Leisure

It can be considered as one of Unique Cultural Characteristics In Iceland. Despite recent changes, Icelanders remain a very healthy nation. Children and teenagers engage in a variety of recreational activities. Soccer, athletics, handball, and basketball are the most popular sports today. Tennis, swimming, chess, and horseback riding on Icelandic horses are also popular.

Chess is a popular form of recreation that the Viking ancestors of Icelanders enjoyed. Many chess grandmasters have come from Iceland's chess clubs, including Fririk Lafsson, Jóhann Hjartarson, Margeir Pétursson, and Jón Loftur rnason. Glma is a type of wrestling that is still practiced in Iceland and is thought to have been invented by the Vikings. Golf is popular in Iceland, with approximately one in every eight Icelanders participating in the sport. Handball is often referred to as a national sport; Iceland's team is one of the top ranked teams in the world, and Icelandic women are surprisingly good at soccer compared to the size of the country, with the national team ranked 18th best by FIFA.

Climbing the 4,167-foot (1,270-metre) umall peak in Skaftafell is a challenge for many adventurous climbers, but mountain climbing is considered more suitable for the general public and is a very common type of leisure activity. Hvitá, like many other glacial rivers in Iceland, attracts kayakers and river rafters from all over the world.