Private Reykjanes Day: a 50-Minute Volcano Film First, Then the Craters

The day opens indoors, with a 50-minute documentary at the Volcano House. Watching what these eruptions look like before standing on their remains is a better order than the reverse. After that, a luxury Mercedes minivan, and half an hour from Reykjavik the volcano system nearest the capital begins. The group is private, up to nine people. The guiding covers what the ground is doing and what people have said about it: possible eruptions, trolls, the hidden people, outlaws, Vikings and the old Norse gods. On this peninsula those two subjects have always been told together. The stops: a geothermal area where the hot springs and fumaroles let you get unusually close to boiling mud, with sulphur in the air; Kleifarvatn, a mountain lake up among the volcanoes; and Grindavik, a fishing town, for refreshments and facilities. Viking World is a museum built around a ship, constructed to sail from Iceland to Greenland and North America for the thousandth anniversary of Leif Eriksson reaching America. Admission there runs about 20 US$ and is not in the tour price. The Blue Lagoon can be added as an option.