Iceland truly is the land of fire and ice – aside from having some of the world’s most active volcanoes, it’s also home to Europe’s largest glacier: Vatnajökull. The Vatnajökull glacier stretches some 143 kilometers east to west, and over 98 kilometers north and south, holding a massive 3000 cubic kilometers of pure ice. As well as the breathtaking hiking routes across the glacier, there are also many beautiful blue ice caves to take you quite literally into the heart of the glacier. Our Euromaxx-Reporter Hendrik Welling went to Iceland to find out what makes this mountain of ice so amazing.
Vatnajökull is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya. It is in the south-east of the island, covering approximately 8% of the country.