The blue lake
A colour that shifts with the light.
Markus Trienke — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Syrio — CC BY-SA 4.0 · fry_theonly — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Markus Trienke — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Rémih — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Anna Jonna Ármannsdó… — CC BY-SA 3.0
Víti is a volcanic crater filled with a blue-green lake inside Krafla, the large volcanic system near Lake Mývatn. Its name means hell, yet the calm colour of its water between brown and grey slopes makes one of the finest volcanic scenes in north Iceland, and it is easy to reach by car. Krafla is a caldera about 10 km across with a fissure zone of 90 km, on the Iceland hotspot at the boundary of the North American and Eurasian plates. It has had 29 recorded eruptions. Between 1724 and 1729 the Mývatn fires destroyed three farms near Reykjahlíð, though nobody was harmed. A further series of eruptions came between 1975 and 1984. You climb briefly from the car park to the rim, and the lake lies below in a colour that shifts with the light, with snow sometimes lingering on it and on the slopes into summer. A trail runs around the crater, looking over valleys, lava fields and a distant geothermal power plant. To the south is Hverir, an area of boiling mud and steaming vents. The crater is 10.7 km in a straight line north-east of Reykjahlíð. The ground near the rim is unstable, so stay on the trail and do not try to go down to the water. It gets very cold in wind, so bring a jacket. Snow can close side roads in winter, so check road conditions. At Hverir the steam is hot, so do not cross the ropes.
A colour that shifts with the light.
Views over the lava fields.
Boiling mud and steam.
Krafla area, north-east of Lake Mývatn
Do not try, as the ground is unstable, so stay on the trail.
Yes, it erupted between 1975 and 1984, so follow local guidance.