When Lukáš and I finally reached northern Iceland on day eight of our big road trip, right at the turn of September and October, it was an incredible relief. The Golden Circle in the south is gorgeous, sure, but to be honest, at the most famous spots you sometimes end up queuing just to take a photo, and it feels less like wilderness and more like a crowded shopping street back home.

The moment you cross that invisible line and set off to explore northern Iceland, though, the landscape starts to breathe much more slowly, the roads magically empty out, and nature finally shows you its raw, untamed face.

The northern part of the island hides a giant volcanic laboratory, Europe’s mightiest waterfalls, and picturesque bays where a soothing silence reigns. In this article you’ll find 12 tips on what to see and do along the route known in English as the Diamond Circle, and you’ll discover exactly why you shouldn’t skip this region.

I’ll show you how to put together your itinerary, where to stay smartly, and how much the whole adventure will cost you, including all the changes and updates for 2026.

TL;DR

• The north of the island is far quieter than the south, and to drive the Diamond Circle (about 250 kilometres) you’ll ideally need two full days.
• The best base for excursions is the town of Akureyri, from which you can easily reach all the main attractions and find great cafés and the cheapest supermarkets.
• In 2026 you need to watch out for the new per-kilometre tax on rental cars, as well as the complete reconstruction of the famous baths at Lake Mývatn.
• A lovely paved road (route 862) leads to the mighty Dettifoss waterfall from the west, and a regular car will do just fine, whereas the eastern side is a wild gravel track better suited to 4x4s.
• Lukáš and I didn’t camp at all, because autumn already gets pretty cold, but we stayed in cosy guesthouses and apartments with shared kitchens, where we cooked our own vegetarian meals.

When to go and how to get there

Planning a trip to the north of the island takes a bit more thought than a simple drive along the south coast, because the weather here can be far more treacherous and the distances are pretty big. From Reykjavík to Akureyri it’s roughly 380 kilometres along the main Ring Road, which in summer you can drive in some five hours of pure driving time, although in reality you’ll be stopping every twenty minutes for photos.

Anyone who’d rather take a break from the wheel can use the local Strætó bus lines, but the journey easily takes eight to ten hours. A ticket will set you back a fairly brutal 13,200 ISK (about £77), so for two people it really doesn’t make financial sense.

Lukáš and I have long had a great experience with DiscoverCars, through which we rent cars all over the world, and on Iceland that goes double.

If you come in summer and plan to stick to the main paved roads, including the road to the western side of Dettifoss, you’ll be perfectly fine with a regular two-wheel-drive car. We drove the north at the start of October, though, when frost and snow were already a real threat, so we had a 4×4 and Gravel Protection insurance, which is an absolute must on Iceland, because even on the Ring Road you’ll occasionally hit gravel stretches and replacing a windscreen costs ridiculous amounts.

On top of that, in 2026 the Icelandic government scrapped the traditional fuel tax, and while petrol did drop to around 305 ISK per litre (about £1.78), there’s now a new per-kilometre tax, which for ordinary passenger cars up to three and a half tonnes works out at 6.95 ISK per kilometre driven (roughly £0.04).

Some rental companies will bill you at the end based on the odometer, others handle it with a flat fee of around 1,390 to 1,550 ISK per day, so be sure to factor it into your travel budget.

The most beautiful time to visit is from late May to September, when you’ll avoid the big blizzards and enjoy long summer days full of the midnight sun. Just be sure to pack an opaque sleep mask, otherwise you won’t get much rest.

We loved the autumn dates mainly for the northern lights, because the north offers far more clear, cloudless nights than the rainy south. Even though the solar maximum peaked last year, in 2026 solar activity is still extremely strong and well above average. Just keep an eye on the Icelandic Met Office app and watch for a KP index of 2 or higher.

I’d also strongly recommend keeping the Safetravel.is website handy at all times, where you’ll find current warnings about strong winds or possible road closures, which incidentally saved us from a nasty situation. Finally, before you travel, make sure you know the physical PIN for your bank card, because at lots of self-service petrol stations simply tapping your phone unfortunately won’t get you very far.

Where to stay and how much northern Iceland costs

Accommodation in Iceland can really blow a hole in your wallet, but if you know where to look and how to organise your trip, it doesn’t have to mean personal bankruptcy. A mid-range budget for a couple for one week comes to around £3,000 to £3,200 including flights and a car, with the biggest expense after transport being the roof over your head. We planned our trip so that we’d sleep under a solid roof in the warmth, because autumn nights can get truly icy and camping didn’t appeal to us much.

We deliberately chose smaller family guesthouses, hostels, or apartments with access to a shared kitchen, which in our view was the best way to save money. Booking.com is our favourite accommodation search engine, and we always tried to find places where a night for two cost around 20,000 to 25,000 ISK (roughly £117 to £146).

The ideal strategic base for exploring the north is definitely Akureyri, where you’ll find the most options and shops for stocking up. If you fancy a bit of luxury right in town, take a look at the Kea or Berjaya hotels, where prices per night start from $88 upwards. For backpackers, the lively Akureyri Backpackers hostel is a great choice, where you’ll easily meet fellow travellers and pick up inspiration for trips.

Alternatively, you can try staying right in the area around Lake Mývatn, where it’s a little pricier, but you get breathtaking views straight from your door. Hotel Laxá is fantastic, as is the popular Vogafjós farmstay, which by the way offers absolutely magical morning views of the sun rising over the lake — you just have to book it well in advance.

If, on the other hand, you’re planning early-morning whale watching, it makes huge sense to spend the night right in Húsavík, where the very popular Fosshotel or the cosy family-run Cape Hotel are just a few minutes’ pleasant walk from the harbour.

💡 Specific accommodation tips (check prices and availability via Booking, and book early — in season and around the 2026 eclipse they disappear months ahead):

• Hótel Kea (Akureyri)
• Berjaya Akureyri Hotel (Akureyri)
• Hótel Laxá (Mývatn)
• Vogafjós Farm Resort (Mývatn)
• Fosshótel Húsavík (Húsavík)

Akureyri and surroundings: 3 tips on what to see in the capital of the north

When, after several days in the wilderness, you descend towards the Eyjafjörður fjord and the lights of Akureyri (pronounced ah-koo-ray-ri) appear before you, you feel as if you’ve arrived in a giant metropolis, even though fewer than thirty thousand people live here. The town is enchanting, the red traffic lights are shaped like little hearts, and you’ll find excellent infrastructure for refuelling, so it’s unquestionably the capital of the entire north.

1. Akureyri’s centre and its amazing botanical garden

You can walk the centre itself in about twenty minutes, but it’s well worth stopping at the iconic Akureyrarkirkja church, reached by a seemingly endless staircase and offering a lovely view over the town.

Then head to the local botanical garden (Lystigarðurinn), which sounds like complete nonsense fifty kilometres below the Arctic Circle, but thanks to a special microclimate, thousands of plant species from all over the world really do grow here. Entry to the whole grounds is completely free, and in summer it’s a perfect oasis of calm, although we admired it more in autumn, when the trees were playing every possible colour and the falling leaves created an immensely romantic atmosphere.

