Lake Mývatn and the surrounding areas will never cease to amaze you
The breathtaking beauty of the Lake Mývatn area is unique. It has been created by volcanic eruptions and seizmic activities throughout the ages – and sculpted by wind and rain, ice and snow. It is the ultimate creation of Ice and Fire.
It is beautiful during the light nights of summer with the lake mirroring the rays of the midnight sun sweeping around the mountain tops, It is beautiful during the dark days of winter, with natural snow sculptures forming and constantly reshaping, giving the landscape the illusion of dancer-like movements in the perpetual Northern Lights.
Dancing lights
Lake Mývatn and the surrounding areas are the one place in Iceland protected by the highlands from the harsh northern winds and wet southern winds thus retaining relative tranquility all year round and giving the blissful Northern Lights free reign. No matter where or how you move around the area, magical lights are always within reach. You can chase them on horseback, on skis, on skates or snowmobiles, but you‘ll never catch them. They will just change their form or colour, their playfulness filling you with delight.
The real treat is to sit in the warmth of the Mývatn Nature Baths with geothermal water drawn from depths of up to 2.500 metres, gazing at the Northern Lights‘ movement across the sky. Or, you can go on an highland tour on snowmobiles towards Askja, to find out where the lights and the land meet.
Due to the extraordinary display of nature all the tourist services around Lake Mývatn are open all year around. Hotels and restaurants, swimming pools and nature baths provide excellent service for tourists.
Birdlife riches
At an altitude of 277 m above sea-level, Lake Mývatn provides a spectacular panorama of surreal lava, crater and cave formations, sulphur-streaked mountains, and sweeping wetlands teeming with plant and birdlife which, in summer, are home to the swarms of midges that not only give the region its name but also provide a major source of nutrition for fish and birds.
Each spring, these shallow marshes and the lake´s 50 or so islands serve as nesting and breeding sites for what is probably the largest variety of ducks, swans, geese and waders found at a single location anywhere in the world, among them the elusive Barrow´s Goldeneye, a native of North America found nowhere else in Europe.
Places not to be missed in the area include Hverfjall, Dimmuborgir, Grjótagjá, Skútustaðagígar, Höfði, Lofthellir, Leirhnjúkur, Krafla and the hot springs east of Námaskard. Just a bit to the north the amazing Ásbyrgi and Hljóðuklettar are to be found. No wonder, this part of the island is the most popular with tourists visiting Iceland.
Mývatnsstofa
Hraunvegur 8 • 660 Mývatn +354 464 4390 [email protected] www.visitmyvatn.is
