Páskahellir

Useful Information

Location:	On the foot of the Eldfell crater, Heimeay island, Vestmannaeyjar. (63.429780, -20.243224)
Open:	no restrictions. [2020]
Fee:	free. [2020]
Classification:	lava cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Páskahellir.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1973	eruption of the Eldfell crater created the cave.

Description

Páskahellir (Easter Cave) is probably the youngest cave we have listed. It was formed by a lava flow in 1973, so it is less than 50 years old.

The 1973 eruption was published world wide through newspapers and tv. Older people still remember the pictures of lava flows destroying a town. Nearby is the Eldheimar museum, in which some half buried houses and other remains from this eruption can be seen. It makes clear what happens when an eruption takes place on inhabited ground.

Do not mix this cave up, Easter Cave is a generic name, and there is at least one other cave of the same name, which is a small sea cave at the east coast of Iceland.