Before heading further east, definitely do a big shop at the local Bónus supermarket, which you’ll easily recognise by its huge yellow logo with a cross-eyed pink piglet. They have the absolute best prices on the whole island, and we picked up a pile of ingredients for our evening cooking so we wouldn’t have to spend a fortune in restaurants along the way, where the choice for us vegetarians can sometimes be a little limited.

I’d also recommend filling up the tank, because petrol stations out in the wilderness further along the circle tend to be pricier and their card terminals occasionally play up. Never buy bottled water, though — Icelandic tap water is excellent, full of minerals, and available everywhere for free.

2. Bathing in the Forest Lagoon

If you’re looking for a calm alternative to the overpriced Blue Lagoon in the south, which is also often closed or evacuated due to unpredictable volcanic activity, the Forest Lagoon (Skógarböð) just outside Akureyri is in my opinion currently the absolute best place for a soak on the island. These new premium baths are cleverly set into a quiet birch wood with a view straight onto the deep fjord, and they offer an incredible experience without the huge crowds of shouting tourists.

Adult admission works out at roughly 5,990 ISK (about £35), and the water from natural thermal springs is a perfect 38 to 40 degrees, which after a whole day of freezing outside is simply bliss. Just be very careful with the unforgiving Icelandic pool etiquette, which a lot of foreigners have no idea about.

Before entering the water you have to shower completely naked and with soap, only putting on your swimsuit once you’re squeaky clean, because the local water is far less chlorinated and cleanliness is sacred here. If you try to slip into the shower in your swimsuit, you’ll get some very sharp looks and the local lifeguard will most likely send you straight back to the changing room. I’d recommend booking your tickets to Forest Lagoon in advance, as it’s often full.

3. A fairytale sunset at Goðafoss

About thirty-five minutes’ brisk drive east of Akureyri along main road number 1, you’ll come across one of the most beautiful waterfalls on the whole circle, shaped like a perfect wide horseshoe and serving as the symbolic gateway to the Diamond Circle. Goðafoss, or the Waterfall of the Gods, only drops twelve metres deep, but the enormous mass of turquoise glacial water from the Skjálfandafljót river shattering against sharp basalt rocks creates an utterly hypnotic spectacle.

It’s tied to a key moment in Icelandic history from the year 1000, when the influential local lawspeaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði, after much deliberation, decided that Iceland would officially adopt Christianity to prevent a looming bloody civil war. As proof of this radical step, he threw his carved wooden figurines of the old Norse gods straight into the foaming waters, and that’s exactly where its noble name comes from.

We arrived at the end of our ninth day at the very moment when the sun was setting below the horizon and the whole sky was painting itself in unreal shades of deep purple and orange. It was already bitterly cold and I had to pull on a wool hat and winter gloves, but standing there with just a handful of other brave souls, listening to that thundering force, was without doubt one of the most beautiful romantic experiences of our entire Iceland trip.

The stop will take you about an hour, parking costs roughly 750 to 1,000 ISK, and from the car you can reach both viewpoints on the opposite banks in just a few minutes’ easy walk.

4. Skiing and town pools to warm up

If you happen to be travelling in the winter months and love active relaxation, Akureyri hides one huge secret: the fantastic Hlíðarfjall ski resort located right above the town. It’s the unbeatably best ski resort on the whole island, with perfectly groomed pistes and an ocean view that’ll take your breath away on the way down.

Whether you come back from skiing or a full-day trek, don’t miss a visit to the classic town swimming pool in Akureyri, where mostly locals come to relax after work. For just 1,200 ISK (about £7) you get access to several outdoor hot tubs at various temperatures, big swimming lanes, and steam saunas, which is a wonderfully cheap and utterly authentic alternative to the pricey tourist baths.

It’s in these hot tubs that all of Iceland’s social life takes place, and you’ll discuss absolutely everything with the locals, from politics to the weather.

💡 Tip: It pays to book tickets and organised tours (around Iceland and beyond) online in advance on GetYourGuide, as they fill up fast in season.

The wonders of Lake Mývatn: 5 spots straight out of another planet

As soon as you approach Lake Mývatn by car, the surrounding landscape starts to transform into a strange form that looks as though it’s fallen out of a completely different planet, full of frozen lava and smoking craters. The whole area is, after all, the geological and volcanic heart of the north. Just reckon with one small and immensely annoying discomfort, because the name Mývatn itself translates as “lake of midges”.

In the summer months, especially when there’s complete calm, literal black clouds of tiny insects swarm around its shallow banks. These critters luckily don’t bite at all, but they’ll relentlessly and persistently crawl into your eyes, nose, and ears. So if you’re travelling in July or August, definitely toss a protective head net into your backpack — it’ll save you a lot of frustration. Luckily, in autumn we had no problem with midges at all and could calmly enjoy all these bizarre natural phenomena.

5. Hverir and the bubbling mud of Mars

You’ll safely smell this fascinating geothermal field long before you even see it over the hill, because the intense smell of hydrogen sulphide, reminiscent of rotten eggs, hits you in the nose the instant you open the car door in the car park. Hverir, also known as Námafjall, is a constantly steaming and aggressively hissing plain full of bubbling mud volcanoes, smoking fumaroles, and incredibly coloured earth crust that plays every shade of yellow, orange, and grey.

Lukáš and I wandered here for about an hour and a half, and the whole time I kept fascinatedly repeating that this is exactly how I imagine a lonely walk on Mars, because the surrounding hills have no vegetation whatsoever. There is, however, one absolutely crucial rule you must observe without fail, and that is to stay strictly on the marked wooden walkways and designated paths.

The earth’s crust here is treacherously and invisibly thin, the ever-present grey mud beneath it has a boiling temperature exceeding one hundred degrees, and the slightest step to the side could mean very serious burns, so be extremely careful.

6. Dimmuborgir, the Dark Castles

Just a short drive from the lake itself, you’ll come across a vast field of enormous black lava columns and mysterious caves towering to the sky like the ruins of some ancient gothic city. These formations were created thousands of years ago when an extensive lava lake cooled rapidly after an eruption and its upper crust collapsed with an enormous crash.

Comfortable marked trails now lead through this labyrinth of petrified black lava, which you can choose by length and difficulty, and the whole stunning area is accessible completely free of charge.

Fans of Game of Thrones will probably recognise this place instantly, because the famous scenes of the freezing Wildling camp beyond the Wall were filmed here in winter. The overall atmosphere is wonderfully mystical, and old local legends claim that these dark towers and tunnels are home to the feared Icelandic Christmas trolls known as the Yule Lads (Jólasveinar).

Every December, they supposedly crawl out of their caves and play all sorts of mischievous pranks on people in the villages, from stealing sausages to slamming doors.

7. The romantic Grjótagjá cave

As you drive around the lake, make a little detour to an inconspicuous fissure in the ground, into which you have to descend very carefully over slippery boulders to find yourself in the small, intimate Grjótagjá lava cave full of crystal-clear turquoise water. Grjótagjá used to serve the locals as a hidden and immensely popular spot for wild swimming.

