Top 15 Icelandic Volcanoes: Names, History, and Facts

Iceland emerged from the ocean floor through millions of years of volcanic activity, and that process hasn't stopped. Today, Iceland's volcanic systems are among the most studied on Earth. Each volcano has a distinct character, eruption history, and role in shaping the landscape that travelers come here to see.

Some of Iceland's volcanoes are accessible on foot. Others are buried under kilometers of glacial ice. A few erupt frequently enough that Icelanders treat them the way other countries treat weather: something to monitor, prepare for, and occasionally admire from a safe distance.

Iceland monitors its volcanic systems around the clock, and eruption response plans are among the most practiced in the world. For travelers, that means these volcanoes are accessible, well-understood, and in many cases, directly visitable on foot, by Super Jeep, or from the air.

Hverfjall is a striking volcanic crater in North Iceland, just east of Lake Mývatn and about 90 km (56 miles) east of Akureyri. Although it last erupted around 2,500 years ago, it remains one of the most photogenic and best-preserved tuff rings in the world. A tuff ring is a wide, low crater formed when rising magma meets groundwater and explodes outward, leaving a ring of fragmented rock instead of a tall cone. Hverfjall belongs to the same Krafla volcanic system as the Krafla caldera further north.

The crater is about 1 km (0.6 miles) wide and rises 420 m (1,380 ft) above sea level. From a distance it looks almost perfectly circular, though a landslide on the southern side during the original eruption gave it a slightly broken outline. The dark gray walls and the flat, ash-covered floor inside make it one of the most surreal landscapes in the Mývatn area.

Hverfjall is also one of the easiest volcanic craters to actually walk on. Two marked trails climb to the rim, one from the northwest and one from the south, and walking the full rim takes about an hour. The views over Mývatn, Dimmuborgir, and the surrounding lava fields make the Hverfjall tuff ring volcano crater one of the most rewarding short hikes in North Iceland.

Sundhnúkagígar is a row of volcanic craters on the Reykjanes Peninsula, just north of the small fishing town of Grindavík and only a few kilometers from the Blue Lagoon. It's been the most active volcanic site in Iceland since late 2023, with a series of repeated eruptions that have reshaped the surrounding landscape and forced the town of Grindavík to evacuate multiple times.

The first eruption began on December 18, 2023, followed by a January 2024 eruption near Hagafell mountain that reached the edge of Grindavík and destroyed three houses. Eruptions have continued at the Sundhnúkagígar fissure system roughly every few months since, damaging roads, hot water pipelines, and the Blue Lagoon parking area. As of late 2025, residents have begun returning to Grindavík, though magma continues to accumulate beneath the area and further eruptions remain likely.

The eruption sites aren't always accessible, and access depends entirely on current activity.

Litli-Hrútur, meaning "Little Ram," is the site of the third Fagradalsfjall eruption, which began on July 10, 2023, on the Reykjanes Peninsula about 30 km (19 miles) southwest of Reykjavík. Although it sits next to the small Litli-Hrútur mountain, it isn't a separate volcano. It's part of the same Fagradalsfjall volcanic system that erupted in 2021 and 2022.

The 2023 eruption opened a fissure roughly 200 m (660 ft) long on the slopes of the mountain and produced lava flow rates ten times higher than the original 2021 eruption. It lasted just under a month and ended on August 5, 2023. Like the previous two Fagradalsfjall eruptions, it became a so-called "tourist eruption," drawing thousands of visitors who hiked in to see lava up close.

The Litli-Hrútur lava field is now part of a wider zone of fresh lava on Reykjanes that you can hike across on guided tours when conditions allow. You can reach the area on our Reykjanes volcano trail day tour, though access depends on current activity in the wider Reykjanes Peninsula, where eruptions have continued at different sites since late 2023.

Krafla is an active volcanic caldera in North Iceland, about 10 km (6 miles) north of Lake Mývatn and roughly 100 km (62 miles) east of Akureyri. Unlike the subglacial volcanoes further south, Krafla is a wide, open landscape you can walk straight into. Its caldera is about 10 km (6 miles) across and has erupted at least 29 times since Iceland was settled.

The two most famous eruption periods are the Mývatn Fires (1724 to 1729) and the Krafla Fires (1975 to 1984). The Krafla Fires alone produced nine separate eruptions over nearly a decade and reshaped the surrounding landscape into the black lava fields you can still see today at Leirhnjúkur. The ground there is still warm to the touch in places, and steam rises from cracks in the rock.

