This is part two of a three part recap of a trip to South Iceland I took in mid October 2021. In the first South Coast of Iceland highlight, I focused on Southwest Coast and waterfalls and an iconic black sand beach. For this post, I am going to continue on to the Southeast Coast and share the beauty of Glaciers and Diamond Beach, specifically at Jökulsárlón. In the next post, I will go into more detail as you can follow along with me on a Glacier Hike and Ice Cave tour. It’s possible to visit Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach without a tour, but for us, to save myself the effort of multi hours long drive, we opted for a 2 day tour with Troll Expeditions. They did the driving while we enjoyed charging plugs for our phones and wireless internet and the views and yes sometimes napping.
I knew when I was planning my trip to Iceland that seeing the Glaciers and Diamond Beach was among my top priorities. Glaciers are shrinking every year – so seeing them now is a chance to enjoy them at the current state which will not return again. Iceland, Alaska, the Alps, and Himalayas are particularly suffering the effects of melting at an accelerated pace. I would encourage anyone to check out the glaciers – climate change is science and real – to catch them as they retreat and will become smaller and over time less accessible for us to view. It will look different every year.
In particular, for me viewing the icebergs in the glacier lagoon and then the glittering ice of Diamond Beach that I will cover in this post is both melancholy and mesmerizing. Uniquely beautiful, but also understanding this is the consequences of the melting and slowly dying glaciers and the last the thousands of years of frozen water will be this sliver of glacier identity before mixing and disappearing into the rising ocean. It’s both appreciation and a little sorrow.
As you travel towards the southeast coast, you will likely already be catching several glimpses of glaciers of Vatnajökull National Park all along the way. Vatnajökull is Europe’s largest glacier, covering 10% of Iceland, and has around 30 outlet glaciers. I took these photos out the tour van window on Route 1/Ring Road, up to our first glimpse of Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. Jökull means ice or glacier, and sárlón translates to lagoon in Icelandic.
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
In the southeast coast of Iceland you can find the famous Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. Glacial lakes form from troughs eroded by glaciers. Jökulsárlón is the largest glacial lake in Iceland and is 200-300 meter deep and 25 km long, formed in a trough likely formed during the Ice Age but the ever-growing lagoon only formed around 1934. Before that, the glacier used to reach the highway. The glacier lagoon is filled with the meltwater from Breiðamerkurjökull, a tongue of Vatnajökull. There are also icebergs from ice blocks that have broken off/calved from Breiðamerkurjökull in the lagoon, eventuallymaking their way to the Atlantic ocean. As the glaciers recede up the valley, Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is visibly growing in size and some may think will become a fjord over time. In the photos, you can see the icebergs floating from right to left towards the ocean guided by currents, winds, and tides.
During the summer, you can take a zodiac out into the lagoon itself as part of the boat tours to get really close to the glaciers in the lagoon and closer to the glacier wall. Often, you will seals among the icebergs. Since our visit was in October I don’t think the zodiac tours were running anymore, and it was extremely cold and windy. We did get to see a couple seals swimming from viewing the lagoon on the shore. Visiting by the shore is still pretty cool, and there are various signs along the shoreline providing information about what you are seeing – this was the most signs I saw at any of the natural attractions and parks during my trip.
Keep in mind that of the icebergs you see, only 10% is visible above the water level. It’s hard to understand the scale from a distance, but several icebergs are multiple story building size high. The icebergs in Jökulsárlón melt rapidly from the warm seawater in the lake, so can become unstable due to non-uniform underwater melting. ln some cases they will break or roll suddenly, forming big waves and also revealing beautiful blues hues that have not been melted by the sun or exposed to air yet. The blue color of the icebergs and glaciers are because it absorbs all colors of the spectrum except blue, which is reflected. In reality, the ice is clear.
We arrived close to sunset and watched the colors change as the sun got lower. In the zoomed in third photo you can see a seal head as it swims on the right side by the icebergs.
We also saw a few shards that had broken off and were on the black sand here – a preview of what we were about to see at our next stop, Diamond Beach, which is on the other side of the highway road/bridge.
Diamond Beach
The icebergs in Jökulsárlón that break away from Breiðamerkurjökull glacier and fall into the lagoon slowly melt from the lagoon’s warmer water mix of ocean enough to eventually be small enough to drift out to sea. The ice is then polished to translucence by the ocean waves and some of them end up washing ashore on the black sand beach of Breiðamerkursandur. The polished result of the ice and waves look a lot of diamonds, and give the nickname of this beach, Diamond Beach.
During our visit there were lots of small shards of iceberg along the beach. Sometimes there are larger icebergs that are the size of the person, but what we saw was mostly the size you could pick up with one or two hands. Every visit is different. If there are any icebergs that are large, don’t climb onto them – they are unstable and could flip. And of course always watch out for the sea and tides.
The contrast of the shiny diamonds of the ice and the jet-black sand of Diamond Beach is incredible. There really is nothing like this that I’ve ever seen or heard of. There are other glacier lagoons and glacier lakes in the world, but a black beach with polished diamond-like pieces of icebergs? This was one of of my favorite things that we did on the whole week we were in Iceland.
We even found a “diamond ring” at Diamond Beach. Making up the nickname of Diamond Beach to draw attention to it really was genius by the Icelandic tourism and marketing people of Guide to Iceland. According to that linked page, there even has been at least one person who got a real diamond ring and got engaged on this beach.
We stayed until the light faded a bit after sunset. Depending on how much you want to wander along the beach, which is 18 km long, you could spend an hour or two. 
Alternatives, Eat and Sleep
Besides the more well known Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, there is another glacier lagoon very near here that is less famous and so if you are visiting when it is very busy, could be an alternative. That is Fjallsárlón iceberg lagoon, which is smaller and only 10km away from Diamond Beach. There are less icebergs, but you can get closer, supposedly.
This area can also be a base for some glacier hikes and ice cave tours, so is worth staying the night so you will already be here for your glacial adventure. I will cover our own glacier hike and ice cave visit in the next upcoming Iceland travel post of my series.
If you want to enjoy the best light at sunrise and sunset at Diamond Beach, you may want to stay close by at a local inn that also provides homey meals at their restaurant. For this trip we stayed at Gerdi Guesthouse. The rooms are inexpensive and basic but functional and comfortable. In Gerði at the restaurant which serves breakfast and dinner, they use lots of local sourcing for their food – the lamb is from Gerði (they also run a sheep farm in addition to the guesthouse), the fish and lobster are from Höfn, eggs come from Grænahraun and the potatoes come from Seljavellir. For my dinner at Gerdi Guesthouse I was served a generous portion of pan fried artic char served with potatoes and vegetables, and there is always a vegan special of the day. Breakfast was included with our stay. Another option we had looked at was Hali Country Hotel which has a restaurant serving breakfast, dinner, and light lunch, and small museum. Both of these are basically next to each other in the same turnoff from the main road.
Other Iceland Posts
- Early Morning Things To Do for when you arrive early in the morning or are jet-lagged and up early
- Rainy Day Reykjavik Recommendations for when you want indoor options for things to do
- Golden Circle Highlights, including one stop that may not be quite as famous but is well worth it
- South Iceland Highlights Part 1: Waterfalls and Black Sand Beach
- South Iceland Highlights Part 2: Glaciers and Diamond Beach
- South Iceland Highlights Part 3: Glacier Hike and Ice Cave
- Reykjavik Vibes
Speak Your Mind