Vatnajökull National Park (in Icelandic: Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður) is one of three national parks in Iceland.
Mission
In general, national parks are protected areas which are considered unique because of their nature or cultural heritage. The unique qualities of Vatnajökull National Park are primarily its great variety of landscape features, created by the combined forces of rivers, glacial ice, and volcanic and geothermal activity.
Description
Vatnajökull National Park, established in 2008, encompasses not only all of Vatnajökull glacier but also extensive surrounding areas. These include the national parks previously existing at Skaftafell in the southwest and Jökulsárgljúfur in the north, so that today's national park covers 13% of Iceland and ranks as Europe's largest.
General information
The National Park stretches around the Vatnajökull ice cap, with visitor centres in South-East Iceland (Skaftafell), East Iceland (Skriðuklaustur) and North-East Iceland (Jökulsárgljúfur).
Vatnajökull National Park operates campsites in Skaftafell, Ásbyrgi and Jökulsárgljúfur.
Vatnajökull National Park operates campgrounds in Jökulsárgljúfur (Ásbyrgi and Vesturdalur), Skaftafell, Snaefell and Laki (Blágil). Campgrounds can also be found in close proximity of many huts within the national park. Please note that the campgrounds in Vesturdalur, Snaefell and Blágil have limited services.
The campground in
Snaefell is open from 1 July to 15 September, weather permitting.
The campground in
Blágil is open as soon as the road to Laki opens (usually about mid-June), and is open until the first week of September.
