Skaftafell National Park

Skaftafell was merged into the Vatnajökull National Park in 2008, which now encompasses almost 5,000 sq. km. Easily accessible right off the Ring Road the Skaftafell park is Iceland's most popular wilderness area and features a variety of peaks glaciers, waterfalls, birch woods, rivers winding across the sandar and the the Vatnajökul glacier with its ice tongues reaching almost down to the visitors center and Ring Road. There are no roads into the park, but there is a network of hiking trails and several glacier guides who can take you onto the ice.

There are only a couple of hotels near here, so unless you want to camp you need to book way ahead. We stayed two nights at the best available, the rather dreary and expensive Fosshotel. Fortunately our room was in the main hotel and not in the barrack like corrugated buildings out back. Iceland is expensive, but it is hard to figure out how they justify the rates at this place, other than location, location, location, right at the base of Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier. Although the accommodations were spartan the food was pretty good and staff friendly. See subsequent posts featuring our day hiking in the park.