Iceland actually has two craters named Víti, meaning "Hell," and Krafla is home to one of them. This northern Víti (not to be confused with the one at Askja) was formed during the 1724 Mývatn Fires and now holds a bright turquoise geothermal lake, with a marked trail running around the rim that takes about 30 minutes. Nearby, the Leirhnjúkur lava field has a signposted 5 km (3 mile) loop through jagged black lava, colored mineral deposits, and steaming fumaroles.

Krafla is also home to one of Iceland's largest geothermal power stations, which has harnessed heat from the volcano since 1977 and powers much of North Iceland. The area is easily combined with a visit to Lake Mývatn, the Mývatn Nature Baths, and the nearby Hverir geothermal area.

Fagradalsfjall is a volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 40 km (25 miles) from Reykjavík and easily reachable as a day trip from the city. It became world-famous in 2021, when it erupted for the first time in about 6,000 years and ended an 800-year volcanic silence on the entire Reykjanes Peninsula.

The eruption started on 19 March 2021 in the Geldingadalir valley, when a fissure opened in the ground and lava began pouring out in bright orange fountains. It lasted six months and drew hundreds of thousands of visitors, earning the nickname of Iceland's first "tourist eruption" because it was safe to approach and close enough for ordinary hikers to witness lava up close. Fagradalsfjall erupted twice more in quick succession, in August 2022 at Meradalir and in July 2023 at Litli-Hrútur, both smaller and shorter than the 2021 event.

The eruption sites are still visible today as fresh black lava fields at the base of the mountain. Hiking tours of Reykjanes volcano trail take you across the fresh lava fields, though access depends on current volcanic activity on the wider Reykjanes Peninsula, where eruptions have continued at different sites since late 2023.

Eldfell, meaning "Hill of Fire," is a young volcano on the island of Heimaey in the Westman Islands, off Iceland's south coast. The volcano didn't exist until January 23, 1973, when a fissure opened in the middle of the night on the eastern edge of the island's main town. Within hours, lava fountains were shooting 150 m (490 ft) into the air, and nearly all of Heimaey's 5,300 residents were evacuated by fishing boat before sunrise.

The eruption lasted nearly six months and destroyed around 400 buildings under ash and lava. When the lava began flowing toward the harbor, the island's economic lifeline, locals and emergency crews pumped millions of liters of seawater onto the advancing flow to cool and stop it. The operation worked, and the eruption ended up leaving the island with an even better-protected harbor than before. Today around 4,500 people live on Heimaey, and the cinder cone of Eldfell volcano stands about 200 m (660 ft) tall on the island's eastern edge.

Eldfell isn't the only famous volcano in the Westman Islands. Just south of Heimaey is Surtsey, an island that rose from the sea during a submarine eruption between 1963 and 1967. Surtsey is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is closed to the public, used only for scientific research.

You can hike up to Eldfell's crater on our Westman Islands day tour from Reykjavík. The town below the volcano is also home to the Eldheimar museum ("Pompeii of the North"), which tells the full story of the 1973 eruption through excavated houses that were buried under ash.

Bláhnúkur, meaning "Blue Peak," is a 943 m (3,094 ft) volcano in Landmannalaugar, deep in Iceland's southern highlands. It sits on the northern edge of the Torfajökull volcanic system, which last erupted in 1477. Its dark blue-black slopes come from volcanic ash and lava and give the mountain its name, though the color stands out in a landscape better known for rainbow-colored rhyolite mountains.

Bláhnúkur is one of the most popular day hikes in Landmannalaugar. A steep zigzag trail climbs from the Landmannalaugar campsite to the summit in about 3 hours round trip. From the top, you get views across the Torfajökull caldera, the Laugahraun lava field, and the geothermal valleys below.

Bláhnúkur is also often hiked as a loop with its colorful neighbor Brennisteinsalda, known as the most colorful mountain in Iceland, and both sit along the start of the famous Laugavegur trail from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk.

Bárðarbunga is a subglacial stratovolcano hidden beneath the northwestern part of Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier. Bárðarbunga's location is deep in Iceland's central highlands, with the summit reaching 2,009 m (6,591 ft) entirely under the ice. The meaning of Bárðarbunga is "Bárður's dome," after the Norse figure Bárður Snæfellsás. The Bárðarbunga caldera spans about 10 km (6 miles) and is filled with glacier ice. 

