Mývatn

The first thing you notice at Mývatn is the smell. Then the steam, rising out of the ground on the hillside at Námaskarð like the whole mountain is simmering. Then, if it's July, the midges, arriving in clouds right into your mouth. This is the most restless corner of North Iceland.

Lake Mývatn (Myvatn) is a shallow lake in North Iceland surrounded by lava fields, pseudocraters, explosion craters, bubbling mud and steaming vents. The name means midge lake, and in summer you'll see why. It sits right on the Ring Road about an hour east of Akureyri, and you can see a lot in a day, though we'd happily give it two.

Tours that visit Mývatn

(Cruise Ships) Lake Mývatn and Goðafoss

6 hours and 30 minutes · From Akureyri

5(61)

From 25.300 ISK

popular

Myvatn, Waterfall, Hot Springs & Volcanoes Tour from Akureyri

6 hours · From Akureyri

4.5(565)

From 21.990 ISK

Mývatn, Goðafoss & Grjótagjá Half Day Tour From Akureyri

6 hours · From Akureyri

From 16.990 ISK

Full day Lake Myvatn Classic tour

6 hours · From Iceland

4.6(309)

From 18.750 ISK

Lake Myvatn and Godafoss Waterfall Day Tour from Akureyri

8 hours · From Akureyri

From 23.000 ISK

Lake Mývatn & Geothermal Springs

8 hours · From Akureyri

4.9(80)

From 25.300 ISK

What to see at Mývatn

Hverir, at Námaskarð just east of the lake, is the one people remember. A field of orange and grey clay, boiling mud pots and hissing fumaroles, some of them roaring like jet engines, with a rotten-egg smell of sulphur you'll be tasting for an hour. Stay strictly on the marked paths and behind the ropes. The ground crust can be thin and what's underneath is scalding. Parking here is paid.

Dimmuborgir, on the east side of the lake, is a lava field of towers, arches and caves, formed when lava flowed over wetland and partly collapsed. Marked trails run from short loops of 15 minutes to walks of an hour or more. Around Christmas it's where the Icelandic Yule Lads are said to live, which local children take very seriously.

Hverfjall is the big black crater you can see from almost anywhere around the lake. A steep path climbs to the rim in about 20 minutes, and the walk around the top gives you the best view of the whole area. Grjótagjá, a small cave with a hot spring inside, is worth a look, but it's on private land, bathing is forbidden, and the water is far too hot anyway.

Earth Lagoon (Mývatn Nature Baths)

The Mývatn Nature Baths, known in Icelandic as Jarðböðin, has been renamed Earth Lagoon Mývatn, and a new, larger bathing facility opened in summer 2026. It's a milky-blue geothermal lagoon on a hillside just off the Ring Road, with views across the lava fields to the lake. It's the natural end to a day at Mývatn, and it's usually less crowded than the big lagoons in the south. Book ahead in summer.

Midges at Mývatn

Most of the midges are harmless non-biting chironomids, but they fly into your eyes, ears and mouth by the thousand, especially on calm days from June to August. There are also biting black flies near the river outlet. A head net is the single best purchase you'll make in North Iceland; the shops and petrol stations around the lake sell them. They're why the lake is so full of birds and trout, so the locals put up with it.

Pro tip: wind is your friend. On a breezy day the midges stay low and the lakeside is perfectly pleasant. On a still, warm afternoon, head for Hverir or Hverfjall instead, which are higher, drier and far less buggy, and save the lake shore for the evening breeze.

How to get to Mývatn from Akureyri

Mývatn is about an hour's drive east of Akureyri on Route 1, passing Goðafoss on the way, and roughly six hours from Reykjavík. Dettifoss is under an hour east, and Húsavík about 45 minutes north. In winter the area is snowy and cold, and a very good place for the northern lights, with little light pollution around the lake from about September to April.

Tours that include Lake Mývatn are below: day trips from Akureyri with Goðafoss, Dettifoss or the Diamond Circle, several with entry to the lagoon included, plus shore excursions for cruise passengers.