Skaftafell National Park and Vatnajökull Glacier

 

Skaftafell is now a part of the largest National Park in Iceland, the Vatnajökull National Park. It lies in the Glacier Country, a remote but attractive part of the south. The park covers an area of about 1,600 km2 which spreads over three valley glaciers of Skeiðarárjökull, Morsárjökull and Skaftafellsjökull on the southern fringes of Vatnajökull. Founded in 1956, the park is one of Icelands distinctive natural attractions of extravagant beauty. The park & glacier lies about 200 km east of Hotel Rangá on the main road. Nowhere in the country is the natural variety and contrast as abundant and evident as in Skaftafell. Vast glaciers, ice-blue glacial lakes with silent icebergs, forbidding crevasses, mute peaks, jagged rocks, gulches, canyons, hanging valleys, shimmering ice tunnels, giant grotesque ice-arches, ice-falls, mountain torrents, roaring glacial rivers, ice-cold mountain streams flowing in ravines with luxuriant vegetation and wild flowers, waterfalls, basalt columns of most unusual configurations, rare birds and plants, birch forest, lush vegetation, and many other natural marvels have created this tellurian spectacle.