Mývatn
Iceland
A shallow lake ringed by craters, lava and steam vents, and the coldest, clearest winter nights on the Ring Road
Photo by Vincent Guth on Unsplash
Photos by Matt Palmer, Nuno Antunes, Julia Taubitz and Paolo Gregotti on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Iceland
June to August for the craters and open roads, though the midges peak in early summer, and February to March for the aurora over a frozen lake
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 50mm in Aug
Where it is
65.64°N, 16.91°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Stay two nights in winter so a cloudy one does not end the aurora plan
- Walk Dimmuborgir and climb Hverfjall on the same morning
- Keep to the boardwalks at Hverir, whatever the people beyond the rope are doing
- Soak at the Nature Baths after dark, when the lights may come out over you
- Bring a head net in early summer if you plan to walk the shore
Mývatn travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Iceland
Very expensiveThe króna, entirely by card. The baths, the cowshed café and the petrol station all take cards and phones.
ATMs & cards
Draw nothing. If you want cash, Akureyri has all three banks. Self-service pumps here want a card with a PIN, and the next pump is a long way off.
Avoid these
- nothing in particular — you will not need cash
Use these instead
- Landsbankinn
- Arion banki
- Íslandsbanki, in Akureyri
There is no reason to carry cash here. Unmanned petrol pumps need a card with a PIN.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Iceland
Very safeSafe in every human sense. The ground is the hazard: at Hverir and Krafla stay on the marked paths, because the crust beside them can be thin over boiling mud. Grjótagjá’s cave is for looking at; bathing there is not allowed. Winter here is genuinely cold, below −10°C on clear aurora nights, and the road to Dettifoss is not always cleared. Midges in early summer are mostly the harmless kind, but a head net makes the lakeshore bearable.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (8 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Hverir — off the marked paths the crust can be thin over boiling mud
- Grjótagjá — the water is too hot to be safe and bathing is not allowed
- Dettifoss — icy viewpoints with low barriers, and the access road is not always open in winter
- Cold on clear winter nights, regularly below −10°C, while you stand still waiting for the lights
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Iceland visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Iceland
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
Excellent and centralised, but almost all of it is in Reykjavík. In the interior you may be hours from a road, let alone a hospital, and search and rescue is volunteer-run — register your travel plans at safetravel.is.
Exposure and vehicle accidents on ice are the real risks. There are no dangerous animals and the tap water is among the cleanest anywhere.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
DecentRúgbrauð baked in the hot ground and served with smoked trout or char — the cowshed café at Vogar does it and you can watch the milking. Otherwise options are few and some close in winter; buy supplies in Akureyri.
Travel tipsGetting around
Car needed- HreyfillWorks here
- UberNot here
- BoltNot here
Hreyfill the taxi firm, by app
- From the airport
- Keflavík to Reykjavík 18,000–22,000 kr by taxi, against 3,500 kr on the Flybus
- Against a taxi
- There is no ride-hailing in Iceland — the law has kept Uber and Bolt out, and taxis are metered and dear.
Book the Flybus or hire a car. A taxi from the airport is a genuinely painful number.
Time zone and your working day
Atlantic/Reykjavik — 4 hours ahead of you
4 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–13:00 your time, 13:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 05:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 05:00–13:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Iceland
Ookla publishes no mobile median for Iceland, so there is no figure here for what a phone gets.
Why these are Iceland's numbers and not Mývatn's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2.2× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Mývatn, so these are medians for all of Iceland. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Travel tipseSIM
A data eSIM for Iceland, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Icelandic
- HelloHalló / Góðan dagha-LO / GO-than dahg
- PleaseTakk fyrirtak FI-rir
- Thank youTakktak
- Yes / NoJá / Neiyow / nay
4 more phrases
- Excuse meAfsakiðAF-sa-kith
- How much is it?Hvað kostar þetta?kvath KOS-tar THET-ta
- The bill, pleaseReikninginn, takkRAYK-ning-in
- Cheers!Skál!skowl
Religion
Lutheran, and largely secular
The national church is Lutheran. Old Norse belief has a small formal revival, Ásatrú, which is officially recognised.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Shower thoroughly and naked before entering any public pool — this is strictly enforced and not negotiable
- Take shoes off indoors
- Respect closed roads and warning signs absolutely; people die ignoring them
- Use first names — Icelanders do not use surnames as we do, and the phone book is by first name
Don't
- Do not walk on moss; it takes decades to regrow and off-road driving is illegal
- Do not tip — it is not expected and can confuse
- Do not ask about elves expecting a joke, or expecting a serious answer either
- Do not underestimate the weather; conditions change within the hour
Where to stay in Mývatn
No Holistay rentals in Mývatn yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Mývatn on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Akureyri AEY
1h 10mfrom the airport· 53 km as the crow flies
About 1h 10m by hire car through the Vaðlaheiði tunnel.
Also worth pricing: Keflavík KEF — every international flight; then the domestic flight to Akureyri, or a day of driving.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
