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Iceland Iceland volcano

Katla

You can see 134 km from here, looking east.

68Viewyas Score

SummitSea view360°Long view

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 134 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

68out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 134 kmFarthest ridgelooking east
  • 98%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 14%Seaof the circle where the horizon is the sea
  • 2Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
  • 1,229 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

The 2 peaks you can name from here

From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.

Hvannadalshnúkur2,110 m · 124 km · east

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are from October to January.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Jansouth-west40 min before the sea-level sunset22%
  2. Febsouth-west20 min before the sea-level sunset22%
  3. Marwest20 min before the sea-level sunset21%
  4. Aprwest24 min before the sea-level sunset21%
  5. Maynorth-west36 min before the sea-level sunset21%
  6. Junnorth-westsets on an open horizon16%
  7. Julnorth-west44 min before the sea-level sunset15%
  8. Augnorth-west26 min before the sea-level sunset21%
  9. Sepwest22 min before the sea-level sunset22%
  10. Octwest20 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  11. Novsouth-west28 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  12. Decsouth56 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

Katla.

Volcano in Iceland

Katla is a volcano in Iceland, 1,229 m above the sea.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 134 km away, looking east.

The sea fills 14% of the horizon.

2 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Hvannadalshnúkur (2,110 m), 124 km away.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 98% of the circle.

The skies are clearest from October to January.

Volcan Katla, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-17, DD 132
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

Get there and stay

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

Tours, cable cars and tickets for KatlaGetYourGuideSee prices Stays with a view near KatlaBooking.comSee prices Car hire at RKV airport (Reykjavík)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

Katla seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2017 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

    • other viewpoints within 5 km
    • named peaks within 5 km
    • cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
    • marked trails within 3 km
    • shelters and huts within 5 km
    • car parks within 3 km
    • visitor centres within 5 km
    • restaurants and cafés within 3 km
    • campsites within 10 km
    • places to stay within 10 km

    Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

    In our other atlases

    What you see from Katla, and what is near.

    Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

    Peakyas18 mountains within 25 km
    Katla · this placeKatla1,450 m · volcano · 0.3 kmKistufell · 17 kmHafursey582 m · 18 kmMaelifell791 m · volcano · 19 kmThórsmörk600 m · 22 kmReynisfjall333 m · 23 kmHattfell910 m · 23 kmEinhyrningur651 m · 24 km
    Islandyasthe island
    Iceland102,775 km²
    Darkskyas6 dark-sky places within 30 km
    KatlaBortle 1 · this placeMælifellssandurBortle 1 · 20 kmThórsmörkBortle 1 · 22 kmMarkarfljótsgljúfurBortle 1 · 22 kmEyjafjallajökullBortle 1 · 28 kmTorfajökullBortle 1 · 29 km

    Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

    Photographs

    The view, as people saw it.

    Volcán Katla, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-17, DD 133
    Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
    2006-05-21-143817 Iceland Tungufell
    Hansueli Krapf · CC BY-SA 3.0
    20190622 Thorsmork 7711 (48459752962)
    Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan · CC BY-SA 2.0

    Other viewpoints nearby.

    Katla

    Iceland

    • 68Viewyas Score
    • 134 kmFarthest ridge
    • 2Peaks in view
    • 1,229 mAltitude

    Hekla

    Iceland · 50 km

    • 81Viewyas Score
    • 180 kmFarthest ridge
    • 72Peaks in view
    • 1,470 mAltitude

    See the guide

    Eldfell

    Iceland · 63 km

    • 84Viewyas Score
    • 150 kmFarthest ridge
    • 50Peaks in view
    • 183 mAltitude

    See the guide

    Hvannadalshnúkur

    Iceland · 124 km

    • 84Viewyas Score
    • 207 kmFarthest ridge
    • 41Peaks in view
    • 2,076 mAltitude

    See the guide

    Where these figures come from

    Name and typeWikidata (Q201914) · CC0
    SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
    Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
    Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
    CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
    What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
    ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
    Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Darkskyas

    Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

    The family

    Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

    Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

    beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
    viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
    birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit