Iceland is an incredible land of unbridled natural forces, where all of them, that is fire, earth, water and air, combine together to make a really explosive mixture. When you travel along the ring road in north-eastern part of the island, you will suddenly notice enormous puffs of smoke. With them comes very intense sulphur odour which at first seems hard to bear, but you will get used to it after some time.
Coming closer cautiously, but with increasing curiosity, it turns out that calm and quiet rural area with lots of cute, carefree sheep can suddenly transform into otherworldly space, where fire reigns – Hverir.
Hverir is a geothermal area just a few kilometers from Mývatn lake, where you can discover on your own that Earth inside really lives. The landscape here resembles if not other planet, then at least some kind of hell. But don’t be afraid – it’s a really fascinating hell. With lots of steaming vents, piping fumaroles and mud cauldrons.
Everything is hissing, rumbling, gurgling, bubbling up and steaming like crazy. And all of this is going on in a scenery of incredible colours – fiery reds, hellish oranges, bold yellows, taken directly from a fauvist painter’s palette.
We can tell you one thing for sure – there is no other place in Europe, where you could see similar wonders of nature. The whole area left us speechless. We lost our sense of time and spent a couple of hours in this truly magical and amazing world.
Bite of tips:
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Hverir is situated just a few kilometres to the east from Mývatn lake, next to the ring road, so it’s not possible to miss it.
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Safe pathways through the features have been roped off, so don’t worry, but try to avoid risk of serious injury and damage respecting the ropes.
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We recommend climbing Námafjall, a mountain which towers over the steamy surroundings. It takes only around half an hour and the vista is simply fantastic.
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