After a series of wild volcanic eruptions from the nearby Krafla volcano in the 1970s and 1980s, however, the underground springs heated up so much that you can no longer bear the temperature, and any dipping is now strictly forbidden under threat of a fine.

This place gained huge worldwide fame, once again thanks to Game of Thrones, because it was right here that Jon Snow broke his Night’s Watch vow with the wild Ygritte, so unfortunately today crowds of tourists take turns for a quick Instagram photo. Still, definitely stop here for ten minutes, carefully climb down, soak up that damp, hot atmosphere, and gently touch the mirror-like surface to discover for yourself that the water really is at a temperature where you could comfortably brew your afternoon tea.

8. Earth Lagoon: the big news for 2026

After a long, tiring day spent in volcanic dust, wind, and the constant smell of sulphur, you’ll definitely fancy plunging into hot thermal water and letting your sore muscles rest, but at Mývatn you currently need to keep a close eye on the construction calendar. The original and very popular blue baths, Mývatn Nature Baths (Jarðböðin in Icelandic), closed completely on 1 January 2026 for extensive demolition and rebuilding, so during the first half of the year they’re unfortunately entirely out of operation.

According to official information, this iconic complex should reopen sometime in spring or early summer under the new name Earth Lagoon, with a huge new building, a pool that’s thirty-five per cent larger, and a capacity for nearly six hundred people. Basic admission, the so-called Earth Essential, should start at 7,900 ISK (roughly £46), while the premium Signature version comes to 9,900 ISK.

If you fly here at a time when construction work is still under way and the complex is closed, don’t despair at all — just head back to the luxurious Forest Lagoon near Akureyri, or carry on north to the gorgeous GeoSea sea baths in Húsavík.

9. The Skútustaðagígar pseudocraters

On the southern shore of Lake Mývatn you mustn’t miss the curious green mounds that look like perfect miniatures of giant volcanoes, scattered both in the water and on land. These are the so-called Skútustaðagígar pseudocraters, another of this amazing area’s many free geological wonders. What’s surprising about them is that no lava has ever erupted from them in history.

They were formed when a stream of hot flowing lava poured over boggy, water-soaked terrain, the water instantly turned into a huge amount of steam beneath the airtight crust, and the resulting massive explosions blasted the soil into the shape of perfect craters.

Today these mounds are covered in soft grass, with pretty scenic paths running around them, and they’re also a fantastic spot for watching dozens of species of rare northern birds that regularly nest on Lake Mývatn.

Lukáš and Lucie recommend

Where to stay in northern Iceland

6 accommodations — hotels, resorts and other lodging options

⭐ TOP CHOICE 🏨 Hotel

Hótel Kea

Hotel in Akureyri, the capital of northern Iceland. Prices start from 88 dollars per night. Ideal for exploring the Diamond Circle.

★★★★ from 88 USD/night

Check availability 🏨 Hotel

Berjaya Akureyri Hotel

Hotel in Akureyri with the option to treat yourself to some luxury. Prices start from 88 dollars per night. Convenient location for trips to the north.

★★★★ from 88 USD/night

Check availability 🏡 Hostel

Akureyri Backpackers

Lively hostel in Akureyri, great choice for backpackers. Easy to meet other travelers and get inspiration for trips. Also has a restaurant with reasonable prices.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability 🏨 Hotel

Hótel Laxá

Fantastic hotel in the Lake Mývatn area. Breathtaking views right from the door. Suitable for those who want to be close to volcanic attractions.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability 🌲 Resort

Vogafjós Farm Resort

Popular farmstay by Lake Mývatn with absolutely magical morning views of the sunrise over the lake. Booking well in advance required.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability 🏨 Hotel

Fosshótel Húsavík

Very popular hotel in the port of Húsavík, just a few minutes’ walk to the harbor. Ideal for morning whale watching.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability

Lukáš and Lucie recommend

Where to stay in northern Iceland

6 places to stay — resorts, hotels and other accommodation options

⭐ TOP CHOICE 🏨 Hotel

Hótel Kea

A hotel in Akureyri, the capital of northern Iceland. Ideal for exploring the Diamond Circle.

★★★★ from $88/night

Check availability 🏨 Hotel

Berjaya Akureyri Hotel

A hotel in Akureyri with a touch of luxury. A handy location for trips around the north.

★★★★ from $88/night

Check availability 🏡 Hostel

Akureyri Backpackers

A lively hostel in Akureyri, a great choice for backpackers. Easily meet fellow travellers and pick up trip inspiration here. It also has a restaurant with reasonable prices.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability 🏨 Hotel

Hótel Laxá

A fantastic hotel in the Lake Mývatn area. Breathtaking views straight from your door. Perfect for those who want to be close to the volcanic attractions.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability 🌲 Resort

Vogafjós Farm Resort

A popular farmstay by Lake Mývatn with absolutely magical morning views of the sun rising over the lake. Must be booked well in advance.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability 🏨 Hotel

Fosshótel Húsavík

A very popular hotel in the harbour town of Húsavík, just a few minutes’ walk from the port. Ideal for early-morning whale watching.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability

Dettifoss, Ásbyrgi and Húsavík: 6 experiences full of wild nature

When you continue along the circle from the volcanic inferno towards the deserted northeast, you enter a kingdom of untamed water and enormous rocky cliffs ruled by the fierce, ice-grey Jökulsá á Fjöllum river. It’s on this mighty river that the most beautiful waterfalls lie, and its flow empties all the way into the icy Greenland Sea, from which enormous whales arrive in sheltered bays each spring in search of food.

10. Dettifoss and its crushing power

Get ready for a truly unreal roar that no photo will prepare you for. Dettifoss is officially the mightiest waterfall in all of Europe, and its raw power is both terrifying and utterly fascinating at once.

It measures over forty-four metres high, an impressive hundred metres wide, and every single second an average of an incredible 193 cubic metres of grey water saturated with coarse glacial sand flows through it, so when you stand on the viewpoint near the edge, you physically feel the whole earth literally vibrating beneath your feet. Director Ridley Scott knew exactly what he was doing when he chose this very raw spot for the dramatic opening scene of his dark sci-fi film Prometheus.

Two roads lead to the waterfall from the south, and choosing the right one is an eternal dilemma for all travellers. Lukáš and I chose the western one along route 862, because it’s beautifully and freshly paved, comfortably drivable for absolutely any regular car, and brings you to a huge viewing platform.

We deliberately didn’t venture onto the opposite eastern bank via route 864, since it’s a rough, dusty gravel rollercoaster that’s open only in summer from June to September and is better suited to high 4x4s. It’ll reliably rattle your soul out of your body and coat your car in a thick layer of dust, but on the other hand it rewards you by letting you right up to the slippery edge of the abyss with no protective railing whatsoever, which is an experience only for the bravest of natures.

