Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
with incredible footage of house-sized blocks of ice tearing through bridges along the
Ringroad. The same film is shown for free at the Skaftafell Visitor Centre (see p.299).
Ósland
For views of the
glaciers
behind Höfn, head through town, past the harbour and out to
the seafront at grassy
Ósland
, a protected nature reserve. Don't walk out here in summer
unless you fancy being attacked by several thousand nesting
arctic terns
, but in a car you
can reach a small hillock capped by a weird abstract sculpture in concrete and bronze,
where it's safe to get out and admire the scenery. Looking west, the four glaciers are
Hoffellsjökull, Fláajökull, Heinabergsjökull and Skálafellsjökull, and with binoculars
you can see how they've been scored and scarred with crevasses; the clear atmosphere
plays tricks with your eyes and makes it difficult to judge their distance and scale.
Hoffell hot tubs
15km west of Höfn via the Ringroad and Route 984 • Daily 7.30am-11pm • 500kr
You need your own vehicle to reach Höfn's most enjoyable attraction, a set of
hexagonal
hot pots
taking advantage of a natural thermal spring up against the hills at
Hoffell
. There are changing huts, but otherwise you're out in the wilds; it's best on a
wet, cold day, or even in winter - when (atmospheric conditions allowing) it would be
an incredible place to witness the Northern Lights.
7
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
HÖFN
By plane
Eagle Air (
W
eagleair.is) connects Höfn with
Reykjavík; there are no flights on Saturdays. Hornafjörður
airport is 6km west of Höfn; you'll have to hire a taxi
(2500kr) from the desk here to reach town.
Destination
Reykjavík (8 weekly; 1hr).
By bus
Trex (
W
trex.is), Reykjavík Excursions (
W
re.is) and
Sterna (
W
sterna.is) all have Reykjavík-Höfn services.
Sterna also runs a summer-only route through the East
Fjords to Egilsstaðir. There is no fixed bus stop in town at
present; the hope is that in future buses will use the new
tourist information centre at the harbour.
Destinations
Berunes (1 daily; 2hr); Breiðdalsvík (1 daily;
2hr 30min); Djúpivogur (1 daily; 1hr 30min); Egilsstaðir
(1 daily; 4hr); Fáskrúðsfjörður (1 daily; 3hr 20min); Hella
(3 daily; 3hr 10min); Hvolsvöllur (3 daily; 7hr); Jökulsárlón
(3 daily; 1hr 30min); Kirkjubæjarklaustur (3 daily; 3hr);
Reykjavík (3 daily; 9hr); Reyðarfjörður (1 daily; 3hr 40min);
Selfoss (3 daily; 8hr); Seljalandsfoss (3 daily; 6hr 40min);
Skaftafell (3 daily; 2hr 40min); Skógar (3 daily; 5hr 45min);
Stöðvarfjörður (1 daily; 2hr 50min); Vík (3 daily; 3hr 50min).
INFORMATION
Tourist information
The tourist information centre,
Hafnarbraut 30 (daily: May 1-June 7 11am-6pm; June
8-Aug 31 9am-8pm; Sept 1-June 6 11am-5pm;
T
478
2665), has toilets, brochures, regional maps, and internet
access (300kr per 30min). Note that there are plans to move
the centre into a new location at the harbour.
Services
Hafnarbraut has two fuel stations, banks (with
ATMs), a Nettó supermarket
(Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat &
Sun 10am-6pm) and a modern swimming pool with water
slides, hot pots and a sauna (Mon-Fri 6.45am-9pm, Sat &
Sun 10am-7pm). Bike rental is available from the campsite
(4500kr per day).
GLACIER TOURS FROM HÖFN
Tours
from Höfn, offered by Vatnajökull Travel (
T
894 1616,
W
vatnajokull.is) and Glacier Jeeps
(
T
478 1000,
W
glacierjeeps.is), focus on trips to one of the nearby
glaciers
descending
Vatnajökull. Base camp is the snowline at
Jöklasel
hut, some 45km west of town along the
Ringroad and then 16km up the four-wheel-drive-only Route F985. From here you mount a skidoo
and drive out onto the glacier, tearing across a frozen, empty horizon at upwards of 40km an hour.
You'll reach the top of Skálafellsjökull and at least get an idea of Vatnajökull's extent; the usual
destination is
Brókarbotnstindur
, a sharp-edged
nunatak
with great views west across a deep
valley to more tall peaks and ice. Warm clothing, crash helmet and full instruction are provided
(bringing sunglasses is a good idea), but come a month either side of the main season unless you
want to share a skidoo - in July and August they have hundreds of people a day up here. One
hour on a skidoo costs 17,000kr, two hours 33,000kr; pickup from the Ringroad is extra.
