The Allure of Remote Places!

We recently visited four increasingly remote locations in Iceland and Greenland. What did we think?

We weren’t in Kansas anymore. No, Brent and I had traveled much farther north, even above the Arctic Circle at one point — to Iceland and Greenland.

Look, it’s not like we made the trek on dog sleds. We were on a cruise ship.

But it was a cruise with an unusual itinerary. And we ended up in places much farther off the beaten path than we expected.

Here are some thoughts on four of our destinations — from the least to the most remote.

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Akureyri, Iceland

You’ve probably seen pictures of Goðafoss Waterfall, near Akureyri, in the north of Iceland. I suspect this fantastic cascade would be even more famous if it were farther south.

As for the city, Akureyri is tucked away at the end of Eyjafjörður — “Islands Fjord” — and has a population of only 19,000. So it’s small, but it’s not that small.

In Iceland, it was usually overcast even in summer.

But Akureyri is a five-hour drive on a two-lane road from Reykjavik — Iceland’s largest city.

This is Akureyri.

Tourists don’t come to Akureyri for the town itself; they come for the natural beauty — Goðafoss Waterfall and also the Dimmuborgir lava field. Iceland is well-known for its current volcanic activity, but Dimmuborgir is a fascinating collection of old lava formations from the past.

That blue pool above is heated by geothermal activity.

Akureyri is also famous for the Mývatn geothermal area, which is interesting but considerably less impressive than America’s Yellowstone National Park.

Akureyri also has regular flights from Reykjavik — albeit on small turboprop planes. So it’s not that remote.

But we did say we were starting with the least remote location!

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Ísafjörður, Iceland

With less than three thousand residents, Ísafjörður is considerably smaller than Akureyri.

And unlike Akureyri, Ísafjörður is not on the Ring Road or part of the tourist driving circuit known as the Diamond Circle — the northern counterpart to the even more famous Golden Circle. This means Ísafjörður gets far fewer tourists than elsewhere in Iceland — well, except for the occasional cruise ship.