11. The smaller but beautiful Selfoss

Just a really short distance upstream from Dettifoss along the same fierce river lies another amazing and immensely photogenic waterfall called Selfoss, reached by a very well-marked rocky trail; from the car park you can walk there comfortably in about fifteen minutes. It’s nowhere near as tall and brutally powerful as its more famous neighbour, but here the water falls elegantly over an immensely wide cascade formed by many small basalt columns, creating a fantastic water wall that looks as though it’s been cut from a fairytale.

Unfortunately, we had to skip this promising walk to Selfoss with heavy hearts, because the absolute worst Icelandic weather caught us right at the main Dettifoss viewpoint — a horizontal gale mixed with freezing rain blew in, and after a mere twenty minutes of vainly battling the elements, we were chilled to the bone.

If you have even slightly more bearable conditions, though, and aren’t at risk of immediate hypothermia, definitely make the trip, because the vast majority of more comfort-seeking people settle for just the main waterfall, so at Selfoss you’ll have far more of the longed-for peace and quiet for perfect photos.

12. The hidden gem of Aldeyjarfoss

If you’ve rented a four-wheel-drive car and aren’t afraid to leave the main paved roads, set off to find one of the most amazing hidden gems of the entire north: the Aldeyjarfoss waterfall. You reach it along the rough gravel road F26, which means you cannot drive here in a regular hire car under threat of a huge fine, and the journey takes a bit more time and courage.

Your reward for this bumpy journey, though, will be the sight of a massive stream of white glacial water dramatically plunging down into a deep pool surrounded by absolutely perfect hexagonal basalt columns. These dark geometric formations look as though someone hand-carved them and arranged them into organ pipes, creating an utterly stunning contrast with the raging, foaming water, so if you have the right car, definitely circle this spot on your map.

13. The magical Ásbyrgi canyon

As the road past the waterfalls slowly curves around the northern coast and descends into the vast Vatnajökull National Park, a huge green canyon shaped like a perfect horseshoe suddenly opens up before you, bearing the resounding name Ásbyrgi. Walls of vertical grey basalt fall here from an incredible hundred-metre height and, very atypically, shelter a quiet birch wood inside, which on perpetually windswept and bare Iceland is an absolute visual rarity.

Rational geologists will convincingly tell you that this formation was carved out by enormous catastrophic floods from melting glaciers thousands of years ago, but fans of old Norse mythology, whom I always like to side with in places like this, believe a far more romantic version. According to them, Ásbyrgi is the giant hoofprint of the mythical eight-legged horse Sleipnir, on which the supreme god Odin himself once rode across the heavens.

Stop here, take a gentle trek along the canyon floor to the small turquoise pond Botnstjörn, or climb the central rock Eyjan and soak up that cathedral-like silence, which works as a perfect balm for the soul.

14. The town of Húsavík and a whale safari

Húsavík is a gorgeous harbour town with typical colourful Nordic houses, a beautiful pristine white wooden church from 1907, and snow-capped mountain peaks that form a monumental backdrop. Above all, though, it’s famous as the unquestionable whale-watching capital of all Europe, because the vast local Skjálfandi bay offers ideal conditions with an enormous amount of marine plankton.

The success rate of spotting these giant mammals here ranges between an impressive 97 and 99 per cent. While you’re there, before your voyage you can also pop into the excellent Whale Museum with its huge skeletons, where a ticket costs 1,600 ISK.

Lukáš and I skipped the famous whale watching this time, since we’d already admired whales on earlier trips and preferred to wander the empty harbour lanes with a coffee in hand, but if it’s your lifelong dream, definitely head out with North Sailing or Gentle Giants. Trips on traditional oak sailing ships last about three hours and cost around 12,990 ISK for an adult (about £76; children pay 6,990 ISK).

The chance of seeing majestic humpbacks, minke whales, or playful leaping dolphins here during the summer months is practically one hundred per cent. Anyone craving adrenaline can choose the super-fast RIB rubber boats, which get you much closer to the whales and puffins, but you’ll pay extra for those — up to 21,990 ISK. In June and July you can even occasionally spot the blue whale itself, which is an experience of a lifetime.

15. The warm GeoSea sea baths

If you’re chattering your teeth after returning from an icy boat full of frozen ocean wind, or simply looking for the most beautiful spot to relax after a day full of demanding clambering over cliffs, right above the harbour in Húsavík lie the architecturally perfect GeoSea geothermal baths. These dark grey pools with an amazing infinity edge are filled directly with hot geothermal seawater rich in minerals, which is an absolute natural rarity on the island, and the salt water beautifully buoys up your tired body.

From the hot pool, which stays at a constant and ideal thirty-eight degrees, you look straight out at the snow-capped Nordic mountains on the far shore of the dark fjord, just below the Arctic Circle. With a bit of luck, you can even watch the spouting geysers of breathing whales in the distance, straight from the hot water with a frosty beer or drink in hand.

Adult admission works out at a very pleasant 7,490 ISK (about £44), and it’s always best to double-check the more detailed opening-hours information directly on the official GeoSea website, which is worth checking even before you arrive.

💡 Tip: It pays to book tickets and organised tours (around Iceland and beyond) online in advance on GetYourGuide, as they fill up fast in season.

Where to eat in northern Iceland

Before your trip, most people will frighten you with the idea that outside Reykjavík you absolutely won’t find anything civilised to eat in the north and that you’ll starve over a can of beans, but the truth is that the town of Akureyri in particular has a culinary scene at a surprisingly high level.

I deliberately don’t focus our personal tips on the biggest obscure local meat specialities, like the infamous fermented shark or boiled ram’s heads, because Lukáš and I are vegetarians and honestly the very thought of such food doesn’t sit well with us, so we always happily hunted for places with a proper vegetable or meat-free offering.

Most of all, we fell in love with the excellent modern spot Café Berlin in Akureyri, where we’d recommend going for a really hearty late brunch with perfect specialty coffee, a great fresh avocado toast, and plenty of eggs, for which you’ll leave a fairly bearable 2,500 to 3,500 ISK.

If, after a whole day of freezing, you fancy something warmer and more traditional in the evening, stop by the beautiful historic building of Bautinn restaurant from 1902, where the prices are surprisingly reasonable and we had an absolutely perfect vegetarian creamy soup with fresh bread. If you’re more after a quick and cheaper lunch in a livelier atmosphere, the restaurant at the Akureyri Backpackers hostel or the nearby modern bistro Taste are also great choices.

On the other hand, be very wary of the widely acclaimed and upscale Rub23, which every printed guidebook is bound to recommend. It focuses almost exclusively on local fish and pricey seafood, so they’d only make you a proper meat-free meal after a great deal of long-winded persuasion.

For committed carnivores who want to save significantly, though, there’s one legendary lifeline: the ubiquitous N1 petrol stations, where they serve the classic Icelandic hot dog (pylsa) with crispy onions and mustard for a cheap-and-cheerful 820 ISK, which keeps a lot of travellers going for a whole week.