The Bárðarbunga volcanic system stretches 190 km (118 miles) from end to end, the longest in Iceland. One of its largest prehistoric events was the Veiðivötn fissure eruption of 1477, among the biggest in Iceland's post-settlement record. Bárðarbunga last erupted for six months, from August 2014 to February 2015. The lava didn't break the surface at the volcano itself. Instead, magma traveled underground and erupted at the Holuhraun fissures, producing the largest lava flow Iceland has seen since Laki in the 1780s.

You can't visit Bárðarbunga itself, as it sits buried under deep ice in one of Iceland's most remote areas. But you can experience the landscape above it by exploring Vatnajökull National Park, which sits on top of the volcano. Bárðarbunga remains one of Iceland's most intensively monitored systems. The top volcano tours in Iceland cover the best ways to see Iceland's volcanic landscape in person.

Grímsvötn is Iceland's most active volcano, with around 70 eruptions recorded in the last 1,100 years and one eruption on average every 10 to 15 years. What makes it unusual is that it sits entirely underneath the massive Vatnajökull ice cap in Southeast Iceland, the largest glacier in Europe. Its name translates as "Grím's lakes," a reference to the geothermally heated lake that forms within its subglacial caldera.

Because Grímsvötn is buried under ice, its eruptions are dramatic. When magma breaks through the glacier, it rapidly melts huge volumes of ice, producing towering ash plumes and powerful glacial outburst floods called jökulhlaups. Its most recent eruption was in May 2011, which sent an ash plume high into the sky and briefly disrupted flights across parts of northern Europe.

The landscape around Grímsvötn is so otherworldly that the Iceland Space Agency has used it as a Mars analog for testing astronaut spacesuits. You can't realistically visit the volcano itself, as it's hidden deep under the ice cap in a remote, uninhabited part of Iceland. But you can experience the landscape that sits on top of it by visiting Vatnajökull National Park, which covers about 14% of Iceland and includes glacier hiking and ice cave tours.

Hekla is the most active volcano in Iceland, with more than 20 eruptions recorded since 1104. The height of Hekla is 1,491 m (4,892 ft), and it’s located in South Iceland, about 110 km (68 miles) east of Reykjavík. The volcano is visible on clear days from the town of Selfoss and the surrounding farmland. Hekla volcano is a stratovolcano, but with an unusual elongated shape caused by a 5.5 km (3.4 mile) fissure running across it called Heklugjá, which tends to open along its full length during major eruptions.

In Icelandic, "hekla" means a short hooded cloak, a reference to the clouds that often sit on the summit. Hekla is also a popular female name in Iceland, which is why Icelanders sometimes refer to the volcano as "she."

After its dramatic 1104 eruption, which covered more than half of Iceland in ash, Hekla became known across medieval Europe as the "Gateway to Hell." The belief that Hekla was a portal to hell persisted in European folklore until the 19th century, and there is still a local legend that witches gather on the summit at Easter.

Today Hekla is a popular hiking destination and one of the few major Icelandic volcanoes you can actually hike up. It last erupted in 2000, and scientists say it could go again with very little warning, sometimes as little as 30 minutes. The hike is a serious 4 to 8 hour round trip that requires a guide and proper glacier equipment, even in summer.

Snæfellsjökull is the most famous volcano in Iceland from a literary perspective. This volcano is located at the western tip of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in West Iceland, about two and a half hours' drive from Reykjavík. The name means "snowy mountain glacier," and the volcano is 1,446 m (4,744 ft) tall, capped by a small glacier that gives the peak its iconic white top. Snæfellsjökull stratovolcano is built up from layers of hardened lava and ash over repeated eruptions. Its last eruption happened around 200 CE, roughly 1,800 years ago.

Snæfellsjökull is so tall and isolated that on clear days it's visible from Reykjavík, more than 120 km (75 miles) away across Faxaflói Bay. The volcano is the most prominent feature of Snæfellsjökull National Park, established in 2001, one of only three national parks in Iceland.

The volcano owes much of its international fame to French novelist Jules Verne, who used it as the setting for his 1864 classic "Journey to the Center of the Earth," in which the characters descend into its crater to reach the Earth's core. The 2008 Hollywood film adaptation brought Snæfellsjökull back into the global spotlight.

