Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Edda Laugar
Laugar í Sælingsdalur
T
444 4930,
W
hoteledda.is.
Set in a boarding school just 2mins walk
from a natural geothermal pool. Half of the rooms have
private bathrooms whilst the others have just a washbasin,
and there's also a campsite with hot water and showers.
The restaurant
serves good fish and lamb dishes from
3000kr, and provides breakfast for guest
s. Closed
Sept-Ma
y.
Rest
aura
nt dail
y 6-10pm.
Doubles
21,900kr
;
camping
900kr
plus
107kr
per tent
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula
From Borgarnes, Route 54 branches off west past Borg á Mýrum through the
sparsely populated
Mýrar
district, a region of low-lying plains and bogs with a few
small lakes, heading for the southern coast of the
Snæfellsnes Peninsula
, a rugged
yet beautiful arm of the Icelandic west coast that juts out into the Atlantic between
Faxaflói bay and Breiðafjörður. The north and south coasts are divided one from the
other by a string of spiky mountains which run down the spine of the peninsula and
culminate in the magnificent
Snæfellsjökull
, a glacier at the land's westernmost
point. Towns - and regional
buses
- are mostly confined to the north coast, where
harbours are good and plentiful, and it's from picturesque
Stykkishólmur
, far and
away the best place to base yourself on the peninsula, that boat trips can be made
across to the peaceful island haven of
Flatey
. From here a road runs west round the
tip of the peninsula via uneventful
Ólafsvík
,
though, if you're keen to head straight
for the glacier, aim for the south-coast township of
Arnarstapi
where
snowmobile
tours
of Snæfellsjökull can be arranged. Remember that it's the south coast which
more often than not bears the brunt of the moisture-laden low-pressure systems that
sweep in from the Atlantic, emptying their load here rather than over the mountains
on the north coast.
3
GETTING AROUND THE SNÆFELLSNES PENINSULA
By bus
Bus services to Snæfellsnes are fairly comprehensive,
though none runs all the way along the peninsula's south
coast. Between June and August (with a restricted service at
other times), services run daily from Reykjavík and
Borgarnes to Vegamót, then head north via Route 55 to the
junction with Route 54 (where you change for
Stykkishólmur), then along the north-coast towns of
Grundarfjörður, Ólafsvík and Hellissandur, returning along
the same route. Between June and August, a daily bus also
runs a clockwise circuit around the tip of the peninsula from
Hellisandur via Ólafsvík, Arnarstapi, Hellnar and Dritvík.
Maps
Mál og menning's
Snæfellsnes 1:100,000
is a good
map
of the region, detailed enough for most purposes,
including hiking.
Route 54 from Borganes
Heading to Snaefellsnes from the southeast along
Route 54
, the first place of interest is
Fagraskógarfjall
mountain, once the haunt of Grettir of
Grettir's Saga
(see p.222).
William Morris described it as “a savage and dreadful place” in 1871, though these days
it seems much more green and peaceful. North of here, along Route 55, the caves of
Gullborgarhraun
lavafield are a maze of intricate passageways containing coloured
stalagmites and stalactites. Seek local advice before exploring them.
Back on Route 54, the road swings past the oval-shaped
Eldborg
crater, which sits
conspicuously amid the flat expanse of the
Eldborgarhraun
lavafield, before reaching an
unnumbered gravel road pointing north, signed “Rauðamelur” and “Gerðuberg”. This
leads in a couple of kilometres to the start of the
Gerðuberg basalt columns
, a
2km-long shattered escarpment of grey, 50m-tall hexagonal columns breaking down
into scree - the longest such formation in the country.
A further 20km west along the main road, the pit-stop of
Vegamót
marks the point
where Route 56 (and the bus) branches off across the peninsula towards Stykkishólmur
and the north coast. Along the way, the road runs parallel to the narrow Kerlingarskarð,
