ISLANDS & POLAR

Islands & Polar Regions

Iceland’s parliament plains, the Antarctic Peninsula, Easter Island and Polynesian temples: even the most remote places have their own history and taboos.

Photo: Pavel.shyshkouski · CC BY-SA 4.0

City guides

Start with a city

Every city guide has a timeline, stories of local figures, must-see sights, festivals and local etiquette.

Reykjavík

4 places

'Smoky Bay': a Viking settlement and the world's northernmost capital

Мурманск Murmansk

Murmansk

2 places

The largest city inside the Arctic Circle: an ice-free port, icebreakers and the aurora over the Barents Sea

FoodReykjavík, Iceland

Icelandic fermented shark

Poisonous Greenland shark, fermented and air-dried, has become Iceland's most hard-core national dish.

Dyrhólaey seen from the black sand beach

Classic landmarkSouth Iceland (near Vík)

Black Sand Beach (Reynisfjara)

A black beach with basalt cliffs and the 'petrified troll' sea stacks.

Wild harbour seals in the glacier lagoon

Classic landmarkSoutheast Iceland

Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon

A lagoon of floating ice calved from Vatnajökull, with 'diamond ice' on the black beach

Classic landmarkSouthwest Iceland (Golden Circle)

Þingvellir National Park

The site where Icelanders founded their parliament, the Althing, in 930 — one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world.

Hallgrímskirkja, the city landmark inspired by basalt columns

Classic landmarkReykjavík, Iceland

Reykjavík

The Arctic capital of the Vikings' descendants, where a basalt-inspired church and elf legends coexist.