Diamond Beach across from Jökulsárlón, a glacier lagoon in Iceland

© surangaw/Getty Image

A gem of a beach. Ice diamonds and black sands

Diamond Beach gets its name from the glistening icebergs which wash up on the black volcanic sand here on the south coast of Iceland. Sparkling like gems, they're a source of fascination for tourists who flock to this beach all year round to walk among these natural sculptures - some as tall as the tourists themselves.

It’s about a five-hour drive east from the capital of Reykjavik to get here. But the biggest attraction in this area is Jökulsárlón, the glacial lake just across from this beach, from where the stranded icebergs originate. It's a sparkling, blue lagoon dotted with huge glacial icebergs, which tourists circle in pontoon boats. The lake began forming in 1934, when the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier started retreating, leaving the lagoon in its path. The lake's size has increased fourfold since the 1970s.