Iceland encyclopedia Beach

Diamond Beach

Diamond Beach is the visitor nickname for Fellsfjara, the black-sand coastline beside Jökulsárlón. Its scattered pieces of glacier ice connect the beach directly to the lagoon and the glacier landscape inland.

About Diamond Beach

How ice reaches the shore

Ice from the lagoon travels down the river towards the sea and can be returned to the beach by tides and waves. The contrast between translucent ice and dark sand gave the shore its diamond nickname. The quantity, size and arrangement of stranded ice vary with weather, tides and season; it is a moving natural deposit rather than a permanent collection.

Sources: Visit South Iceland: Fellsfjara coastal processes ↗

Names and landscape

Fellsfjara identifies the shore itself, whereas Breiðamerkursandur names the much larger glacial outwash plain. The beach lies south of Route 1, opposite the lagoon, and belongs to Vatnajökull National Park. Ice near the water remains exposed to surf: climbing onto it can place a person in the path of an unexpected wave.

Sources: Vatnajökull National Park: Fellsfjara ↗Visit South Iceland: beach names and wave precautions ↗

Article reviewed 28 September 2026.

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