Once you head out of Akureyri into the wilderness, your options naturally thin out a lot. In the harbour town of Húsavík you’ll luckily find the rather lovely Japanese bistro Hlöðufell with good hot ramen and decent tofu options (mains here come to around 2,800 to 4,000 ISK), but we sorted out the whole eating side purely pragmatically.

Almost every evening after returning from our trips, we cooked our own hearty cheesy pasta and quick vegetable dishes in the shared kitchens of our accommodation, which saved us not only a lot of money but also a lot of hassle hunting for an open restaurant in the impenetrable darkness of the northern Icelandic countryside.

Comparison: Diamond Circle vs. Golden Circle

Lots of confused travellers often write to us asking whether, on their first trip, they should sacrifice their time for the famous and accessible Golden Circle near Reykjavík, or set off on the much longer, pricier, and more demanding journey to the Diamond Circle. The honest answer is that if you only have flights to Iceland for a quick long weekend, definitely stay in the south. You can comfortably drive the Golden Circle from the capital in a single day and see the biggest geysers and the historic Þingvellir National Park, although unfortunately you’ll inevitably have to push through enormous crowds of people with big cameras, and the car parks will be bursting at the seams.

But if you have at least seven full days for this magical island, the north will be an incomparably more authentic and powerful experience. Whereas the south is all too easily accessible and full of tour buses straight from the airport, the north is something you have to earn a little with a long, full-day drive across deserted plains. Your reward, though, will be far wilder waterfalls led by Dettifoss, active, dangerous mud volcanoes at Mývatn, a truly real and guaranteed chance to see humpback whales, and that wonderful, free feeling that, in the middle of beautiful wilderness with no signal, it really is just you and untamed Nordic nature.

Where to next

If the Diamond Circle in northern Iceland captivated you as much as it did us, or if you’re only just piecing together the whole itinerary of your dream trip around the island of fire and ice over your evenings, definitely check out our other articles too. In them we’ve shared a heap of practical tips from our own three-week journey in a campervan and a car:

• Our complete Iceland road trip will help you put together a well-thought-out travel plan day by day, without any pointless backtracking.
• If you’re not sure what to expect outside the summer season, I wrote a very detailed article on what Iceland is like in October and how much it costs.
• Lovers of hot water and thermal pools definitely shouldn’t miss our big, carefully compiled list of the 16 best hot springs in Iceland.
• And if you long for the green splendour dancing across the night sky, take a look at our tips in the article Iceland, Finland and Norway: how and where to catch the northern lights.

Frequently asked questions

On the second-to-last day of our two-week autumn road trip, we decided to dedicate our time to a region that’s affectionately nicknamed “Iceland in miniature.” In plain English, that means if you don’t have time to loop the entire island along the famous Ring Road, the Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland serves up the essence of everything that makes this country so magical, all on one compact stretch of land.

You’ll find dramatic cliffs plunging into a frothing ocean, golden and coal-black beaches, rising volcanic craters, and of course a majestic glacier glinting in the distance under gusts of Nordic wind. When Lukáš and I arrived here at the turn of September and October 2018, we were already pretty worn out from the previous days, but the wild, raw landscape instantly recharged our batteries.

Although we were mostly looking forward to the famous Mount Kirkjufell, I’ll admit straight away that it slightly disappointed us, because it was crammed with crowds of tourists wielding giant tripods, and that perfect postcard view only really works from one specific angle. But it was all made up for by the wonderfully romantic village of Arnarstapi, where we strolled hand in hand along the cliff edge while enormous waves shattered against the basalt rocks and snow-capped peaks loomed in the distance.

It’s probably one of the most beautiful places we saw on our entire trip. In this article you’ll find tips on what to see and do on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, advice on where to stay without breaking the bank, and a few recommendations for vegetarians, because finding good meat-free food outside the big cities can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. ☺️

TL;DR

• Getting there from the airport: The peninsula lies about two to two and a half hours’ drive north of Reykjavík, so you can reach it easily via the well-surfaced asphalt Road 54.
• How much time you need: Ideally set aside one full day to loop the entire peninsula, or stay overnight at least once so you don’t have to rush back to the city in the evening.
• Main highlights: Iceland’s most photographed mountain Kirkjufell, the mysterious little black church Búðakirkja, Djúpalónssandur beach with its lifting stones, and the romantic coastal trail between Arnarstapi and Hellnar.
• National park: At the very western tip sits the glacier-capped stratovolcano Snæfellsjökull, made famous by Jules Verne in his novel Journey to the Center of the Earth.
• Transport and updates: As of 2026 Iceland has a new per-kilometre road tax, but fuel has become cheaper at the same time. Most of the sights along the route don’t require a 4×4, unless you’re coming in the depths of winter.
• Accommodation: I recommend looking for a place with its own kitchenette around the towns of Grundarfjörður or Stykkishólmur. We slept a bit further south in Akranes and set off on our day trip from there.

When to go and how to get there

Planning a trip to Iceland always starts with logistics, and for the Snæfellsnes peninsula that’s doubly true, because even though it sits fairly close to the capital, the weather here can be utterly unpredictable. At the turn of September and October we got incredibly lucky with relatively sunny days, when the colours of the autumn grass blended beautifully with the dark volcanic rock, but winter was already making itself known with a freezing wind.

If you’re coming in summer, you’ll enjoy long days and seal-watching, but expect the biggest crowds of tourists. In the winter months the peninsula turns into a silent kingdom of snow and ice, which has its undeniable charm, but you’ll absolutely need a 4×4 vehicle with winter tyres, because while the roads are usually maintained, strong wind and black ice can turn even a short drive into an adrenaline experience.

Driving from Reykjavík, you’ll head north along the main Ring Road (Route 1), pass through the tolled undersea tunnel Hvalfjarðargöng, and then turn onto Road 54, which more or less loops the whole peninsula. The drive to the first stop is roughly 140 kilometres, taking about two to two and a half hours of actual driving. The full return loop measures around 500 kilometres, and with photo stops and walks you should set aside a comfortable 10 to 12 hours.

If I can offer one purely logistical tip: do the loop clockwise, heading first to the south coast and then to the north. That way you’ll reach iconic Mount Kirkjufell in the afternoon, when the light is much softer and your photos will look considerably better.

As of 2026 Iceland also has a new per-kilometre road tax for passenger vehicles at 6.95 ISK (about €0.05) per kilometre driven. Rental companies usually handle this either with a flat daily fee or by charging you when you return the car based on your actual mileage.

But there’s no need to panic, because alongside this charge the government scrapped the excise duty on fuel, so petrol at the pumps got significantly cheaper and overall the impact on your budget is minimal. Before you head off anywhere, please always check the current road conditions on the official site Umferdin.is, because Icelandic nature does absolutely whatever it pleases and plans can change here from one minute to the next.

Where to stay and how much it costs

When we were figuring out where to lay our heads, we knew for certain that campsites and tents weren’t our cup of tea. After a whole day of walking in the Icelandic wind, what you crave most is a hot shower and a heated room, so throughout the trip we slept exclusively in guesthouses, hostels or small apartments.

