The Diamond Beach is one of the most unique beaches in the world and is an iconic attraction of Iceland. With its huge chunks of crystal-clear icebergs, it literally looks like a beach brimming with glistening diamonds and seems straight out of this world. Over the years because of its distinctive layout, it has enticed people from all around to visit this beautiful place.

Diamond Beach is located on the southern coast toward East Iceland that is six hours away from the country’s capital, Reykjavik. It is one of the most famous beaches of Iceland and is a dazzling attraction of the country.

Diamond Beach is also known as Breiðamerkursandur in Icelandic. The name comes from the sparkling diamond like chunks of icebergs scattered across the beach. These icebergs are swept from the nearby Jökulsárlón (Iceland’s deepest lake) which in return come by breaking away from the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier.

The glittering chunks of ice ashore Diamond Beach are never constant and is always evolving into many different shapes, colours, and sizes. Wandering through these varieties of ice blocks is always a surprise. Even if one visits the beach on consecutive days, the beach would have changed between the two visits. This is because the icebergs, will have re-formed, melted away and the new ones would have already appeared.

Many of the icebergs of Diamond Beach are over thousand years old and many factors influence and signify the colours the ice takes. Blue ice could mean older ice block and lack of air pockets. While black colouring can be volcanic dust or the sunlight reflecting the black sand from the beach.

Many people visit Diamond Beach to admire its dazzling array of icebergs and take pictures but seldom remember to look for the local wildlife present there. The beach is a great place to see Icelandic seals and is one of the best places in Iceland to spot orca whales. It is also a very important breeding ground for many of Iceland’s most well-known birds including the Arctic Tern and the Great Skua. The beach has also been termed as a national conservation area.

During winter, Diamond Beach is an excellent location to look for the northern lights as there’s little light pollution, however this can also create challenges as days are shorter during the season and it becomes rather difficult to see at the time and one may wind up stumbling upon ice blocks.

In the summer months, one can enjoy the midnight sun phenomenon instead of the northern lights.

The Diamond Beach also happens to be one of Iceland’s many black sand beaches. The black sands come from the basalt lava found within the region and is a direct result of Iceland’s volcanic landscape. Katla in the Vatnajökull National Park is amongst those volcanoes that are still active and keeps adding black sand to certain Icelandic beaches.

Diamond Beach is beautiful and great to visit at any time of the year, but it is especially in winter that it is the most ideal to see these diamond shaped ice bergs. This is so because, during winter, Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon gets jam-packed with enormous icebergs which descend to the beach at a larger scale. This makes the scene even more authentic and true to its name. The huge chunks of ice in this season can be bigger than the average person, sometimes even measuring twice as much.

While visiting the beach, one should definitely take precautions and be extremely alert. Some examples include, never attempt to sit in the icebergs that are closer to the sea.  These icebergs ashore pose great threats as sudden waves can drag them back into the water and people sitting on them can get carried away by the sea.

Today, the destination has also become one of the most romantic escapes. Proposing to your better half with diamond rings on the Diamond Beach has become popular.