Category: Iceland focused interviews

The best advice about Iceland rarely comes from a guidebook. It comes from the people who live here, work here, and have spent their lives getting to know one corner of the country better than anyone else. That’s what this section is for.

Since 2012, I have been sitting down with Icelanders worth listening to and asking them the questions a curious traveler would ask. The result is an archive of in-depth interviews that now runs to more than two hundred conversations — and it’s still growing.

The range is wide on purpose. We’ve talked with mountain guides about reading the weather and staying safe in the Highlands, with volcanologists and astronomers about what’s actually happening beneath your feet and overhead in the night sky, and with photographers about chasing the light through the seasons. We’ve spoken to chefs, hotel owners, and tour operators about how Icelandic tourism really works, and to writers, musicians, and historians about the culture and stories that shape the country.

For trip planning, these interviews do something a standard guide can’t. They give you the firsthand perspective — the honest opinions, the small practical tips, the things a local would tell a friend but rarely a stranger. Read a few before you travel, and you’ll arrive understanding Iceland in a way most visitors never do.

In this section, you’ll find every interview we’ve published, covering Iceland’s tourism, science, arts, food, and literary communities. Browse by the topic that interests you, or simply start reading — the honest, firsthand insight here is the closest thing to having a knowledgeable friend on the ground before you ever set off.


Iceland focused interviews

She paddles to save the blue planet

The word ‘legend’ is overused. But I will still want to use it for my latest interviewee, Icelandic kayaker, photographer, and environmental activist Veiga Grétarsdóttir. In 2019 she was the first person to paddle a kayak around the entire island of Iceland. Veiga traveled counter-clockwise...