Hiking, Swimming And Horse Riding In Iceland

Want to really escape? Lydia Swinscoe discovers the restorative properties of hiking, swimming and horse riding in Iceland…

- Lydia Swinscoe

As the most sparsely populated country in Europe, Iceland is filled with enough empty space to make you feel like you have the entire island to yourself. Scattered with around 130 volcanoes and an abundance of waterfalls, plus mysterious black sand beaches, blue lagoons, glaciers and lava fields, it really is like arriving into a long-lost dream world.

Find your base

I decided that fresh air and nature would be the perfect tonic to my wistful mood, so I hired a car and booked a cozy and warm apartment just outside of Reykjavik on Airbnb (airbnb.co.uk). Like most places in Iceland, water used for showering or bathing is heated geothermally so it has a sulfurous smell. But don’t fear, it’s perfectly clean and always steaming hot, which is vital after a day out in the cold (Icelandic winters can drop to -10C).

In the south of the island, Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon is the best place to stay for stunning scenery – rooms here start at £167 a night, with amazing glacier or sea views. Splitting your time between two or three locations is a great way to see Iceland’s best parts, without wasting too much time driving around. There are an astonishing 269 glaciers scattered throughout the country, meaning 11% of Iceland is covered by some form of the glacier. Yet if global warming continues at its current rate, it could be gone in as little as 150 years; a sobering thought.