4 days ago
Embrace adventure and natural beauty with a voyage to Iceland
It's a chilly morning off Iceland's remote west coast. As we rise and fall through those petrol-blue waves on our rigid inflatable boat (RIB), something wonderful happens. A collective sigh fills the air as vapour erupts from a multitude of blowholes – humpbacks emerging in a synchronised dance before vanishing with a slap of their flukes.
This is one of those hold-your-breath moments. And yet it's just one of many great experiences on our eight-day voyage around Iceland. Circumnavigating the country aboard one of Viking's ocean ships is an ideal way to absorb the drama of an extraordinary country, and adventurous excursions like this highlight its unusually raw beauty.
Our week unfolds in a mix of kayaking, scootering over volcanic slopes in ATVs, riding on Icelandic horses then soaking in lesser-known geothermal baths. And complementing all this high drama is the Viking Jupiter's elegance – a ship accommodating just 930 guests in all-veranda staterooms.
The décor is elegant with an emphasis on Scandi details. Original art, including lithographs by Edvard Munch and a collection of traditional antique Scandinavian costumes, mix with reindeer fur throws, pastel-toned contemporary furniture and blond-wood detailing.
Unusually, everything from afternoon tea in the Wintergarden to room service and restaurants, such as Manfredi's Italian fare, are fee-free. Particularly memorable is the five-course Asian tasting menu at The Chef's Table and World Café's sumptuous seafood buffet.
Inclusive, too, is The Nordic Spa, where we wallow in a heated indoor pool, linger in saunas, steam rooms and even a bracingly chilly Snow Grotto. In the evenings, we have enrichment lectures on Iceland's geology as well as quizzes and string quartets. We also appreciate the complimentary excursions. This being Iceland, a trip around its Golden Circle, including Thingvellir's rift valley, Geysir's spurting pools and Gullfoss's waterfalls, offers a perfect microcosm of this deeply unusual country.
At Thingvellir, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are physically tearing apart, I swear I can almost hear nature screaming. Weak sunlight plays over moss-freckled lava fields as the wind, like an angry slap, howls along a deep, narrow slash between basalt columns.
It's hugely atmospheric. At Geysir, palls of steam make ghosts of a crowd gathered around Strokkur, the lively hot spring. Eventually, the pool bubbles and belches, a plume of hot hissing water rising 30m into the breezy air.
Midweek, we dock at Ísafjörður in the Westfjords region. This is Iceland's least visited area – and more's the pity, because it's outstandingly beautiful. Our goal is the tiny, far-flung island of Vigur. From our small boat, we can see the island's clapboard houses pulled into sharp relief against a tentative sun.
This is the home of puffins, terns and guillemots, and also of British polar explorer Felicity Aston, her husband Gisli and their young son. They tend the island's 4,000 eider ducks – a kilo of eiderdown sells for about £1,500, Gisli says. If it seems an odd lifestyle choice, it's a profitable one.
Icelandic people enthral us as powerfully as those extraordinary landscapes, and our guides are full of wry humour and eccentric stories. Further east, at Djúpivogur, the local mayor walks us around the town, telling scary tales from Icelandic folklore; then later, in a scrubbed-out fish oil tank, his wife sings exquisite songs of trolls and elves. Her ethereal voice wafts through the darkness; candles flicker and tears spring to my eyes. A captivating moment, yes – but that's Iceland – a country that's truly captivating and unforgettable.
Iceland's Natural Beauty is an eight-day ocean voyage sailing roundtrip from Reykjavík with six guided tours.
