Snaefellsness Peninsula

We left the north and headed west on Hwy 1 in the most serious of rain storms yet experienced in Iceland, with pretty strong winds, too.  We later learned that these same winds really affected the south coast, with a lot of tour buses cancelling tours and tourists unable to visit the gorgeous waterfalls, black sand beaches and glacier lagoons along the south coast.  This happened too the week before we arrived in Iceland when a blizzard hit the entire island.

I think this is a good time to reinforce the point that travel to Iceland is very weather dependent (certainly in May).  May is a month that could bring blizzards, but for us, most of the time it was moist or rained lightly and was in the 50's.  It is entirely possible that the Ring Road could be closed in areas due to poor weather.  It's possible that fog or rain will obscure views or make travel treacherous or that rain will prevent you from taking a hike or visiting a glacier.  It's possible that strong winds can make the beaches inaccessible or dangerous or car travel difficult.  Knowing all this, make your schedule flexible and have enough optional sights to see in each region, so if you have to leave a region early or stay longer than planned, you will not be disappointed.  In hindsight, we had days of difficult weather and didn't see a few things we hoped to see, but overall we were busy all the time, never sat still and saw amazing things, so we weren't disappointed by what we missed, but were thrilled for the decent weather we got and the amazing things that we were fortunate to see.

The Ring Road here in the northwest and towards Snaefellsness was the least interesting drive with few food choices.  We were told to try Hyammstangi for lunch, but we passed the exit so fast and saw no signs of a town so we kept driving.  We also heard that there is a beach nearby to see seals in the summer season, but other travelers weren't seeing much now.  When we reached the Peninsula, we took the northern route 54 heading west, a very scenic drive, but to our surprise, an unpaved gravel road which was bumpy and slower, but certainly drivable for even a 2 x 2.  We learned that if we had driven south on the Ring Road to Borgarnes, and then driven northwest on 56 towards  Grundarfjordur, we would have paved roads; a longer, but faster trek.    The views towards Breidafjordur Bay and its archipelago were gorgeous as we headed west in a very undeveloped region of Iceland, with only an occasional farm until we reached the turnoff to Stykkisholmur, a cute coastal town where much of the movie Walter Mitty was filmed and where you can take the ferry to Flatey Island and the Westfjords.

We had a delicious lunch near the harbor at Narfaeyrarstofa, moist fresh cod in a very light batter, blue mussels and french fries and dipping sauces, plus an easy hike up a massive rock formation at the harbor which panoramic views of the town and harbor looking north towards the Westfjords, with hundreds of birds soaring.  Our lodging for the night was a small guesthouse Grundi i Grundarfirdi in Grundarfjordur, with about 6 simply decorated, comfortable rooms and shared bathrooms, living area, kitchen and laundry facilities for $250 for the 2 nights and a perfect location to explore the region.  We had stopped for groceries at Bonus along the way and on this stormy, windy evening, rather than go out and explore, we made a spaghetti dinner and had cocktails, talking to an Irish mom and daughter crazily hitchhiking around Iceland in these stormy days.  Sharing facilities was not a problem and we met nice people and the rate was reasonable, so it was nice to sit in for the evening.  We also had a magnificent view of Kirkjufell Mountain from our lodging and could have hiked around if not for the windy weather.

The next day after cooking breakfast (lots of bread and spreads, plus coffee and tea were provided), we headed out to explore Snaefellsness and this was the first day where weather did affect our travels.  It didn't stop our explorations, just limited what we could do during parts of the day, but luckily all the roads were paved.  First stop, Kirkjufell Mountain and its amazing waterfall right off the road.

Kirkjufell

Check out the beautiful black sand beach just west.  Whale tours are available in the little town Grundarfjordur and there were a few restaurants and a small grocery store. We then headed west to the end of the peninsula, passing through 2 small fishing towns Olafsvik and Rif, past black sand beaches and bird cliffs, and ending up in a lava field at the very end of the peninsula, just west of the massive Snaefellsjokull Glacier.  The lava formations and the beautiful black cliff beaches, some with gold sand beaches, were stunning and we hiked a dormant volcano crater, Saxholl.  We did not drive all the way to the end to see the lighthouse and bird cliffs due to bad weather and bumpy roads, but they say that sometimes you can see whales from this far western vantage point.

Bird cliff near Olafsvik

at the end of the peninsula looking west

view from Saxholl crater

our car looking up at Saxholl Crater

abandoned house on peninsula, south coast

Natural harbor at Hellnar

Arctic terns and seagulls nesting in the cliffs at Hellnar

Harbor at Arnastapi

We did stop at the small hamlets of Hellnar and Arnastapi to hike the unique bird cliffs, visit the churches and you can hike the coast between the two villages for a few hours; really picturesque.  Unfortunately, (I don't know how this happened!!!) we missed the arch Gatklettur which you may want to see because a lot of people take pictures standing on top of the arch and there are some cute stone structures there.  Don't ignore these 2 amazing cities.  We had a lunch of home made fish stew and fresh hot bread in a small 6 table restaurant built into the cliff at Arnastapi.  Fjoruhusid didn't have the best fish stew we ate in Iceland  (a lot of people were eating waffles and skyr cheesecake), but certainly this teeny restaurant seemingly run by women who made everything was the most charismatic place we ate.  This little cafe is hidden from view from above.

Fjoruhusid Cafe

Church in Arnastapi (corrugated steel)

 We continued east to Budir to see the black church and the massive lava field hike towards the beach, stopped at a popular seal beach Ytri-Tunga hoping to see seals but it was too early in the season and they were too far away, and stopped at the basalt columns at Gerduberg, plus a waterfall and a hidden gorge.  It's possible to horseback ride on the golden beach here.  The trip back to Grundarfjordur through the interior on 54 was gorgeous and we took two different interior routes during our stay, 54 and 56, both of which offered amazing views of lava fields and glacial runoff.  Unfortunately, the weather (a thick blanket of rain and fog) prevented us from visiting the glacier and the activities on the glacier such as a glacier walk, a snowmobile ride or visiting any lava caves.

Budir Black Church

Views from first rest stop on right north end of 56...get out of your car and look!

Church near Gerdiberg Columns 

Gerdiberg columns

The next morning we headed back towards Reykjavik, bypassing the inland town of Reykholt and it's waterfall Hraunfossar which is supposed to be gorgeous and decided to take the longer route towards Thingvellir along the fjord, rather than taking the tunnel.  We had hoped to hike Glymur, but the hike required a double water crossing up to the knees while holding a cable and we were not up to that given the cold weather and rain (plus age and vacation exhaustion).  During the summer with less glacial run off, there is a log and the cable for the river crossing. We sat amidst fields of purple lupine and ate salami and butter sandwiches and just enjoyed where we were.

We decided that at $400+ a night, we would get to Ion Adventure Hotel early and just enjoy the amenities there.  We arrived around 2:00, checked into our chic room, enjoyed the geothermal heated pool and talked to other travelers for hours before enjoying a really delicious dinner of lamb shanks for Chad and cod for me.  More about the Ion on the next post...