield; Colin Cowie’s tips on packing, flying and tipping; the design duo behind Kirna Zabete on shopping the world. Club 55’s Patrice de Colmont on St. Tropez, Eva Lorenzotti on Cairo and Loulou de la Falaise on Paris.
- Reviews: In-depth guides to Buenos Aires, Nantucket and St. Tropez and special spa adventures, including wellness weeks at villas in Europe.
- Indagare Tracker: Five of the most memorable places in the world to dine. Reservations Required.
- Sample Indagare: By signing up for bi-weekly email blasts on new hot spots and insider tips. Join our mailing list.
- New feature: Members share your profiles, comments, favorite articles and IQs. Just click on the Profile tab on the upper right of your screen and look for the Edit My Profile blue tab.
- Indagare means to discover, explore, seek, scout in Latin.



