Southwestern Iceland - The Rough Guide to Iceland - page 104

Hveragerði
Following the Ringroad southeast from Reykjavík, you cross various flat, lichen-
covered lava flows for 45km before the road twists down off the ranges to the coastal
plains and the glowing hothouses of HVERAGERÐI , a cluster of low buildings on the
Vármá (Warm River), nestled beneath steaming fell slopes. A small, quiet mesh of
streets, Hveragerði is laid out either side of the main drag Breiðamörk, which runs
north off the highway past the N1 fuel station, a large shopping centre on the right, up
through the compact town centre, and out into the countryside and the start of hiking
trails. Sitting on the edge of an active geothermal area, a wool mill and hydroelectric
dam were already established here when, for the first time in Iceland, subterranean heat
was harnessed to grow vegetables in the 1920s.
Now Iceland's largest and best-known hothouse town, Hveragerði suffers regular
earthquakes ; in 2008, a new geothermal area opened up in the hills above town, while the
tourist information centre straddles an older fissure which can be viewed through a glass
panel in the floor. Hveragerði's numerous hothouses flank the main road through town,
most of them involved in the propagation and sale of vegetables and exotic plants - both
Blómaborg at Breiðumörk 12, and Ingibjörg at Heiðmörk 38, are open to the public.

2

Geothermal Park
Hveramörk 13, near the church and behind Kjöt & Kúnst café • Daily 10am-6pm • Free, mud bath 700kr
Hveragerði's Geothermal Park provides a quick taste of what the Reykjadalur area north
of town has to offer. There are steaming vents, bubbling mud pools and a low-spouting
geyser (though a much better one, Grýla, stopped erupting after a quake in 2007), all
viewed from a small network of paths. You can buy fresh eggs to boil in a spring (using
poles with bags on the end, not your hands), buy bread baked in a steam oven, or take
a therapeutic mud bath said to revitalize skin and cure all sorts of ailments.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE HVERAGERÐI

By bus Hveragerði is a stop for most long-distance
Reykjavík Excursions and Sterna buses ( W bsi.is) running to
Skaftafell, Landmannalaugar, Þórsmörk and Mývatn via
Sprengisandur; and also Reykjavík city buses to Selfoss. The
bus stop is at the N1 fuel station, on the junction of the
highway and Breiðamörk, the main street.
Destinations Hella (6 daily; 1hr); Hvolsvöllur (3 daily; 1hr

30min); Kirkjubæjarklaustur (2 daily; 6hr 20min);
Landmannalaugar (2 daily; 4hr); Leirubakki (2 daily; 1hr
50min); Mývatn (2 daily; 11hr) ; Þórsmörk (2 daily; 3hr);
Reykjavík (hourly 8am-7pm; 1hr); Selfoss (hourly
8am-7pm; 20min); Seljalandsfoss (3 daily; 1hr 50min);
Skaftafell (2 daily; 7hr 20min); Skógar (3 daily; 2hr 40min);
Vík (2 daily; 4hr 40min).

HVERAGERÐI HIKES
Reykjadalur , the steamy heights above Hveragerði, is covered in trails and hot springs, its
hillsides stained by volcanic salts and heathland plants, and, in fine weather, offering inspiring
views coastwards - not to mention the bathable warm streams, so take your swimwear. Maps
of the area, available at the information centre, have all trails and distances marked; on the
ground, many routes are staked out with coloured pegs. As always, carry a compass and come
prepared for bad weather.
For an easy four-hour circuit, follow Breiðamörk north out of town for about forty minutes to a
bridged stream at the base of the fells, from where a pegged trail heads uphill. Crossing the
muddy top, you descend green boggy slopes into Reykjadalur (Steam Valley), named after the
hot stream that runs through the middle. You need to wade across this at any convenient point
- there's a shallow ford - and then follow the far bank at the base of the forbidding rubble
slopes of Molddalahnúkar , past a number of dangerous, scalding pools belching vapour and
sulphur - stay on the path. At the head of the valley, 3km from the bridge, the stream bends
west, with Ölkelduhnúkur's solid platform straight ahead and the main trail following the
stream west along Klambragil , another steamy valley. There are a number of shallow, warm
places to soak here - just test the water temperature before getting in.