Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
GET YOUR GLACIER ON
Vatnajökull National Park authorities are working with a handful of landowners in this re-
gion to open up public access to some areas of raw natural beauty. These areas are
signed off the Ring Road - for now, they are not especially well known, so you stand a
good chance of finding yourself a tranquil pocket of glaciated wonder.
The guesthouses mentioned here act as information points (maps are available), or
you can stop by the information centre in Höfn to ask about road conditions, and to find
out if any other areas have become newly accessible. Info is also under 'Destinations' on
the national park website,
www.vjp.is
.
Walking paths in the
Hjallanes
and
Heinaberg
area, accessible from
Skálafell
guest-
house (or Heinabergjökull can be reached by a rough, 8km road that is unsuited to small
2WDs).
A great walking trail (including new suspension bridge) leads to the
Fláajökull
glacial
tongue. The access road is signposted off the Ring Road right by
Hólmur
guesthouse and
travels 8km (gravel but manageable in a 2WD) to a small car park with pit toilet.
From the
Hoffell
guesthouse, a 4km drive leads to
Hoffellsjökull
glacier tongue, calving
into a small lake. The road is rough and at the time of research it wasn't suitable for
2WDs, but there are plans to improve this.
Tours
Glacier Jeeps
ADVENTURE TOUR
( 478 1000, 894 3133;
www.glacierjeeps.is
)
If you want to get up onto Vatnajökull, the daddy of all local glaciers (
Click here
)
, for a
snowmobile or super-Jeep tour, then this area is where you branch vertically off into the
mountains. Rte F985, which leads up to Jöklasel, is about 35km east of Jökulsárlón; Glaci-
er Jeeps can transport you there from the small Ring Road car park.