A big advantage of this kind of accommodation is access to a shared or private kitchenette. For us as vegetarians it was a literal lifesaver, because in the evening we could quietly cook up some pasta and didn’t have to pay astronomical prices in restaurants, where back then the meat-free offering was only timidly getting started.

We booked our room for the second-to-last night in the town of Akranes, which lies a bit further south. It turned out to be a fairly strategic spot with reasonable prices, a short hop from the peninsula and an easy onward drive straight to the airport the next day.

If you’d rather stay right in the thick of it on the Snæfellsnes peninsula itself, set aside a slightly bigger budget, because the supply of accommodation here isn’t endless and it vanishes fast in season. A very popular base is the northern town of Grundarfjörður, just a few minutes’ drive from Mount Kirkjufell.

Here you’ll find decent hostels where a night costs roughly €50 per person, or classic double rooms, for example at the excellent Kast Guesthouse, where prices hover around €150. For those after a bit more comfort and a good café right around the corner, the picturesque harbour of Stykkishólmur is a perfect choice, where you can stay at the stylish Fosshotel, for instance.

On the opposite side near the national park and glacier you’ll find the most enchanting but also most expensive locations. In the hamlets of Hellnar or Arnarstapi, where a more upscale room at Fosshotel Hellnar easily runs over €195 per night, you’ll wake up to a perfect ocean view.

The absolute pinnacle is the renowned Hótel Búðir right by the black church, an experience in itself, but be aware that here the prices climb really high. If you’re instead looking for ways to save a little and don’t mind driving a bit further, check out accommodation in the towns of Hellissandur or Ólafsvík at the very western tip of the peninsula, where guesthouses tend to be noticeably cheaper while keeping you right next to the national park.

💡 Specific accommodation tips (check prices and availability on Booking.com, and book early — in season and around the 2026 eclipse they sell out months in advance):

• Fosshótel Stykkishólmur (Stykkishólmur)
• Hótel Búðir (Búðir)
• Fosshótel Hellnar (Hellnar)
• Kast Guesthouse (Grundarfjörður)

North coast: From a magical harbour to a famous mountain

The northern part of the peninsula welcomed us with a jagged coastline and a string of small fishing towns that feel as though time has stood still. This is exactly the part people head for when they’re after inspiration on what to see on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, because this is where the most photographed, iconic views are found. The coastal road undulates beautifully, every few moments opening up a view of the deep-blue ocean, while the snow-capped peaks of the local giants slowly take shape on the horizon.

1. The town of Stykkishólmur and the island of Flatey

We symbolically kicked off our all-day drive in the peninsula’s largest town, the picturesque Stykkishólmur. Although you have to take the word “largest” with an enormous grain of salt in Iceland, because it’s really a quiet village full of gorgeous, richly coloured wooden houses that contrast fantastically with the steel-grey Nordic sky.

It’s an absolutely perfect place for a morning coffee or to pick up some fresh pastries for the road. Right next to the harbour rises the small basalt islet of Súgandisey, which you can reach easily on foot along a short causeway. Climb up to the bright red lighthouse at its top and you’ll be treated to an incredible view over the vast Breiðafjörður bay, dotted with thousands of tiny scattered islets.

It’s from this lively harbour that the well-known Baldur ferry regularly departs, connecting the peninsula with the more remote Westfjords, specifically the port of Brjánslækur. On the way the ferry stops at the charming, isolated island of Flatey, which draws plenty of birdwatchers and rare-bird enthusiasts during the summer months.

A one-way ticket including an ordinary passenger car costs around 7,396 ISK (roughly €50), and if you’re travelling during the main summer season from early June to the end of August, the ferry usually departs twice a day. It wasn’t relevant for us, as we were heading onwards across the mainland, but if you’re planning a longer exploration of the western part of the country it’s a great logistical shortcut that saves you long hours behind the wheel.

2. The hidden lava field of Berserkjahraun

On the drive between Stykkishólmur and the well-known Grundarfjörður, there’s one stop most guidebooks rather unfairly overlook. The enormous Berserkjahraun lava field was created four thousand years ago, when three nearby volcanic craters suddenly erupted. Unlike many other spots on the island, the crowds don’t come here, so you’ll often have the dramatic atmosphere of twisted lava boulders, densely carpeted in bright green and incredibly soft moss, entirely to yourself.

An old gravel road runs through the field and is passable for most ordinary cars, as long as the worst winter conditions aren’t in play. Stop at one of the designated spots, walk a little way along the marked paths, and remember that Icelandic moss grows terribly slowly, so under no circumstances should you tread on it. The whole place also comes with a dark and bloody legend from the old sagas about two Swedish berserkers, after whom the lava field eventually got its tongue-twisting name.

3. Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss: an icon with a small catch

Say the word “Iceland” and lots of people instantly picture a mountain shaped like a perfect arrowhead pointing skyward, with a small waterfall thundering in front of it. That’s exactly Mount Kirkjufell (463 metres high, by the way), which became even more famous in recent years thanks to Game of Thrones, where it featured as “the mountain shaped like an arrowhead.”

I’d be hiding the truth from you if I didn’t admit that this utterly iconic stop slightly disappointed us, and that we probably had over-inflated expectations. The magic of that perfect postcard shot actually lies in very clever composition and the photographers’ artistry.

The Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall itself is actually rather small, and to get both the mountain and the water into one spectacular shot you have to stand at a precisely defined spot to the right of the cascades facing the mountain, where, of course, crowds of other eager photographers are jostling for space. Even so, it’s a place you simply have to see.

The car park sits right by the road, and recently a fee of 1,000 ISK (about €7) per car per day has been introduced, which you’ll most easily pay via the popular mobile app Parka.app. Be sure to also walk down beneath the waterfall itself, where on a calm, windless day the mountain reflects beautifully in a little pool.

💡 Tip: It pays to book tickets and organised tours (around Iceland and beyond) in advance online with GetYourGuide — they fill up fast in season.

4. The golden beach of Ytri Tunga and the local seals

This place is a little Icelandic paradox, because on an island otherwise renowned for its black volcanic beaches, a stretch of coast suddenly appears with fine golden sand. Ytri Tunga beach lies on the more southerly side, but logistically it’s worth the detour, especially if you love wildlife and nature photography. The shallow shore here, full of rocks poking out of the water, has been chosen as a resting spot by a fairly large colony of adorable harbour seals.

You’ll have the best chance of spotting them lazily lounging on the rocks and warming their blubber in the sun mainly during the summer months, roughly from June to August. We had no such luck back then in autumn, as the ocean was already too wild and cold, but even just the walk along the beach with the mountains at our backs was well worth the little detour.

Just remember that seals are shy wild animals, so for your own safety as much as theirs, keep a respectful distance of at least fifty metres and take care not to needlessly startle them with loud shouting or drones.

The national park and the westernmost tip full of lava

When the road leaves the northern side and starts to curve towards the very end of the peninsula, the landscape around you dramatically toughens out of nowhere. You find yourself in the protected territory of Snæfellsjökull National Park, where lush greenery alternates with endless lava fields, and over it all an ancient volcano keeps watch, its white peak visible on a clear day even across the entire bay from distant Reykjavík.

