Iceland
Þakgil
A hidden canyon of jagged green peaks and a campsite inside a dining cave.
The canyon walls close in, moss-covered and dripping, and at the far end, a natural cave has been fitted with picnic tables and a barbecue grate. Þakgil in south Iceland is a hidden campsite inside a slot canyon — a place where you eat dinner inside the mountain and sleep surrounded by spires of volcanic rock.
Þakgil — meaning 'Roof Canyon' — is a campsite tucked into a narrow glacial canyon behind Mýrdalsjökull glacier. The canyon's defining feature is a large natural cave converted into a communal dining area, where campers cook over open flames and eat at wooden tables surrounded by rock walls. The cave is supplemented by a few basic cabins and tent pitches wedged between the canyon's moss-covered hyaloclastite peaks. Hiking trails from the canyon lead to ridgelines with views over Mýrdalsjökull and the black sand outwash plains of the south coast. The access road is rough but passable for standard vehicles in dry conditions, though a 4x4 adds security. Þakgil is open only during the summer months, typically June through September, when the access road is clear of snow.
Friends
Cooking dinner inside a cave, sleeping in a hidden canyon, and hiking to glacier viewpoints — Þakgil is the kind of campsite friends remember for decades.
Family
The cave dining area turns dinner into an adventure. Children are captivated by the canyon walls, and the short hiking trails to viewpoints are manageable for most ages.
- A campsite hidden inside a canyon where a natural cave serves as a communal dining area.
- Surrounded by jagged green peaks formed from ancient volcanic hyaloclastite.
- Located just behind Mýrdalsjökull glacier, with hiking trails to glacier viewpoints.
- The cave dining experience — eating by firelight inside rock walls — is genuinely unique.
BBQ lamb leg grilled inside a natural cave by the flickering firelight.
Hot cocoa and cinnamon rolls shared as the mist rolls into the canyon.
La Amistad International Park
Panama
A binational cloud forest so dense and remote that vast sections remain unmapped.
La Amistad International Park
Costa Rica
A binational wilderness so vast and unexplored that scientists still discover new species inside it.
Great Sand Sea
Egypt
Sand ridges higher than buildings stretching to the Libyan border, hiding shards of cosmic glass.
Ischigualasto
Argentina
A moonscape where 230-million-year-old dinosaur bones scatter across wind-eroded clay mushrooms and stone cannonballs.
Heimaey
Iceland
An island where houses remain half-buried in volcanic ash beside millions of nesting puffins.
Seyðisfjörður
Iceland
A rainbow-paved path leading to a pale blue church beneath snow-streaked fjord walls.
Húsavík
Iceland
Wooden sailing ships chasing the exhales of blue whales in a sapphire northern bay.
Stuðlagil Canyon
Iceland
A turquoise glacial river surging through geometric towers of perfectly hexagonal basalt.