WOW air is expanding its presence in Icelandic tourism market with plans to build a new hotel in Kópavogur, just south of the capital Reykjavík. The airline, which was founded in 2011, describes itself as “the airline with the biggest smile and lowest prices”. Currently serving 23 destinations in …
Ten startups from around Iceland have been selected to participate in the Icelandic business accelerator Startup Tourism. Startup Tourism is a mentorship-driven business accelerator for Icelandic companies in the tourism sector. The ten companies were selected from 74 applicants, to take part in a 10 week program in Reykjavík, …
Whale watching operator North Sailing in Húsavík is among the 15 Finalists shortlisted for the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards in 2016, as announced by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) recently. These annual awards are among the highest accolades in the industry and represent the gold standard in …
Skúlagarður Country Hotel in North Iceland will open a new guesthouse this summer. The hotel now offers 17 rooms with private bathrooms. “The new guesthouse has 30 rooms with shared facilities and will start operation in in June. Our aim is to offer budget accommodation in this area,” says …
50 years ago today, a new island was born, off the southern coast of Iceland. The new island was named Surtsey, after Surtr, a fire jötunn or giant from Norse mythology. It was intensively studied by volcanologists during its eruption, and afterwards by botanists and biologists as life forms …
For the past few weeks, Icelanders have been voting online for the most beautiful word of their language. The results were announced tonight. The Icelandic word for a midwife, Ljósmóðir, was voted the most beautiful. When translated to English, the word literally means “mother of light”. Other words that …
The Central Bank of Iceland introduced a new ten thousand krónur banknote today. The face of natural scientist and poet Jónas Hallgrímsson appears on the bill, as well as the Eurasian golden plover. Hallgrímsson was interested in the plover and mentioned her in some of his poems. The new …
There are no breaking news at this time on volcanic activity in Mt. Hekla, one of Iceland’s largest volcanoes. Contrary to what many Icelandic Facebook users believe, the volcano has not erupted. This morning, the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police declared an uncertainty phase, the lowest level of …
In the summer of 1967, a group of American astronauts visited Iceland to study the islands’ geology under the guidance of Icelandic and American geologists. This was the second group of astronauts to visit Iceland, the first group had been there two years earlier. One of the young men …
The readers of Listverse have chosen the Top 10 Awe Inspiring Waterfalls’ in the world. Two of them, Dettifoss and Gullfoss, are in Iceland. The two waterfalls are also listed among the World’s top 10 waterfalls on the World of Waterfalls website. Listverse puts Dettifoss at number 4 on …
