Travel to Iceland: How to have a responsible adventure in Reykjavík and beyond

Why summer is Iceland's magical season

Iceland is an iconic place to view the Northern Lights and understandably attracts many visitors just to see them. But aurora season means winter - darkness, ice and roads that close without warning. Summer offers a special kind of spectacle: the midnight sun. From late May through July, the sun never fully sets, casting a slow-motion sherbet glow across the sky for hours every night (if the clouds allow for the view). You can hike at 10 p.m., photograph birds at midnight and never once reach for a headlamp.

Don't mistake summer for gentle, though. Iceland's weather can be extreme in every season: wind that can bend car doors backward, sideways rain and fog that swallows entire fjords. Pack layers, check road conditions daily and build flexibility into your itinerary. The weather will make some decisions for you, but that is part of the adventure.

Getting to know the culture, people and place

Reykjavík, Iceland's capital, is charming, but the country's soul lives in its small towns; places like Stykkishólmur, a four-block fishing village on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, where I stayed at a monastery-turned-hotel that still operates the region's only Roman Catholic church. Nuns and priests filter through the lobby alongside travelers in adventure gear. That kind of unselfconscious collision of old and new is Iceland in miniature.

Eat locally, and I mean hyper-locally. At Narfeyrarstofa, a restaurant in a converted harborside house, I had scallops pulled from Breiðafjörður - the very fjord the town sits on - followed by Icelandic cod. This constituted one of the finest meals of my life, and it exists because this remote Atlantic island has always had to feed itself from its own waters.

This culinary prowess can be found in Reykjavík, too. Splurge on a meal at Iceland's first Michelin-starred restaurant, Dill, to experience the ethos of Iceland's cuisine: locally sourced, carefully crafted and capturing the full flavor of the Arctic.

Take time to talk to people. Icelanders are famously reserved until they aren't. Ask a local where to find puffins, which pool they swim in, or where the fish soup is best, and you'll get better intel than any TikTok video offers - and maybe even an invitation.

Eco-tourism considerations

Iceland's landscapes look indestructible. They aren't. The moss that carpets the lava fields takes decades to grow and a single footstep to kill, so stay on marked paths, always. Never drive off-road: it's illegal, it scars the land for generations, and you will likely end up in the news for doing it.

Operators tend to put the ecosystem first, so follow their lead. Responsible wildlife travel means accepting that an animal doesn't owe you an appearance.

Small choices add up: refill a water bottle instead of buying plastic (Icelandic tap water is some of the purest on Earth), shower before entering geothermal pools as posted and book locally owned guesthouses and restaurants whenever possible.

Seeing the classics without the crowds

Summer is Iceland's peak season, and the country's greatest hits get busy. You don't need to skip them, but it helps to get creative with timing. With near-24-hour daylight, there's no reason to see Geysir or the black church at Búðir at noon alongside every tour bus. Instead, go at 9 p.m. when the light is better and the parking lots are relatively empty.

Alaska's flight reaches Iceland in the morning - I landed at 9 a.m. One of my tips for beating jet lag (and making use of the time before hotel check-in) is to soak in one of Iceland's famous lagoons. The Blue Lagoon is popular for good reason, but on this trip, I instead booked an early slot at Sky Lagoon, the geothermal infinity pool perched on Reykjavik's harbor, and I highly recommend it.

The Golden Circle, an approximately 190-mile scenic loop, absorbs most of Iceland's visitors. The Snæfellsnes peninsula and the Westfjords deliver equal drama - bird cliffs at Látrabjarg, scenic coastal walks at Arnarstapi - with a fraction of the traffic. The drives are long (budget five-plus hours between the peninsula and the far Westfjords), but taking the extra time offers an incredibly rich experience.

If you're in Iceland for the Aug. 12 solar eclipse, plan to arrive early and stay late, and absolutely avoid driving on the day of the eclipse. Pack extra patience and respect for the locals absorbing that wave.

Let Iceland lead

The best Iceland trips are the ones you don't fully control, where the weather reroutes you, a local's tip redirects you, or a rare bird refuses to show and sends you somewhere better. After a dozen years of visits, my strongest memories aren't the checklist items; they're the midnight walk up to a light beacon above a fjord, alone with the wind and the seabirds or staying up late at a bar drinking beer with new friends.

That's the responsible way to travel here, and also the richest one: arrive curious, tread lightly, spend locally and let the land of fire and ice guide the adventure.

Practical tips for Iceland travel

• You can now book a flight to Reykjavik from Seattle through the summer. The airport is in Keflavik, about an hour south of the capital city, which is why I booked an Alamo car rental and all my hotels through Alaska Vacations. Manual driving is common in Iceland, so be sure to select an automatic vehicle if that's your preference. And if you're planning to go anywhere remote, an all-wheel drive or 4WD vehicle is the right choice to get there.
• Having cash is not necessary, nor is renting a GPS, as everything is on Google or Apple maps - though download a map of Iceland's roads to your phone just in case. When in doubt, it's okay to ask strangers for help. Just don't stop your car in the middle of the road to check a map (or take a photo), as this is a rising factor in Iceland's car accidents.
• English is spoken throughout 95% of the country, but learning a few phrases in Icelandic - takk fyrir for thank you, ég elska Ísland for I love Iceland - goes a long way. I promise the pronunciation isn't as hard as you think. When in doubt, Icelanders love talking about the weather. Fortunately, it's always worthy of conversation.