Iceland
Take an adventure holiday in ICELAND with World Expeditions, one of the world’s leading travel companies.
Iceland, Europe’s second largest island after Great Britain, is located in the North Atlantic ocean in an active volcanic area. The island owes its existence to numerous volcanoes which merged through their eruptions, and even today new islands are formed through further eruptions. Less than one-fifth of Iceland is covered in vegetation, and the majority is barren mountains, lava beds, glaciers and ice fields. The lava beds we visit are the largest in the world, whilst the ice cap Vatnajökull is the largest in Europe. The country relies on hot springs for heating and waterfalls for hydroelectric power. The fishing industry provides the major export for the country.
The population is a mixture of Scandinavian and Celtic and the principal language spoken is Icelandic, a language that has changed very little since Norwegian Vikings settled in the country in 874. More than half the Iceland population of 270,000 live in Reykjavik, the capital, and adjoining towns.
Some unique characteristics of Iceland include the fact that Icelanders don’t generally have a family name – they use patronymics rather than surnames ie. The christian name is followed by the fathers name and their relationship – ie John son of James. The country has no trains, no army and the police do not carry guns.
Featured Adventures
Iceland Winter Adventure
Jewels of the Arctic
Northeast Greenland on Ortelius
Northeast Greenland on Plancius
