Vik Iceland beach and the South Coast: Photo essay

As I promised last Friday on my Iceland waterfalls photos post, today I will publish some never-seen-before shots from my winter trip there. Thus, Vik Iceland beach and surroundings are this week’s Travel Tuesday features.

Also read: Iceland Couchsurfing and hitchhiking

On the map: Vik, Iceland

Vik Iceland beach and town location

While I usually travel on a shoestring and recently discovered the joys of travel without a plan, I took 3 tours while in Iceland and they were well worth the money. Not only was Go Travel Iceland the agency that offered the cheapest tours around, but also they are the most thorough. I remember our tour guide, owner Gumi, taking us to rugged off-beaten-path places in his van that not even other 4×4 tours would go into! The passion for Iceland was reflected on Gumi’s face at every stop we made, and he truly made my trip to Iceland incredibly memorable (in addition to my Couchsurfing hosts of course!). Hope you enjoy the Vik photos we took during our South Coast tour!

The town of Vik

The full name of the southernmost village in Iceland is Vík í Mýrdal (Wikipedia). It is home to only about 300 inhabitants and in constant threat of natural disasters. Not only does it have the Mýrdalsjökull glacier right above it, but also the Katla volcano happens to sit right below the glacier! It is said that the only safe place, if Katla were to erupt, is the town’s church.

Vik Iceland beach road sunset

On our way to Vik! I made our tour guide stop =P

Vik Iceland beach town

The town of Vik from our van window (the “safe” church afar)

Glacier from Vik Iceland beach

Glacier from the road: On our way to Vik beach

Vik Iceland beach: Solidified lava and black sand

While I have posted photos of the amazing formations of Vik’s volcanic beach before, I got a couple more to show you!

Vik Iceland beach formations

Entering the famous Vik black sand beach. I couldn’t believe my eyes

Vik Iceland beach lava stairs

Marcello and I climbing the amazing lava formations

Vik Iceland beach solidified lava

Solidified lava! This particular wall gave me a weird sense of vertigo when I photographed it

Vik Iceland black sand beach

Me! =)

This was the last stop of our South Coast tour. Needless to say, it was sad when we had to leave. So after hours of beautiful landscapes, and a beaming orange sunset, the town of Vik said farewell. Fortunately, we had a local electronica concert, some happy Couchsurfers, and delicious Icelandic food waiting for us in Reykjavik.

Vik Iceland black sand beach sunset

Farewell, Vik!

Hope you enjoyed these Vik Iceland beach photos! I’ll post more of our other stops, including one of NatGeo’s Top 10 Most Beautiful Beaches in the world, next week.

Comment: Have you been to Iceland? Is it on your travel bucket list?

This entry was posted in Europe, Iceland by Maria Alexandra. Bookmark the permalink.

About Maria Alexandra

Maria Laborde, aka latinAbroad, is an open-minded, highly-energetic woman with the spirit of a child. A world citizen, Puerto Rican at heart, carrier of an American passport. A passionate translator and writer, sprinkling Latin spice around the world!

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