Top Tips
- Godafoss is an easy and beautiful day trip from Akureyi.
- Arnarstapi is in the west peninsula. You need a full day to explore this area properly. It was incredibly windy while we were there.
- If visiting Arnarstapi, be sure to drive the 54 on the south side of the peninsula, which is a paved road. We saw a fair portion of the north side of the 54, and it's a hole-filled unimproved road through farmland, it was not expressly scenic and very time consuming.
Saturday, September 7
This was a long day of driving. We drove along the north portion of the ring road back to Reykjavik.
- Godafoss is an easy and beautiful day trip from Akureyi.
- Arnarstapi is in the west peninsula. You need a full day to explore this area properly. It was incredibly windy while we were there.
- If visiting Arnarstapi, be sure to drive the 54 on the south side of the peninsula, which is a paved road. We saw a fair portion of the north side of the 54, and it's a hole-filled unimproved road through farmland, it was not expressly scenic and very time consuming.
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| Hellnar |
Saturday, September 7
This was a long day of driving. We drove along the north portion of the ring road back to Reykjavik.
Godafoss
About an hour out of Myvatn area we stopped
at Godafoss. We didn’t spend too long here because at this point, we’d seen a
lot of waterfalls. Godafoss still has its own character and the landscape
around it is lovely. At least worth stopping for a picture and a 10 minute walk
around.
We drove through Akureyi briefly but decided not to stop and to just head back to Reykjavik, knowing we were in for a long drive. Most of this drive was through farmland and the scenery didn't change a whole lot, it was nothing like the drastically variable landscape of the east highlands.
Arnarstapi
Over half way back to Reykjavik, we decided to branch out to the peninsula towards Arnarstapi. We wanted to take the 586 but it was closed, so we took the 60 towards the north portion of the 54. The 60 was a stunning road and didn't take too long to drive. Unfortunately, it lead to the north portion of the 54 which is entirely a dirt track. Suddenly our time estimate of an additional 3 hours turned into and indefinite travel time to reach Arnarstapi. So when we hit the 55 we took it to the south portion of the 54, which is a well paved road (well, with one pot hole a few kilometres before Arnarstapi - quite a dangerous one too so watch out).
The further west we drove, the more miserable the weather got. The skies became overcast, and the wind over the peninsula howled. This led to a brief stop in Hellnar and Arnarstapi after about an hour driving on the paved 54. We had to gear up with all the warm clothes we had to beat the wind, and even then my ears got sore from all of the wind pressure through my gortex hood. We discovered that at about 3-4pm the visitor's centre appeared to be closed.
So what's here? Well, the rock formations and cliffs are pretty impressive. I only wish the weather was better, it was so windy that we could barely step outside without blowing away. This shouldn't have been done as a side-trip, there's at least a whole day's worth of exploration in this region. It is worth the day if you have it, and there's better weather. Accommodation and food options appear limited as Arnarstapi looked pretty small.
We followed the 570 part way up towards the Snæfellsjökull Glacier, but our time became too limited to we had to head back to Reykjavik.
Reykjavik
We stayed at the Centrum Hotel. This hotel was superior to our first Reykjavik hotel. Breakfast was much better, the hotel was more central, the rooms were more comfortable, and above all that it was cheaper.
Even though we had tried to book a restaurant for tonight a day in advance, the places we wanted to visit were still full booked. So we went to a restaurant we knew would be a sure thing - the one at the Icelandair Hotel in Reykjavik. It was pretty solid, even though it involved a short drive to the local city airport. We tried the puffin.... I know, I know they're really cute. They're really tasty too.
Arnarstapi
Over half way back to Reykjavik, we decided to branch out to the peninsula towards Arnarstapi. We wanted to take the 586 but it was closed, so we took the 60 towards the north portion of the 54. The 60 was a stunning road and didn't take too long to drive. Unfortunately, it lead to the north portion of the 54 which is entirely a dirt track. Suddenly our time estimate of an additional 3 hours turned into and indefinite travel time to reach Arnarstapi. So when we hit the 55 we took it to the south portion of the 54, which is a well paved road (well, with one pot hole a few kilometres before Arnarstapi - quite a dangerous one too so watch out).
 |
| The potholey north side of the 54 |
The further west we drove, the more miserable the weather got. The skies became overcast, and the wind over the peninsula howled. This led to a brief stop in Hellnar and Arnarstapi after about an hour driving on the paved 54. We had to gear up with all the warm clothes we had to beat the wind, and even then my ears got sore from all of the wind pressure through my gortex hood. We discovered that at about 3-4pm the visitor's centre appeared to be closed.
 |
| Heading down the 55, close to the intersection with the 54. That enough numbers for ya? |
So what's here? Well, the rock formations and cliffs are pretty impressive. I only wish the weather was better, it was so windy that we could barely step outside without blowing away. This shouldn't have been done as a side-trip, there's at least a whole day's worth of exploration in this region. It is worth the day if you have it, and there's better weather. Accommodation and food options appear limited as Arnarstapi looked pretty small.
We followed the 570 part way up towards the Snæfellsjökull Glacier, but our time became too limited to we had to head back to Reykjavik.
Reykjavik
We stayed at the Centrum Hotel. This hotel was superior to our first Reykjavik hotel. Breakfast was much better, the hotel was more central, the rooms were more comfortable, and above all that it was cheaper.
Even though we had tried to book a restaurant for tonight a day in advance, the places we wanted to visit were still full booked. So we went to a restaurant we knew would be a sure thing - the one at the Icelandair Hotel in Reykjavik. It was pretty solid, even though it involved a short drive to the local city airport. We tried the puffin.... I know, I know they're really cute. They're really tasty too.
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