Iceland, the big island with the chilly name is becoming one of Europe's hottest properties, bursting with natural wonders: active volcanoes, valley glaciers, Europe's biggest waterfalls, lava fields, geysers, thermal pools and the aurora borealis. Reykjavik, the world's northernmost capital, is a cultural dynamo with live music, great restaurants and museums squeezed into a subtle small-town environment. Outside the capital there's puffin-watching, whale-gazing, white-water rafting and medieval relics that make those Icelandic sagas come to life.

Best tine to visit

Early June to the end of August, when the country starts to defrost.

Essential experiences

Enjoying Reykjavik's famously uninhibited nightlife; swimming in the piping hot waters of the geothermal field at Nesjavellir; snapping a photo of the iceberg-filled Jokulsarlon lagoon; dogsledding on the icecaps at Myrdalsjokull.

In a few words, Iceland is

Fire and ice, Bjork, fish, volcanoes, the aurora borealis, beer guzzling, Eidur Gudjohnssen and hot springs.

Did you know?

At weekends the whole of Reykjavik joins in the great Icelandic pub crawl, which goes on till dawn and in Iceland it is forbidden for parents to bestow non-Icelandic or foreign sounding names upon their children.