Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SHORT WALKS AROUND GEYSIR
From the hot springs area, you can climb well-worn tracks to the summit of Bjarnarfell
(727m) for views down on Geysir's surrounds, though it's a miserable proposition in bad
weather. Another option is to follow the signposted 3km gravel vehicle track from Geysir up to
a forestry reserve and church at Haukadalur . In saga times Haukadalur was an important
holding, another famous educational centre that was eventually incorporated into Skálholt's
lands. Extensive felling and ensuing erosion put paid to the estate, which was in a sorry
condition when turned into a reserve in the 1930s. Since then, the hillsides here have been
planted thickly with green pine trees, and thousands of new saplings spread down the valley,
coloured in spring by wildflowers. Have a quick look at the nineteenth-century church , too,
whose brass door-ring is said to have belonged to the friendly giant Bergþór, who asked to be
buried here.
2
30m spout every few minutes. A split second before it explodes, Strokkur's pool
surface forms a distinct dome, through which the rising waters tear. Lesser spouts in
the vicinity include Blesi 's twin pools, one clear and colourless, the other opaque
blue; the unpredictably tempered Fata ; and Litli Geysir , which does little but slosh
around violently.
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION
GEYSIR
By bus Buses stop at the Visitor Centre, and all stop here
for up to an hour: long enough to catch an eruption and get
a quick feed, but not to ascend Bjarnarfell or get out to
Haukadalur.
Destinations Akureyri (3 daily; 11hr); Gullfoss (3 daily;
10min); Hveravellir (3 daily; 7hr 15min); Laugarvatn
(2 daily; 20min); Reykjavík (3 daily; 2hr 30min); Selfoss
(3 daily; 1hr 30min); Þingvellir (2 daily; 45min).
By car The Geysir thermal area is right on Route 37, 60km
from Selfoss and a bit less than that from Þingvellir.
Tourist information The Visitor Centre, opposite the hot
springs (June-Aug daily 10am-10pm), has brochures, a
gift shop and a café and restaurant, and is also a fuel
station.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Campsite T 480 6800. Beautiful grassy sites 100m back
down the road from the hot springs area, with free showers
and a b arbecue area. You get use of the hotel's pool, too.
1200kr
Guesthouse Geysir T 486 8733, W geysirgolf.is. Up
past the hotel and Visitor Centre, with plain, clean and
good-value motel-style rooms attached to a nine-hole golf
course; there's a kitchen, lounge and dining hall for s elf-
catering, plus a bar selling drinks and snacks. 15,900kr
Hótel Geysir T 480 6800, W geysircenter.is.
Comfortable en-suite studio cabins opposite the hot
springs, with views eastwards over the rural plains rather
than the tourist-encrusted geyser area, and a small
swimming pool with hot pots. Their excellent restaurant
serves a sushi lunch buffet from 11a m. Breakf ast 1400kr
extra. Restaurant daily 11am-9pm. 21,900kr
Visitor Centre Restaurant Nordic-chic glass, slate and
basalt-block decor, plus a photo exhibition of that odd
sport glíma (Icelandic wrestling) set the scene for
consumption of cakes, giant open sandwiches, light meals
and roasts. Fish soup lunch special 1690kr, roast lamb with
herbs and vegetables 2450kr. Daily 10am-5pm.
Gullfoss
About 6km up the road from Geysir, the young Hvítá river thunders into a 2km-long
canyon, dropping as it does into a pair of broad cataracts known as Gullfoss , the
Golden Falls: the first steps out 10m in full view, then the river twists sharply and
falls a further 20m into the gorge's spray-filled shadow. It's most spectacular in early
summer, when the Hvítá's feeder glaciers upstream are first melting; the force of
the water makes spray and mist balloon up over the canyon, filling it with rainbow
fragments - though the sight of this giant spectacle frozen and silent in winter is pretty
memorable too.
here are two viewing areas for the falls, each providing a completely different take
on the river's character. People tend to make a bee-line for a flat rocky platform that
 
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