Iceland
Fire and ice — waterfalls, glaciers, volcanoes and the Northern Lights along the Ring Road.
A country built
on two plates
Iceland sits on the ridge where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart, and everything people come for follows from that one fact. The volcanoes, the geysers, the lava fields, the hot water that heats the houses and fills the pools — all of it is the same story told in different landscapes.
Most of the country is empty. The Ring Road runs around the edge, and the population is concentrated in the south-west, so a two-hour drive from Reykjavík puts you somewhere that looks like nowhere else. The South Coast alone gives you waterfalls you walk behind, a black-sand beach with basalt columns, and a lagoon where icebergs break off a glacier and drift out to sea.
For Indian travellers Iceland is a different proposition from the rest of Europe. There are no cathedrals and very few museums; there is weather, distance and light. It rewards a self-drive and a flexible plan far more than a checklist, and it works in both halves of the year for completely different reasons — which is the single most useful thing to understand before booking.
When is your Iceland?
Iceland has no bad season, but it has two completely different ones, and choosing the wrong half for what you want is the most common planning mistake. Daylight swings from a few hours to essentially all of it, and that — more than temperature — decides what a day can hold.
How to Explore the World
Six ways to find your next journey — by map, by moment, or by the feeling you are chasing.
Explore the world continent by continent, country by country — every place mapped to the right season.
The landmarks that define a journey, from ancient sites to natural marvels worth crossing the world for.
Beyond the headline sights — the quiet streets and local secrets our specialists know first-hand.
Each destination timed to its finest moment, so you arrive when it is at its very best.
Direct routes, visa-on-arrival and e-Visa options that make the world more reachable than you think.
Use any destination as a starting point — every journey is shaped entirely to your taste.
Iceland visa — what you need to know
Iceland is part of the Schengen area, so Indian passport holders travel there on a Schengen visa rather than an Icelandic one. What matters is which country you apply to, and that is decided by your itinerary rather than by preference.
Indian nationals require a visa to cross the Schengen external border — India is on Annex I of the EU regulation that sets this. Ísland.is states that a uniform Schengen visa issued by any Schengen state is valid throughout the area for up to 90 days, so if you already hold a valid Schengen visa you do not need a separate Icelandic one. You lodge the application with the country that is your main destination — the state where you will spend the longest time, or, if the time is equal, the one you enter first. For a trip that is mostly Iceland, that is Iceland.
The Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs states that Icelandic embassies issue visas in four cities worldwide: London, New Delhi, Peking and Washington D.C., with other Schengen states commissioned to act for Iceland in around 120 other cities. India is therefore one of the few countries where you deal with Iceland directly rather than through another Schengen state — a genuine advantage if Iceland is your main destination.
The Embassy of Iceland in New Delhi directs applicants to VFS Global in India to lodge documents. Ísland.is explains the division of labour plainly: application centres receive applications, but the embassy evaluates them and issues the visa. Applications may be lodged up to six months before travel, and the Embassy notes that securing a VFS appointment can itself take several days — so the appointment, not the paperwork, is usually the first constraint.
The Directorate of Immigration requires a travel document valid at least three months beyond your intended departure and issued within the last ten years. A Schengen short stay is up to 90 days in any 180-day period, and you must be able to show the purpose of your trip and sufficient means for the stay and the return journey. The Embassy specifically advises travellers going in the March to June peak to apply as early as possible.
For all Iceland journeys we design, we prepare your complete visa documentation package — the forms, the supporting documents, the sequence of submission. Our visa specialists help travellers prepare complete applications with careful document guidance. Final visa decisions always remain with the relevant authorities.
Travel Iceland intelligently
Iceland punishes rigid plans and rewards flexible ones. Almost everything below is about weather, distance and light.
Iceland travel FAQ
The questions Indian travellers ask most often before booking Iceland.
Iceland for every kind
of traveller
Iceland is one country with two entirely different seasons, and the style of trip follows the season more than it follows taste. These are the shapes that work.
The road that circles the island, taking in the South Coast, the eastern fjords, Mývatn in the north and Snæfellsnes on the way back.
The densest stretch of landscape in Iceland — waterfalls, black sand, glacier tongues and the lagoon at Jökulsárlón.
The dark half of the year, when the aurora is possible, the ice caves open and the country feels entirely different.
The bright half, when the interior roads open, the puffins are in and the day effectively has no end.
Iceland suits couples who want scale and quiet rather than beaches and nightlife — a small number of remarkable places, unhurried.
Glacier walks and ice climbing on the outlet tongues, snorkelling the Silfra fissure between two continents, and volcano and lava-cave country.
The Golden Circle and South Coast work well with children: everything is outdoors, close to the car, and immediately impressive.
The version of Iceland built around hot water: lagoons, town pools, steam vents and long evenings doing very little.
Tell us whether you want the aurora or the midnight sun, and whether you want to drive, and our travel designers will shape the route around it.
How far in advance
should you book Iceland?
Two things drive the Icelandic timeline: the Schengen appointment, which the Embassy itself flags as slow in peak season, and the small stock of good vehicles and rooms in a country with a short summer.
Aurora and ice caves, or midnight sun and the highlands. Almost every other decision follows this one.
You can lodge up to six months ahead. Book the VFS appointment first — it is usually the binding constraint.
A 4x4 if the highlands or winter are involved. Good vehicles go before good hotels do.
Ice caves, glacier walks and the lagoons are capacity-limited and guided; the rest of the route can stay loose.
What to pack
for Iceland
Pack for wind and water rather than for cold. Iceland is milder than its latitude suggests and far windier than its temperature does.
A genuinely windproof and waterproof outer layer is the single most important thing you will bring, in any month. An umbrella is useless here — the wind takes it.