Before arriving in Iceland I spent many hours scouring maps to find the best sights, and that’s how I discovered that there was more than one glacial lagoon, there were actually quite a few of them. I pinned the best locations on my map and selected the top three for Craig and I to visit. 

The glacier that feeds these lagoons is the biggest in Europe, covering a whopping 8% of the country. 

We had views of the glacier from miles away, and it was fascinating watching it almost grow before our eyes as we drove closer. There were so many glacial channels funnelling down from the icecap, resembling frozen rivers with crumpled blue ice. 

The first glacier lagoon we arrived at was home to a pool of water that looked like a chocolate milkshake with marshmallows floating in it, but the ‘marshmallows’ were in fact icebergs. Some were pure white while others had fabulous aqua blue colours through them. 

There were hundreds of bergs floating in the lagoon, and some of them had reached the shoreline, which gave us a fun opportunity to precariously walk across them. 

We spent a long time walking along the shore, listening to the occasional distant rumble of glaciers carving and generally gawping at the insane view. It was a less popular sight and we arrived really early so we had the whole place to ourselves which made it feel magical. 

We must’ve got carried away because we missed a trail that led to a high path, so we ended up having to scramble up a steep slope made of scoria. It was the sort of route that made us feel like we were walking the wrong direction on an escalator. We eventually made it and were able to walk along a rocky ledge above the glacier, so we could see the entirety of the jagged sheet of ice in front of us. 

The edges of the glacier where it met the water were just below us and some of them were an intense blue colour where slabs had carved off. 

After a few hours, we set off to the next sight which was a hike above the mighty Skaftafell Glacier. It gave us a very grand vantage point of the glacial tongue stretching below us, but we preferred being closer to the lagoons. 

Iceland’s a land of variety, so as we drove north we stopped to do a hike up to the Múlagljúfur canyon. 

It was a striking landscape, with a steep, narrow canyon that was entirely cloaked in a vibrant green moss. Waterfalls plummeted off the edges and a river trickled way below us. The scene resembled something that I’d expect to hear about in a fairytale, it almost didn’t look real. 

The second glacial lagoon we arrived at looked quite different to our first one. The water was bluer and the glacier was directly in front of us – and it was massive! Hundreds of icebergs had grouped together, moving around like rubber ducks in a bathtub. 

A few boats were taking visitors to the face of the glacier and it was wild seeing how tiny they looked as they cruised beneath the jagged blue and white wall of ice. 

We saved the best till last and in the late afternoon, we arrived at Jökulsárlón. It’s a huge glacial lagoon, filled with striking blue water and the largest icebergs we’d seen so far. 

We opted to park in a free spot further south and walk along the shoreline and it turned out to be a great decision as the area was empty. It was just us, the sound of water sloshing along the rocky shore and seagulls squawking. In the distance, we could see that the main car park was heaving with tourists, and while their view would have been closer to the bergs, we were just happy to enjoy the sight on our own. 

Seals swam in the lagoon and birds rested atop pointy icebergs. There were a lot more boats at this lake, cruising between the icebergs that towered high above them. 

We stopped to enjoy a flask of tea before continuing our walk down to Diamond Beach. There’s a channel of water that leads from the lagoon to the North Atlantic. We timed our visit a little early, but the good news was that the tide was about to start going out, taking the icebergs with it. 

We watched in awe as these huge slabs of ice bobbed past us, making their way to the open sea like unmanned ships. On either side of the channel was a black sand beach and after the sea rolled around the ice, the polished pieces washed to shore, leaving what resembled diamonds.

It was fascinating because some of the ice turned crystal clear, like a piece of glass. Craig had a lot of fun trying to heave up a big slab and make it stand up. He succeeded and decided to add another piece on top. He carefully lifted the ice, balancing it on the larger slab before letting go. To everyone’s surprise, it stayed in place and a couple of Chinese tourists behind us began cheering which made us all laugh. 

It looked like an intricately carved sculpture had been placed on the beach, like a pop-up art exhibition. The piece of ice he added to the top really did look artistic though, with such polished glass that the sea and sky behind it made the ice look a deep blue colour. 

Eventually, a wave tore the sculpture down, but it was fun while it lasted.

It had been overcast for most of the day, but the sun was fully out while we explored Jökulsárlón and the scenery looked incredible. We slowly made our way back to the lagoon, and eventually our camper van. But I didn’t want to leave, the icebergs looked extra blue as the sun slowly made its way towards the horizon. 

We had dinner in the car park, under a backdrop of mountains covered in glaciers, resembling an over-iced birthday cake. The area we were in was a national park so we were quite far from a campground and had to drive 100km to our chosen spot for the night. It doesn’t get dark until just after 10pm, but the drive took a while and it was almost midnight when we rocked up at the campground, consisting of yet another car park crammed with rented camper vans.