Best New Trips in the World: Hike and Kayak in Iceland’s Nature Reserve

For our annual Adventure Travel issue, we scoured the globe to find the 25 Best New Trips in the World for 2010, complete with a Best Trips photo gallery. Today, we present Iceland. The world's far corners are now well within reach.

Iceland: Into the Arctic Circle

At first glance, the fjord-y, fragmented northwest corner of Iceland looks like a country apart. And in some ways it is. It was here, in the Westfjords, that medieval outlaws came to board ships bound for unknown lands, and where winter conditions still keep neighboring farmers from visiting one another. Today, intrepid hikers are starting to explore the region’s signature draw, Hornstrandir Nature Reserve; next summer, Explorers’ Corner will become the sole outfitter to approach it just as the Vikings did—by sea. The itinerary is flexible by design: Campsites can change depending on the whims of the group, and you’ll have the option of hiking to snowcaps, poking around the remains of Viking farms, and watching puffins and goosanders from your kayak.

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