Today’s highlight was, without hesitation: we saw icebergs!

We went to a place called “Diamond Beach” – some pieces of the glacier occasionally fall in the nearby lake (the picture above), follow a path to the sea, and sometimes end their trip on the beach, where they’re quite impressive (and, depending on the type of ice and the light, definitely diamond reminiscent).

This place gave me a lot of feelings – yes, it’s stunning, but it’s also quite depressing when one thinks about it, and with that comes the guilt associated with being part of the problem, as a tourist. Still, I’m very grateful that I got to see this, and hey, I’ve seen icebergs, I didn’t even know it was on my bucket list 🙂

Our next step was a bit further down that road, in Fjallsárlón – another place with icebergs, but with a better view of the glacier. Very cool, and far less crowded, which I appreciated.

Then, we drove to Skaftafell, where we wanted to go for a small hike. We pondered two options, a shorter and easier one, and a slightly longer and with more ascent; the latter won due to promising a waterfall (I’m weak.) The hike was pleasant, but less so than yesterday’s, possibly due to the larger amount of people around (and/or existing fatigue). It was still very nice, and the waterfall at the end was pretty and had cool basalt columns behind it. After the hike, we were both hungry, so we shared a fish&chips at the camping site – it was surprisingly good!

As our last step of the day, we popped a head at the “non-dangerous black sand beach” (the one on the other side of the mountain apparently has genuinely dangerous waves). I was tired and I was cold, but I still really liked the beach and the rock structures behind it.

We had dinner at the hotel, where both the food and drinks were great, and that’s it for today! There’s exactly 0 chance of northern lights tonight considering the clouds. For tomorrow, we have tickets to the “Lava Show” here in Vík, we’ll get to see real hot lava made for the show 🙂

The photo album for this day is here: Iceland – 2025-08-22.