Reykjanes Eruptions: Iceland’s Volcanic Peninsula  

For most of the time Iceland has been inhabited, the Reykjanes Peninsula, the stretch of land the airport sits on, was quiet ground. That changed a few years ago, and it has not settled since. We have watched this one unfold from close range, with the mix of awe and unease that most Icelanders feel about it: the early eruptions were a gift, a chance to stand a safe distance from flowing lava; the later ones took a town. What follows is an account of what has happened here, and what it does and does not mean for a trip. 

Why Reykjanes Is Erupting Again

The short answer is plate tectonics. Reykjanes sits directly on the boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates, which are slowly pulling apart, and the peninsula moves through active centuries and long quiet ones on a rhythm of its own; the current burst is, geologically, close to on schedule. What no one can do is predict the details. The eruptions are fed by magma rising into the shallow crust, announced by swarms of earthquakes and by the ground visibly lifting as it fills from below, sometimes over days, sometimes over weeks, until enough pressure builds and a fissure opens, often with less than an hour of final warning. The Icelandic Met Office tracks all of it closely, but the people who study it for a living are plain that this plays out in episodes, not in a single event with a tidy end. 

Two Very Different Chapters: Fagradalsfjall and Grindavík

It matters a great deal which eruption you are talking about, because the peninsula has produced two very different kinds. The first eruptions, at Fagradalsfjall, were about as benign as an eruption gets. Beginning in March 2021, lava welled up in an uninhabited valley a safe walk from the nearest road, far from any town, and simply pooled and spread. Hundreds of thousands of people, Icelanders and visitors alike, hiked out to watch it over that summer, and two more short eruptions followed in the same empty hills in 2022 and 2023. For a while, Iceland had something close to a tame volcano. 

The second chapter is not like that, and it is important to be plain about it. In late 2023 the activity shifted westward, to the Sundhnúkur crater row on the doorstep of Grindavík, a fishing town of around 3,800 people. In November the ground beneath the town split as magma forced its way in, and Grindavík was evacuated. In January 2024 lava reached the edge of town and burned homes; later eruptions cut the region’s hot water for days and repeatedly closed the Blue Lagoon nearby. Defensive barriers now ring the town and the power plant that heats much of the peninsula. This is not a spectacle. It is people’s houses and livelihoods, and the evacuated areas are closed for good reason. A responsible visit keeps well clear of them and follows what the authorities say, without exception. 

What It Was Like at Geldingadalur, 2021

To understand why those first eruptions captured everyone, it helps to hear what one was like. In the spring of 2021, over the Easter break, a group of us from the team hiked out to Geldingadalur together, along with what felt like half the country. The walk in took over an hour across rough ground, cold and windy the way Iceland usually is, and then the ridge dropped away and there it was: a fountain of molten rock throwing orange into a gray sky, close enough to feel the heat on your face, roaring like a jet engine. People stood in near silence, or laughed, or cried a little. Some had brought hot dogs to grill on the cooling lava at the edges. It is one of those moments that resets your sense of how alive the ground under Iceland is. Standing there is a feeling that has stayed with all of us. 

Can You See an Eruption Safely?

You can, sometimes, but it is never something to assume or to improvise. Whether there is an active eruption when you arrive is unpredictable, and even during one, access depends entirely on the Icelandic authorities, the civil-protection agency Almannavarnir, who open and close the sites based on gas, weather, and terrain. When a viewing area is opened, it is usually reachable on a guided hike or a marked path. The main hazard is not the lava but the gas: eruptions release sulfur dioxide and other gases that pool in hollows and turn dangerous fast in still air, which is one of several reasons to go with people who know the ground. Before you plan anything near the peninsula, the sources that matter are safetravel.is for conditions and closures and the Icelandic Met Office at vedur.is for the volcanic picture. This is exactly the kind of judgment call we help travelers make, season by season and week by week, and it is built into how we plan a tailor-made trip. 

Iceland has always been a place where the ground is unfinished, and Reykjanes is the clearest reminder of that in a generation. There is no scheduling a volcano. You might arrive to a closed, quiet peninsula and cross it without a second thought, or you might get the rare chance to stand near new ground being made, if the authorities allow it. Either way, a town not far from the airport has paid for this, and that deserves to be part of how you see it. Tell us your dates, and we will say plainly what is possible the week you are here.

What People Ask Us About Visiting Reykjanes