Iceland , (Icelandic: Ísland) a country nominally in Northern Europe, is a large mountainous island in the north Atlantic Ocean, between Europe and North America. In a sense, it is a well-named country, with over 10% of the country covered by glaciers. In another sense it is not well named, with a surprisingly mild climate and countless geothermal hot-spots. Of course, the native spelling ("Ísland") is appropriate in English as well.
It's a shame most visitors don't stray far from the capital as some of the most memorable sights in Iceland are further afield.
There are many excursions offered by tour companies, readily available from any of the main centres such as Reykjavík and Akureyri. They will fly you around and take you out to the glaciers and to the big volcanoes for a reasonable price. However, the cheapest option is to drive around with a rented car since none of these sites have entry fees.
Iceland is a stunningly beautiful place if you enjoy strange and desolate landscapes. Because it is so close to the Arctic Circle, the amount of daylight varies dramatically by season. The sun sets briefly each night in June, but it doesn't get fully dark before it comes back up again. In March and September, days and nights are about equal, as elsewhere in the world. If you go in December, it's almost 20 hours of gloom or darkness. Summer is definitely the best time to go, and even then the tourist traffic is still mild. The midnight sun is a beautiful sight and one definitely not to be missed. It is easy to lose track of time when the sun is still high in the sky at 11pm. Early or late winter, however, can be surprisingly good times to visit. In late January, it is effectively light from about 10am to 5pm, prices are lower than in the high season, and the snow-blanketed landscape is eerily beautiful. (Some sites are, however, inaccessible in the winter).
Iceland was settled by Nordic and Celtic people in the 9th century AD - tradition says that the first permanent settler was Ingólfur Arnarson, a Norwegian Viking who made his home where Reykjavik now stands. The Icelanders still basically speak the language of the Vikings. Iceland maintains another Norse tradition: the custom of using patronyms rather than surnames (an Icelander's given name is followed by his or her parent's first name (usually the father's) and the suffix -son or -dóttir, e.g. Guðrún Pétursdóttir (Guðrún, Pétur's daughter). Members of the same family can therefore have many different "surnames", which can sometimes create confusion for visitors. Because of the patronymic last names Icelanders use first names, e.g. phone books are alphabetized by first name rather than last name. This also applies when addressing an individual. Icelanders would never expect to be addressed as Mr. or Ms. Jónsson/-dóttir no matter how important they might be. Iceland has received a great number of immigrants over the last 10 years. In the last 5 years the population of immigrants has doubled. Most of these people come for employment. Most of them come from Eastern Europe and South East Asia. Immigrants in Iceland are now well over 10% of the population, giving Iceland a larger proportion of immigration than Norway, Sweden etc.
Despite its name, Iceland has surprisingly mild winters for a country at that latitude owing to the warming effect of the Atlantic Gulf Stream.
