Myvatn is a shallow lake about an hour and a half east of Akureyri in northern Iceland, and the area around it holds more varieties of volcanic landform in a smaller space than anywhere else in the country. Pseudocraters, lava pillars, a fissure swarm, boiling mud, a rift you can walk into, a flooded cave and a geothermal power station, all within about twenty kilometres.
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The name means midge lake and it is not a joke. The lake is shallow, warm by Icelandic standards and extremely productive, which supports an enormous midge population, which in turn supports the densest and most varied population of breeding ducks in Europe. In June and July the midges can be thick enough to be genuinely unpleasant, and understanding that before you book is the difference between a good trip and a bad one.
One note about the photographs. We hold five attributable frames by five photographers and one of them is a pair of Icelandic horses, which establishes nothing about the place. The three here are the lake and its craters from above and the Hverir geothermal field at ground level and from the air. The pseudocraters at Skutustadir, Dimmuborgir, Grjotagja and the Nature Baths are all absent from the set and are covered in the text, which is a thin photographic record for one of Iceland's three most visited areas.
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What Is Here
Hverir, also called Namafjall or Namaskard, is the most alien place in Iceland and it is in two of the photographs here. A geothermal field on the eastern side of the pass above the lake: ochre and grey ground, boiling grey mud pots, fumaroles roaring steam out of the earth, no vegetation at all and a smell of sulphur that gets into your clothes. The ground is a thin crust over water at near boiling in places and the marked paths exist because of that. It is free, open and unstaffed.
Dimmuborgir is a lava field of collapsed pillars and arches formed where a lava lake drained away leaving its hollow structures standing, now a set of walking loops among black towers. Icelandic folklore puts the Yule Lads and their mother Gryla here. It is the one place in the Myvatn area that is genuinely eerie.
The Skutustadagigar pseudocraters on the southern shore are craters that never erupted: steam explosions where lava flowed over wet ground, now grassy rings you walk among in half an hour. Grjotagja is a small cave with a hot spring inside it, now too hot to bathe in and famous from a television series, which has made it crowded and which is on private land where the owners ask you not to enter the water.
The Myvatn Nature Baths are the north's answer to the Blue Lagoon, smaller, cheaper, far less crowded, with alkaline geothermal water and a view over the lake and the mountains. They are genuinely good and they are where to end the day.
North of the lake, the Krafla volcanic system holds Viti, an explosion crater with a blue-green lake in it, and the Leirhnjukur lava field, which was still steaming decades after the Krafla fires of 1975 to 1984. The Kroflustod power station is beside them. And Godafoss, the waterfall where the lawspeaker is said to have thrown his pagan idols when Iceland converted around the year 1000, is twenty minutes west on the road to Akureyri.
When to Go
June to early September for access, and the midges are the reason this is not simply "summer". The swarming peaks in late June and July, varies hugely from year to year and day to day, and is worst in still warm weather near the water and much better in any wind. They are non-biting midges for the most part, which means they do not hurt and they do go in your eyes, nose and mouth in numbers. A head net costs almost nothing and is sold locally.
Late August and early September give you the landscape, the nature baths and the autumn colour with the midges mostly gone, which makes them the best weeks of the year here.
Winter runs around minus five to plus one with four or five hours of light, the lake frozen, the geothermal areas steaming spectacularly against snow, and the aurora. Access along Route 1 is usually maintained; the roads north to Krafla and some of the loop roads close.
Spring is late here. May can still be brown and cold with snow on the passes.
Getting There
An hour and a half east of Akureyri on Route 1, which is the practical base and has the airport. Domestic flights from Reykjavik to Akureyri take forty five minutes and save five hours of driving. From Reykjavik by road it is six and a half to seven hours.
Reykjahlid, on the north east corner of the lake, is the village with the accommodation, the fuel and the shop. Buses run along the ring road infrequently and most visitors drive.
Icelandic driving rules differ from British ones in ways that carry fines of up to about five hundred pounds, and the FCDO lists them. KEEP DIPPED HEADLIGHTS ON YEAR ROUND, day and night, which is a legal requirement. Speed limits are lower than in the UK and the DRINK DRIVING LIMIT IS LOWER TOO. Suitable tyres are required, including winter tyres when conditions call for them. A UK photocard licence is valid for thirty days. Beyond the rules, the conditions are the thing: the weather changes fast, distances between towns are far greater than the map suggests, SOME MAIN ROUTES ARE GRAVEL OR DIRT, and some roads and bridges are SINGLE LANE WITH PASSING AREAS. Highland and interior F-roads need four wheel drive, open only for a short part of the summer, and where they cross rivers the instruction is to DRIVE AT FIVE TO TEN KILOMETRES AN HOUR and to understand that RIVER LEVELS CAN CHANGE WITHIN THE SAME DAY. Check the Icelandic Road Administration before every driving day rather than once at the start of the trip.
