Skútustaðagígar
Skútustaðagígar is a landscape in North Iceland, Iceland — about 459 km from Reykjavik and reached by a drive to the trailhead and a short walk in (footwear and weather check). Shoot it during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography, then use the GPS coordinates, parking notes, and nearby waypoints below to fold this stop into a longer photography route.
Access restriction
Skútustaðagígar is one of the protected areas where flying a drone requires a permit.
- a drone flight needs a permit from Náttúruverndarstofnun
- permits are issued only for commercial work — research, monitoring, construction, film, news and professional photography — and never for recreational or educational flying
- commercial permits may be granted year-round
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Overview
The Skútustaðagígar Craters are found in the Lake Mývatn area, which is very volcanic and near to the Krafla volcano system.
As a photography stop, Skútustaðagígar is a landscape in North Iceland, roughly 459 km from Reykjavik, reached by a drive to the trailhead and a short walk in (footwear and weather check). Plan the shoot during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography. The downloadable Landscape map pins exact GPS coordinates, parking, and nearby waypoints so you can fold it into a wider route instead of hunting for the pull-off on arrival.
Skútustaðagígar is one waypoint of many — you can load all 62 landscape viewpoints before you leave signal.
Notes on this location
Compiled from published sources rather than a visit. Sources are listed below.
A group of pseudocraters — rootless cones — on the south shore of Mývatn, protected as a natural monument. They formed about 2,300 years ago when lava ran into a waterlogged lakebed and the trapped water flashed to steam.
- What they are
- Rootless cones, or pseudocraters: not vents, but craters blown out by steam when lava covered wet ground
- Age
- About 2,300 years, from a large basaltic eruption
- Status
- Protected as a natural monument
- The lake
- Mývatn is 37 km², averaging 2.5 m deep and at most 4.5 m
- Birds
- 15 duck species — the largest concentration in Europe. Tufted duck ~6,000 pairs, wigeon ~1,000, greater scaup ~1,500, red-breasted merganser ~700; the lake is an Important Bird Area
These are craters without a volcano under them, so they sit in loose clusters across flat ground rather than building one cone — the subject is a field of shapes, which reads far better from height or in low raking light than from the path. A lake averaging 2.5 m deep also goes still in a way a deep one does not, so reflections here are unusually reliable.
SourcesMývatn — Wikipedia
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (65.571, -17.035). Iceland stays on UTC year-round, so these are local times.
- Summer
- 22.8 h of daylight in June and the sun barely sets, dipping only 1.1° below the horizon — effectively continuous golden light through the small hours.
- Winter
- December: only 3.3 h of daylight (11:25–14:42), but the sun never climbs above 1.1° — the entire day is golden hour. Sunrise bears SSE, sunset SSW.
- Aurora
- Aurora-grade darkness Sep–Mar, peaking at 13 h a night in December. Not possible Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug — the sky never gets dark enough.
Bar height is daylight hours. Months marked • have enough astronomical darkness for aurora; the rest do not.
Questions & answers
Skútustaðagígar is a landscape in North Iceland, Iceland, approximately 459 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Landscape map.
The recommended season for Skútustaðagígar is Summer. For light, plan around blue hour and the first hour after sunrise; Iceland's long shoulder-season twilight extends usable conditions on either side.
Drive/Hike access. Bring weather-appropriate footwear and check conditions before setting out. The downloadable GPS map puts the waypoint on your phone; your own app routes you to it from wherever you are.
Skútustaðagígar is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.