Confronted with the volcanic and other natural forces so visibly at work in Iceland, you can't help disconnecting from concerns back home to ponder simpler things – like the beginnings of time. This remote land was the perfect venue for a perspective-shifting corporate retreat we created for a group of computer types from Hong Kong.

Riding in 4x4s over raging rivers and up seemingly vertical trails, our travellers enjoyed hiking in Þórsmörk Valley, through the wild thyme (pun intended) at Lake Mývatn, behind the spectacular 65-metre waterfall at Seljalandsfoss (Icelandic for "mental carwash") and across glacial moraine to what geologists call pseudo-craters (though they looked convincing to us).

Energized by nearly 24 hours of daylight during the Icelandic summer, our travellers made the most of every day away from the boardrooms of Asia. They snorkelled in Lake Þingvellir (a UNESCO World Heritage site), where you can look down through crystal waters into the Silfra Crack, a fissure between the shifting American and Eurasian plates that seems to lead straight to the centre of the Earth.

On the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, our group tried the local fishermen's secret test of strength, and in Stykkishólmur they visited the Library of Water (where no volume is ever overdue). Then there was Vatnajökull Glacier by snowmobile, white-water rafting down a remote river, horseback riding over the barrens, whale watching from jet boats and relaxing soaks in muscle-soothing geothermal pools. Plus a chartered flight to enjoy world-class salmon fishing, followed by golf under the midnight sun at Grimsey, home of the Arctic Open (so far Tiger's been a no-show).

We handpicked several of Iceland's finest hotels: Ranga in the south, Kea in Akureyri, Hotel Budir in Snaefellsnes and the famous 101 in Reykjavik – the world's most northerly capital and centre of serious nightlife. We also went beyond the usual with a stay at an ice palace hotel and another festive night in fishermen's cottages on an island inhabited by puffins.

If you're game, we'll get you into the Westman Islands Music Festival, where locals celebrate their 1874 semi- independence from Denmark by donning bizarre dress and running from bar to volcanic hot pool to freezing sea and back to bar again. Which pretty well sums up the Icelandic travel ethos: With one main road circling the country, you never get lost. Or too lost. You just end up in that most comforting of destinations – back at the beginning.