Large areas of Iceland are still covered by massive layers of ice and snow. Inland the Ice Age seems to have survived until the present day.

The mighty Vatnajókull Glacier extends across a huge area. Covering more than eight thousand three hundred square kilometres it is the largest glacier in Europe. The ice is hundreds of metres thick in this gigantic glacial system that covers an area that is larger than all the glaciers in the Alps put together.

Entire mountain ranges have been covered by the ice masses of the Vatnajökull.

The island’s active volcanoes have frequently caused the sudden melting of whole glacial areas, sometimes with extremely dangerous consequences. In 1996 a wave of molten glacial ice flowed into a large section of an important traffic route on Iceland’s south coast and thus threatened the entire infrastructure of the island.

In some areas the gigantic glacial surface of the Vatnajókull has been torn apart leaving behind crevices that are several hundred metres deep.

The Vatnajökull is far more than just a relic of the last Ice Age: it is one of the most impressive natural wonders in Europe!