We took a day trip from Reykjavík to the devastatingly beautiful Snæfellsnes peninsula and we wanted to share it with you. We went with Christina from Nice Travel (not sponsored).
Snæfellsnes is about 2 hours drive north from Reykjavík and is really worth the journey. Right now there very few international tourists in Iceland due to covid travel restrictions, though Snaefellsnes is usually always much quieter than the south coast anyway.
A great thing about Snæfellsnes is you can travel from south to north or north to south, so you can really plan your day around where the weather is best.
The weather in Iceland changes so much throughout the day, so when you visit make sure you are keeping an eye of the local weather. It’s really important not to look at just precipitation, but the wind too. The wind can get uncomfortably or dangerously strong quite often.
Today’s forecast: Even though it’s April there is still a lot of snow and ice around with winter like conditions. Today the weather is looking calmer and dryer on the south for the morning, so we plan the trip south to north and prepare to drive carefully.
We first headed from Borganes to Ytri Tunga golden Sandy beach first where saw some wild seals.
A top tip for travelling in Iceland, whatever time of year it is, is to always bring lots of layers and wet weather gear as the weather changes so dramatically. The locals will always remind you – ‘There is not such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing’
Next we stopped at Búðakirkja the gothic historic black church and Bjarnafoss; the beautiful waterfall opposite.
We do really love the independence of exploring ourselves, but you get so much out of a tour (especially when exploring new places!). Our guide today Christina shared so many stories and so much information about Icelandic culture, history and nature.
Then onto Arnarstapi fishing village to see the stunning basalt cliffs, arches and beautiful harbour.
Fun fact: Snaefellsnes community has EarthCheck certification for their commitments the sustainable tourism management.
After we jumped out the car to visit the rock formations Longdrangar and to see a stunning view of Snæfellsjökul; the peninsulas’ glacier.
From Longdranger we went to Djupalonssandur; a black sand beach. On the beach there are huge rocks or lifting stones fishermen used to determine who was strong enough to work out at sea. On the beach is also a very broken up ship wreck.
Kirkufell was our last stop. Kirkufell is famous for being the Arrow Headed mountain from Game of Thrones. So as it was our final stop we took the time to take a seat and enjoy our grumpy whale hot chocolate.
We were super lucky with the weather and really enjoyed driving through the dazzling scenery to get to our stops. Although we could not access a few spots because of deep snow and a few places were shut due to low tourist numbers, we will visit again soon to share a few more of our favourite Snæfellsnes spots.
Takk Fyrir Christina!
