Geysers, Glaciers and Waterfalls
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Hosting you since 1937 Self Drive 7 days Geysers, Glaciers and Waterfalls Foss á Síðu Welcome to Iceland! To make your stay in Iceland more enjoyable, we would like to draw your attention to the following: △ This booklet contains a standard itinerary. △ The kilometer/mile distance per day is not If you have added nights, please note that precise. The distance may vary depending the itinerary has not been customized to on the location of your accommodation show such amendments. and the detours you take each day. △ This itinerary is a guideline for your travel △ On your accommodation itinerary you in Iceland. The route may vary according will find a detailed address list, describ- to your overnight stay and road condi- ing how to reach your accommodations. tions, especially during April/May and The accommodation itinerary also has a September/October. reference number, which is valid as your voucher. Official hotel check-in time is △ Even with the long daylight, you will not 14:00-18:00. If you arrive any later, it’s be able to visit every nook and cranny nor courteous to notify the hotel. enjoy all the fun things suggested. Please choose between the sites mentioned △ Breakfast is always included during your depending on your interest as time limits stay, but no other meals. Many of the your possibilities. rural hotels and guesthouses offer nice dinner at a reasonable price. 2 Self Drive Geysers, Glaciers and Waterfalls A few favourites from the trip ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Geysers, Glaciers and Waterfalls Self Drive 3 Day 1: Arrival Pick-up your rental car and explore Reykjanes Peninsula Stykkishólmur ➠➠Approximate driving distance: 60 km / 37 miles 4-5 Please see your Iceland Travel Itinerary for Reykjavík 1 Jökulsárlón details about your overnight stay Keflavík 6 pon your arrival in Iceland you’ll find your Hveragerði Urental car help desk in the arrival hall at 2-3 Keflavik Airport. The desk is open every day Vík from 5:00am – 5:00pm and again from 9:00pm- wash of the jet lag and relax in the milky waters 1:00am. The staff will advise you where to find of the Lagoon and perhaps enjoy a glass of the your vehicle. famous Blue Lagoon cocktail while you let the If you are arriving early enough in the day algae mask bring out the skin’s inner glow! we recommend driving along the southern Kindly note that the Blue lagoon is very coast of the Reykjanes peninsula. Start your popular year around and therefore you should journey with a soak in the Blue Lagoon. Follow book ahead. road no. 41 towards Reykjavik until you find If you are not relaxing in the lagoon at the road no. 43, leading south towards Grindavik. beginning of your trip you continue on road Before you reach Mt Þorbjorn you make a number no. 43 until you find your way to right turn to the Blue Lagoon area. To make it Grindavik. Take a left onto road no. 427 and easier you can just follow the steam rising up explore the southern coastline on your way to through the air! At the Blue Lagoon you can Hveragerdi. 4 Self Drive Geysers, Glaciers and Waterfalls Follow this winding road along the Day 2: shoreline, past stand-alone houses, lava rock South Coast formations, and endless sea views. Take a quick Thundering Waterfalls, Cliffs & Stone Arches, detour on road no. 42 to Krysuvik Geothermal Black Sand Beaches of the South Shore, Puffin Area and Kleifarvatn Lake, which are a part of Colony the Reykjanes fissure zone. Continue on your journey on road no. 427 ➠➠Approximate driving distance: until you reach road no. 38 which will take you 190 km / 118 miles to the charming village of Hveragerdi. The vil- Please see your Iceland Travel Itinerary for lage is one of the few sites in the world located details about your overnight stay directly on top of a geothermal area and because of its many greenhouses heated by hot lease note also that some of the stops on water from nearby springs it is often called the Pthis day can be incorporated on day 4. flower village. From Hveragerði you will continue your trip You can take a detour to Stokkseyri, where on road no. 1 to Selfoss. On your way to Selfoss you can find an interesting museum, called you’ll have the opportunity to visit the Ice- the Ghost Center or Draugasetrið, tel. 483 landic horse park Fakasel which is located on 1202, displaying all of the most well-known your right hand side after passing road no. 375. ghosts in Iceland. The entrance is located on Turn left onto road no. 35. The next village the south side of the building by the harbour. to explore is at lake Laugarvatn, a geothermal The museum is not recommended for children area. It is said that when Christianity was legal- younger then 12 years old. The museum is open ized in the year 1000, the chieftains from the June-August from 13:00-18:00. north, who refused to be baptized in the cold water of Þingvellir, were brought to Laugar- vatn to be baptised in the warm spring. At the Fontana Geothermal Baths you can relax in Geysers, Glaciers and Waterfalls Self Drive 5 the warm geothermal pools and natural steam mighty Þjórsá, Iceland’s longest river and the rooms while enjoying the spectacular views most important source of electric energy in the over the lake. country. At the entrance to the Þjórsárdalur Geysir area is a colourful geothermal field valley, you can stop for a short climb to the top in a 3 km2 (1.2 mi2) area where hot springs and of Gaukshöfði, a rocky crag with the mighty geysers are abundant. Geysir spouting spring river at its foot and a splendid view of Mt. is the world’s largest geyser, whose name is Hekla, Iceland’s most famous volcano. You the generic term for this strange phenom- take road no. 327 to Stöng, the excavated ruins enon. Geysir, believed to have formed in the of a Viking-age farmhouse in a fair state of thirteenth century, has a bowl 18 m (59 ft) in preservation. If you walk on the path along the diameter with a 20 m (66 ft) deep chamber brook you will enter a beautiful ravine called below. Its eruptions are majestic and after the Gjáin, which can easily