If you hire a car in Iceland there is one clause worth knowing before you sign, and the FCDO states it rather than hinting at it: THE WEATHER CAN CAUSE DAMAGE TO RENTAL CARS THAT IS NOT COVERED BY INSURANCE. Strong winds are common and throw up sand and ash that strips paintwork, and in its own words BRITISH TOURISTS HAVE HAD TO PAY LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY to repair hire cars damaged that way. Sand and ash protection is sold as a separate product by most Icelandic hire companies and is the one add-on that is usually worth taking. Two related points: BREAKDOWN RECOVERY COSTS IN REMOTE AREAS CAN BE VERY HIGH, and OFF-ROAD DRIVING IS STRICTLY CONTROLLED and illegal outside marked tracks, with large fines, because the vegetation does not recover.
Locally a loop road of about thirty six kilometres runs around the lake and the sites are spread along it, which makes a car or a bicycle genuinely necessary; the loop is a popular and flat cycle ride in summer. The road north to Krafla and Viti is seasonal and closes with snow.
Is Myvatn Safe for Women Travelers
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Iceland and the country has no /regional-risks page, so there is no partial advisory behind the summary. On terrorism it is unusually mild by its own standards, saying that ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO RECENT HISTORY OF TERRORISM IN ICELAND, ATTACKS CANNOT BE RULED OUT. On crime it says levels are LOW, with petty theft and antisocial behaviour PARTICULARLY AROUND BARS IN DOWNTOWN REYKJAVIK, which is the only location it names in the whole country. What the landing page does carry is a named VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS warning, and the detail there matters more than the headline: the eruptions since December 2023 have affected THE TOWN OF GRINDAVIK AND THE SURROUNDING AREA, and the FCDO states plainly that THE CAPITAL CITY, REYKJAVIK, KEFLAVIK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AND THE REST OF ICELAND HAVE NOT BEEN AFFECTED. So this is a named-town situation rather than a country-level one, which is the opposite of how a reader skimming headlines would take it.
A village of a few hundred people and a lake in the safest country in the world, and the real subject of this section is the ground you walk on. The FCDO's single named crime location in Iceland is around bars in downtown Reykjavik, six hours away. English is universal and a woman travelling alone here is unremarkable.
One sentence on Iceland's safety page deserves to be read twice, because it names the three things that actually hurt visitors and all three are things people come here to look at: GOING TOO CLOSE TO THE OCEAN, CLIFF EDGES AND HOT SPRINGS ARE COMMON CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS IN ICELAND. That is not a generic caution. The ocean here produces sneaker waves, which run far higher up a beach than the sets before them with no visible warning and which have killed people standing on black sand looking out to sea. Cliff edges in Iceland are frequently unfenced, often undercut, and made of material that gives way. Hot springs and mud pots are at or near boiling, the ground around them can be a thin crust over water at that temperature, and the burns are severe. The rule in all three cases is the same and it is unglamorous: keep back further than feels necessary, never turn your back on the sea, and stay on the boardwalks and marked paths in a geothermal area.
Myvatn is where the hot springs clause does the most work in this entire guide, because the geothermal ground here is both the attraction and unfenced. At Hverir the mud pots are at or near boiling, the crust around them is thin in places, and the only thing between a visitor and a severe burn is the marked path. The rules are plain: stay on the paths, do not step over a rope, do not test the ground, keep children and anyone unsteady close, and treat the ochre bare earth as the warning it is rather than as a surface. At Leirhnjukur and Krafla the same applies on a larger and less visited scale, where ground that was lava in the 1980s is still hot under a cooled skin.
Grjotagja is a separate issue and it is about permission rather than danger. The cave is on private land, the water inside is around forty five to fifty degrees and too hot to bathe in safely, and the owners ask visitors not to enter it. People do anyway. Look and do not get in.
The sulphur is worth a practical note. Hydrogen sulphide concentrations at Hverir and around the power station are usually harmless and can be unpleasant, and anyone with asthma may notice it. The smell permanently affects silver jewellery, which turns black, and it gets into clothing and hair for a day. Take the silver off before you go.
