Svínafellsjökull or Skaftafellsjökull: which glacier is on your map?

Read the first part of the name

Both names end in jökull, the Icelandic word for glacier. On a small phone screen it is the beginning that matters. Match Skaftafells to Skaftafell if you are looking for the national park walk. If a saved photograph or map pin says Svínafells, do not use it to find the start of that walk.

For a marked walk from the visitor centre

Start beside Skaftafellsstofa, the visitor centre, and look for S1 or Jökulslóð. The park lists a circuit of 4.1 km. Paving gives way to gravel along the way. Look for the numbered markers: even before you see the ice, the hollows and ridges underfoot tell you where the glacier used to be. [1]

The destination is a view from land. The end of the marked trail is not an invitation onto the ice. For the return options and the surface underfoot, see our Skaftafellsjökull viewpoint walk.

If your pin says Svínafellsjökull

Here the question is not how far the S1 trail goes, but what the mountainside above this glacier is doing. In 2018 Civil Protection advised against travel on the ice and recommended keeping stops at viewpoints brief. On 1 November 2026 the Met Office reported renewed movement in the slope. At that assessment the movement did not indicate an imminent rock avalanche. That was a scientific finding, not permission to approach the lagoon. [2] [3]

Before setting out for Svínafellsjökull, read the latest official advice and ask park staff about access. Follow local signs. If you cannot confirm access, leave that pin off the itinerary. If you have arranged a guided activity, use the meeting details you received, not either glacier name in a map search.

The map distinguishes the two areas. Neither marker is a car park, a meeting point or a route onto the ice. For dated information before you drive, check Travel conditions.