Jökulsárlón! Some call it the glacier lake, some the glacier lagoon or the ice lake. Whatever you call it, guests from all over the world set their sights on this world famous ice lagoon. It lies on the south side of Europe’s biggest glacier Vatnajökull. The surrounding is simply stunning and when the glacier is calving (big slabs of ice falls off a glacier), one cannot do anything but be in awe.
The lagoon is affected by the tides, high tide brings in food which seals and birds follow so there is not only ice floating around in the lagoon. Contrary to what one might believe, the lagoon is very new for it didn’t start to form until 1934, maybe 1935.
With the receding of the glacier, Jökulsárlón has taken shape and become bigger and deeper for each year. It has always been said that Öskjuvatn has been the deepest lake in Iceland with its depth of 217 m (712 ft) but that has changed now. Jökulsárlón is now the deepest lake and it reaches a depth of 248 m (814 ft) according to the last measurement that took place in 2010.
The flow of water from the glacier and the melting ice is in average 250 to 300 cubic m/s (8828 -10594 cubic ft/s). The distance between the lagoon and the ocean gets shortened each year because the lagoon is getting bigger while the ocean is eating away the beach.
Also, because the ocean water has access to the lagoon, the icebergs floating around there are melting faster because the ocean temperature is warmer than the water in the lagoon.
Jökulsárlón is also a famous movie site as can be read in our blog Camp like a boss!
Driving there
To get to the lagoon is easy. All you have to do is to drive south on the Ring road. It’s about 377 km (234 miles) there and it takes 4,5 hours of straight driving to get there. Chances are it will take you a longer time getting there for there are many sights to see on the way. Places like Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss and Vík, just to mention a few.
Camping by Jökulsárlón
There are no campsites right by the lagoon. The closest campsite close by would probably be the big one in Skaftafell which is about 57 km (35 miles), a 40 minute drive from the lagoon. You can also continue to drive east and camp in Höfn. It’s about 84 km (52 miles) there and takes you just under an hour to get there.
Jökulsárlón video
Many of our CamperStories competitors have visited the Glacier lake and shot some absolutely stunning photos and videos. We wanted to showcase their work by putting together this video you see below. Also, all the pictures in this blog are all from CamperStories entries and we bow and thank you all. We hope you will enjoy the video and continue to send us your entries. Who knows, maybe you will be the one winning a full refund of your camper van rental? 🙂
Happy Camping! #WohoCamper
Iceland Travel Guides
If you like what you see, please subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Happy Camping! #WohoCamper