5. The Snæfellsjökull volcano and Journey to the Center of the Earth

This enormous snow-capped mountain is the absolute centrepiece of the whole national park. It’s actually a stratovolcano an incredible 700,000 years old, rising majestically to 1,446 metres above sea level, its summit permanently covered by a layer of glacier. Its name might ring a bell from your literature lessons, because it was the famous French author Jules Verne who chose this volcanic crater as the gateway to a mysterious underground world in his novel Journey to the Center of the Earth.

As much as we’d love to say we bravely climbed all the way to the very top, I have to assure you that for the average traveller the glacier is more of a fascinating backdrop for photos from a distance. The climb to the summit itself is a full-day, very demanding hike, which usually starts down in Arnarstapi. For safety reasons it requires an experienced local guide and special equipment including crampons, harnesses and ice axes, because along the way you have to weave between deep and treacherous crevasses in the ice.

So we contented ourselves with admiring it from the foot, where the black lava meets white snow in an incredible visual contrast. What’s more, even the guides confirm the sad fact that the glacier itself is shrinking fairly fast due to global warming.

6. The stairs into the Saxhóll volcanic crater

If you still want to enjoy the heady feeling of standing atop a real volcano (without working up a deadly sweat), take a short detour to the Saxhóll crater. This roughly hundred-metre-high extinct volcano is now very easily accessible thanks to a narrow, spiral metal staircase that the park authority built fairly recently to protect the extremely fragile volcanic soil from being completely trampled and eroded.

The climb up takes only about ten minutes of gentle ascent, so even smaller children can manage it with ease, and at the top a breathtaking 360-degree panorama opens up before you. On one side, a dark, jagged lava field resembling a lunar landscape spreads out deep below you, and on the other lies the endless silver expanse of the Atlantic. The wind here can blow so incredibly hard that at times you feel as though it might sweep you straight into the ocean, so be sure to pull your hat down tight.

7. Descending into the total darkness of the Vatnshellir cave

Speaking of Journey to the Center of the Earth, you can actually try something very similar for real. The roughly 8,000-year-old Vatnshellir lava tunnel is one of the most accessible underground systems on the whole of Iceland. Unlike the usual limestone caves back home, where you admire stalactites, here you’ll see stunning walls of solidified basalt lava, vivid mineral colours and incredible natural formations left behind by the rolling flow of molten rock.

You’re only allowed to enter the cave accompanied by a professional guide. Before going in you’re kitted out with a fetching helmet and headlamp, and then you descend dozens of metres down a steep spiral staircase into absolute, tangible darkness. It’s an utterly amazing experience, especially when the guide asks everyone in the middle of the cave to switch off their headlamps for a moment and listen to the perfect silence of the underground.

An adult ticket currently costs 5,400 ISK (about €37), youths aged 12 to 17 pay 2,400 ISK, and younger children get in completely free. In the summer season the tours, which you can arrange in advance via the operator’s official website, run regularly on the hour from roughly ten in the morning to six in the evening.

South coast: dramatic cliffs and a mysterious black church

While the north belonged to peaceful fishing harbours and brooding mountains, the southern side leans fully into the furious ocean. If you’re wondering whether it’s even worth looping both sides on your itinerary, then I honestly promise you that it’s the south that hides the absolute best that a visit to the Snæfellsnes peninsula has to offer tourists. Here you’ll walk along a black beach strewn with rusty shipwrecks and spend the late afternoon in places where the old Icelandic sagas come alive once more.

Lukáš and Lucie recommend

Where to Stay in Snæfellsnes

5 accommodations — hotels, wellness hotels and other lodging options

⭐ TOP CHOICE 🏨 Hotel

Fosshótel Stykkishólmur

Stylish hotel in the picturesque harbor town of Stykkishólmur with a good café just around the corner. The town offers great amenities and restaurants, making it an ideal base for exploring the peninsula.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability ⭐ Luxury

Hótel Búðir

Renowned luxury hotel right next to the famous black church Búðakirkja. An experience in itself with perfect ocean views, but prices climb really high. The most popular wedding venue in Iceland.

★★★★ Check prices

Check availability 🏨 Hotel

Fosshótel Hellnar

More luxurious hotel near the national park and glacier in the romantic hamlet of Hellnar. You wake up to perfect ocean views, but a more luxurious room costs over 210 dollars per night.

★★★★ from 210 USD/night

Check availability 🏡 Guesthouse/B&B

Kast Guesthouse

Great guesthouse in the northern town of Grundarfjörður, from where it’s just a few minutes’ drive to Mount Kirkjufell. Prices are around 160 dollars for a double room.

★★★★ approx. 160 USD/night

Check availability 🔍 Search

View all accommodation in Snæfellsnes

Explore all available accommodation options in Snæfellsnes and find the best one according to your preferences and budget.

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8. The lifting stones on Djúpalónssandur beach

Djúpalónssandur beach may sound like a perfect tongue-twister, but it’s one of the most iconic and most rugged spots on the island. The path to the storm-tossed shore winds through jagged lava formations and strangely twisted rock walls. The beach itself isn’t made of fine sand but of smooth black pebbles, and its main attraction right at the entrance is the four legendary lifting stones. Local fishermen once tested their raw strength on these to prove to the captain they were worthy of the hard work aboard a fishing boat.

The stones each have their own name and exact weight. They are Fullsterkur, meaning Full Strength (154 kg), Hálfsterkur as Half Strength (100 kg), the weakling Hálfdrættingur (54 kg) and finally the tiny Useless named Amlóði (23 kg). To get even a miserably paid spot on board back then, you had to lift the fifty-kilo weakling roughly to hip height. Feel free to give it a go, but honestly, Lukáš and I had quite a struggle just to peel even the lightest one off the ground, let alone get it up to our knees. 😅

Scattered casually across the beach are also rusty iron wreckage, remnants of the British fishing trawler Epine GY 7, which ran aground here during a terrible storm in 1948. The wreck serves as a memorial to the victims, so it’s strictly forbidden to take anything from it.

When walking along the water, be extremely careful, as the creeping waves here, known in English as sneaker waves, are unpredictable, so never, and I mean never, turn your back on the sea. I also recommend checking the warnings on the official safety website Safetravel.is.

9. Lóndrangar, the magnificent Rock Castle

As you continue along the road from the beach, two giant basalt towers suddenly emerge on the horizon, jutting brazenly from the cliff right above the roaring ocean. The Lóndrangar towers reach a respectable height of 75 and 61 metres, and from a distance they really do visually resemble the ruins of an enormous crumbling Gothic castle. They are in fact the only remnants of an ancient volcanic crater, whose softer parts were ground away over millennia by the relentless surf and weathering until only this extremely hard lava core remained.

You can leave the car at a nearby dusty car park and set off along a comfortable path that leads to safe viewing platforms on the cliffs. From them you’ll have an absolutely fantastic view not only of the basalt towers themselves, but also of thousands of nesting seabirds gracefully soaring on the strong air currents high above the foaming azure waves.

