Lake Mývatn formed 2,300 years ago when a basaltic lava flow dammed the Laxá River, creating a shallow basin that now hosts one of Iceland's richest ecosystems. The name translates to "Midge Lake" — swarms of chironomid midges emerge each summer, feeding Arctic char and providing protein for nesting ducks.
More than 115 bird species visit the wetlands annually, making Mývatn a critical stopover on the North Atlantic flyway.
The surrounding terrain bears witness to Iceland's restless geology. Pseudocraters dot the eastern shore, formed when molten lava rolled over wetlands 2,000 years ago — trapped water exploded through the cooling crust, leaving hollow cones that mimic volcanic vents. Dimmuborgir, the "Dark Castles," rose from a lava lake that drained catastrophically, leaving pillars and arches of columnar basalt. Hverir geothermal field hisses with fumaroles and boiling mud pots, the surface expression of magma chambers three kilometres below.
Forty kilometres west, Goðafoss drops twelve metres across a thirty-metre horseshoe of columnar basalt. The "Waterfall of the Gods" earned its name in the year 1000, when Iceland's lawspeaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði cast his pagan idols into the torrent after deciding the Alþingi would adopt Christianity. The Skjálfandafljót River carries glacial meltwater from Vatnajökull ice cap, delivering 130 cubic metres per second during summer floods.
Lake Myvatn and Godafoss Waterfall tours from Akureyri traverse Route 1 and the Diamond Circle, a 260-kilometre loop connecting the region's volcanic and hydrological landmarks. The route intersects the Mid-Atlantic Rift, where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates diverge at two centimetres per year. Graben faults split the landscape into parallel trenches, and fissure eruptions have resurfaced the plains repeatedly over the past millennium. The Krafla volcanic system last erupted between 1975 and 1984, opening new vents and draining the Víti explosion crater.
Mývatn Nature Baths, opened in 2004, channel geothermal water into lagoons set against black lava fields. The mineral-rich water emerges at 130°C and cools to bathing temperature as it flows through channels carved into scoria. The facility processes no chemicals — natural silica keeps the water sterile.
6 hr
