There is a lesser-known small island in the North Atlantic called Iceland where you can still get away from it all and experience nature in a near pristine state. That is just what I needed.

Iceland is a country roughly the size of Kentucky but with a lot fewer people. It is located a little below the Arctic Circle roughly between Greenland and the United Kingdom and about a 5-hour flight from the East coast of the US. It has a population of just over three hundred thousand people which means that the population density is very low.

Population numbers and geography aside, Iceland is an amazing country for many reasons though, I don’t think that it’s a country that is top of mind when it comes to vacation planning. Maybe that’s what I liked about it. I live in a very crowded, southern California city where traffic is always a problem and getting away from the crush of humanity, ironically, requires a lot of driving.

As many of you already know, many of the world’s top tourist locations are being loved to death by the millions of visitors who come every year to see the sites, walk up the same staircase in an old church, or get a photo holding up the Leaning tower of Pisa. If you go to Paris or Rome, or some of the other top European destinations, you wait in lines, you sit in traffic; hell, if I wanted that I could just stay in California. I am not saying that visiting these famous cities is not worth it. I am saying that it is getting harder and harder to enjoy these cities and landmarks because everyone is visiting these cities and landmarks. Of course, everyone’s idea of fun is different. But, for me going to a place where I could almost literally leave civilization behind sounded pretty good. I have read about Iceland and was taken by the exotic and unspoiled nature scenes. I wanted to be there, in those pictures, camping, hiking, exploring glaciers and high mountain meadows. Sound like a set up for disappointment? Turns out it wasn’t.

Certainly there is always a difference between your imagination (perception) and reality. But I have to say that my experiences weren’t that far off from my perceptions. I traveled there in the late summer when the temperatures are decent (mid 50s to low 60s F) and the days are long – real long. I did all the usual tourist stuff while I was in Reykjavik and then I booked a 5 day backpacking and trekking tour into the highlands of Iceland, from Thorsmork to Landmannalaugur. Each day we hiked for 5-7 hours stopping along the way to learn about the history and geography of the various locations, at nigh we slept in tents, ate good food, and played music or just talked about our days till sleep overcame us.

When I got back to Reykjavik, I booked a jeep tour that took us right up onto a glacier, called Langjokul (the long glacier). This too was a real experience. Once we got to the top of the glacier, we all got out of the jeep to look around and experience the surroundings. The two things that stuck with me about this were the silence and the amazing view from atop this glacier. I could see so far that I think I was seeing the curvature of the earth.

Iceland is a long way to go to get away from it all but all-in-all it was worth it. Though not a cheap destination, the money I spent was small compared with the privilege of silence, pristine nature and uncluttered vistas as far as my eyes could see.

If you are planning a trip and looking for things to do in Iceland or some cool Iceland tours, I would recommend the glacier tours and backpacking tours. If you don’t have the time and are looking for Iceland day tours, I would recommend the Iceland golden circle tour.