Diamond Beach (Breiðamerkursandur / Jökulsárlón)

Diamond beach on the south coast is one of the most visited beaches in the whole of Iceland. About 6 hours from the capital Reykjavik this black sand beach sits at the mouth of the Jökulsárlón lagoon. Here huge chunks of ice gather from the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier which in turn is fed by the largest icecap in Europe - the Vatnajökull.

Whilst the Jökulsárlón lagoon is dominated by the icebergs drifting towards the coast smaller chunks are deposited on the volcanic sands at its mouth. The local name of the beach here is Breiðamerkursandur but it didn’t take long before travellers began referring to it as Diamond beach. When the sun catches the multitude of pure ice shapes that litter the beach they glisten, well, like diamonds!