Akureyri and Mývatn, the north of Iceland

Most visitors to Iceland see the south: Reykjavík, the waterfalls, the glaciers and the black beaches. The north is further and quieter, and it has a character of its own. Its town is Akureyri, which calls itself the capital of the north, and its great natural sight is Lake Mývatn, a lake in a volcanic landscape so strange that it is hard to believe it is real.

The capital of the north

Akureyri lies near the inland end of Eyjafjörður, a long fjord on the north coast, and it is a neat, small, cheerful town. Its most surprising attraction is a garden. The Akureyri Botanical Garden, Lystigarður Akureyrar, grew out of a public park laid out by the women of the town in 1912, and became a botanical garden in 1957. It is one of the northernmost botanical gardens in the world, about a hundred kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, and it holds thousands of plants from around the world, alongside nearly all of Iceland's native species. To walk among flower beds in a place this close to the Arctic Circle feels faintly improbable, which is a large part of the pleasure.

East of Akureyri, between the town and Mývatn, is Goðafoss, the waterfall of the gods. Its name is attached to one of the best-known stories in Iceland. Around the year 1000 the Althing, the national assembly, had to decide whether the country should become Christian, and the decision was left to the lawspeaker, Þorgeir. After a day and a night of thought, he chose Christianity, with a compromise that allowed pagans to worship in private. Legend says that on his way home he threw his pagan idols into the waterfall, which gave it its name. The legend, it should be said, appears much later than the history, and the name may have other explanations. But it is a fine story, and the falls are worth the stop whatever their name means. Since June 2020 they have been protected as a natural monument, which means the view should stay as it is.

Mývatn

Lake Mývatn lies in a volcanic landscape, and the first thing to know about it is its name, which means the lake of midges. The midges are many, and they matter: they are a key food for the birds that breed around the lake. They are an experience all the same, and a hat with a net is no bad idea.

The landscape around the lake is the work of fire and water. On the southern shore, at Skútustaðir, is a cluster of pseudocraters, or false craters: grassy cones and hollows that look like small volcanoes but are not. They were formed about 2,300 years ago, when lava flowed over wet ground, and the water trapped beneath it flashed into steam and blew holes up through the molten rock. Some of the craters are around twenty metres deep, one green hollow after another along the shore. The same lava flows dammed the lake you see today.

East of the lake is Dimmuborgir, a maze of twisted lava pillars and arches formed when a lava lake drained away, leaving behind the columns that had hardened around steam vents. Further east still, below the Námaskarð pass, is Hverir, a geothermal field of bubbling mud pots and hissing steam vents, with the smell of sulphur hanging over everything. It is like walking onto another planet, if the other planet smelled of eggs.

Holidays that reach the north

Travelsphere's eight-night Iceland Explorer is the holiday in the catalogue that lists Lake Mývatn. Its places include Reykjavík and Borgarnes, Skagafjörður, Akureyri and Lake Mývatn, then Egilsstaðir and Höfn, Jökulsárlón and Diamond Beach, and Vík, Dyrhólaey and Skógafoss.

Explore Worldwide's eight-night Iceland Winter Adventure includes Akureyri and Hrisey Island in the north, along with Reykjavik and Akranes, Egilsstadir, Breiddalsvik, Hofn, Jokulsarlon and Diamond Beach, and Thingvellir National Park, Gullfoss and Geysir. It does not list Mývatn. It has departures in January, February, October and November.

Ambassador Cruise Line's nine-night Iceland & Faroes – Whales, Waterfalls & Geysers sails from Dundee in July, calling at Runavík in the Faroe Islands, Akureyri, Isafjordur and Reykjavik.

If you reach the north, give it time. Spend an evening in Akureyri, stop at Goðafoss on the way east, and keep a whole day for Mývatn. Bring a hat with a net, just in case.