Askja is one of Iceland's most remote active volcanoes, located deep in the central highlands inside the Dyngjufjöll mountains, north of Vatnajökull glacier. "Askja" means "box" or "caldera" in Icelandic, and the name fits: the site is a group of nested calderas, which are huge crater-like bowls formed when the ground collapses after a major eruption empties the magma chamber below. Reaching Askja caldera takes a 4x4 and a full day on rough mountain roads with river crossings, usually starting from Mývatn lake region.

Most visitors come for the two lakes inside the calderas. Öskjuvatn, meaning "Askja's lake," formed after the volcano's 1875 eruption and is Iceland's deepest lake at around 220 m (722 ft). Right beside it is Víti, meaning "Hell," a much smaller crater filled with warm, milky-blue geothermal water that some visitors bathe in.

Askja's 1875 eruption was one of Iceland's largest in modern history. Ash blanketed the east of the country, poisoned pastureland, and reached as far as Scandinavia. The hardship that followed contributed to a wave of emigration, particularly to Canada, where the town of Gimli in Manitoba became home to one of the largest Icelandic communities outside Iceland. The volcano last erupted in 1961, and it has been showing unrest since 2021, with ground uplift suggesting magma is moving underneath.

Interesting fact: Askja's barren, rocky landscape is so moon-like that NASA's Apollo astronauts trained here in the late 1960s before the first moon landings.

Öræfajökull is the tallest volcano in Iceland and home to the country's highest peak, Hvannadalshnúkur, rising to 2,110 m (6,920 ft). It sits at the southern edge of Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier, and is covered by part of that same ice cap. Beneath the ice is a stratovolcano (a cone-shaped volcano) built from layers of hardened lava, ash, and rock. Its name translates as "wasteland glacier," and there's a story behind that.

Before its catastrophic 1362 eruption, the region around Öræfajökull was called Litla-Hérað and was one of the wealthiest farming districts in south Iceland. The eruption was among the largest explosive eruptions in Iceland's recorded history, and the surrounding land was left uninhabited for more than 40 years. The region has carried the name Öræfi, meaning "the wasteland," ever since, and the volcano took on the name to match.

Öræfajökull has erupted only twice in recorded history, in 1362 and 1727 to 1728, making it an infrequently active volcano. When it does erupt, the main hazard comes from glacial outburst floods (jökulhlaups) triggered when the thick ice cap above rapidly melts. Today, Öræfajökull volcano is a popular destination for mountaineering, with Hvannadalshnúkur being the ultimate summit goal for serious hikers visiting Iceland.

Eyjafjallajökull is the volcano that made Iceland a household name. The name translates roughly as "island mountain glacier," and it’s located in south Iceland about 1.5 hours' drive from Reykjavík. Eyjafjallajökull is a stratovolcano, meaning a cone-shaped peak built up over time from layers of hardened lava, ash, and rock. The volcano’s height is 1,666 m (5,466 ft) and it’s capped by a glacier covering around 100 km² (39 sq miles), which is what makes its eruptions so dramatic when they happen.

Eyjafjallajökull is also one of Iceland's more closely watched volcanoes because of its relationship with its larger neighbor, Katla. Most documented historical eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have been followed by an eruption of Katla within a few years, though Katla has stayed quiet since the 2010 event. Volcanologists keep a careful eye on both.

The 2010 eruption is the one most people know: an ash cloud drifted across Europe and grounded air traffic for six days. The unexpected upside was a massive jump in interest in Iceland itself. Iceland's tourism numbers climbed every year that followed. The eruption also triggered glacial floods (jökulhlaups) that damaged roads, farmland, and bridges in the area around Þórsmörk nature reserve. You can still see the effects of those floods today.

Interesting fact: The meltwater flowing off the Eyjafjallajökull ice cap feeds both Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss, two of south Iceland's most photographed waterfalls.

Katla is located under Mýrdalsjökull glacier in south Iceland and is one of the country's largest and most closely watched volcanoes. Katla’s caldera measures roughly 10 km (6 miles) across, hidden under 200 to 700 m (660 to 2,300 ft) of ice. The Katla volcano name comes from the Icelandic word ketill, meaning "kettle," and Icelandic folklore ties it to a witch of the same name who caused a catastrophic glacial flood.

