North Iceland: Adventure to the Wilderness

June 2019

illustrated by Shu Li & Seer

Reminiscing special moments 18 months after our trip to north of Iceland puts a smile on my face especially during COVID-19 pandemic. I feel so lucky to be in so many beautiful places in the world when freedom to travel was normal. Iceland was very special to us. It has the raw beauty, amazing roads and stunning landscapes. Following our experience in south of Iceland, we were back to explore northern region of this beautiful country. From Kevlavik, we headed north to Stykkishólmur where we took a ferry to Westfjords. We then continued our road trip around the stunning fjords and slowly head east where we eventually arrived at Borgarfjörður Eystri. We had such an amazing experience during this journey and enjoyed so many wonderful places given to us by the Mother Nature. We enjoyed the amazing sights, smelt the freshness of the air, felt the textures of foliage, water and rocks, listened to thundering waterfalls and tasted Icelandic cuisines.

Glymur, Hraunfossar, Barnafoss, Vidgelmir Cave

Our first location was a 3-hour hike to the second tallest waterfall in Iceland, Glymur. As it was spring we were greeted with an expansive field of lupines along the way.

Barnafoss and Hraunfossar are two waterfalls next to each other. Barnafoss means Children’s Falls because of an old folklore which you can read about it here.

Víðgelmir Cave was the last location of our first day in Iceland. This was strictly a guided-only tour where we were lead into a cave formed by flowing lava.

Arnarstapi, Djupalonssandur, Kirkjufell, Stykkishólmur

The next morning, we drove to Arnarstapi in West Iceland. We stopped by the beach to watch birds and seals in their natural environment. Arnarstapi has a beautiful coastal walk where we saw beautiful basalt columns and expansive seaview.

Following the coastal walk, we visited Djúpalónssandur, a soft black sand beach on foot of Snæfellsjökull peninsula. On this beach you will find four lifting stones to test strength of fishermen and a wreck of a fishing trawler.

Driving north and along the coastal road, we arrived at Kirkjufell, church mountain in Icelandic. This is probably the most photographed mountain in Iceland.

We then headed east to Stykkishólmur, where we took a 2.5-hour ferry ride operated by Baldur to Brjánslækur, a dock south of Westfjords.

Látrabjarg, Garðar, Dynjandi

We started early the next morning for Látrabjarg, a famous location in Westfjords for bird watching. WARNING, cute puffins! Before we arrived at Látrabjarg, we stumbled upon a beautiful gentle waterfall by the side of a mountain road. We decided to have our breakfasts here.

After spending time with the puffins, we took a long drive from fjord to fjord. We then visited Garðar BA64 located at Skápadalur, near Patreksfjörður. It was the oldest steel ship in Iceland, now a tourist spot. We then had a beautiful lunch at Stúkuhúsið, where we had an Icelandic fish pie.

Our last stop for the day was Dynjandi. It is certainly one of the most beautiful waterfall in Iceland. It was big, strong and majestic.

Godafoss, Aldeyjarfoss, Kolugljúfur Canyon, Akureyri

The next day, our itinerary included Godafoss, Aldeyjarfoss, Kolugljúfur and Akureyri.

Godafoss was a wide and low-lying waterfall easily accessible from the car park.

Aldeyjarfoss was stunning. It was remote and less accessible. Hence it was not packed with tourists and as a result, we were able to enjoy its beauty as it was. It resembled a skirt around basalt columns.

Akureyri is the largest town in north of Iceland. Hence, it is also known as ‘the capital of the North’. This was our headquarter for the next few days. We had a gentle stroll around town and we had fish and chips for dinner. We then had milky Icelandic ice cream from Brynja for dessert. They made us a very tall ice cream!

Húsavík, Stóragjá, Hverfjall, Dimmuborgir, Skútustaðagígar

Whale watching was one of the highlights of our trip. It was my first! Húsavík is a popular spot for it. Our journey from Akureyri to Húsavík was delayed. We were so lucky as we just got onto the boat in the nick of time. We had a safety briefing and off we went. Wow. What a sight. The whales were gentle giants. We saw minke and blue whales. Apparently we were very lucky as it was rare to see blue whale. I hope they did not mind as I felt they were being chased around. They, North Sailing, did it slow and steady and reassured us that it was all done sustainably. Following that, we had lunch at Naustið, where we had gorgeous seafood lunch. The food was fresh, fuss-free and perfectly done.

Lunch was followed by a long drive to Mývatn, a gorgeous area with lakes and volcanic activity. One of the area of interest was Stóragjá, a natural hot spring became famous as the Games of Thrones location. We were overwhelmed by the number of of tourists and the smell the sulphur.

We then hiked up Hverfjall, a beautiful crater formed by volcanic eruption in 2500 BP.

