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Where do the locals travel when they vacation within their own country? This is a question I ask myself when planning our adventures and is something I often don’t find out until I have arrived and start asking the question. Some of our favourite experiences have been recommendations from locals that aren’t the most highly publicized regions. Snaefellsnes peninsula was one of these gems.

Immediately after arriving in Iceland, I asked the first local I met, “we have one free day we are unsettled on, where would you go?”. After asking my planned itinerary, he immediately said, “do Snaefellsnes on your free day”. After a quick read in my Iceland travel guide, it was settled. We decided on a Snaefellsnes day trip.

Snaefellsnes peninsula is a region in the west of Iceland just north of Reykjavik. It is an easy day trip for travellers centred in the city. The drive to the peninsula takes about 2 hours one way and there is a lot to see once you arrive, so budget your time accordingly.

It is a full day, which, depending on how much you choose to see, can take 6-10 hours. The bulk of this post will be about this region but I would be remiss to not first mention how we spent our morning before we left to tour here.

Farm Stay in Selfoss

We started our morning half an hour south of Reykjavik in Selfoss. At this point in our vacation, we intended to reward ourselves with a stay at an Airbnb and quickly settled on doing a farm stay. I highly recommend the Sólvangur Icelandic Horse Center for their hospitality, modern cottages and adorable, friendly horses!

This place was outstanding and we very much enjoyed spending the first part of our morning playing with the horses.

At Sólvangur, they breed and train horses for competition. There were options to go riding, interact with the horses, and the owners ran their own Stable Cafe.

The horses were very social and were not afraid to show off for my camera.

Snaefellsnes Peninsula

When we had finished visiting with the horses, we tore ourselves away to start our 2.5 hour drive to Snaefellsnes peninsula. We planned to treat this as the most relaxing sightseeing day of our vacation. With very little research, we decided to make stops whenever we saw something interesting and to take our time exploring along the coast.

Upon arriving on the peninsula, we noticed that the landscape changed drastically from what we had been seeing nearer to Reykjavik and on the South Coast. I would best describe this area as rugged coastline with many lakes amongst grassy mountains in the interior.

It was, though still relatively touristy in spots, much quieter than the other regions we had previously visited, with slightly less traffic on the roads and considerably more wildlife. We pulled over at the first large lake we saw to capture some of the landscape.

Búðakirkja

Our first official stop was at the Búðakirkja (the Black Church), a small wooden church painted black that is seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It is a popular stop for tourists and we followed the flow of people here. There were tourists, photographers, and people shooting drone footage.

The church is still in use, so please be respectful here, as you should be regardless. We stood aside and watched as a couple finished up some wedding shots. The photos we got that were free of people were hard-earned.

Arnarstapi

Next, we arrived at the famous shoreline of Arnarstapi, a fishing village with beautiful walking trails all along its coast, some of which lead you over hollowed archways that make your knees buckle as you cross. The arch below was separated from the rest.

Here is an excellent example of Iceland’s unique geology that I mentioned in my first post on Reykjavik and the Golden Circle. The basalt rocks that were the inspiration for Hallgrimskirkja’s architecture line the cliffs.

They are long and columnar with unique looking ends when blunted or chipped off. These rocks can also be found famously at a waterfall in Skaftafell Nature Preserve, Svartifoss, a place we could not fit into our itinerary that is worth looking into.

Londrangar

Next we came across Londrangar, a nature reserve on the coastline where two tall basalt pillars stand out with unique shapes.

This is evidently another great place for spotting birds, including puffins, however the weather was not ideal for bird watchers this day. The skies opened up and the rain really started coming down, so please forgive the less than perfect photos here.

Malariff Lighthouse

Just past the Londrangar cliffs, we came across a tall, unusual shaped lighthouse called Malariff Light.

This lighthouse sits on a beautiful black sand beach. A glacier-capped volcano looms directly behind it.

I must take a moment to discuss this region’s own personal volcano, Snæfellsjökull. Unfortunately, due to the rainy conditions we were experiencing this day, we were unable to get photos of this. It is another active volcano, as fascinating as Vatnajökull on a smaller scale.

If you could not make it to Vatnajökull, which is a 5 hour’s drive from Reykjavik, this would be an excellent volcano to visit to get a similar experience. It is located near the end of the peninsula and can’t be missed while driving the loop around Snaefellsnes.

Kirkjufell Mountain and Kirkjufellfoss

Our final stop of the day was a place I did seek out intentionally, Kirkjufell Mountain and Kirkjufellfoss. These are very popular subjects for landscape photographers. Kirkjufell mountain’s unique pointed shape draws visitors from all over the world at all times of the day and night. The waterfalls in front are small in scale but make for a beautiful foreground. You must park near the road and walk in.

From here we headed to the closest town, Grundarfjörður, for a quick bite to eat. We then started the drive back to Reykjavik, passing more beautiful lakes and mountains along the way.

I hope you loved this Snaefellsnes day trip and hope you consider going where the locals go. With that we can wrap up our trip to Iceland! What an amazing country with so many sights to see (and my three-part series does not even scratch the surface). If you missed my previous posts, check out the Golden Circle as well as the South Coast . As always, leave a comment below with any questions or encouraging contributions!

Bless,

Hill XO

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