Drive through Snaefellsnes Peninsula


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Europe » Iceland » Northwest » Snæfellsnes
June 25th 2014
Published: July 30th 2014
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on Hvalfjaroarvegur road
Since the weather was not great for doing the backpacking trail, we decided instead to take this 2-day drive. This peninsula is suppose to be a mini-Iceland, all sorts of landscapes in this tiny area. We had booked the car from hostel, they claim to give good rate. We picked it up in the morning, then we had to get the bus tickets for hike. From there we had hard time getting back on the highway as we were not really prepared with maps or anything. Once on the highway, it was smooth ride. There is not much traffic there. The highway near Reykjavik is full of roundabouts. Once out of the "city" area it soon got really green and beautiful. Of course all the rain was making the green even deeper.

For outward journey, we decided to skip the tunnel and take road 47 around Hvalfjaroarvegur. This was the best decision. The area around the water is so pretty, like a postcard. We were stopping every few minutes, taking pictures, looking at waterfalls. I wished instead of driving we were walking through it. Its almost impossible to describe the beauty of that place. Its ~50km detour.

Once joining the highway back, it was still nice and green. You will soon start seeing water on the left and mountains on the right. Remains of lava fields will also come into view. The whole mountain sides were full of waterfalls. We stopped at quite a few of those. The weather was not really great, so pictures do not do justice to the beauty we saw. It indeed looked like a country created by Elfs! We stopped at the town of Arnarstapi. There is a small visitor center and museum there. There is also a nice small hike from here to next town of Hellnar by the ocean. But it was cold and rainy, so we decided to skip it. Next we wanted to look for a campsite to stay. So we kept driving along the coast. On the way we stopped at hike up a small lava crater. Here you could clearly see signs of old eruption. The glacier peaks almost visible but not really in the cloud. There was also some cave tour going on on the way, but we decided to skip it, did not look very impressive.

We also came upon a side road, and taking it led us to a very nice beach, a beach with real sand and waves. Next stop was some waterfall hike suggested at the visitor center. The hike was ok, waterfall was not too impressive. Probably on a clear day it has views of glacier. After the waterfalls, it was really time to find a campsite. But it was cold and rainy. So we decided instead to drive all the way to Grundarfjörður and find a place to stay there. Its quite an expensive place, as expected. But still very pretty, marked by a mountain rising right from the ocean. The view from our hotel room was great.

Day 2:

We started with visiting the beautiful waterfall nearby. There we met 2 sheep who were just relaxing by the waterfall. They saw us and decided to come and investigate what we are doing. It was really fun to see their curious faces peering down at us from top. We took a bunch of photos. They were still curious, so Rahul decided to go near by and talk to them. As soon as he approached, they ran away quite fast. Rest of the journey out of peninsula was straightforward. We took Road #56 on the way back. Our main destination today was Husafell and the caves nearby. We had to drive back upto Borgarnes and then take Highway 1 going North. On the way we saw interesting Troll falls and garden. Its a nice spot to stretch your feet and have food. They were building a nice resort here, I can imagine spending few relaxing days at the resort.

Once hitting highway 1, there are couple of things to see after the turnoff to Road #50. There is big steaming water coming from ground, and Husafell town, and finally the waterfall there. Its definitely one of a kind waterfall stretched over a long area. The way back was simple. We took the tunnel this time. Once clear to Reykjavik, the traffic had increased substantially, and it was really windy. I had to stop for few minutes to take break from driving. Once back in Reykjavik, we decided to setup camp for the night. Tomorrow is start of the backpacking trip. Fingers crossed for good weather.

Photos - https://plus.google.com/photos/103561338002909087861/albums/6034681264053195793?banner=pwa


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