Dimmuborgir is just round the corner. It is a relatively flat large area with unusually shaped lavarock formation.

We then walked around Skútustaðagígar, an area of pseudo craters formed by gas explosions, when boiling lava flowed over the wetlands. This location was popular for bird watching. However, the area was infested by mosquitos which was normal for the season. We persevered before headed back.

Last event for the day was dinner at Vogafjós Farm Resort, also known as the Cowshed. It was a beautifully constructed restaurant with a full view of the cowshed through floor-to-ceiling glass partition. We ordered numerous small plates to sample their amazing food.

Námaskarð, Krafla, Leirhnjukur, Dettifoss, Vesturdalur, Hafragilsfoss

Námaskarð is bare with no vegetation due to geothermal heat and high level of acidity in the area. However it was certainly a colourful and photogenic location. There were shades of yellow, red, blue and white. You can also find what they call mudpod which looks like a pot of boiling mud soup.

We also visited Krafla and Leirhnjukur which were only a gentle hike away. Krafla is an area with geothermal activity where you could also find a plant harnessing geothermal energy.

After visiting volcanically active locations, we were back onto the waterfalls. We visited Dettifoss from the west side.

We subsequently had a long hike in Vesturdalur Valley where we saw basalt columns and caves. It was a hot day. We cooled off by taking off our shoes and dipping our feet into the cold stream at the end of our hike.

Before we called it a day, we stopped by at Hafragilsfoss, which is a continuation from Dettifoss.

Hengifoss, Snæfellsstofa Visitor Centre, Heiðarvatn, Seyðisfjörður, Borgarfjörður Eystri

The first activity for next day was a morning hike 128 meters up to visit Hengifoss. It was another hot day with blazing sun. We had to go under shades along the hike. It was tall and majestic with a stream snaking away towards the sea.

Following the long hike, we treated ourselves with a buffet lunch at Klausturkaffi, the restaurant of Skriðuklaustur, also known as Gunner’s Guest House. There was a wide variety of homestyle Icelandic dishes and the food just kept coming. The building next to it was the Snæfellsstofa Visitor Centre of Vatnajokull National Park. The architecture was modern and impressive. It has a wood-clad exterior with glass and concrete construction. It was incredibly windy as you can see by my better-half’s hairstyle.

We then took a scenic drive along Seyðisfjarðarvegur Route 93 towards Borgarfjörður Eystri. It was unplanned but a beautiful semi frozen lake caught our attention. We stopped to take in the view. We eventually discovered it was called Heiðarvatn.

One of the small towns along the way was Seyðisfjörður. It has a church with path painted in rainbow colours to show support for its LGBTQ community.

We drove many unmade roads in Iceland during the previous and this visit. We also noticed that many of these are now being tarred to make travelling easier for future tourists. We arrived at Borgarfjörður Eystri in the evening where we stayed for the Summer Solstice, longest day of the year. Needless to say, we used their hot tub! We then watched the Midnight Sun at the pier and from our room. It was a surreal experience to see the day with no night time. Borgarfjörður Eystri was a fantastic location for puffin lovers.

Grafarkirkja, Glanni, KRAUMA, Siglufjörður, Hofsós, Borgarnes

As our trip almost came to an end, we started our return journey to west. We pleasantly stumbled upon Grafarkirkja, a cute little church with turf roof. Apparently it was the oldest turf church in Iceland constructed in the 17th century.

We stopped by one of the small towns, Siglufjörður to stretch our legs. It was calm and beautiful.

We drove past Reykholt, where we did stay a night at the beginning of our journey. We visited the grounds of Krauma, geothermal nature bath. We also visited Glanni Waterfall on the Norðurá River. It is said to be the dwelling place of elves and trolls.

We stayed the night in Borgarnes for our last day. It was known as The Saga Town. This is where the first Vikings settled in Iceland in the ninth century. We had better appreciation of the history by visiting the Settlement Centre. It was very interesting, informative and interactive. At the end of our visit, we had a healthy vegetarian lunch in the Settlement Centre restaurant. We were doubtful at first but we were thoroughly impressed by the variety and creativity of the dishes. This was were we wrote ourselves a postcard to end our trip.

Horses & Baby Lambs

Iceland has large expansive grassland where we encountered so many beautiful Icelandic animals throughout our journey. One of the accommodations we stayed in was Geirshlid Guesthouse, a farmhouse in Reykholt. We had cute greetings by two little lambs running towards us. We were informed by the proprietor that they associated humans with food because sadly they were abandoned by their parents since birth and had been bottle-fed by humans. We asked and the proprietor was so lovely she let us feed them the next morning with bottled fresh cow’s milk from the farm.

Please enjoy their portraits.