Off the Beaten Track in Iceland - Wild Fjords, Whale Encounters & Geothermal Wonders

Eight days in the north and east of Iceland, which is the quieter half of the country and the better one for whales. Akureyri is the flight-in point and the loop is short enough to be unhurried.

Siglufjordur opens it with two nights, a former herring port tucked into a fjord in the far north and reached through a tunnel. The whale-watching cruise goes out from Dalvik into Eyjafjordur, which holds humpbacks year round rather than seasonally, and harbour porpoise and white-beaked dolphin are often about too. A stop at Hrisey island breaks the day.

Lake Myvatn then gets two nights. Fifteen duck species breed there, which is more than anywhere else in Europe, and the lake sits in volcanically active country: the Hverfjall crater can be climbed in an hour, and the Myvatn nature baths run at around forty degrees, heated from more than two kilometres below ground. Bathing in geothermal water is a habit Icelanders have kept since the Norse settlement.

Seydisfjordur closes the trip with two nights, a small town of nineteenth-century Norwegian timber houses at the head of a long fjord, with a genuine arts scene and a rainbow-painted street leading to the church. The Vok Baths nearby are floating geothermal pools set into a lake. Original Travel include the hire car, the flights to and from Reykjavik, accommodation, the cruise and the baths, concierge access, a 24-hour helpline and carbon absorption. International flights and most meals are separate. Prices run from 3,850 to 5,000 pounds per person.