Iberia Corporate’s María Blanco Recommends a Visit to Iceland’s Natural Treasures

María Blanco took an Iberia Express summer flight to Iceland to see why it has become so fashionable in the past decade, and found that the small country boasts some genuine natural treasures. In the summer the sun never entirely sets, and the temperature is comfortable. But it does rain, so visitors should take a waterproof outer garment or cape, and rain boots. Here’s are some more tips from María about things to do.

A hike: The unforgettable Fimmvörðuháls route takes about ten hours to cover the 24 kilometres from Skógar to Thórsmörk, near the Earth's two youngest mountains, which popped up in 2010 with the eruption of the volcano-glacier Eyjafjallajökull, which interrupted air traffic for a few days. Get up early so you’ll reach Thórsmörk in time to catch the bus back to the main road.

The best views: In Reykjavik you can look at the whole city from the top of the Hallgrímskirkja church.  

Other stunning vistas await you at the lookout over the Skaftafel glacier in Vatnajökull National Park. You’ll experience the awesome immensity of the glacier and watch blocks of ice fall into a lake, along with lava and ash plains. You may even hear the roar of ice breaking on the ice fields of Vatnäjkokull, Europe’s largest glacier, from which the Skaftafell is born.

A museum: Iceland is in itself an outdoor museum. In a small space the visitor can enjoy nature in its purest state: glaciers, volcanos, rivers of lava, fumaroles, hundreds of waterfalls, fjords, basalt caves, beached mad of ash, icebergs, and multicoloured mountains.

Delicatessen: Not much variety. Many tourists buy at the supermarket and prepare their own meals in caravans, cabins, shared rentals, hostels, or other lodgings. There are some good fish soups, and mutton soup is very popular. A famous dish that’s not easy to find is fermented shark, which is said to have an unbearable smell.

Shoppìng: Not one of Iceland’s strong points, but visitors should sample the souvenir and design shops, as well as the restaurants, in Reykjavik's Laugavegur shopping street.

For the whole family: Iceland is a great country for kids to see in real life what they know only from films –a world of fire and ice! They’ll have the opportunity to walk on glaciers, admire the busy colonies of puffins (the best are in Borgarfjörður Eystri, a fjord in the east), watch whales, bathe in the hot-spring waters of lakes and rivers, and see what old and new volcanos have done to the landscape.

 Not to miss: The Jökulsárlón lagoon with floating  icebergs that move slowly to the sea. Oddly, the sea   returns them to the shore in smaller pieces, which is why   it is called the “beach of diamonds”.