10. The villages of Arnarstapi and Hellnar: a place close to our hearts

As I hinted right at the start, this particular part of the island won our hearts more than just about anywhere else we saw. The village of Arnarstapi itself, made up of essentially just a few scattered houses, is genuinely charming, but the real natural gem is hidden down on the coast.

Right above the deep cliffs here begins a roughly two-and-a-half-kilometre walking trail that takes you right along the edge of the ocean to the neighbouring, perhaps even smaller and more isolated hamlet of Hellnar. It’s a completely undemanding, almost flat walk, so you’ll handle it perfectly fine even with children, and one way takes about forty-five minutes of actual walking.

As you stroll slowly along, you’ll pass fantastic lava arches carved out by marine erosion and deep caves into which water constantly crashes with a deafening roar. The best-known rock gateway on the route is Gatklettur, through which, in favourable weather and light, you can capture amazing shots with the white glacier outlined in the background.

Right in Arnarstapi, by the way, at the very start of the trail you’ll be greeted by an unexpectedly enormous stone statue of a mythological figure named Bárður Snæfellsás. According to the old Icelandic sagas, he’s a being who is half human and half fearsome giant, and who from the top of the glacier permanently protects the whole peninsula from evil spirits.

11. Búðakirkja: the legendary black church in the wilderness

Probably no proper Icelandic itinerary would ever be complete without the famous wooden church of Búðakirkja. Its enormous distinction lies not in its architecture or size, but in how incredibly sharply and strikingly it contrasts with its wild surroundings. The tiny, richly tar-painted black building with prominent white window frames stands alone in the middle of a vast lava field densely overgrown with golden grass. On one side it’s framed by the sea, on the other by the snow-capped volcano.

The current building actually dates only from the late 1980s, when it was rebuilt, but the history of this sacred site reaches deep into the nineteenth century. You can photograph the little church from the outside whenever you like, but unfortunately you can’t normally get inside, as it’s used exclusively for private religious ceremonies.

It’s even one of the most popular and most sought-after spots in all of Iceland, where couples from around the world come to marry in grand style, because those wedding photos with the glacier in the background must simply be breathtaking.

Where to eat well on Snæfellsnes

I have to admit quite openly that traditional Icelandic cuisine is historically heavily based on fresh fish, local lamb and dairy products, which for us as lifelong vegetarians means that the food on offer in remote regions outside the capital could sometimes be quite limited.

So during our trip Lukáš and I relied mainly on honestly cooking our own meals from ingredients bought at the well-known Bónus supermarket, but you’ll still find a few great places where, after a whole day of freezing in gusts of wind, you can warm up beautifully.

Right in the town of Stykkishólmur we can definitely recommend a stop at the excellent restaurant Narfeyrarstofa. We had an absolutely fantastic, honest veggie burger there, made from scratch with their own ingredients, along with excellent hot coffee that hit the spot wonderfully after a morning frost. The place is very cosy, nicely furnished, and the staff are extremely friendly.

Another popular choice, especially if you happen to be near the popular Mount Kirkjufell, is the restaurant Bjargarsteinn Mathús, set by the water in the harbour in Grundarfjörður. It’s a well-known, renowned establishment that prides itself on local fish and meat specialities for regular tourists, but thankfully the chefs always keep plant-based diners in mind too. They can conjure up an excellent, hearty and beautifully plated meat-free dish that doesn’t fall short of the rest of the menu in quality.

And if a sudden little crisis hits you in the middle of photographing the cliffs in the south, head straight to the very simple bistro Arnarstapi Center, where you can warm up exceptionally quickly with a hearty meat-free soup and a good chunk of fresh local bread and butter.

Practical tips to finish, and where to save

Travelling around Iceland isn’t exactly one of the cheapest hobbies, but once you know how, you can optimise your budget pretty cleverly. Here are a few practical pieces of advice that have always served us well on our travels through the rugged north and everywhere else:

How to keep an eye on the unpredictable weather

The basic rule number one in Iceland is that the weather can change literally within minutes. Just because the sun is shining over breakfast in the morning absolutely doesn’t mean you won’t run into a sudden blizzard over the very first hill. The number one official app and website for you is the Icelandic Meteorological Office (Vedur.is), where you’ll find not only a reliable forecast of precipitation and wind, but also a great cloud-cover map in the evenings, which is essential for a successful hunt for the Northern Lights.

⚠️ The solar eclipse in August 2026

If you’re planning your dream trip to Iceland in August 2026, you’d better sit up and pay attention. On exactly 12 August, Iceland will experience a total solar eclipse, and crucially, the ideal path of totality crosses right through our beloved Snæfellsnes peninsula and Reykjavík.

A huge festival is therefore being planned on the peninsula, and according to the official event information, prices for a bed are already soaring to unprecedented, astronomical heights, with guesthouses charging a comfortable €600 for an ordinary night. If you don’t have a reservation a year in advance, be prepared for both the logistics and the prices to be extreme throughout August.

Where to find flights

From the UK you’ll find plenty of options to Reykjavík: Icelandair and the budget carrier Play both run regular direct flights from London, and there are seasonal connections from Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh too. Booking a direct flight saves you the hassle with luggage at connecting airports, and the journey is only around three hours, so it makes for a very doable long weekend.

Renting a car and the tricky business of paying for fuel

When renting a car for Iceland, NEVER forget to calmly pay the small extra for gravel damage insurance (known as Gravel Protection). Very often you’ll come off the lovely smooth asphalt onto a dusty gravel road, and flying stones thrown up by fast oncoming cars are a completely common occurrence that, without insurance, will make a big dent in your budget.

Iceland is an utterly cashless country, where you pay by card on your phone even in the toilets, but be very careful at self-service petrol stations (N1) and at older parking machines. They often lack an Apple/Google Pay reader, and once you insert a physical plastic card, the old pumps uncompromisingly require you to enter your PIN, so it’s best to refresh it in your memory before you fly out.

Booking accommodation with a kitchenette

Booking.com has been our favourite hotel and private accommodation search engine for years. Personally, I always recommend carefully filtering the search results by amenities and deliberately choosing only rooms with access to a shared or private kitchenette. The hundreds of pounds you save on overpriced Icelandic dinners you can guilt-free invest instead in ferry tickets or cave admission.

Don’t forget good travel insurance

For the usual shorter trips within Europe we always choose reliable cover, and for longer or more complicated journeys halfway across the world we put our full trust in True Traveller, who offer genuinely excellent cover even for more demanding treks. Whatever you pick, make sure your policy covers hiking and any active pursuits you’re planning on Snæfellsnes.

Where to go next in Iceland

If you have more time on the island and want to know what else to add to your itinerary, take a look at our earlier articles from the road trip. You might just find the very inspiration that puts the crowning touch on your trip. 😉

• What to see and do in Reykjavík: a colourful capital city
• The complete guide to Iceland for beginners
• Our big itinerary for a road trip around the island
• Where to warm up for sure: 16 of the best hot springs

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