Iceland runs a national system for exactly the situation a visitor gets into and the FCDO points at it by name. SAFETRAVEL ICELAND publishes route conditions and hazard guides and LETS YOU LODGE A TRAVEL PLAN, so that if you do not return someone knows where to look, and the FCDO's own instruction is to leave your plans and contact details either with your hotel or on Safe Travel. Alongside it, the Icelandic Met Office carries weather and aurora and seismic alerts, the Road Administration carries road status, and 112 is both the emergency number and an app that transmits your position to the rescue services. None of that costs anything, and in a country where SEARCH AND RESCUE MAY BE LIMITED IN SOME AREAS, which the FCDO says plainly because Iceland is inside the Arctic Circle, using it is the difference between an incident and a statistic.
Two small legal points, and the first runs the opposite way from most of Europe. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CARRY YOUR PASSPORT IN ICELAND. The FCDO suggests carrying some form of identification such as a photocard driving licence or a copy of your passport photo page, and keeping the passport itself somewhere safe, which is a welcome contrast to Poland, Czechia and Slovenia where carrying identification is a requirement. And IT IS ILLEGAL TO SMOKE OR USE AN E-CIGARETTE in restaurants, bars, on public transport and in public buildings, with a fine attached. Riding an electric scooter after drinking is treated as drink driving.
The Myvatn Packing List
Boiling ground, sulphur, midges in summer, a cold lake and geothermal baths at the end of it.
Merino base layers, for a day of stopping and starting in wind
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the right first layer in any month. A Myvatn day is a series of short walks from a car into exposed ground and back, with long stops standing still at viewpoints, which is the pattern in which cotton goes clammy and stops working. There is a second reason here: a long sleeve is the best midge defence you can wear, because the only thing that stops them landing on your arms is fabric. A merino base layer bottom is worth having from September to May.
A windproof shell
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket. The geothermal fields and the lava fields are entirely exposed, and wind is also the one thing that reliably clears the midges, so a day that is comfortable for insects is a day you need the shell. Packable because you will be in and out of a car.
A fleece, and insulation outside midsummer
A Columbia Fast Trek fleece year round and a waterproof insulated parka from September to May. Standing still at Hverir in a northerly in October is colder than the thermometer suggests, and in winter this area is properly cold.
Shoes you do not mind smelling of sulphur
Salomon X Ultra 4 GTX shoes, with merino hiking socks under them. Hverir is wet ochre clay that stains and smells, Dimmuborgir and Leirhnjukur are sharp broken lava, and the pseudocrater paths are grass and mud. Waterproof matters because the geothermal ground is wet, and expect whatever you wear to smell for a day.
Midge protection, which is the local item
A HEAD NET, which costs a few pounds and is sold in every shop around the lake, and which is the single most useful thing you can buy here between mid June and early August. DEET repellent helps with the biting species and does little against the non-biting swarms, which is why the net matters more than the spray.
The small things
A swimsuit and a quick-dry towel for the Nature Baths, which is where the day should end. Take off silver jewellery before Hverir, because hydrogen sulphide turns it black permanently. A bag for clothes that smell of sulphur. Sunglasses and sun protection, since the ground is pale and reflective. The 112 Iceland app. A reusable bottle, since Icelandic tap water is excellent, and note that the HOT tap in this area smells strongly of sulphur, which is normal and harmless. And an inhaler if you use one, for the same reason.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Myvatn
Emergency numbers: 112 reaches police, ambulance, fire and mountain and sea rescue from any phone including a locked mobile, and English is spoken. Download the 112 Iceland app before you travel: it sends your GPS position to the emergency services with one button and logs your location periodically so you can be found, which is the single most useful free thing a visitor to Iceland can do. For non-urgent medical advice the health service line is 1700.
Hverir, Dimmuborgir, the pseudocraters and Leirhnjukur are all free, open and unstaffed, which means the marked paths are the only safety system and they are not decorative: the ground off them can be a thin crust over water at or near boiling. Grjotagja is on private land and the owners ask you not to enter the water, which is around forty five to fifty degrees. The road north to Krafla and Viti is seasonal.
US State Department travel advisory: the Iceland advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iceland, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: Myvatn has a health centre at Reykjahlid. The nearest hospital is Husavik, about an hour north, and the referral centre is Akureyri Hospital, an hour and a half west, which is the second largest in Iceland. A UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care in Iceland on the same terms as a resident, which is not the same as free: Iceland charges patient co-payments for primary care and outpatient visits, so expect to pay something and keep the receipts. Travel insurance still matters and matters more here than in most of Europe, because the FCDO notes that EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE AND SEARCH AND RESCUE MAY BE LIMITED IN SOME AREAS and because an evacuation from a remote part of the country is expensive. Tap water is among the best in the world and buying bottled is pointless; the hot tap smells of sulphur because it is geothermal, which is harmless. Pharmacies are apotek.