Katla last had a major eruption in 1918, a 24-day event that sent an ash plume up to 14 km (8.7 miles) high and triggered a glacial flood with peak flow of 300,000 m³/s (11 million cubic feet per second), briefly extending Iceland's south coast by 4 km (2.5 miles), according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. Katla typically erupts every 40 to 80 years, making the current pause the longest in its recorded history.

A 2018 study published in Geophysical Research Letters found that Katla is one of the largest volcanic sources of CO₂ on the planet, releasing up to 4% of global emissions from non-erupting volcanoes even while dormant.

The volcano is also home to one of the most visited natural attractions in south Iceland: the Katla Ice Cave, a year-round formation inside the Kötlujökull outlet glacier that can be explored with certified glacier guides.

No, Iceland is not the most volcanic place on Earth. By total number of volcanoes, the United States ranks first (165), followed by Japan (118), Russia (107), and Indonesia (101), according to the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program. Iceland ranks ninth with 35 volcanoes. Indonesia leads the world in the number of active volcanoes and the frequency of eruptions. Where Iceland stands apart is productivity relative to size: over the past 500 years, Icelandic volcanoes have erupted roughly one-third of all lava produced globally.

Iceland has around 130 volcanoes in total, but only 35 are considered active volcanic systems according to the Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes maintained by the Icelandic Meteorological Office. The distinction matters: the 130 figure includes dormant and extinct volcanoes across the island, while the 35 refers specifically to systems that have erupted within the last 12,000 years and remain capable of erupting again. Most of Iceland's inactive volcanoes are concentrated in the Westfjords, the island's oldest region at around 16 million years old, which has drifted too far from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to remain geologically active.

Iceland has so many volcanoes because the island sits on top of two geological forces that rarely appear together anywhere else on Earth. The North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart beneath Iceland, opening cracks that allow magma to rise to the surface. At the same time, a mantle hotspot, which is a column of unusually hot rock rising from deep inside the Earth, is pushing up even more magma from below. The two forces work together to form new volcanoes.

No, Iceland does not have a supervolcano. A supervolcano can erupt with enough power to throw out more than 1,000 km³ (240 cubic miles) of rock, ash, and lava in a single event. Nothing in Iceland has ever erupted that powerfully. However, Iceland has had some very large eruptions. The Eldgjá fissure eruption, which lasted from 934 to 940 CE and came from the Katla volcano system, is believed to be the biggest lava eruption in human history, producing about 18.6 km³ (4.5 cubic miles) of lava. Another big one was Öræfajökull in 1362, which was the second-largest explosive eruption in Europe since Mount Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii in 79 CE.

The three most famous volcanoes in Iceland are Eyjafjallajökull, Hekla, and Katla. Eyjafjallajökull is the most globally recognized because its 2010 eruption shut down European airspace for six days and reshaped how the aviation industry handles volcanic ash. Hekla earned its reputation in the Middle Ages, when European writers called it the "Mouth of Hell" or "Gateway to Hell" and a 1341 Icelandic text described souls of the damned being pulled into its crater. Katla is famous for its long silence: it has not erupted since 1918, the longest pause in its recorded history, which has kept it under close scientific and media watch for decades.

The three deadliest volcanoes in Iceland are Laki, Öræfajökull, and Katla. Laki's 1783 to 1784 eruption killed around a fifth of Iceland's population through famine and gas poisoning, making it the deadliest by far. Öræfajökull's 1362 eruption killed an estimated 300 people and destroyed 40 farms through fast-moving avalanches of hot gas and ash, and glacial flooding. Katla is deadly because of its floods: when it erupts, it melts the glacier above it, releasing enormous volumes of water that have repeatedly destroyed farms along Iceland's south coast.

By lava volume, the biggest volcanic eruption in Iceland was the Eldgjá eruption of 934 to 940 CE, which produced around 18.6 km³ (4.5 cubic miles) of lava. It’s the largest lava flood in Iceland's history and the biggest anywhere on Earth in the last 2,000 years. By human impact, the largest was the Laki eruption of 1783 to 1784, which released around 14.7 km³ (3.5 cubic miles) of lava and enough toxic gas to spread a deadly haze across Europe. The resulting "Laki haze" spread across Europe, cooled the Northern Hemisphere by roughly 1°C, and killed about 9,000 Icelanders, roughly a fifth of the population at the time, primarily through livestock deaths and famine.