Reykjanes Peninsula

The Reykjanes Peninsula is where most visitors land in Iceland, and most of them drive straight across it to Reykjavík without looking out the window. Bad idea. For the last few years this has been the most volcanically active corner of the country, and between the eruptions it's still a place where the ground steams, the sea throws itself at lava cliffs and you can walk across the gap between two tectonic plates.

Reykjanes, in southwest Iceland, is a UNESCO Global Geopark, a long lava-covered spur of land sticking out into the Atlantic where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge comes ashore. Keflavík Airport is at its northern end, the Blue Lagoon in the middle and the fishing town of Grindavík on the south coast. Most of it is 40 minutes to an hour from Reykjavík.

Tours that visit Reykjanes Peninsula

Hike to Volcanic Eruption Sites & Reykjanes Tour

9 hours · From Reykjavík

4.8(217)

From 15.990 ISK

Volcano Circle Tour - Grindavík Town, Reykjanes Lava Fields and Hot Springs

7 hours · From Reykjavík

5(85)

From 15.000 ISK

Volcanic Caves and Craters: The Lava Tunnel, Grindavík & Reykjanes Lava Fields Combo Tour

9 hours · From Reykjavík

From 23.990 ISK

popular

Private Reykjanes & Blue Lagoon Tour in Multiple Languages: From Reykjavik / Keflavik

7 hours · From Reykjavík

4.9(893)

From 180.000 ISK

Reykjanes Peninsula Tour

4 hours

From 61.350 ISK

Reykjanes Peninsula Tour

4 hours · From Reykjavík

From 79.755 ISK

What to see on the Reykjanes Peninsula

The Bridge Between Continents is a small footbridge over a sandy fissure, a symbolic span across the rift between the North American and Eurasian plates. It's a quick stop, 15–30 minutes, free, with no facilities. The rift is real; the bridge is a nice photo.

Gunnuhver, near the tip of the peninsula, is a steaming geothermal field with the largest mud pool in Iceland, about 20 metres across and boiling hard. It's named after Gunna, a ghost who, the story goes, was trapped in the spring by a priest around 400 years ago. Stay on the ramps and paths. The ground around them is boiling clay under a thin crust.

Nearby is Reykjanesviti, the lighthouse, and the sea cliffs at Valahnúkur. A little further east along the coast, Brimketill is a round pool worn into the lava shore by the waves, with a viewing platform above it. It looks like a bath. It isn't. Waves break over the rocks without warning and the currents are brutal, so stay on the platform.

The Reykjanes eruptions near Grindavík

After roughly 800 years of quiet, the peninsula woke up in March 2021 with an eruption at Fagradalsfjall, followed by two more in 2022 and 2023. From December 2023 a new series began on the Sundhnúkur crater row just north of Grindavík, with nine eruptions up to August 2025. Grindavík was evacuated in November 2023, lava reached the edge of the town in January 2024 and destroyed several houses, and the Blue Lagoon has closed several times.

At the time of writing, there's no eruption, Grindavík is open to visitors and the Blue Lagoon is open. But magma is still building up under the Svartsengi area, and scientists expect more eruptions. Access to roads, trails and the town can change within hours. Check safetravel.is before you go, and follow any closures; they are there because the ground has been cracking open.

Pro tip: drive the peninsula as a loop on your arrival or departure day. Keflavík, the Bridge Between Continents, Gunnuhver and Reykjanesviti, then along the south coast past Brimketill and Grindavík to the Blue Lagoon. It fills the gap between a morning flight and hotel check-in far better than an airport café.

Reykjanes Peninsula tours

If there's an active eruption, a guided tour is the safest way to see it: guides know which trails are open and which are closed that day. Between eruptions, tours hike to the 2021–2023 lava fields at Fagradalsfjall, drive through Grindavík, and stop at Krýsuvík's geothermal area, Gunnuhver and the coast. Others add the Blue Lagoon, a lava tunnel or a helicopter flight over the craters. Tours that include the Reykjanes Peninsula are below.