Europe’s largest national park, which was opened at the beginning of June, is located in south Iceland and is over half the size of Macedonia.

Vatnajokull National Park is made up of the old Jokulsargljufur and Skaftafell national parks, as well as the entire Vatnajokull glacier.

Icelandic travel website www.South.is describes Vatnajokull National Park as the ‘meeting point of extremes’ – a sentiment instantly confirmed by the statistics.

Vatnajokull is the biggest glacier in Europe by volume and blankets six active volcanoes under its 8,000 square kilometres of ice. Fire and ice are extreme contrasts; but the National Park’s sheer size is extreme too: 13,000 square kilometres, or 13 percent of the entire country.

Creating a national park over the whole glacier was partly a political move intended to draw attention to the rapid melting of Iceland’s glaciers and to aid researchers in highlighting the reasons.

Although partly created for scientists, the second big winners will be the tourists coming to the south of Iceland. The park aims to have completed construction of its second visitors’ centre shortly, and an additional four visitors’ centres will be completed by 2012.

As well as this, rangers’ stations will increase from four to 11 under the 10 million euro investment plan currently underway. Iceland hopes to see a total increase of five to seven percent in visitor numbers to the country over the next few years in return for the investment.

People interested in the south of Iceland and Vatnajokull National Park can visit www.South.is – a leading English language website for the tourist industry in south Iceland. The site contains information on accommodation, current events, restaurants and attractions as well as an inspiring collection of photographs from the area.

A complete interactive listing of all the museums, galleries and multimedia exhibitions in South Iceland has been launched on the new travel website, South.is.

The huge area of South Iceland, with its few inhabitants and many sheep, does not immediately seem like prime museum territory – but the website South.is begs to differ. Listings on the site exist for dozens of museums and galleries, and over 40 churches of interest.

One of South Iceland’s museum highlights is, most visitors agree, the popular Skogar folk Museum, which has flourished under imaginative management, and by being set in beautiful countryside near the iconic Skogarfoss waterfall.

Other notable South Iceland museums include the exciting ‘Ghost Centre’ and the Hvolsvollur Saga Centre. Visitors with children may be interested in a visit to the Slakki Farm Zoo and the Icelandic Wonders Museum.

More than just a list of museums, South.is is a comprehensive guide to activities, accommodation and restaurants in south Iceland, among other things. The website is designed to be easily navigable and decorated with stunning photography.

South.is also provides an English language guide to the Icelandic horse, including where to ride them, where to buy things for them, and when horse shows are.

For more details on museums in the south of Iceland, visit South.is.

The leading event in the world for Icelandic horses kicks off this week in Iceland, reports Icelandic travel website South.is.

The 18th ‘Landsmot,’ or Icelandic National Horse Show, will take place at Hella in South Iceland from 30th June to 6th July.

The biannual festival is the main equestrian event in Iceland and is globally recognised as the premiere show for Icelandic horses and Icelandic horse breeding. Various competitions will showcase the best horses in the country, from the classic Icelandic ‘gaedingakeppni’, to ‘tolt’ and racing competitions.

South.is was recently launched as a website for the travel industry in South Iceland and includes an extensive section on Icelandic horses. It covers everything from horse rentals and riding lessons to horse breeding and horse shows in southern Iceland.

The website also has extensive listings on accommodation, activities, attractions, restaurants and other events in the south of Iceland.

For more information on Icelandic horses and South Iceland, visit www.south.is