Photograph of the week: Mount Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss, Iceland

At 463 metres (1,519 feet), Kirkjufell mountain in Iceland is hardly a towering behemoth. (For reference, Mount Everest is 8,850 metres/29,035 feet.) This doesn’t make it any less arresting, however.

What makes this Iceland’s most photographed mountain? A combination of things. Its unique, pyramid-like shape. A landscape of ever-changing, always exquisite colours. The picture-perfect three-forked waterfall – Kirkjufellsfoss – near its peak. Or, if you time your visit just right, the magical display of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), with Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss as a backdrop, that frequently occur between late September and early March.

Located on Iceland’s Snæfellsnes peninsula near the fishing town of Grundarfjörður, Kirkjufell has also been voted one of the top 10 most beautiful mountains in the world by a number of sources, including The Mysterious World, The Conservation Institute, and Travel Triangle, to name just…