Today a new national park will be opened in the Vatnajökull glacier area. The new park is 15.000 square kilometers and is the largest national park in Iceland, as well as in Europe.
Althingi, the Icelandic Parliament, agreed on turning the whole Vatnajökull glacier into a national park in 2006 and those plans have now become reality. The park covers around 15 percent of Iceland’s landmass and includes Vatnajökull glacier as well as its sphere of influence like the glacial rivers that are rooted in Vatnajökull.
The eventual boundaries of the park have not been decided yet but the Ministry of Environment is discussing it over with landowners in the area.
Service centers will be put up around the glacier, but until then the Skaftafell National Park’s service center will serve as an information center for Vatnajökull national park.
