Skaftafell National Park is an oasis wedged between sand and Europe's largest glacier, the Vatnajökull ice cap, in southern Iceland. It was founded on September 15, 1967, and enlarged twice afterwards. Today the park measures about 1700 km² (656 mi²).

The landscape is very similar to some of the Alps, but it has been formed in thousands of years by different influences of fire (volcanic eruptions of Öræfajökull) and water (the glaciers Skeiðarájökull and Skaftafellsjökull), the rivers Skeiðará, Morsá and Skaftafellsá. Volcanic eruptions under the ice-cap can give rise to glacier runs which swell the Skeiðará river massively. The sandy wasteland between the glacier and the sea caused by jökulhlaups is called the Sandur.