Official health authority: the Directorate of Health of Iceland. MYVATN HAS A HEALTH CENTRE AT REYKJAHLID, the nearest hospital is HUSAVIK about an hour north and the referral centre is AKUREYRI HOSPITAL an hour and a half west. TWO LOCAL HEALTH POINTS: HYDROGEN SULPHIDE around Hverir and the power station is usually harmless and often unpleasant, is noticeable to anyone with asthma, and TURNS SILVER JEWELLERY BLACK PERMANENTLY, so take it off; and the HOT TAP WATER in this area smells strongly of sulphur, which is normal and harmless. THE SERIOUS LOCAL HAZARD IS THERMAL: the ground off the marked paths can be a THIN CRUST OVER WATER AT OR NEAR BOILING and the burns are severe. DOWNLOAD THE 112 ICELAND APP
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Reykjavik.
Official tourism authority: the Icelandic Tourist Board. MYVATN HOLDS MORE VARIETIES OF VOLCANIC LANDFORM IN A SMALLER SPACE than anywhere else in Iceland. HVERIR, also called Namafjall or Namaskard, is boiling mud, fumaroles and bare ochre ground and is the most alien place in the country. DIMMUBORGIR is a field of collapsed lava pillars and arches. SKUTUSTADAGIGAR are PSEUDOCRATERS, steam explosions rather than vents, walkable in half an hour. GRJOTAGJA is a hot cave ON PRIVATE LAND where the owners ask you not to enter the water. THE MYVATN NATURE BATHS are the north's answer to the Blue Lagoon and are smaller, cheaper and far less crowded. ALL THE GEOTHERMAL SITES ARE FREE, OPEN AND UNSTAFFED. AND THE NAME MEANS MIDGE LAKE: swarming peaks in LATE JUNE AND JULY, is worst in still warm weather and much better in wind, and A HEAD NET costs a few pounds locally and is the most useful thing you can buy here. LATE AUGUST AND EARLY SEPTEMBER are the best weeks, with the landscape intact and the midges gone
Buy a head net if you come in late June or July. A few pounds locally, and the single most useful purchase at this lake.
Stay on the marked paths at Hverir. Thin crust over near-boiling water, free, open and unstaffed.
Take off silver jewellery before the geothermal fields. Hydrogen sulphide turns it black permanently.
End the day at the Nature Baths. Smaller, cheaper and far less crowded than the Blue Lagoon.
Solo women safety assessment: a village of a few hundred people beside a lake in the country ranked safest in the world does not pose a personal safety question, and the honest subject here is the ground you walk on. The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Iceland and no regional risks page, describes crime levels as LOW, and the single location it names in the whole country is AROUND BARS IN DOWNTOWN REYKJAVIK, six hours away. English is universal. MYVATN IS WHERE THE FCDO'S HOT SPRINGS CLAUSE DOES THE MOST WORK IN THIS ENTIRE GUIDE, because the geothermal ground is simultaneously the attraction and unfenced. Its key sentence names GOING TOO CLOSE TO THE OCEAN, CLIFF EDGES AND HOT SPRINGS as the common causes of accidents in Iceland, and here the third is everything: at Hverir the mud pots are at or near boiling, the crust around them is thin in places, the site is free, open and unstaffed, and THE MARKED PATH IS THE ONLY SAFETY SYSTEM THERE IS. Stay on it, do not step over a rope, do not test the ground, keep children close, and read the bare ochre earth as the warning it is. The same applies at Leirhnjukur and Krafla on a larger and less visited scale, where ground that was lava in the 1980s is still hot beneath a cooled skin. Grjotagja is a matter of permission rather than danger: it is private land, the water is forty five to fifty degrees, and the owners ask people not to get in. The sulphur itself is usually harmless and often unpleasant, is noticeable to anyone with asthma, and turns silver jewellery black permanently. THE OTHER LOCAL PROBLEM IS INSECTS RATHER THAN RISK: the lake is named for its midges, the swarming peaks in late June and July, they are mostly non-biting and they go in your eyes and mouth in numbers, and a head net costing a few pounds locally is the answer because repellent does little against non-biting swarms. Wind clears them, which means a comfortable day for insects is a day you need a shell.
Reading On
Myvatn is the centre of the Icelandic north and needs a base. The Akureyri packing list covers the northern capital an hour and a half west, which has the airport, the hospital and the shops. The Husavik packing list covers the whale watching town an hour north and the Dettifoss packing list the most powerful waterfall in Europe an hour and a half east, which with this lake make the Diamond Circle. The Reykjavik packing list covers the capital. For the country as a whole the Iceland travel guide for women and the Iceland packing list carry the ring road, the driving rules and the practical material in full. For why a long wool sleeve is both a warm layer and the best midge defence available, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
