Akureyri, Iceland. A colorful town in the north of the island that’s a perfect stop for taking a break when driving the ring road.
Last summer we were driving Iceland’s ring road and we had built in an extra night in Akureyri to take a break from the car for a day. Changing hotels every night and putting in multiple hours of driving day after day gets tiring — especially when you’re also making a lot of stops to explore along the way.
We checked into the Hotel Kea for two nights and were lucky to find a perfect (and free!) parking spot just up the street where we could leave our car 24 hours a day. We didn’t really want to risk giving up our spot so we made the decision to just explore Akureyri on foot and take a break from motorized transportation for an entire day. It was easily done as Akureyri is not large and we could get anywhere we wanted by walking.
We had little planned for Akureyri so we looked and the map and spotted a botanical garden nearby that seemed like a great place to stretch our legs. Arriving at its gate, we discovered that it had just opened for the season and we were visiting on the first day possible. It was very lucky for us, as the Akureyri Botanical Garden turned out to be a highlight.
The map above is a phone photo I took of some directional signage on the property. It gives some idea of the scale of the place and the variety of planting areas. There were displays of Icelandic plants as well as plants from other Arctic regions. It was like entering another world with flowers in shapes and colors that I had never encountered before.
I did have my Nikon and 17-35mm lens with me, but I shot most of these images — especially all of the individual flower shots — with my phone. It just does such a good job with close focus and color/contrast that it delivered in every respect I needed.
What a great place to slow down and actually relax after nearly a week of frantic exploration. Akureyri was a great little town and we enjoyed all of northern Iceland but, for me, this day in the botanical garden was one of the most memorable moments in the north. Maybe not as grand as a plunging waterfall but amazing all the same. I’d recommend a stop at the Akureyri Botanical Garden for anyone passing through, whether they are a photographer or not.
