Exploring Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano site

We didn’t hang about on our trip to Iceland. When we landed in the afternoon at Keflavik Airport, got through security, collected our bags and picked up our hire car, the easy option would have been to head straight to our hotel, but instead we opted for immersing ourselves into the country straight away with a tour of Grindavak volcano.

One of the beauties of visiting Iceland in the Summer months is that the days are long – really long – and there’s a wealth of experiences to enjoy. In July, the sun rises at around 3am and doesn’t set until midnight – that’s 21 hours of daylight to play with! And so, instead of driving straight to our hotel after collecting our bags at the airport, we instead headed for the small fishing town of Gindavik, just to the south of The Blue Lagoon, to meet Haffi, a knowledgeable local guide for 2Go Iceland Travel. This was so that we could explore the Fagradalsfjall volcano site. And from Gindavik, it is an even shorter drive along road 427 to a small car park where our hike commenced.

This is a fully private experience that you can enjoy with your family. Although dormant at the time of our visit, a similar tour from 2Go Iceland Travel featured on the BBC Travel Show when one of Iceland’s hottest new attractions burst onto the scene – quite literally – and the volcano was still active.

Situated in the Geldingadalir Valley on the south of the Reykjanes Peninsula, approximately 40 kilometres from Reykjavik, Fagradalsfjall – although active for around one million years – lay dormant for 6,000 years, until last year when it erupted from 19th March to 18th September 2021, making it the longest-lasting eruption in Iceland for more than 50 years.

Haffi, a Manchester United supporter, told us how he happened to be watching a football match at his home in Grindavik on the evening of 19th March 2021 when his partner called to him and said “There’s a volcano outside the kitchen window”.

He got up to take a look and, whilst they couldn’t see the eruption from the window, sure enough the sky was completely orange. Haffi explained that the site of the eruption would have come as a huge relief to many Icelanders. It was originally…