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Exploring Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach in South Iceland

Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is an amazing spectacle that you’ll want to experience on your trip to Iceland. It’s a 5-hour drive (without stops) from Reykjavik but worth the journey and can be combined with a few nights away from the capital as there are many other attractions along Iceland’s south coast. You will find it by driving along the country’s main ring Route 1 ring road, between Höfn and Skaftafell – a lovely drive with stunning views of waterfalls and glaciers en route.

Situated on the edge of the Vatnajökull National Park in southeastern Iceland, the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is where the Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier, one of thirty outlet glaciers from the Vatnajökull ice cap, makes its way towards the sea. There is ample free parking in the vicinity of the lagoon, plus a car park close to the beach to the south of Route 1.

The glacier once reached the Atlantic Ocean but has since receded by about 5 miles, leaving a lake between the glacier snout and the sea. Since the 1970s, the size of the lake is said to have increased four-fold in size and is now thought to be the deepest lake in Iceland.

My photographs here do not do it justice but it is such an iconic, incredible view that the location has been used for action scenes in two James Bond movies (A View to a Kill and Die Another Day), as well as in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Batman Begins. Keen followers of the US TV series Amazing Race may also recognise it.

It’s here that Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier meets the water and calves. Calving is a process of glacial ablation (melting) which sees masses of ice break off from the glacier and enter the water. These icebergs can be of varying size and float in the lagoon before eventually melting completely within the lake or making their way out towards the Atlantic.

Had we more time, we’d have taken one of the cruises on the lagoon but after our Katla ice cave tour and snowmobiling adventure on Mýrdalsjökull, sadly there just weren’t enough hours left in the day. You can take a cruise on a large amphibian boat or, for an experience that allows you to get even closer to the towering ice bergs, ride on smaller rib boats (zodiac tours).  If, like us, you are unable to fit this into your schedule, you can still enjoy the scene from the water’s edge.

This breathtaking lagoon is also a rich sea habitat for grey seals. Sometimes they can be seen on the resting on the floating icebergs but keep your eyes also on the lake as there’s a good chance you’ll see some bobbing around against a backdrop of glorious Arctic scenery.

Seals can apparently also sometimes be seen on Diamond Beach, altough none were present at the time of our visit. Diamond Beach is just a short 5-minute walk from the lagoon along a path that runs under the Route 1 bridge. It’s where the icebergs that float from Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon are washed back onto the shore, after making their way to the ocean.

Of course, having experienced more melting, they tend to be much smaller by the time they are washed up onto the beach.

Nevertheless, all this glacier ice scattered across the shorline, battered by the waves from the sea, is in itself quite a sight.

Ice with a high bubble content tends to be quite white in colour and translucent…


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…whilst ice with a low air content tends to be crystal clear – almost sparkling like jewels in the sand – hence the name Diamond Beach.

These clear chunks of ice, forever weathered by the ocean’s ebbing tide, are really quite a sight, particularly when the light catches them.

Their glassy texture contrasts beautifully with the beach’s black volcanic sand.

If you can, make sure you include Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach on your Iceland itinerary to see Mother Nature at her finest. It’s a significant drive to get there, but it’s a magical place that makes it more than worth the effort.

My recommendation would be not to attempt to do the journey as a day trip from Reykjavik but instead to take a few days travelling along the south coast as there is so much to see in this part of Iceland.

Planning a trip to Iceland yourself? You can watch a video from our trip to Iceland here. You’ll see footage from Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach between 4m 59s and 5m 12s:

YouTube video

Disclosure: Our trip to Iceland was also sponsored by Helly Hansen.

Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Telegraph.

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14 Comments

    1. Yes, Kate… the lagoon is teeming with a variety of fish species, including krill, herring, trout, capelin and sometimes salmon. Apparently there are even more seals present there in the winter months.

  1. It’s worth mentioning that a drive in Iceland is all part of the adventure. It ain’t your usual boring commute to work.

    A lot of the time you are getting amazing breath-taking views. When I visited we saw very few other cars on the road.

  2. To be honest it would be hard to come up with more appropriate names than Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach. They both do their job exactly.

  3. It’s funny how it’s sometimes hard to capture how beautiful things are to our eyes. Sometimes the best pictures are in our heads and we can’t share them.

    I’ve been around icebergs that turn very quickly. I wouldn’t want to take a ride out to look at them because of this. I have this fear that one will turn and take us down with it!

    But they are beautiful. They are inspiring and also a great reminder of nature and why we need to take care of it.

    You have some great travel under your belt!

    1. Hi Christin – thanks for stopping by. I would imagine the boats keep a greater distance away from the larger icebergs that may pose more danger. Boat trips go out regularly and I’m not aware of there ever having been an incident of this nature, although a tourist was tragically killed when one of the ambphibious vehicles backed over her in 2015. Perhaps one of the greatest dangers has been tourists walking out onto ice floes in the lagoon which has been quite common in some of the cooler months. This is most definitely not safe, and rescue operations can be extremely difficult if something like this goes wrong, which it easily can.

    2. Wow. That’s very sad.

      I have some friends who would be the people stepping out on the ice for pictures and thrills. They never think anything bad is going to happen to them, and hopefully, they luck out and it won’t.

    3. Have a look at this video for a classic example… aptly titled, I might add! What’s really bizarre in the video (scroll through to 4m30s) is how he gets out of his predicament by DIVING into the water! Surely, he could have just waded back to shore and at least only got his bottom half wet!

      There was also one lady who sat on a piece of ice for a photo because it was like a throne, only to find herself later sitting on said throne out at sea, having to be rescued. 🙄

    4. That guy’s going to go far in life. Lol. That was equal parts hilarious and annoying at the same time.

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