Southern Peninsula Region

About Southern Peninsula Region

The Reykjanes Geopark is a UNESCO Global Geopark covering the Southern Peninsula (Suðurnes) in southwest Iceland, around Keflavík Airport. It has held the status since 2015, and it is the only place in the world where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge can be seen above sea level.

Fresh lava from the eruptions of the 2020s lies within half an hour of the airport, so this is where you can see the forces that built Iceland at work. The geopark lists 55 geosites, and the best-known cluster is at the peninsula's southwest tip.

Gunnuhver's steaming mud pools, the sea cliffs at Valahnúkur and Reykjanesviti lighthouse are all a few minutes apart there. Reykjanesviti stands on Iceland's oldest lighthouse site, first lit in 1878, and the present tower dates from 1907 to 1908.

A short drive along the coast, the Brimketill rock pool and the Bridge Between Continents over a rift in the lava complete a half-day loop. Farther east, the geothermal field at Seltún and the lake Kleifarvatn near Krýsuvík are worth a second stop. For the geology behind it all, the geopark's visitor center exhibition at the Duus Museum in Reykjanesbær explains how the peninsula formed.

The ground here is still moving. A series of eruptions on the Sundhnúkur crater row north of Grindavík ran from December 2023 to the summer of 2025, and in late September 2026 the Icelandic Met Office reported slow uplift continuing at Svartsengi, with a new eruption still considered the most likely outcome. Check the official hazard updates and weather warnings on the day, stay on marked paths, and respect every closure.

The southwest tip is about an hour's drive from Reykjavík and 25 minutes from Keflavík Airport, so the Reykjanes geosites fit neatly into an arrival or departure day in any season. Allow half a day for the tip and a full day if you add Krýsuvík and a geothermal soak.